2017 Chateau Doisy-Vedrines Barsac 375ML

2017 Chateau Doisy-Vedrines Barsac 375ML

2017 Chateau Doisy-Vedrines Barsac 375ML A nice, unctuous version in the making, with apricot, melon and peach flavors laced with hazelnut and almond cream notes. A flash of green tea adds intrigue.
Barrel Sample: 92-95

94 James Suckling: Wow. This is really energetic and lively with a spicy and smoky edge from the noble rot, which gives depth and dimension to the rich palate of caramel and cooked apples. Delicious finish. Drink or hold.

94 Robert Parker: The 2017 Doisy-Vedrines gives up pretty lime cordial and lemon pie notes with a touch of mandarin peel and hints of chalk dust and ginger ale. The palate features super intense citrus fruit with great purity and depth, matched by wonderful freshness and a long finish. Barrel Sample: 92-94

91 Tim Atkin: Fresh confit citrus aromas, with some honey and baked bread characters. Intensely sweet, but with enough fresh balancing acidity. Warm, and rich in the mouth and honeyed on the finish. A little disjointed at this stage, but will be good. Barrel Sample: 89-91Sémillon

Sémillon

Sémillon is one of the wine world’s unsung heroes. The gold-skinned grape produces France’s most famous and revered sweet wines. Notably the long-lived and expensive dessert wines of Sauternes as well as some of the greatest dry white wines of Australia (specifically those of the Hunter Valley). And yet, few Sémillons between these two extremes attract much attention.

The most searched-for Sémillon wine in our database is the Château Climens Grand Vin de Sauternes.

The grape’s home is Bordeaux, and in the 1960s it was planted more than any other variety there. It is here on the Atlantic coast that Sémillon gives its most famous expression: the botrytis-affected wines of Sauternes. Foggy mornings followed by sunny afternoons encourage the development of Botrytis cinerea, leading to the luscious, long-lived wines that are some of the most collectable in the world.

In the Hunter Valley, just north of Sydney, some say that a certain amount of rain is actually beneficial to the production of unoaked Sémillon. The best Hunter Valley Sémillons have such high acidity that they used to be referred to as Hunter Valley Riesling, although there seems to be less confusion these days. These wines are some of the longest-living dry white wines in the world.

Dry Sémillon wines are also found in Graves, and to a lesser extent in the United States, New Zealand, Chile and South Africa. In fact, Sémillon was once the most widespread variety in both South Africa and Chile, but changing tastes have seen plantings decrease dramatically in the past 150 years.