Semillon and seafood

This week I’m on a wine trip in South Africa (so posting may be slightly more spasmodic). There have been many great matches already but two interesting ones have involved Semillon a grape the country is beginning to handle very impressively.

We had two at our first lunch which was at Terroir on the Kleine Zalze estate in Stellenbosch: a 2006 Stellenzicht Semillon Reserve and a 2003 Boekenhoutskloof Semillon.

The Stellenzicht which was made in quite a rich style, not dissimilar from those from the Barossa Valley but with a greener edge and a crisper acidity was fantastic with an Asian-style dish of raw beef fillet with spicy ponzu sauce while the more opulent Boekenhoutskloof which had more of a white Graves feel about it proved the perfect match for a main course of poached Kingklip (a local South African fish) with prawns and a white wine sauce (right)

It reminds one what an underrated wine Semillon is.

I am in South Africa as a guest of Wines of South Africa.