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Wine Details
Price:
$19.95 per bottle
Description:
We've crafted our 2004 Semillon to be a lush and gratuitous, but totally easy drinking wine. With a touch of both Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat worked into the finished blend, it shows plentiful influences of honeydew and cantaloupe, an undercurrent of spicy citrus, and delicate hints of fresh green herbs. Who doesn't need a soft, luscious and mouth enveloping wine once in a while? We suggest pairing this expressive young wine with light to mid-weight spring foods.
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Varietal Definition
Sémillon:
A thin skinned grape producing wines of high extract and flavour but soft acidity. In France it combines with Sauvignon Blanc to make the white wines of Bordeaux, most notably the sweet dessert wines of Sauternes and Barsac. Its thin skin leaves it susceptible to the fungus botrytis* the much sought after 'noble rot' in these sweet wine regions. As a varietal it has fared best in Australia, notably the Hunter Valley, where it produces well-rounded wines with lots of tropical fruits and honeyed tones. Here too it is blended with Chardonnay and oak aged to give an added dimension.
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Muscat:
Muscat, thought to be one of the oldest grape varieties, is grown worldwide. It is vinified in a multitude of styles, from still to sparkling, and dry to sweet to fortified. Also called Moscato, Moscatel and Muskateller, it is a sweetly aromatic, fruity grape that has many genetic variations and colors. It probably originated in Greece but maybe the independent sultanate of Muscat in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula had something to do with it. Over 200 different varieties and derivatives to the Muscat family exist today. Muscat Canelli, Orange Muscat and Black Muscat are varieties most planted in California, which makes primarily still wine. More unusual is Muscat fermented to total dryness, which leaves greater alcohol levels and no residual sugar. Some Muscats are aged in oak to provide additional complexity.Today’s recommended Muscats represent many of these styles, so use the tasting notes and percent of residual sugar - listed if provided by the winery - to find a wine you’ll enjoy. The more sugar and the lower the alcohol, the sweeter the wine, though wines above 10 percent alcohol can also be somewhat sweet.
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Sauvignon Blanc:
Sauvignon Blanc is widely grown in California — at over 15,000 acres, it’s now the third most planted variety — and often assumes the moniker ‘Fume Blanc’. This popular synonym, credited to Napa’s Robert Mondavi, derives from the grape’s historic home of Pouilly in France’s Upper Loire Valley, where Sauvignon Blanc is the dominant varietal and goes locally by the name of ‘Blanc Fumé’. When treated with respect and afforded suitable growing conditions, Sauvignon Blanc is one of the wine world’s darlings. Steely, racy acidity, green, gooseberry fruit, asparagus and a grassy, herbaceous character characterize dry wines made from this grape.
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