Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The wine is rich with layers of wood aging and ripe tropical fruits. Pineapple and peach dominate, cut with some attractive lime acidity. Full of the fruit of the vintage with a texture of serious intent, the wine is tight, tangy and likely to age well. Drink from 2022.
Cellar Selection -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
I have been a longtime fan of Château LaTour-Martillac, one of the best white wines from Pessac-Léognan The 2014 vintage is ultra-rich, yet classic and elegant on the palate. The wine exhibits green apple, chalk, and a charming accent of wood. Its richness calls for Dungeness crab over a bed of arugula. (Tasted: July 6, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
Tangy and fruity with lemon and green-apple aromas and flavors. Medium body, lovely fruit and a bright finish. A little tight now. Give it a year or two to come out.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Latour-Martillac Blanc builds upon its promise en primeur, offering succinct aromas of citrus fruit, linseed and a touch of jasmine. I appreciate the detail and the focus of this white Pessac. The palate is fresh and vibrant with really lip-smacking salinity on the entry, a wine determined to grab your attention straight from the off. And why not when it is this good? Brimming with tension and vivacity, it fans out gloriously towards the finish. One of the best white wines from this estate in recent years—bravo!
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Wine Spectator
There's lots of vibrancy here, with gooseberry, fennel, green and yellow plum and verbena notes that are fused together, zipping through a long, mouthwatering finish. Drink now through 2019. 3,000 cases made.
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.