Chateau Clos Marsalette Blanc 2015
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Dunnuck
Jeb -
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James
Product Details
Your Rating
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Winemaker Notes
Blend: 65% Sauvignon Blanc, 35% Semillon
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The blend of the Clos Marsalette Blanc has shifted from equal parts Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc to slightly more Sémillon dominated and the 2015 is 65% Sémillon and 35% Sauvignon. With 30% of the wine aged in barrel, it offers a fresh, focused, beautifully pure style as well as terrific notes of ripe white peach, salty minerality and a hint of lime. You can safely drink bottles over the coming 3-4 years or cellar for a decade.
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Wine Spectator
Full and juicy, with a shortbread note giving way slowly to bright honeysuckle, green fig, yellow apple and salted butter flavors. Fresh and racy through the finish, even with a kiss of shortbread lingering. Drink now through 2020.
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James Suckling
A white with sliced dried mangoes and apple skin. Some lemons. Medium body and good fruit. Bright finish. Drink now. Enjoy.
Other Vintages
2016-
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James - Decanter
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Dunnuck
Jeb
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Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine
This vineyard sits magnificently on gravelly rises deposited eons ago by the Garonne. Offering a great diversity, the subsoil is composed of marine sediment from the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (5 to 15 million years ago) in the form of shelly sand with a bit of clay, fawn-colored sand, and multi-colored clay.
Clos Marsalette's vineyard which covers an area of 12,30 hectares (for the red wine) plus 1,30 hectares (for the white wine) is also looked after expertly in order to produce a wine reflecting the typicity of this Terroir.
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.