Wine crafted from the Sémillon grape variety is floral, fruity and fresh with a touch of minerality. Like its color, the unmistakable bouquet has yellow nuances: straw, honey, citrus, pulpy fruit, saffron, quince, chamomile, grapefruit and ripe melon. Depending on the vinification and type of wine produced, it dramatically changes, but overall it is a warm, full-bodied, structured and alcoholic wine.
Sémillon’s flexibility can only be compared to that of Riesling and Chardonnay; it is suitable for the production of many styles of wine: a dry white wine for the whole meal, a sweet moldy wine worth thousands of euros per bottle, traditional method sparkling wines or classic white wines designed for ageing. This grape variety is used to produce bottles that can age for 20-30 years, such as the whites of Bordeaux, especially those from Pessac-Léognan, and the pure Sémillon grades from Australia’s Hunter Valley and Barossa Valley. Even the delicious and elegant Crémant de Bordeaux sparkling wine is made from a blend where we find a good proportion of Sémillon.
Richly complex, more refined White Burgundy wines are made predominantly from Sémillon, which offers greater smoothness than Sauvignon Blanc: we can expect flavors of baked apples and pears, crème brûlée, caramelized grapefruit, orange peel, ginger, figs, butter and even chamomile.
White Wine Festival Glasses Introduction to Sémillon
This vigorous, high-yielding, late-ripening grape variety originated in France, but it is widely planted internationally, including Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina, California and Italy. It is one of the varieties
