Sémillon

Sémillon is a golden-skinned white Bordeaux grape that makes waxy, lanolin-rich, honeyed wines of low-to-medium acidity and a soft, broad texture. It is one of the most versatile white grapes in the world: blended with high-acid Sauvignon Blanc it builds dry white Bordeaux and the great Pessac-Léognan whites, and its thin skin makes it especially prone to "noble rot," at the heart of the sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac. In Australia's Hunter Valley it is picked early and bottled bone-dry and unoaked, ageing for decades into one of the world's most distinctive whites. Once the most planted white grape on earth, it remains a quietly central variety prized for its body, longevity and affinity for both oak and botrytis.