Grape variety · White
Sémillon
A golden, low-acid Bordeaux grape that makes Sauternes with Sauvignon Blanc, and long-lived dry wines in Australia's Hunter Valley.
- White
- Home: Bordeaux, France
- France, Australia, Chile, South Africa
At a glance
- Also known as
- Semillon
- Hunter River Riesling (old Australian name)
- Colour
- White
- Origin
- Bordeaux, France
- Main regions
- Bordeaux (Sauternes, Barsac, Graves, Pessac-Léognan), Hunter Valley and Barossa (Australia), South Africa, Chile
- Varietal or blend
- Mainly blended with Sauvignon Blanc (and sometimes Muscadelle) in Bordeaux; single variety in the Hunter Valley.
- Body & sweetness
- Light (young Hunter) to full and rich (Sauternes); dry or sweet.
Taste & style
- Flavour
- Lemon and lanolin when young; toast, honey and nuts with age. Botrytised wines show apricot, marmalade and saffron.
- Style
- Waxy, broad texture. Unoaked Hunter Semillon starts lean and low in alcohol, then gains toasty richness over a decade.
In the vineyard & winery
- Growing
- Thin-skinned and very susceptible to noble rot (Botrytis cinerea), the key to Sauternes. Fairly productive.
- Winemaking
- Sweet Sauternes needs several hand-picking passes; top wines ferment and age in oak barrels.
Food matches
- Foie gras or blue cheese (Sauternes)
- Seafood and fish (dry styles)
- Roast chicken
- Fruit tarts
Notes
- Spelled without the accent in Australia.
From the glossary
Classic grape widely grown in the Bordeaux region of France and elsewhere. This grape variety has a distinct fig-like character.
From the Wine Grape Glossary by Anthony J. Hawkins (1931–2018), reproduced with authorship credit as he requested. Written in the 1990s.