In our tastings this week Wine-Searcher’s Wine Director David Allen MW looks at a set of wines that are arguably some of the best value wines currently being made in the Bordeaux region. The wines are being made at Chateau Grand Village by the Guinadeau Family. Today David tastes their premium white, the fabulous Les Champs Libres Bordeaux Blanc from the 2019 vintage.
Château Grand Village is an estate situated in Mouillac, which is a part of the canton of Fronsac (but lies outside the appellation) on Bordeaux’s right bank. The estate is owned and run by Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau who can trace their family’s ownership of Grand Village back to 1650. Jacques and Sylvie took charge of the vineyard of Grand Village in 1980. The couple also own and manage the fabulous Chateau Lafleur, one of the gems of Pomerol. For the last twenty years the approach taken with Grand Village had been to work the vineyard and vinify the wines using the same approach and philosophy as that used at Lafleur.
The estate covers 50 hectares, with 17 of those hectares being vineyard. The clay, limestone & gravel soils bear a striking resemblance to those found in Saint-Emilion. The 17 hectares of vineyard are planted to red and white wine grape varietals. For the red wines, 14 hectares of vines were replanted to 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc (which they call Bouchet). The Cabernet Franc comes from clones planted at Chateau Lafleur. The remaining 3 hectares are planted to Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, for white wine. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 5,500 vines per hectare.
Château Grand Village has quickly built its reputation for making great value wines crafted with the means and all the skill of a grand cru. Les Champs libres is produced from 4 very special plots of vines and fermented and aged in new oak. Arguably this wine rivals the best dry whites currently being produced in Bordeaux.
Find out more about this wine, its price and where to buy it by following this link to the Wine-Searcher website: https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/les+champ+liebres+blanc+bordeaux+france/2019
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