Winemaker Notes
Blend: 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Sémillon
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Deliciously aromatic, this wine is tight and structured but holds great promise. Acidity and citrus flavors balance with the perfumed character of the richer fruits and the touch of wood from the barrel aging. Drink this structured wine from 2023.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The white is the star of the show at Latour-Martillac and the 2015 Blanc is a rich, incredibly mineral-driven beauty that gives up lots of buttered citrus, honeysuckle, crushed rock and tropical fruit. It’s crisp and vibrant on the palate, yet has building richness, as well as excellent concentration.
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James Suckling
Aromas of stones, bark, lemon peel and green apples. Steely undertone. Full-bodied, dense and supple with delicious fruit and depth. Solid acid backbone with a brightness and liveliness.
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Wine Spectator
Alluring, with a lemon curd and creamed yellow apple profile enhanced by notes of chamomile and honeysuckle. Shows a butter brioche note on the finish, adding to the lush persona. Drink now through 2021.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Latour Martillac 2015 Blanc opens with fresh straw, preserved lemons, kumquat and peach kernel notes. The medium-bodied mouth is fine and intense with a lively backbone and fruity finish.
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.