Acid test
In the grape-variety hierarchy, it is Chardonnay that hogs the white-wine limelight. While Sauvignon Blanc seeks to seduce with its overt aromas, and Viognier and Pinot Gris jockey for position as the Next Big Thing, other white varieties just don't get a look-in. Take Sémillon, for instance. Why aren't wine-makers the world over planting what some believe to be one of France's greatest white grapes?
One of the main reasons is that modern palates prefer dry wines. In France, Sémillon is an important component in the grape blend for the sweetly honeyed wines of Sauternes and Barsac. But, frankly, Sémillon has just not proved an international success as a dry white variety. In fact, it is really in only two places that this large-berried, thin-skinned grape makes dry wines of note: Bordeaux and Australia.
In Bordeaux, the cool, marginal climate produces balanced, pleasant - if not outrageously characterful - whites. Sometimes a bit of new wood gives these wines a bit more "seriousness". In Australia, on the other hand, Sémillon is most often left playing solo, as a varietal wine. Here, its tendency to high acidity means that it can cope with the hot climate without becoming flabby. Additionally, Australian Sémillons often have a good whack of oak, from barrel fermentation, barrel ageing or both. Only recently have producers begun to make "unwooded" styles.
So, how do Australian Sémillons stack up? Is this a style that sommeliers ought to be recommending? Does Sémillon deserve to grab more of the limelight from other varieties? To find out, Caterer put the wines to the test.
The panel
The panel was led by Caterer wine editor Fiona Sims, joined by Mike Dowding, a manager and wine buyer at Smith's of Smithfield; Jason McAuliffe, head sommelier at Chez Bruce; restaurant consultant Nick Tarayan; Robert Wilson, proprietor and wine buyer for Bleeding Heart and the Don; restaurant consultant Douglas Wregg; and freelance food and drink writer Susan Low.
The tasting
The tasters gathered at the Chez Bruce restaurant in Wandsworth Common, south-west London. To find out what was what, we sampled 24 Australian Sémillons. One was from the 2000 vintage, while most came from the 1999 and 1998 vintages. There were a number of wines from 1997 and 1996, as well as single samples from 1995 and 1994. The wines came from all over Australia, from the more "traditional" regions of the Hunter Valley to cooler areas like Clare Valley and Margaret River, as well as Barossa, Eden Valley and McLaren Vale. In price, the wines ran the gamut from about £40 per case to £140 duty-paid, excluding VAT.
The verdict
When the spittoons were emptied, tasters agreed that they felt a bit let down by the wines. For starters, they found that too many of the wines were mean on the palate, with a distinct lack of fruit and searingly high acidity. McAuliffe said: "At the bottom end, there were a lot of unbalanced wines, with high residual sugar and high acidity." Wregg added: "There were a lot of lumbering, flat, heavy and hollow wines in the line-up." He, too, found the high residual sugars and high "lemon juice" acidities difficult to love.
According to Tarayan, the wines were "half-and-half, quality-wise. Few were undrinkable, but I didn't find them appealing from an enjoyment point of view. There are a lot of other varieties out there that are more appealing." For Tarayan, the oaked wines held more attraction than the unoaked ones.
Regarding the oak question, Wilson pointed out that in his experience whites flagged up as "unoaked" flew off the wine list for their "gimmicky appeal". With Sémillon, though, the oak goes beyond gimmickiness. Most tasters agreed that oak, when not overdone, gave the wines more structure and balance. Wregg suggested that the oak might also help to disguise an innate lack of fruit.
Interestingly, the top-scoring wines came from both warm and cool regions. For McAuliffe, two wines from Margaret River stood out for being "balanced and elegant". However, the panel didn't find a three-star (Best quality around) rating at this tasting.
A bottle of Henschke's "Louis" Eden Valley Sémillon 1995 from Chez Bruce's cellar elicited quite a lot of excitement from the panel, but as it wasn't tasted blind the results have not been included here. Nonetheless, this wine gave what tasters were looking for: "Well-judged, smoky wood tones on the nose and a balanced palate; well-integrated oak and fruit - a much more complex wine", in the words of one panel member.
Another issue with Australian Sémillon is age. Fans of the variety argue that Aussie Sémillon is a wine for the long term. If left, they say, for at least five years - and as much as 20 - the tough acidity will fall away, leaving something rounder, nuttier and altogether more complex in its place. Indeed, the older wines did seem to earn higher overall marks than the young ones.
The problem here, of course, is cellaring costs. Valuable cellar space is more likely to be devoted to expensive wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy or the Rhône. Those wines, at least, can justify costs with higher wine list mark-ups. Too few restaurant-goers will be willing to spend the extra money on an unfamiliar variety from the New World, where the more common trend is early drinking. Sémillon's strength lies in its versatility as a blending grape. As a varietal, it lacks what one taster called "the wow factor".
