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Though sémillon changes dramatically from youth through old age, it always carries itself with an air of nobility.
With berries of golden rose, young sémillon shows bright, sometimes racy acidity, citrus and hay/herb notes. With bottle age, the wines tend to fatness, with a waxy, honeyed heft that gains weight and complexity.
The early-ripening, thin-skinned grape is highly susceptible to rot, making it one of the most desirable to establish botrytis (noble rot) affected wines. It is one of the major grapes in the exalted sweet wines of Sauternes, playing well with its more common blending partner sauvignon blanc. The two grapes complement each other, with savvy's fresh fruitiness pairing up with sem's structure and backbone. Sole sémillon is relatively rare today. After a blaze of popularity (it was once one of the most planted white grapes in the world), it has fallen out of fashion, making quality pure sémillon a challenge to find. The Okanagan not withstanding, Australia, especially in the Hunter Valley, is the rare exception, producing brilliant, age-worthy sémillons that compete with the top wines in the world. Noble, indeed.
Here are ten of top sémillion and sémillon/sauvignon blends we've tasted over the past year.
