Clos du Soleil Sémillon 2016

91POINTS

16^¾/20

Keremeos, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia, CanadaFrom Dhaliwal Bros. Vineyard in Oliver, this was fermented in Clos du Soleil's new (at that time) French concrete tanks and then aged on its fine lees for eight months. This sémillon should have the Bordelais concerned, with exotic notes of ripe mango, guava, and honey. It's medium-full bodied with a broad, viscous texture leading to a chalky, long finish. It's just beginning to show some tertiary development, and has the fruit concentration and balance to easily improve over the next 3-5 years. This is very well done. If only more than 110 cases were produced! Maybe BC needs to plant more sémillon.Tasted: 05 October 2019Tasted by: Prices:

$24.90

750ml

winery direct, club members

Producer: Clos du Soleil WineryDistributors: Icon Vins Fins
Grape: SémillonCSPC: 255857UPC: 857088000855

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90POINTS

16^½/20

Clos du Soleil Sémillon 2016

Keremeos, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia, CanadaSemillon thrives in the Okanagan, and it's always a surprise that more isn't planted here. I think it has more to do with the grape's relative unfamiliarity amongst BC wine consumers rather than its suitability to our climate and soils. Kudos to the growers and producers who strive for wine success over financial success. It's wines like this that seem to achieve both. From Dhaliwal Bros.' Oliver vineyard, this has absorbed the southern Okanagan's dusky sagebrush and sun warmth, and held semillon's driving vein of lemon acidity. Yellow apple, quince, tight apricot is snappy and seasoned with Asian pear and lined with stones. The finish lingers with those herbal-dusted notes of the southern Okanagan. Whole cluster pressed grapes were fermented in concrete and then racked and aged on fine lees for eight months, and lightly filtered just before bottling. In youth, best enjoyed when it builds sem's honeyed notes with a year or two.Tasted: 31 October 2017Tasted by: Prices:

$24.90

750ml

winery direct, club members

Producer: Clos du Soleil WineryDistributors: Icon Vins Fins
Grape: SémillonCSPC: 255857UPC: 857088000855

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92POINTS

17/20

Clos du Soleil Sémillon 2016

Keremeos, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia, CanadaThey say the 2016 Sémillon is the first, and only, white wine that will be fermented in the new French concrete tanks at Clos du Soleil. Too bad I say, because this wine is a winner. Post fermentation, the wine gets racked once as it ages on its fine lees for 8 months. It goes through a light filtering just before bottling. In a classic case of less is more this wine offers up a stony/mineral portrait of the Similkameen Valley with a subtle citrus undertone of limes and lemons with a squeeze of nectarine skin. The concrete gives it a softer, gentler look than the racy, youthful Hunter Valley style but you can bet it will mellow with age, and age it will, for a decade or more. Well done. 110 cases made.Tasted: 13 September 2017Tasted by: Prices:

$24.90

750ml

winery direct, club members

Producer: Clos du Soleil WineryDistributors: Icon Vins Fins
Grape: SémillonCSPC: 255857UPC: 857088000855

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