Sémillon's a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, most notably in France and Australia. History The history of the Sémillon grape's hard to determine. It's known that it first arrived in Australia in the early 1800s and by the 1820s the grape covered over 90 percent of South Africa's vineyards, where it was known as Wyndruif, meaning "wine grape". It's fairly resistant to disease, except for rot. The grape ripens early, when, in warmer climates, it acquires a p… (More on Semillon)