Wine Adviser / Paul Gregutt
Lovely semillon deserves to make a comeback

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While Washington's viognier acreage is up 380 percent in the most recent four-year statistical survey, semillon has actually declined by 10 percent.

The trend seems likely to continue, as more and more Washington Rhone Rangers join the California posse. Viognier is one of those hip Rhone Valley boys; semillon, outside of Sauternes, where it is turned into honeyed nectar, doesn't have much cachet. Therefore, it doesn't bring growers much cash. So it's getting yanked.

Now, I have nothing against viognier, but if you taste it side by side with a good, dry semillon, I'll take the semillon every time. It's got more stuffing and shows less astringency, bitterness and alcoholic heat. It is a glorious match for crab cakes and all sorts of white fish, poultry, pastas and noodle dishes. It takes naturally to new oak, without completely giving over its identity to flavors of buttered popcorn, as happens so often with chardonnay.

Call me a sentimentalist if you must, but semillon (pronounced SEMIyawn) has enjoyed a long and successful history here in Washington state and should be one of our calling-card grapes.

It doesn't do all that well in many places in the world, but it does here. In fact, semillon was one of a handful of varietal wines to be released from the watershed 1967 vintage — the first commercial vintage for both Ste. Michelle Vineyards (now Chateau Ste. Michelle) and Associated Vintners (now Columbia).

These days it is mostly critics who sing the praises of semillon, which seems to be the kiss of death for white wines. Yet the usual sorts of reasons for a lack of consumer popularity don't seem to apply.

Semillon is not impossible to pronounce, like gewurztraminer. It's got a good French pedigree. It's a grape that can be used as part of a high-end Bordeaux blend, such as Chaleur Estate Blanc or Three Rivers Meritage, or mixed with chardonnay as the Australians do to make a very nice warm-weather quaffing wine. What's not to like?

The best way to appreciate the flavors that varietal semillon brings to the table is to drink wines labeled as such, which means that they must be at least 75 percent semillon. There often may be some sauvignon blanc blended in, generally to give the finished wine more acid backbone and lift.

When it is blended, barrel fermented and aged in new oak, semillon may be aiming for the Bordeaux blanc model, but some of my favorite Washington versions are unblended, and see more used than new oak, yet still deliver stand-up flavors.
 
The most widely available semillons are also among the most affordable. Ste. Michelle and Columbia make solid versions, unflashy food wines that are more workhorse than racehorse. For many years the most effective evangelist for Washington semillon has been Marty Clubb at L'Ecole No. 41, who regularly makes three dry versions, in bold styles that turn heads.

But suddenly, to my astonishment, the grape seems to be catching on among some of the new wineries springing up statewide. Perhaps good semillon grapes are easier to come by and less expensive than, say, viognier.

In any event, a spate of terrific varietal semillons have turned up, and while the warm side of fall is in full sway, I suggest you grab a bottle or two, from either the 2002 or 2003 vintage, and see what a great transition wine semillon can be, before the reds of winter come roaring back.

Paul Gregutt is the author of "Northwest Wines." His column appears weekly in the Wine section. He can be reached by e-mail at wine@seattletimes.com.