Winemaker Notes
#13 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2021
The wine is pale yellow with a slightly green tint. Coming from a vintage that could be called solar after the beginning of ripening, this wine has a fresh aromatic nose combining the characteristics of the two grape varieties (grapefruit and apricot). On the palate the attack is round and the expected acidity was able to be maintained thanks to the clay-limestone soil facing north. In mouth, the wine is long and with ageing the unctuous Semillon will continue to fill the mid-palate. This wine is very well-balanced.
Blend: 65% Sauvignon, 35% Semillon
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A brisk lemon pith note flanks a core of lemon curd, honeysuckle, tarragon, oyster shell and salted butter notes, with a hint of warm, herbed focaccia on the finish adding range and contrast. Delicious. Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. Drink now through 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Carbonnieux 2018 Blanc features intense lime juice, yuzu and green mango scents with touches of lemon curd and white pepper. Medium-bodied, very tightly wound and zesty in the mouth, it has a racy backbone and a mineral-laced finish.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Decanter
Lovely juice, and a sense of freshness and uplift, with white flowers and pink grapefruit alongside other citrus. This is delicate; a little soft on the finish but a fresh wine in a warm year.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The top white, the 2018 Château Carbonnieux Blanc is largely Sauvignon with around one-quarter Sémillon. Lots of ripe lemon, leafy herb, rocky mineral, and a hint of white grapefruit emerge from the glass, and it's medium-bodied, with bright yet integrated acidity and a great finish. It's an outstanding, complex, interesting white that should have 4-6 years of prime drinking, probably longer.
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James Suckling
Whole lemon, green mango and bell pepper on the nose with a hint of chalk. It’s medium-bodied with bright acidity and a creamy, honeyed texture. Drink or hold.
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.