diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230929-175342.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230929-175342.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..190e3a26588
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230929-175342.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+kind: Fixes
+body: Fix tag selection for projects with semantic models
+time: 2023-09-29T17:53:42.960596+02:00
+custom:
+  Author: jtcohen6
+  Issue: "8749"
diff --git a/core/dbt/graph/selector_methods.py b/core/dbt/graph/selector_methods.py
index 57d559aa606..520c4df3c52 100644
--- a/core/dbt/graph/selector_methods.py
+++ b/core/dbt/graph/selector_methods.py
@@ -234,7 +234,9 @@ class TagSelectorMethod(SelectorMethod):
     def search(self, included_nodes: Set[UniqueId], selector: str) -> Iterator[UniqueId]:
         """yields nodes from included that have the specified tag"""
         for node, real_node in self.all_nodes(included_nodes):
-            if any(fnmatch(tag, selector) for tag in real_node.tags):
+            if hasattr(real_node, "tags") and any(
+                fnmatch(tag, selector) for tag in real_node.tags
+            ):
                 yield node
 
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_graph_selector_methods.py b/tests/unit/test_graph_selector_methods.py
index 94153159640..49c4c86219e 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_graph_selector_methods.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_graph_selector_methods.py
@@ -1295,6 +1295,21 @@ def test_select_semantic_model(manifest):
     assert search_manifest_using_method(manifest, method, "*omer") == {"customer"}
 
 
+def test_select_semantic_model_by_tag(manifest):
+    semantic_model = make_semantic_model(
+        "pkg",
+        "customer",
+        model="customers",
+        path="_semantic_models.yml",
+    )
+    manifest.semantic_models[semantic_model.unique_id] = semantic_model
+    methods = MethodManager(manifest, None)
+    method = methods.get_method("tag", [])
+    assert isinstance(method, TagSelectorMethod)
+    assert method.arguments == []
+    search_manifest_using_method(manifest, method, "any_tag")
+
+
 @pytest.fixture
 def previous_state(manifest):
     writable = copy.deepcopy(manifest).writable_manifest()