L'Ecole No 41 Fries Vineyard Wahluke Slope Columbia Valley Semillon 2004 Tasting Notes

The wine is carefully barrel fermented and aged on the lees for seven months. The oak is present as you would expect but lets the fruit drive on through: peach, apricot, pineapple, banana. On the nose the deeply golden wine presents both floral and mineral elements, but as the wine and palate start to become friends the key complement to the fruit becomes buttered toast (a key Hunter Valley characteristic, by the way). The wine's considerable finish adds nice tart notes of kiwi and ripe lime to the rest of the fruit.

Semillon is easy to grow, and I think, like Chardonnay, fairly easy to pronounce, two traits that might give it a future in the American wine spectrum. L'Ecole No 41's Semillon adds a third and winning factor; it is convivial and the sassy fruit is downright fun.