Winemaker Notes
Blend: 65% Sauvignon Blanc, 35% Semillon
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This estate, particularly well known for its white wines, has lived up to its reputation in this new release. The wine is rich while also taut, young and textured. Spice from wood aging comes in at the end. Drink from 2026.
Cellar Selection -
James Suckling
Spiced lemon, ginger, gooseberries and minerals on the nose. Broad, medium- to full-bodied palate with fresh acidity and a zippy finish. 65% sauvignon and 35% semillon.
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Decanter
Bright and tangy, high acidity with a crispness to the expression - fresh green apple. Almost too tart for me, but it's lifted with lots of energy and a really sherbet-esque edge to the palate which gives character. Lots of citrus lemon and lime adding to the flavours and lingering on the finish.
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Wine Spectator
This fresh white has a brisk edge, delivering white peach and yellow apple gelée notes, along with hints of lemon curd and salted butter. Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.
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.