Introduction

Sémillon is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, most notably in France and Australia. The origin of the Sémillon grape is hard to determine. It is known that it first arrived in Australia in the early 19th century and by the 1820s the grape covered over 90 percent of South Africa’s vineyards. Today, it accounts for just 1% of South African Cape vines. In the 1950s, Chile’s vineyards were made up of over 75% Sémillon. It was once considered to be the most planted grape in the world, although this is no longer the case.