Red Rooster releases its first Semillon

Tasting this wine, which is Red Rooster Winery’s first Semillon, took me back to a memorable tasting I had years ago in the Hunter Valley in Australia at the Lindemans winery with Gerry Sissingh. Gerry, who died in 2014 at age 78, made legendary Semillon wines that were good on release and got even better with age. He showed me wines 10 or more years in age. I was somewhat familiar with Semillon, having been a member of the Commanderie de Bordeaux. There in France, the grape is usually blended with Sauvignon Blanc. Next door to Bordeaux in Sauternes, the grape makes the world’s finest dessert wines.

Gerry’s wines were dry, perhaps because the Hunter Valley does not have the conditions that promote noble rot on the grapes; more likely because the dry versions were exceptional and unique. James Halliday, in his 2006 book, Wine Atlas of Australia, wrote: “Semillon is for many the great wine of the Lower Hunter. It demands time in bottle to build from a thin and vaguely grassy youth to a honeyed, nutty, buttery/toasty mouthfilling richness at 10-20 years of age.”

When I was tasting the Red Rooster wine, I checked my files to find out if Elaine Vickers (pictured), the Canadian-born winemaker, had studied in Australia. She had indeed. She has a graduate diploma in winemaking from the University of Adelaide, which is a long way from the Lower Hunter. "I studied with a gentleman from the Hunter Valley, so I picked his brains about the Sem before I started making it," she told me.

I doubt that the sere terroir of the Okanagan – the grapes are from a vineyard near Oliver - has much in common with the Lower Hunter. Yet this wine rang a Hunter Valley bell for me.

There are not many single varietal Semillons produced in Okanagan or the Similkameen, again because the grape is more often blended with Sauvignon Blanc. Year in and year out, Bartier Bros. makes a Semillon that is memorable for its minerality. I hope Michael Bartier is aging a few vintages. Anyone who manages to buy a bottle of the Red Rooster Semillon should buy a second one, if not several, and lay the wine down. I think Elaine has made a wine that Gerry Sissingh would admire.

Red Rooster Semillon 2020 ($29.99 for 117 cases). This wine was fermented and aged entirely in stainless steel. It begins with aromas of lemon rind and spice. On the palate, there are layers of fruit – grapefruit, apple, honeydew melon. A backbone of minerality gives the wine structure, with a dry finish. This recalls Hunter Valley Semillon, a varietal renowned for its ability to age. Put some of this away for five years. 92.