Foursight Wines’ estate Charles Vineyard boasts a third of an acre of Sémillon, a grape that’s rarely made into a varietal wine in California. Foursight basked-presses their fruit and lets it ferment with native cultures in a mix stainless steel and French oak barrels. The lots were allowed to go through full malolactic, and the wine was released unfined and unfiltered. Consistent with the winery’s practices, the bottle is is ingredient labeled; it contains only grapes and sulfur dioxide.
The body is pale sunlight yellow and its fragrance is a quiet suggestion of tree fruits — mostly Anjou pear and sappy green apple — mingling with new-mown grass. The texture is silken but the wine shimmers with acidity, and here the pear notes deepen into something more like baked Bosc accented with laurel and lime.
It feels somewhat old school. Not exactly Bordeaux-like, but lustrous and pleasing, and especially admirable given its humane alcohol level.
2015 Foursight Wines Sémillon Charles Vineyard Anderson Valley
12.8% abv | $25 (sample) 125 cases made
Foursight Wines
