Offered in Los Angeles in 2019 to Educateurs of the Commanderie de Bordeaux, this discuss examined the vary of kinds and flavors to be found in fashionable white wines of Bordeaux. Mary Gorman-McAdams, MW famous that there are 13 appellations producing white wines which, till the devastating frost of 1956, accounted for almost all of grapes grown in Bordeaux. Replanting favored the reds, which have been extra marketable on the time, and the whites “fell from favor and taste.” Within the Nineteen Nineties, improvements akin to temperature management in chrome steel tanks (preserving fruit and lowering oxidation) have been launched by Henri Lurton and Denis Dubourdieux. As for the grapes, sauvignon blanc grown on clay-gravel or limestone contributes aromatics and citrus notes; semillon raises complexity, mouthfeel and ageability; muscadelle provides delicate, floral notes with a touch of muscat; and sauvignon gris (through which she was notably ) is sort of a “dialed-back sauvignon blanc” with extra mouthfeel and a “spicy kick.” The tasting included: Ch. Ste-Marie VV 2017 (Entre-Deux-Mers in an amazing classic for whites); Ch. de Bellevue (Lussac-St. Emilion), created from old-vines sauvignon gris; Ch. Les Charmes-Godard 2016 (60% Sem, 25% SG, 15% SB); Ch. Auney L’Hermitage 2015 (50/50 SB and Sem, thought-about a “sommeliers’ secret” from Graves); S de Suduiraut 2016 (56% SB/44% Sem from Southern Graves, aka Sauternes) with honeyed notes probably from botrytis; La Semillante de Sigalas 2015 (100% Sem from Southern Graves) with unique, waxy fruit; Ch. du Tertre Blanc 2015 (appellation Bordeaux Blanc, from the Medoc), an attention-grabbing experiment composed of 42% chardonnay, Gros Manseng, Viognier and solely 11% SB; and eventually, Ch. Carbonnieux 2015 (70% SB, 30% Sem from highly-regarded Pessac-Leognan) with orange, kumquat, peach and even papaya, as a consequence of its heat microclimate. Fairly a large and interesting vary of results, relying on cepages and terroirs!
Tasting suggestion: Ch. Carbonnieux Blanc 2014, Pessac-Leognan.
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