Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A creamy white with lots of dried lemon, apple and a stone undertone. It’s medium-bodied with a lovely, solid core of fruit and a flavorful finish. More subtle than the 2019 and the 2018. Barrel Sample: 92-93
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Wine Enthusiast
The wine brings out some attractive peach flavors as well as the more tangy citrus characters. Touches of spice indicate wood aging that will soften the wine as it develops.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Wine Spectator
Vibrant, with wet stone, sel gris, gooseberry, verbena and lemon peel notes that have good energy and definition from start to finish.
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Decanter
A little underpowered compared to some years of La Garde, this remains a great choice for Pessac polish and reasonable prices, and there is an array of stone fruit nectarine and peach flavors with white pepper edging. Would benefit from a clear tick upwards on the finish.
Barrel Sample: 90
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.