North Willamette Valley growers Dave and Mary Hansen reach over the Oregon/Washington border and into Red Mountain for this delicate and delicious late harvest Sèmillon they’ve named after their daughter. Renowned winemaker Laurent Montalieu, who trained in Bordeaux before landing in Napa, continues his success with this white Bordeaux grape, which was harvested Nov. 27. His traditional program includes a program of barrel fermentation in French oak, most of it new, and aging for 13 months. That allows for fascinating aromas of caramel, butter, honeycomb and white orchard fruit. There’s no disappointment in the flavors, which include Fiddle Faddle popcorn and a pleasing texture that nicely balances the residual sugar of 13%. The family suggests pairing this with foie gras, blue cheese, toasted coconut macaroons, apricot almond guelette, lemon curd filled crepes with Sèmillon lemon zest reduction sauce, or puff pastry filled with nectarine and cranberries
sweetened by the Sèmillon with a vanilla cream sauce. It can also serve as a substitute for simple syrup in tropical-themed cocktails. This grabbed a silver medal in the White Dessert category of wines with more than 3.5% residual sugar at the 2016 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. And there’s no need to pull these so soon from the cellar as stickies such as this are built to age a decade.
Rating: Excellent
Production: 260 cases
Alcohol: 13.7%
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