Winemaker Notes
The relatively cool weather in August and cloudy skies throughout the summer well and truly locked in the fresh aromas and richness in our white wines. The Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc wines are very aromatic.
Blend: 75% Sauvignon Blanc, 23% Semillon, 2% Muscadelle
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Gentle minerality on the nose delivers a gorgeous white peach character that slowly builds. It effortlessly replaces one sensation with the next, just building ever so slowly in power and juice, and pulsates through. Those aromatics are a little subtle at first, but it doesn't take long in the glass for them to come out: sage and soft white flowers, then a slam of citrus and luscious nectarine. One of the whites of the vintage. 35% new oak.
Barrel Sample -
Wine Enthusiast
This textured, crisp and herbal wine also has plenty of fruitiness. Green-fruit flavors balance with spice, hints of toast and taut aftertaste. While the wine could be drunk soon, giving it until 2021 would be better.
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James Suckling
This young white shows a wonderful finish. Ripe apples, lemons and some tropical fruit. Full-bodied, dense and layered. A line of vivid acidity runs through the center palate. Very nicely crated.
Barrel Sample: 92-93 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Olivier 2017 Blanc gives up green mango, guava and pink grapefruit aromas with notes of honeysuckle, mandarin peel and ginger. The palate is medium-bodied, clean, crisp and minerally with great length.
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Wine Spectator
Very juicy, with a wide array of lime, green and yellow apple, star fruit and white peach flavors gilded liberally with quinine, honeysuckle and fleur de sel notes. A rapier, holding some depth in reserve should you wish to cellar this for a slightly richer expression. Drink now through 2023.
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.