Master of Wine; BORDEAUX BLANC

In today’s video, Bob Paulinski, Master of Wine will discuss the dry white wines of Bordeaux. The videi will cover the various quality levels, the importance of vintage, the grape varieties and what to expect in your wine glass. A tasting of four wines will be included.

This video was created at my home away from home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is an excellent French wine market, particularly for Bordeaux. In many cases, over half of the wine offered in shops will are from Bordeaux. It’s a region with thousands of wine producers, making over 600M bottles per wine. While red wine plays a lead focus, about 60M bottles of dry white are produced each year. While you may not find the exact wines featured in this video, it’ll provide guidance of what to expect with the various styles while you’re shopping for wine.

A bit about the region, it’s a vast expanse of vineyards, the second largest in France, located around the city of Bordeaux in the western part of the country, near the Atlantic Ocean. About 85% of the region is dedicated to red wine. About 10% is dry white wine, the small remaining percentage being sweet wines, rose’ and sparkling. Prior to the devastating frost of 1956 the region was heavily influenced by white wine, mostly sweeter styles, along with some fruit dedicated to distilled spirits.
In terms of making sense of the labels, generally speaking, the more specific the place of origin, the better chance of coming across something truly special. At a base level, Bordeaux AOC or Entre deux Mers which are very common examples often solid, decent wines coming from a very broad place of origin, moving up Graves, provides a more specific origin and with a better sense of place, then transitioning to Pessac Leognan, is a more defined place of origin with a long-established presence for dry white wine, (established in 1987). Now comes a twist, throughout the region, many prominent red producers will make small amounts of dry whites, sometimes restricted in terms of a place of origin designation on the label.

Vintage is a critical consideration with a maritime region like Bordeaux, it’ll directly impact the quality and styles of the wines. At the time this video was being made, the early word on the 2023’s is very good, a bit less so with the 2022’s. I’m a fan of the 2021’s, it was much better for the whites versus the red of Bordeaux. Increasingly, elevated alcohol levels can be a factor, especially with increasingly warm vintages.

Grape varieties, SB and Semillon are the two primary grape varieties. Muscadelle is sometimes used to a small percentage to heighten the aroma. Also, look for Sauvignon Gris is become a more prominent variety in the coming years. Ugni Blanc, Colombard and Merlot Blanc in tiny amounts. This pic shows SB near harvest time. The seeds are not quite brown, one indicator of ripeness.

First up is the 2021 Chateau de Beauregard Ducourt, an Entre deux Mers from a vast vineyard area, SE of the city of Bordeaux. The wine sells for about $15. This is no frills winemaking, machine harvested fruit. Most Entre deux Mers is made in SS or concrete vats, its all about the primary fruit character, direct, simple style made for within about five years of the vintage. SB is typically the primary grape variety used, with some Semillon, occasionally a bit of Muscadelle. In Malayasia and many other countries, a duty paid stamp will be noted on the bottle.

The 2020 Ch Le Bonnat from Graves, it sells for about $20. The Graves AOC gets its name from the gravel-based soils that are commonly found within the region.

2017 Chateau Baret Pessac Leognan, an appellation that came into existence in 1980s. Think of it as the prime cut region from within Graves. Some wines are more Sauvignon Blanc based, others more Semillon. This one is 90% SB, 10% Semillon. Oak aged, some new oak, with lees stirring.

2020 Ch Fourcas Dupre Blanc, it sells for about $30. This estate has a long history of great value Red Bordeaux. White wine makes up a small portion of the total wine production.

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today’s video will focus on the dry
white wines from Bordeaux I’ll discuss a
bit about the region the various quality
levels the different grae varieties that
are used the importance of vintage and
what you can expect to find in your wine
glass included will be a tasting of four
different examples hi I’m Bob palinsky
master of wine thank you very much for
clicking on today’s video this video was
created at my home away from home in
qual lore Malaysia this is an excellent
French wine market particularly for
Bordeaux in many cases over half of the
wines offered in any shop will be from
Bordeaux this is a region with thousands
of wine producers making over 600
million bottles of wine each year while
red wine plays a lead Focus about 60
million bottles of dry white wine are
produced annually while you may not find
the exact wines featured in this video
it’ll provide guidance of what to expect
in terms of various wine Styles when
you’re out wine shopping a bit about the
region it’s a vast expanse of Vineyards
the second largest in France located
around the city of Bordeaux in the
western part of the country near the
Atlantic Ocean about 85% of the region
is dedicated to red wine production
about 10% to dry white the remaining
small percentage is dedicated to sweet
wine Rosé and sparkling prior to the
devastating Frost of 1956 the region was
heavily influenced by white wine mostly
sweeter Styles along with some dedicated
to distilled Spirits in terms of making
sense of the wine labels generally
speaking the more specific the place of
origin the better chance of coming
across something truly special at a base
level Bordeaux AOC or Entre D are very
common examples these are generally
solid decent wines but they come from a
very broad place of origin moving up to
gravs this provides a more specific
origin with a better sense of place then
transitioning to peso leanon this is a
more defined place of origin with a long
established presence for dry white wines
it’s an AOC that was just established
back in
1987 but now comes the twist throughout
the region many prominent red wine
producers make small amounts of
fantastic dry white wine sometimes
there’s restrictions in terms of place
of origin on the labels I’ll discuss
this point a bit later in this video
vintage is a critical consideration with
Maritime regions like Bordeaux it’ll
directly affect the quality and styles
of the wines in terms of recent vintages
all the word on 23 is very positive the
2022 is a bit less so I’m a big fan of
the 2021s they are much better for the
white wines versus the red from Bordeaux
and as for the 2020s they’re solid
although some of the wines do have
elevated alcohol levels as for grape
varieties suban Blanc and and semon are
the two primary players in white bordeau
muscadel is sometimes used in small
amounts to lift the aroma look for saon
gree to become more of a prominent grae
Variety in the coming years others like
un Blanc colard Mero Blanc all play
minuscule roles in this pick it shows
saon Blanc that was just harvested you
can see the seeds are not quite Brown
this is one indicator of ripeness first
up is the 2021 shat to Bard to p in
Entre D from the vast Vineyard lands
from the southeast of the city of
Bordeaux wine sells for about $15 this
is No Frills wine making machine
harvested fruit most Entre D is made
either in stainless steel or concrete
Vats It generally sees no time in Oak
it’s all about highlighting the primary
fruit character the wines are direct
they’re simple clean with aging
potential of about five years Salon
Blanc is typically the primary grape
variety used with some semon
occasionally a bit of muscadel in
Malaysia and in many other countries a
duty paid stamp will be noted on the
bottle this is white Bordeaux at a base
level there are massive amounts of Entre
D produced uh much of it is just very
crisp fresh simple style but it has a
refreshing character when it’s made well
and I think in many cases Entre deir
represents fantastic values uh again you
don’t want to keep keep these wines very
long they’re really best when they’re
very youthful and fresh uh you’ll notice
the color on this there’s a slight
greenish tinge to it fairly pale in
color it really looks just as it should
it has that vibrant exuberant appearance
to it and the aroma is bright clean
fresh a little zesty it has that herbal
Citrus character to it really smells
great but it’s it’s in a very simple
direct way on the pallet all that herbal
citrus character follows through nice
lifted acidity and that’s the key with
Entre de when the acidity is bright the
wines really do show their very best uh
it’s not overly full uh 12.5% alcohol so
kind of in that mid-range which again is
quite typical for Entre
D everything about this wine is put
together in a very good manner uh and
generally speaking with Entre de you’ll
find some coming from chatau like this
there’s also a good number of negoti on
bottlings the quality level on these
generally is is fairly consistent and
the ceiling is not too high so basically
what you’re getting is something that is
bright Lively fresh clean Bordeaux at
its base level if you’ve not yet
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here with the second line we’re moving
up the quality ladder this is the 20
2020 chanat Graves it sells for about
$20 per bottle the graves AOC gets its
name from the gravel based soils which
are commonly found within the region
this wine should have a completely
different story to tell versus wine one
not only because it’s made primarily
with semon well the first was primarily
saon Blan this wine also sees some time
in Oak and there’s also a degree of
bonage or that LE stirring which is
going to provide the wine with more
volume a little more weight a little
more heft uh also the yields tend to be
much lower on gravs versus Entre dmer so
let’s see what we have in the glass
color is different than the first wine
uh the first wine had more of a a
greenish tinge this one does show a bit
of of yellow uh keep in mind this wine
is a 2020 vintage so it does have a
little bit of age to it but you can see
the color is is definitely deeper than
Wine one and the aroma profile very
different while the previous wine had
that Citrus that herb characteristic to
it that was quite lifted this is more
broad this has a richer weightier uh
characteristic to more of a stone fruit
note yeah on the pallet this is night
and day versus wine one this is
weightier more concentrated uh there’s
much more complexity to this wine it’s
nuanced it’s layered there really that
that Oak characteristic definitely does
come through but the wine has more
structure it’s a broader heier Style
wine uh this is not all that chilled
I’ve only had this in the fridge for
about 40 minutes and I think that’s
where this wine should be uh I wouldn’t
want this too cold it would just tap
down some of that Aroma and flavor
profile so maybe 40 45 minutes in the
fridge is all you
need coming back to this wine for a
second time it’s really developed quite
quickly in the glass there is a tropical
fruit character a bit like guava a bit
of a passion fruit note the oak
definitely does carry through as well
but the oak is well integrated into the
wine they really the fruit and the oak
really play off each other very well but
the wine is well structured I think this
would have no problem aging a few more
years which is very common with grvs
oftentimes they can go seven eight years
out when they’re stored right now some
of the examples can be primarily seon
others will be primarily Salon Blanc if
you get the heavier semon style
generally the wines will be broader
weightier richer on the pallet
that’s exactly what this is this is a
good bottle of wine next up is the 2017
chat baret pesok Leon this is an
appalation that came into existence in
the 1980s think of it as the Prime Cut
region within gravs some of the wines
are more saon Blanc based others more
Semion in this case it’s 90% saon Blanc
10% Semion the wine is Oak age some new
with a good amount of Le stirring this
is the oldest wine in today’s taste
tasting and this specific Appalachian
has a tremendous track record for
ageability with with dry whites some of
the greatest dry white Bo O Come From
peso Leon now in this case because this
wine does have some bottle age to it I’m
expecting it to show some of those
characteristics that are typical with
with some age uh certainly looking at
the color of it you do get that deeper
that deeper appearance a bit more of a
yellow characteristic there’s some depth
of color here as well probably from a
slight oxidative
character the aroma uh you certainly do
get that Oak characteristic this wine
does spend some time in New Oak uh but
it has more of a stone fruit pear Peach
apricot characteristic to
it smells a little bit like Bosque pear
as well but there’s that vanilla smoke
note from from the oak as well aromatics
are really quite
compelling oh on the pallet this is a
beauty very round weighty Rich good
length that extends to the back pallet
uh I would say the the acidity level is
only moderate it’s enough to give the
wine a bit of a lift but it has very
good breath there’s volume on the pallet
really nice the carry through is just
Sensational and the character from this
wine this tertiary characteristic only
comes with bottle age and for me this is
one of the really cool things with the
whites from peso Le on they have great
aging potential they drink very well
when the wines are youthful they also
develop into something very interesting
and different than than the youthful
versions with some bottle age this wine
being seven years old it’s holding
together just beautifully I wouldn’t
have any trouble with keeping this
another three or four years uh really a
beautiful example from one of the best
places to look for dry white bordo the
last wine is the 2020 chat foras D pre
BL it sells for about $30 this estate
has a long history of producing great
value for red bordo white wines make up
a very small portion of the total
production so up to this point it’s been
relatively straightforward as you get
more specific more defined in terms of
place of origin often times you’re going
to move up the quality ladder well you
can throw that all out the window with
this last wine uh in many regions in
Bordeaux many of the Appalachians
there’ll be specified as being for red
only that’s the case with this
particular wine uh this is from an area
called listro which is one of the the
better values from the Left Bank but the
Appalachian is only Built for red wine
therefore any whites that are produced
and in this case the production is is
very small uh but the production must be
designated as just basic Bordeaux so
this is really a matter of doing your
due diligence and and finding those
examples that fall into this
classification that are worth searching
out now in this case this one is pride
uh predominantly from Salon Blanc about
25% semon and it does have a couple of
years bottle age to it uh there’s new
ownership with this property uh this is
just a few years back and they produced
a new Swanky package which I think looks
really quite good this has consistently
been an outstanding source for Value
this is not one of the great classified
bordeau it falls under that uh under
that ranking but in terms of value for
the money it’s been tremendous with the
red this is the first time for me
tasting the white uh see by the color
there is some depth of color to this
wine uh this does spend some time in Oak
uh it’s a combination of Oak stainless
steel and partly with aora which is the
very old method of making wine that is
now trendy again oh the aroma on this
wine this is outstanding it smells like
Meer lemon and there is a bit of that
Smoky chard vanilla characteristic to it
but a good smack of that citrus note
that stone fruit character shows through
uh absolutely love the way this wine
smells oh on the pallet uh this is
really this is really very cool there’s
good intensity there there’s a lot of
nuance there’s layers to this wine uh
certainly do get the O characteristic
but it does not dominate the fruit it’s
bright it’s fresh there there’s very
good acidity carries through to the back
pallet in terms of ticking the boxes in
terms of having a very complete
well-made wine uh this one does it on
every occasion it really really shows
well production is very small I don’t
know if you’re going to be able to find
this uh look I found it in Malaysia so
obviously it’s making its way into some
export markets but uh if you can find it
it’s definitely worth searching out but
there are so many examples that fall
under this General uh category where you
have these classic fantastic red wine
producers that produce a tiny tiny
amount of white as well but it will take
some searching out absolutely love this
wine I’m not sure if I’m going to be
drinking the peso Lon or or this the the
forast D pre probably a bit of both a
little later
tonight most days by late afternoon
unbelievable thunderstorms come rolling
through qual andore I’m going to watch
the storm while I’m drinking a little
bit of white Bordeaux I hope you’re
drinking something interesting as well
if you have any questions on white bordo
please post it down below I do my very
best to follow up on each and every one
and please stop back again before too
long cheers