Semillon,
a grape which continues to decrease in popularity, was once considered to be
the most planted grape in the world. This grape once covered over 90% of South
Africa’s vineyards, and now, in the present day, it only accounts for around
1%. Semillon is a gold-skinned grape mostly used to make dry and sweet wines,
which are most popular in the areas of western France, Australia, Chile, and
Argentina. Its origin is believed to be Bordeaux, which is now of course home
to some of the most famous red wines in the world. Semillon, in the 1960’s, was
actually planted more than any other variety in Bordeaux. Since then, the rapid
decrease in Semillon production began, when more sought after and marketable
varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were replanted in place of most
of the Semillon vines.
Semillon
is a very thick skinned grape, and is characterized by its golden autumnal colors.
Although the fruit is most times a nice light golden green, it is never
uncommon to find some pink and copper colored berries particularly near harvest
time. It tends to bud later and ripen earlier than most grapes. This grape
grows on very easy to cultivate vines and has a nice thick skin which makes
them very resistant to splitting. It will normally produce anywhere from six to
eight tons of grapes per acre from its vigorous vines.
Semillon
is most times not made as a varietal wine, and is in fact fairly hard to find. It
is commonly blended with Sauvignon Blanc or Muscadelle in order to balance its
weight or to add sweetness. When you do happen to stumble upon a varietal of
this grape, it tends to be a dry or sweet wine. Key regions where you will find
the dry Semillons are Graves, Bordeaux, and the Hunter Valley in Australia. You
can also find it in various other places such as the United States, Chile,
South Africa, and New Zealand. The sweet Semillons are usually found wherever
that particular vine may grow, but the most renowned regions for theses sweet
wines are Sauternes and Barsac in Bordeaux.
As one
of the major countries still using this grape, France tends to use it in many
different ways. As mentioned earlier, France tends to take the grapes and mix
them with other varieties like Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle, to create a very
tasty blended white. Semillon tends to play a very minor part in these whites,
but as a whole, this is their most common use. However, there are plenty of
wines, especially those sweeter whites out of Sauternes, Barsac, and Cerons,
that use Semillon as the main variety. These have become some of the most
famous Semillons around the world because of their sweet flavors including
honey, stone fruits, and vanilla. Of the 35,000 hectares of this grape planted
worldwide, Bordeaux is home to around 40% of those grapes.
Australia
is another region where Semillon is still widely grown, especially in the area
known as The Hunter Valley, located just north of Sydney. The Semillon varietal
there was once known as the “Hunter Valley Riesling” because it took on the
sweet qualities of a Riesling but was in fact largely made from Semillon
grapes. Australia has four styles of Semillon based wines. These include a
commercial style, sweet style, a complex minerally style, and a high quality
dry style. The commercial style is particularly similar to the common wines in
France and just used to produce high volumes of blended whites. The sweet
style, is typically similar to those produced out of Sauternes, with a large
portion of the wine being from Semillon grapes and having those sweet and honey
flavors. The complex style, which normally has sort of a mineral taste to it,
is generally early picked and has great longevity, with some wines still
drinking well 40 years later. The dry style, tends to be released directly
after its vintage year, and never matured in oak barrels.
Outside
of these two main regions, Semillon tends to be fairly unpopular and is
criticized for lack of intensity and complexity. Because of this, plantings of
the grape have decreased rapidly over the past decade. The grape can still be
found in several places in Chile and South Africa, and Chile has been known to
have some of the most plantings in acres. This tends to fluctuate often though.
In the United States, Semillon can be found in California and in Washington
state. California primarily uses
Semillon to blend it with their Sauvignon Blanc as most places do, and
Washington actively uses Semillon in their Ice Wine and late harvest wine.
Recently, Argentina and New Zealand have been using the grape, but mostly using
it as the majority of places do, as an ingredient for blends.
To go
along with this report on Semillon, I decided I wanted to go out and try a
varietal bottle for myself. This proved to be particularly difficult, actually,
very difficult. After searching through all the wine at Kroger, a varietal of
Semillon was nowhere to be found. Luckily our friends at The Vintage Cellar
were able to help me out. They had 3 bottles in the store that had a large
chunk of Semillon in them. One was 50% Semillon, another 60% Semillon, and the
last was 100% Semillon. I wish I could have picked up the bottle that was 100%
but it was out of my price range. I settled on the bottle that was 60% Semillon
which was still even a little expensive for me at $14.95. This wine is as follows:
Name: Chateau Des
Perligues
Variety: 60%
Semillon, 40% Sauvignon
Region: Graves
(Bordeaux Wine Region)
Country: France
Year: 2011
Price: $14.95
Before tasting it, I am expecting this to be the dry style
Semillon since the sweet style usually hail from the Sauternes region. I really
wish I could have gotten my hands on one of the sweet Semillons since I love
sweet wine but, I tried. According to the label, it suggests that this be
paired with fish or shellfish, so food on the lighter side of things. I would
imagine that this would also go well with chicken, seeing as just about
everything does. Since it’s a bit on the dry side, I’m sure it would complement
the fish or shellfish nicely since fish and seafood are juicy. This would tend
to balance out the palate quite nicely. I’m not sure what to expect before
trying a bit for myself, as I’m usually not a fan of any wines that are on the
dry side, especially the dry whites. But, I decided to try this wine with some
seafood and to see how nicely this actually contrasts and complement each
other. I know that my palate wouldn’t be able to handle a very dry wine by
itself, so I have cooked up some scallops and rice to see how nicely they might
pair with it, because like Boyer, once I open a bottle of wine, I tend to like
to finish it that same evening. So these would be my general assumptions before
I actually crack open the bottle. I’m going to say that, when just drinking the
wine by itself, it’s going to have a nice stone fruitiness to it, maybe some
pear or apple hints, but I think the taste itself might be a little overtaken
by how dry it is. Now, I haven’t smelled it yet either, these are just some
assumptions. Then I think when I pair it with the scallops it will transform
into a very likable wine, balancing out the scallop’s juiciness with its dry
qualities, and accenting the taste with the subtle fruitiness.
Now, to
taste the wine. Alright, so I have chilled the bottle for right around 30 min.
On the nose I’m getting what I expected for the most part, a little stone fruit
with maybe a hint of apple and pear. It smells like a typical white to my nose,
until the tail end of the sniff when I start to get a nice amount of floral
scents. This is a lot different from any other whites I’ve smelled because I can
normally pick up the floral scents right away and this was the complete
opposite. The deeper I sniff the more I’m picking up the intense floral notes.
Now let’s taste this wine. I’m just going to say that that was not what I was
expecting at all. I like this wine a lot more than I was expecting to by
itself. It starts off with nice very subtle fruity notes and then almost bursts
into higher intensity notes towards the tail end. And also not even close to
the dryness that I was expecting. Yes it is a little on the dry side but not at
all as bad as I thought and overall this is a fantastic wine. A nice subtle
entry, then a burst of flavor, then a touch of dry on the end. Not a lot of
astringency to be found here. Maybe just a slight amount at the tail end caused
by the flavor burst and dryness. In my opinion, the sugar acid balance is spot
on, as its not coming off too acidic or too strong with the alcohol, which sits
right at 12%. There is not a lot of bitterness here either, only a small amount
during that burst of flavor. Overall, a fairly simple wine that seems to
transform into a complex, very tasty and “drinkable by itself” wine.
Being
from the Bordeaux wine region, this wine is one of the more rare types as that
area is usually dominated by big Cabernet Sauvignons as well as Sauvignon
Blancs. This wine tends to not have as many environmental factors because of
the fact that it ripens earlier than most varieties. The one thing that is
important to the growers is to pick it at just the right time, when it has
began a process called noble rot. It actually begins to boost sugar levels and
the grower must find that “sweet spot” of when to pick them or they can become
extremely bitter.
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After
cooking up my baby scallops along with some rice I was very interested to see
how this wine would pair with it. I must say I am yet again impressed. The food
actually makes this wine seem cleaner and more refreshing. It’s more tart as
well, which some of the old bay I dashed on may be making this happen. The food
is bringing out more of the sweetness in the wine, which I love. It almost
tastes more along the lines of a tart Riesling now, which I am much a fan of.
All in all, I’d say it complements this meal very nicely, and acts as a very
smooth refreshment when taking a drink. Great purchase on my part.
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