by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

 

Semillons
Tasted this week with my SantaFe group some Semillons
Rosenblum Livermore Vlly Reserve Semillon (14.2%) '97: Light gold color; strong figgy/Semillon rather toasty/oaked/smokey interesting nose; tart bit grassy rather figgy/Semillon lush bit hard flavor; long ripe figgy toasty/oaked finish; lots of toasty/oak & ripe fig character; very good Aussie-style Semillon. One of the best from Calif I've had. A steal at $14.00
Penfolds South Australia Semillon BarrelFrmtd (13.5%) ClareVlly/BarossaVlly/ McLarenVale '94: Med.dark gold color; very strong smokey/toasty/vanilla slight oxidized complex some old Sauternes nose; very ripe figgy toasty/oaked/vanilla some toasted cocanutty flavor; long toasty/vanilla/coconutty some figgy rather old Sauternes finish; very interesting rather old Sauternes character. Great price at $15.00
Lenswood Vnyds Semillon 76% BarriqueFrmtd (13.5%) '97: Light color; rather grassy/herbal/SB-like light oaked light figgy nose; soft light figgy some herbal/grassy bit lean/spare some toasty/oaked flavor; med.long lean/tart some herbal/grassy/figgy light toasty/oaked finish; not much oak nor ripeness and rather lean on the palate.
Penfolds Old Vine Barossa Vlly Semillon (12.5%) BarrelFrmtd '96: Med.light gold color; pencilly very strong vanilla/toasty/smokey/butterscotchy orangey bit oxidized rather complex nose; tart strong vanilla/toasty rather figgy smokey/ complex flavor; very long complex bit oxidized toasty/vanilla/toasted coconut tart finish; an interesting bit oxidized wine.
McWilliam's Mt Pleasant Sauternes Late Harvest Semillon Hunter Vlly '81: Dark gold color; very strong orangy/toasty/tobaccoy some oxidized very complex some brandy-like/vanilla/oaked rather Tokaji/passito-like nose; slightly sweet rather brandy-like/bit oxidized passito/Tokaji/slight oxidized some orangy/ figgy flavor; very long bit oxidized/Tokaji/passito-like smokey/toasty/oaked slight bitter finish; rather complex peculiar eccentric wine that I found quite interesting; but not Sauternes at all.
Ch.Gravas Sauternes (14%) '79: Med.gold color; rather ripe/figgy little botrytis some oaked bit simple/earthy nose; tart bit chalky/cement tanky hard/ earthy little botrytis or fruit flavor; med. hard earthy chalky/cement tanky little fruit nor botrytis finish; a mediocre Sauternes to which time has not been kind.
Ch. Filhot (14%) Sauternes '79: Light gold color; very strong celery/celeriac weird/herbal bit alcoholic no fruit or botrytis nose; slightly sweet lean/hard very celeriac/celery no botrytis no fruit no oak flavor; med.short very celery/ celeriac/herbal finish; nothing left of a once mediocre Sauternes.
Ch. Bouscla Barsac '76: Med.gold color; some Sauternes/butterscotchy rather earthy slight volatile light figgy nose; sweet/tart slight cement vat some botrytis/figgy bit butterscotchy flavor; med.long some earthy/cement vat weak figgy/butterscotchy/oak/botrytis rather lean/hard finish; time has passed this one by too.
Ch. Laribotte Sauternes '76: Med.dark gold color; fragrant complex old Sauternes/ butterscotchy/pencilly some figgy/ripe nose; soft rich figgy/butterscotchy/ botrytis some earthy/complex flavor; long complex rather butterscotchy/figgy light toasty/pencilly/oaked finish; interesting and holding up well w/ some nice old-Sauternes character.
Peter Lehmann Barossa Vlly Semillon Sauternes (10.8%; RS:14.0 Brix) '84: Dark gold color; intense apricotty/botrytis rather vanilla very bitterscotchy/ toasted coconutty/oaked fairly complex nose; soft/fat very figgy very apricotty/ peachy/botrytis toasty/toasted coconut quite sweet flavor; long soft/fat very strong rotted apricots/peachy/botrytis/figgy rather butterscotchy/oaked finish; not Sauternes & bit flabby but really delicious & interesting.
Penfolds Late Harvest South Australia Semillon (10.3%; RS: 16.7%; SaH: 34.2%) '87: Med.dark gold color; strong butterscotchy/oaked/tobaccoy some apricotty/ botrytis some complex figgy nose; strong tobaccoy/toasty/butterscotchy rather figgy/apricotty/botrytis flavor; long soft rich sweet strong tobaccoy/toasty/ oaked rather figgy/apricotty/botrytis finish; more acidity & zip and not as flabby as the Lehmann.
Andrew Quady Essensia Orange Muscat (17%) '82: Dark gold rather brown color; cheap shaving cream/cologne alcoholic some orangy/toasted cocunut bit strange slight oxidized nose; soft very sweet toasted coconut/grapey light orangey bit herbal/Kansas feed store grapey flavor; med.long bit oxidized light orangy some Kansas feed store grapey toasted coconut finish; a strange porky dessert wine w/ some interesting things therein.

When I first started tasting wines a few yrs ago, the first Semillons I had were from Calif. They struck me as rather green olive/herbal in character, hard & lean, a Sauvignon Blanc wannabe; totally underwhelmed. Then Phil Reich at the Liquor Mart urged me to try an Ygrec, the dry version from off-yrs of Ch. d'Yquem. I was mightly impressed by the wine. Lots of the same stuff of Yquem, 'ceptin' it was dry. Then one time Darrell Corti served me a 15 yr old and 25 yr old Aussie Semillon. I was blown away by those two wines. I've since had a couple of old HarborWnry Semillons of Charlie Meyers that have been quite good. It's a variety that should be persued much more in Calif than it is. Some of the old Aussie ones can be extraordinary; lots of oak, a bit on the oxidized side; much like Joe Swan's first Chard (this was about a '73 that he screwed up royally, he thought. He aged it in some old brandy barrels he had shaved down, but apparently not enough. It picked up a slightly oxidized/brandy-like character that old Joe despised, so he sold it for a song; it wasn't WhiteBurg. I kind of liked the wine for its eccentricity and it actually aged quite well for some 10-15 yrs) w/ a toasted/coconut character. It is, of course, a tough sell and not to everyone's taste. What's sad is all the old d'Yquem-cutting Semillon in the LivermoreVlly that's been lost because of unpopularity of the variety.
The greatest expression of Semillon is, of course, in Sauternes/Barsac. Supposedly, the Semillon is much more susceptible to the botrytis than is the SauvignonBlanc. I understand that it's just the opposite in Calif. You seldom see botrytis Semillon from Calif wineries. Some of the botrytis Semillon from Australia are also stunning; though a bit over-the-top and often on the underacid/ flabby side. But a great poor-man's Sauternes. The Sauternes served above were nothing very special. The most famous was the Filhot; but back in those days Filhot (despite the Lur-Saluces connection) was making particularly undistinguished wines. The Bouscla and Laribotte were Alexis Lichine selections and purchased at dirt-cheap prices, back when you could still buy d'Yquem (750 ml) in the low-$20's. They had matured rather well I thought for cheap Sauternes; nothing profound but yet some old Sauternes character in them.
This was NOT a tasting that was well-received by my SantaFe group. At the end when I was to receive "the clap" for the tasting, the applause was half-hearted, at best, and accompanied by some pointed comments. Wine drinkers are notorious for their inability to think out-of-the-box; and that's exactly where most of these wines laid.
The first Quady Essensia was made in 1980, of which I still have a btl or two. It is made like ratafia or Angelica by taking freshly crushed grape juice and fortifying w/ grape brandy to take the alcohol up and stop any fermentation. Angelica is a wine that is legendary for its ability to age. I've had pre- prohibition Angelica from EastSide Wnry that was absolutely incredible. So I have had high hopes for Andy's Essensia (and Elysium) to turn from something mildly interesting into an amazing nectar. This bottle was not that nector and I'm not sure it will ever be in my lifetime (i.e. the next 44 yrs). It was a pretty strange wine, somewhat interesting, but not to everyone's (anyone's?) taste. Orange Muscat was planted in Calif mainly at the behest of Darrell Corti, based on some Italian ones that he was/is fond of. When young, it has this very intriguing scent of orange blossoms. I'm not sure that making it as an Angelica is the best way to capture that scent. One of the best I've had of this peculiar wine is Randall Graham's (sorta figures) Arancio; lovely stuff. A variety that should be persued more.