Winemaker Notes
Pale, yellow color. Very expressive nose with citrus and white flower notes. Starts out with vivacity, citrus and yellow fruit aromas are present. Small notes of pastry appear as well as a certain sweetness. The finish is long and has the signature of the great white wines of Oliver with the length, the aromatic definition and the precision of the fruit.
Blend: 75% Sauvignon Blanc, 25% Semillon
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Crisp, tight and mineral driven, the wine is both crisp and textured. The citrus and green fruits give freshness as well as spice flavors. The wine should be very fine as it matures.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
James Suckling
Plenty of pear drop, honey, ginger, and dried pineapple character. Full-bodied. Framed and tangy at the end. Very typical white from this appellation.
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Decanter
Good quality, with lilting acidities. Seems to have stepped away from the slate-heavy slightly reductive style of Olivier in recent years (I may be in the minority to miss it), showcasing fleshy citrus and lemongrass flavours, cut through with precise spice and freshly cut herbs. Remains one of the best whites you can buy in Bordeaux.
Barrel Sample: 93 -
Jeb Dunnuck
Chateau Olivier has turned out a classic 2020 Chateau Olivier Blanc that's loaded with bright citrus, lime, and honeyed mineral notes, as well as some exotic floral nuances. It's clean, medium-bodied, vibrant, and just a classic white from Pessac-Leognan that will evolve for a decade.
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Wine Spectator
This has nice fresh lemon peel, gooseberry and wet stone notes, with tarragon and fleur de sel accents through the finish. Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Olivier Blanc is a pretty, medium-bodied, Sauvignon-dominant white evocative of grapefruit oil and lemongrass. Crisp and precise, it's less fleshy and textural than its 2019 counterpart. Bottled under natural cork, I suspect it will be at its best young.
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.