Winemaker Notes
Brimming with complexity, this sleek Semillon boasts pronounced aromatics and an intense and flavorful profile, carried by a mouthwatering vibrancy. The wine presents aromas of lanolin, orange blossom, honeysuckle, and melon, leading to a palate replete with lemongrass and Key lime, along with appealing green fig and hazelnut notes. The finish is refreshing and succulent.
Blend: 88% Semillon, 12% Sauvignon Blanc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Honeysuckle, apple pie, nutmeg, hazelnut and cedar on the nose. It’s full-bodied with bright acidity. Concentrated and rich with toasty, nutty layers. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
L’Ecole has been carrying the banner for this variety in Washington for decades. This wine has everything there is to love about the variety, with textural richness and flavor intensity along with plenty of acidity to back it up. Best Buy.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Pretty pineapple and melon notes as well as honeyed floral nuances emerge from the 2019 Semillon, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a richly textured, ripe mouthfeel, good balance, and a great finish. It will unquestionably stand up to some solid Bordeaux Blanc out there and should keep for 7-8 years given its concentration and bright spice of acidity.
Sémillon has the power to create wines with considerable structure, depth and length that will improve for several decades. It is the perfect partner to the vivdly aromatic Sauvignon Blanc. Sémillon especially shines in the Bordeaux region of Sauternes, which produces some of the world’s greatest sweet wines. Somm Secret—Sémillon was so common in South Africa in the 1820s, covering 93% of the country’s vineyard area, it was simply referred to as Wyndruif, or “wine grape.”
A large and geographically diverse AVA capable of producing a wide variety of wine styles, the Columbia Valley AVA is home to 99% of Washington state’s total vineyard area. A small section of the AVA even extends into northern Oregon!
Because of its size, it is necessarily divided into several distinctive sub-AVAs, including Walla Walla Valley and Yakima Valley—which are both further split into smaller, noteworthy appellations. A region this size will of course have varied microclimates, but on the whole it experiences extreme winters and long, hot, dry summers. Frost is a common risk during winter and spring. The towering Cascade mountain range creates a rain shadow, keeping the valley relatively rain-free throughout the entire year, necessitating irrigation from the Columbia River. The lack of humidity combined with sandy soils allows for vines to be grown on their own rootstock, as phylloxera is not a serious concern.
Red wines make up the majority of production in the Columbia Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety here, where it produces wines with a pleasant balance of dark fruit and herbs. Wines made from Merlot are typically supple, with sweet red fruit and sometimes a hint of chocolate or mint. Syrah tends to be savory and Old-World-leaning, with a wide range of possible fruit flavors and plenty of spice. The most planted white varieties are Chardonnay and Riesling. These range in style from citrus and green apple dominant in cooler sites, to riper, fleshier wines with stone fruit flavors coming from the warmer vineyards.