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.

 
1. Rosemont Estate Semillon (EB; 12.0%) 2001: Pale yellow color; clean slight herbal bit waxy/ floral/honeysuckle nose; tart bit thin/lean very citric/grapefruity/metallic hard flavor; a lean/crisp/hard/screechy wine much in a NZ-SauvignonBlanc style. Fairly priced, good food wine.  $8.00.
2. Simon Hackett BrightView Vineyard Barossa Valley Semillon (12.5%) 2000: Med.light yellow color; more  fragrant some oaked spicy/floral/waxy nose; tart/rich some pencilly/oak fairly lush/spicy/ floral flavor; long lush tart spicy/floral light vanilla/oak finish; seems like a long arger; quite tart but has a richness to it.
3. L'Ecole No.41 SevenHills Vineyard WallaWalla Valley Estate Semillon (14.2%; BrrlFrmtd) 2000: Pale yellow color; rather herbal/sauerkrauty/reduced almost Bourbon-like/toasty/smokey/oak light floral/spicy nose; tart toasty/coconutty/oaked very lush/ripe slight herbal/floral/earthy smokey/pungent flavor; long/ripe bit herbal/earthy rather toasty/coconuty/oak finish; almost like a WhiteBurg; interesting wine that should age well.
4. Stanley Brothers Barossa Valley Full-Sister Semillon (12.5%) 1999: Med.yellow color; rather toasty/ smokey/pungent/complex/toasted coconut slight eggy/H2S some floral/waxy nose; tart very  toasty/Fr.oak/pungent lush some waxy/olive/floral flavor; med.long waxy/floral/olive some smokey/toasty/Fr.oak finish; quite rich and needs age.
5. Penfolds Adelaide Hills Semillon Trial Bin (13.5%) 1996: Med.gold color; very pungent/metallic bit smokey/forest fire/toasty/coconutty some reduced/H2S complex nose; very tart/hard/austere toasty/pungent/smokey bit reduced/stinky slight green olive flavor; long pungent/smokey/ burnt finish; not a lot of fruit; a hard/austere oaked complex Semillon that needs much age; will be a good one down the road.
6. Stevens Aged Hunter Semillon Reserve (10.7%; www.tyrrells.com.au) 1998: Pale yellow color; very  fragrant/perfumed/aromatic/very flowery spicy slight wet dog fur nose; very tart/citric/acid clean flowery/floral/honeysuckle/honeyed flavor; med.long lean/acid/citric floral/honeyed finish; almost like a GruVee or R; badly needs age.
7. Tyrrell's Wines Hunter Valley Reserve HVD Semillon (Hunter ValleyDistillery Vineyard; Planted: 1908) (11.0%; NoOak) 1995: Med.gold color; beautiful/complex gardenia/floral almost evergreen/PineSol  smokey/pungent some waxy/figgy nose; tart bit metallic gardenia/floral lemony/spicy some pungent/ toasty/coconutty flavor; very long pungent/smokey lovely floral/gardenia/perfumed finish; some complexity showing but needs much age; will be a great one.
8. Harbor Winery Livermore Valley Semillon (13.6%) 1989: Med.gold color; rather oxidized some toasty/ coconutty/pungent some sherry-like little fruit nose; soft/fat/flat rather oxidized/sherry  pungent/smokey/coconutty flavor; bit too sherry/oxidized for my taste.
9. Kalin Livermore Valley Semillon (12.5%); P&B by KalinCllrs, Novato 1992: Light gold color; slight reduced/stinky rather waxy/figgy some floral/honey light toasty/smokey/oak nose; tart bit toasty/smokey/pungent green olive/spicy/floral/figgy some complex flavor; very long light toasty/tobaccoy/pungent figgy/waxy/floral finish; shows some complexity but needs much more age.
10. Kalin Livermore Valley Semillon (12.5%) 1988: Light gold color; some more toasty/pungent/tobaccoy/ oak very perfumed/fragrant/spicy/olive complex nose; tart/acid/austere light toasty/pungent/ tobaccoy/smokey figgy/waxy/olive very spicy complex flavor; very long/lingering pungent/ toasty/tobaccoy very spicy/fragrant/waxy/figgy finish; very interesting/complex Semillon that  needs more age.
11. McWilliams Mount Pleasant Elizabeth (Semillon; 11.0%) 1990: Med.dark gold color; strong pungent/ tobaccoy waxy/figgy/celery/floral some gout de petrol bit old Sauternes complex nose; tart rather  pungent/gout de petrol figgy/waxy/old Sauternes complex flavor; very long/lingering gout de  petrol figgy/waxy tobaccoy/pungent complex finish; showing a bit of old Sauternes/Ygrec character; lovely complex wine that needs more age; great value at $16.00 
12. McWilliams Mount Pleasant Individial Vineyard Lovedale Vineyard Semillon (11.0%) 1986: Med.gold color; lovely/complex smokey/tobaccoy/pungent rather old Sauternes some waxy/figgy/green olive very complex nose; tart lush/figgy/waxy pungent/tobaccoy old Sauternes/complex flavor; very long/ lingering complex/old Sauternes hard/acid quite lush/figgy finish; a beautiful/complex Semillon that can still age longer; lovely Semillon.
13. Comtesse Durieu de Lacarelle nee Lur Saluces Chateau Filhot Sauternes 1975: Med.dark gold color; rather lean some cement vat/musty (not corked) slight herbal/grassy some earthy slight petroly little botrytis bit complex nose; off-dry tart/hard/austere bit earthy/wet cement slight caramel/butterscotchy flavor; med.short hard/austere bit musty/wet pavement/earthy slight botrytis finish; little complexity or old Sauternes character; perhaps needs more age but not sure where it's going; unthrilling Sauternes, lacks richness or lushness.

1. Semillon varietal character: Still am struggling to identify varietal character in Semillon. Must be that damned terroir thing getting in the way all the time. Many from Calif I've had  have that herbal/SauvBlanc-like character to them. Many seem to show a floral/waxy/olive character. What strikes me about the variety is that even when harvested fully ripe and the wine is up 13% alc and the wine has a lot of lushness on the palate, it still has this bracing/hard  acidity to it. Sort of like the Barbera of the white wine world. A quality that bodes well for its ageibility. All in all, an intriguing white variety I wish I understood better. I've had some very old Oz Semillons (25-30 yrs of age) with Darrell Corti that are amazing/complex wines. Some of these I expect to become like those.