Tim Jackson MW would like us all to take more notice of the great grape of Sauternes, in dry form.
I am a big fan of Sémillon. With its thin skins rendering it prone to benevolent attack by botrytis, it is rightly lauded as the backbone of the great sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac. In its dry form, however, it is often overlooked and, in my view, undervalued.
Even the great dry white bordeaux of Pessac-Léognan, whose character is often shaped by a large slug of the variety in its blends with Sauvignon Blanc, typically receive less attention than...