100% Sémillon; estate-grown in Hood River, OR; planted 2008; Columbia Gorge AVA; 100 cases produced; brought up in newish barrels & steel; 13.1% ABV.
I can’t think of anyone I’ve met who claims Sémillon to be their very favorite variety, but that may just be because we live in the wrong place. There’s not much of it around; when we planted this bit in Hood River years ago I knew of no other vines in the area— if there are any even now. Yet the variety is an excellent supporting actor, is particularly suited to intensely sweet, late-harvest wines, and creates very distinctive dry bottlings in the hands of certain Australians. Very worth getting a little obsessed with.
We decided to bottle our Sémillon on its own in ‘22, as we sometimes do. This is textured and ample and feels extremely energetic, owing to the hugely appetizing interplay of crunchy acidity and the smidge of unresolved sugar. The aromas are tight (beeswax, preserved white fruits, struck flint?) and unwind over time. I usually think of our wines as they might accompany and “converse with” food, but just now, as the impressions of a sip ebb in my mouth, I have the feeling that I’ve just experienced something very good, self-contained, and complete… and I just want that again.
