Chateau Lespault-Martillac Blanc 2018
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck - Decanter
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Complex aromas of grapefruit zest, guava, fennel and crushed stones. It’s medium-bodied with tangy acidity. Sleek and tight layers with a gently spiced finish. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Composed of 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Semillon, this wine was fermented in oak barriques, 35% new. The Lespault-Martillac 2018 Blanc comes galloping out of the glass with bold green guava and warm pineapple scents followed by notions of grapefruit, lemongrass and lime cordial plus a waft of honeysuckle. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers mouth-coating tropical fruits and a satiny texture with great length and freshness.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Jeb Dunnuck
Made by the team at Domaine de Chevalier, the 2018 Château Lespault-Martillac Blanc is a blend of 70% Sauvignon and 30% Sémillon brought up in barrel. Exotic white grapefruit, honeyed lime, and salty mineral notes all emerge from the glass of this beauty, and it's nicely concentrated and medium-bodied, with bright acidity and a crisp, dry, lengthy finish. It's brilliantly done and has a good 7-8 years, if not a decade of longevity ahead of it.
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Decanter
This is silky and nicely held together, pretty tight in its liquorice and oak flavours, not leaving much room for the dark fruit quality lurking in the background.
Drinking Window 2022 - 2031. Barrel Sample: 90
Other Vintages
2022-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling - Decanter
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator - Decanter
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James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
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James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
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James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator
Starting with the 2009 vintage, the owners, the Jean-Claude Bolleau family, have entrusted management of this estate to Domaine de Chevalier, a Graves great growth. Olivier Bernard and his team have undertaken to make this wine with an outstanding potential one of the jewels of the Pessac-Leognan appellation. In order to do so, they use the same methods as the finest great growths: ploughing the soil, sustainable viticulture, plot-by-plot vineyard management, hand picking and careful sorting of grapes, their transfer by gravity flow into small 50-80 hectolitre fermentation vats, finely-tuned extraction, malolactic fermentation, ageing in barrel on the lees, etc.
Sometimes light and crisp, other times rich and creamy, Bordeaux White Blends typically consist of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Often, a small amount of Muscadelle or Sauvignon Gris is included for added intrigue. Popularized in Bordeaux, the blend is often mimicked throughout the New World. Somm Secret—Sauternes and Barsac are usually reserved for dessert, but they can be served before, during or after a meal. Try these sweet wines as an aperitif with jamón ibérico, oysters with a spicy mignonette or during dinner alongside hearty Alsatian sausage.
Recognized for its superior reds as well as whites, Pessac-Léognan on the Left Bank claims classified growths for both—making it quite unique in comparison to its neighboring Médoc properties.
Pessac’s Chateau Haut-Brion, the only first growth located outside of the Médoc, is said to have been the first to conceptualize fine red wine in Bordeaux back in the late 1600s. The estate, along with its high-esteemed neighbors, La Mission Haut-Brion, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pique-Caillou and Chateau Pape-Clément are today all but enveloped by the city of Bordeaux. The rest of the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan are in clearings of heavily forested area or abutting dense suburbs.
Arid sand and gravel on top of clay and limestone make the area unique and conducive to growing Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc as well as the grapes in the usual Left Bank red recipe: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and miniscule percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.
The best reds will show great force and finesse with inky blue and black fruit, mushroom, forest, tobacco, iodine and a smooth and intriguing texture.
Its best whites show complexity, longevity and no lack of exotic twists on citrus, tropical and stone fruit with pronounced floral and spice characteristics.