Wine Sediments

Semillon can be a rather over-looked grape that makes some truly outstanding wines all on it’s own.

It is most prominently grown in the Graves region of Bordeaux, France where it is commonly blended with Sauvignon Blanc to make dry white wines. Semillon is the grape that makes up about 80% of the blend in the most expensive and famous dessert wine Chateau d’Yquem (say ‘Eee-keem, the ‘d’ is silent) as it seems to be favorited by the noble rot, botrytis cinerea, which concentrates the sugars and flavors and intensifies the aromas of this and other late harvest dessert wines that are famous from the Sauternes and Barsac regions of France.

While Semillon is a major white varietal in France, growing in abundance in Bordeaux, Graves, and Sauternes, more grows in Chile than anywhere else, being the second most planted varietal in that country.

Early in viticultural development in Australia, Semillon was grown heavily, often mislabeled as Riesling; however, Australia’s white varietals now lean heavily towards Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc these days. As a varietal in the production of dry whites, Semillon rarely makes exciting wine outside of Australia but in the Hunter Valley, Semillon can produce age worthy whites, developing rich, toasty, buttery wines of impressive complexity.

California’s Semillon acreage has fluctuated up and down over the past several decades, and is mostly blended as a soft, subtle and rich ‘yin’ to sauvignon blancs aromatic acidic ‘yang’. As a dry wine, Semillon has a medium to full body and flavor intensity, with aromas of lanolin, peaches or ripe apricots. Sweeter versions tend to be slightly more viscous, and the fruit flavors are more concentrated.