Winemaker Notes
Blend: 70% Sauvignon Blanc, 30% Semillon
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
So much licorice and fennel seed on the nose with lemon and dried pear undertones. Full body, bright acidity and lots of stone, apple skin and citrus undertones. A solid and serious dry white that will deliver pleasure now but will improve for many years ahead.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is all herbal fruits, with spice from the wood-aging and lively acidity. It has considerable potential, full of its nervy texture, minerality and tight acidity. Wait at least into 2020. Tristan and Loïc Kressmann now run the family estate.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
From the beginning of my wine career, I have always enjoyed distinctive Pessac-Léognan Blanc wines from the Bordeaux region of France but felt that the marketplace never gave these wines their just due. I recall in the mid-1980s tasting and savoring the 1966 Château La Louvière, which was nearly 20 years old—that wine was bright, delicious, and complex. Since that magic moment, I have always been on the lookout for Pessac. The 2013 Château LaTour-Martillac is active and delectable. The wine exhibits excellent brightness and flavors of dried citrus and herbs. Long and crisp on the palate and drinking well now, this would be a great match with raw oysters. In the meantime, I will be hunting down more Pessac-Léognan and living life to the fullest. (Tasted: October 21, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 LaTour Martillac Blanc has a grassy, lime and gooseberry-scented bouquet, the Sauvignon Blanc in charge and driving the aromatics. The palate is crisp and fresh on the entry with a pleasant saline entry, a touch of bitter lemon and a vibrant, quite sustained finish that just attenuates slightly, though I suspect that will be addressed with bottle age. Bunker this in your cellar for 3 or 4 years before reaching for the waiter's friend.
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Wine Spectator
Stylish, with an alluring brioche edge underscoring the white peach, verbena and straw flavors. Stays racy through the finish, presenting a lingering whiff of toast.
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.