Semillon

Semillon

Welcome to Vine to Wine, I'm your host Linda Moran. I seem to be on a roll lately indulging in the wines of summer. Let's talk about a great summer wine Semillon. Semillon is an early ripening grape that grows well in most of the world's wine regions. By the way it is spelled S E M I L L O N . It is a white grape which usually makes a wine of rich golden yellow. It's low acidity and fruity characters have made it a traditional blending grape with Sauvignon Blanc. Semillon is in fact one of the three primary grapes used to make White Bordeaux, the two other grapes being, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. These same three grapes are used to make sweet long aging wines such as Sauterne and the famous sweet Bordeaux Chateau d'Yquem. Semillon is the component which rounds out the wine adding richness. Most often when it is made as the primary grape and it is named on the bottle as Semillon, there is still a touch of Sauvignon Blanc blended in to pop up the acidity and keep it lively. They are usually crisp dry wines with essences of fig and quince and apricot. Some of them have the ability to age a bit longer than many white wines. Semillon is widely grown in Australia and many of the most popular Australian export whites are Semillon and Chardonnay blended together. I might also add we make some very nice Semillon in my home state of Washington as this is a grape partial to long warm days and cool nights. This is a perfect wine for the summer and lends itself well to many of our tradition summer bean salads and chicken dishes. Remember to send your wine questions to linda at vine to wine dot net and thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.
Previous ReportEmail Questions
Next ReportWine & Travel