Love Sauvignon Blanc? You should taste Bordeaux white wine

Bordeaux winery is known for its red wines, but its whites wines deserve as much recognition. White Bordeaux represents only 8% of all Bordeaux wine production, so if it’s on the shelf, chances are it’s good.

Crisp, elegant, and fresh

From South of France, the origins of Sauvignon Blanc have even been associated with the Loire Valley and the Bordeaux region.

The grapes of White Bordeaux include Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle. There are a few other less-known varieties used in White Bordeaux such as Colombard and Ugni Blanc (the grape used in Cognac), but most White Bordeaux are made of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.

Sauvignon Blanc wines tend to more lighter-bodied than Chardonnays, often with a crisper, juicier jolt of acidity. It typically gives wines the necessary acidity, along with mineral character and aromatic freshness. Its secret is the three notes forming its aromatic signature: citrus, boxwood, and fig leaves.

A few white Bordeaux we love

1. Premier Cuvee Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux Blanc by Chateau Haut Grelot 2017

For lovers of Bordeaux Blanc, Chateau Haut Grelot’s Bordeaux Blanc will make the perfect house white.

The Haut Grelot continues to stand out as one of the best qualities to price ratio wines from Bordeaux. Having a case or 2 around is always a good idea.

This is the style of wine we’d pair with simple, barely seasoned ingredients such as raw and lightly cooked shellfish like oysters and shell-on prawns, fresh crab and simply grilled fish such as sea bass. A match made in heaven.

Pale straw-yellow in colour, elegant and crisp with intense exotic fruit aromas. Grapefruit, gooseberry and wild herbs intermingle on the nose with ample citrus fruit on the palate. This wine has a generous weight, round and in perfect balance. This wine is perfect to drink by itself or pair it with seafood, chicken, fresh salads and/or cheeses.

2.Charme de Fonbadet by Chateau Fonbadet 2017

This wine scored 94 points and took home a Gold Medal at the Los Angeles International Wine Competition last year.

Château Fonbadet is a well-known house located North of the village of Saint-Lambert, in Pauillac.

Public records suggest, the vineyard in Fonbadet has been in operation since 1789 at the end of the Ancien Régime in France.

This historic Domain was founded by a winemaking father and son team, Robert Peyronie and his son Pierre. Robert’s grandfather was the estate manager of Château Lafite-Rotschild and coincidentally, his wife, Jany, had a grandfather who was the estate manager of Château Mouton-Rothschild.

The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree…

At the end of the thirties Robert Peyronie enlarged the vineyards footprint purchasing some abandoned vines and nursing them back to health. The best wines always carried the name Fonbadet.

Pale yellow and green in colour, this medium bodied Bordeaux white has superb concentration, intensity and freshness with all the fine citrus aromas of Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Intense on the nose, the palate is fresh and aromatic revealing soft grapefruit and delicate, flinty notes with a hint of oak.

So, please don’t limit yourself with red Bordeaux wines, try their wonderful white wines and let us know what you think about it!

Where to find these wines ?
→ Premier Cuvee Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux Blanc by Chateau Haut Grelot 2017
→ Charme de Fonbadet by Chateau Fonbadet 2017