WTN: 3 White Bdx Blends

I enjoy a good white Bordeaux from time to time, but many of the top wines have skyrocketed in price in recent years. With that in mind, I recently had the opportunity to compare a couple of well-regarded white Bdx blends to a more modern, Garagiste, white Bordeaux. All things considered, the California take on white Bordeaux was probably my favorite. I am not sure, however, that any of these will be able to develop and last with the same grace as Domaine de Chevalier and the like.
For my palate, white Bordeaux blends are one of the few styles of wine that can handle a good amount of new oak (traditional Rioja being another, albeit very different, oak-friendly wine).
Although all three of these producers are better known for their reds than their wihites, I must admit that these are the first wines that I have treid from any of them.

2006 Arietta “On The White Keys” California
85% Sauvignon Blanc (Sonoma Mountain) and 15% Semillon (Hyde Vineyard in Carneros). This was the first vintage that Andy Erickson (Screaming Eagle) was in charge.
Lightly floral nose, with caramel and baking spices aromas. Full-bodied, rich, bone dry, nicely balanced, with moderate acidity. Moderately mineral, very subtly herbal, with notes of tropical fruit, golden plums, lemons, caramel, and honey. Very good/excellent.

2006 Château Teyssier (JCP Maltus) Bordeaux Blanc Clos Nardian Saint Aubin de Branne
40% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Semillon, and unusually, 20% Muscadelle. From a vineyard in northeastern Entre-Deux-Mers, just barely south of Saint-Émilion.
Nose is floral and smoky, with aromas of quince, and pears. Full-bodied, concentrated, dry, round, and well balanced, with good underlying acidity. Surprisingly mineral, with flavors of passion fruit, peaches, apples, licorice, and ginger. Too oaky on the finish, however. I really like the Muscadelle here, and this could easily have been an excellent wine if Maltus and co. had used barrels with a bit less toast. Still very good, though, and definitely unique. Despite the stereotype of "garage wines" not being very age-worthy, this has the acidity and structure to defy the accepted norm, although the oak could still be a problem.

2001 Mount Mary Vineyard Triolet Yarra Valley
74% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Semillon, and 6% Muscadelle. Slightly grassy, hay and mineral nose. Full-bodied, elegant, moderately rich, roundish, nicely balanced, with moderate acidity. Shows notes of honey, caramel, chalk, lemons, and more hay. Rather mineral finish, with a bit of ginger. Very good; definitely shows some similarities to the white Graves/Pessac-Léognans that inspired it. Incidentally, Mount Mary apparently does not consider 2001 to be one of their better vintages for their Triolet.

Thanks, Andrew, for those notes. I've almost completely stopped buying white Bordeaux apart from the occasional <€10 bottle where I have a good recommendation. Nearly all the more up-market ones which I have tasted in recent years have been over-oaked and over-priced. The last which I owned were Châteaux Fieuzal and Smith-Haut-Lafite of 93 and 94 and the final bottles were becoming oxidised at around 15 years.

Still, I wouldn't say no if someone were to offer me a glass or three of, say, mature Domaine de Chevalier, Malartic-Lagravière, Bouscaut....let alone Haut-Brion.

Yeah thanks Andrew. I too eye some of the white Bordeaux blends here but $$ is right up there in AB-land.

*** I have been tipped off about an excellent SB from Durbanville, S Africa.

Tim,

I'll admit that white Bordeaux is, on the whole, not up there with some other regions of France, including Burgundy.
However, in terms of value for money, there are some wonderful wines out there, and they are VERY reasonably priced.

Alex R.

When I first started getting into wine I drank a lot of white Bordeaux (and red too). There is no good reason why I stopped drinking it other than I found Riesling which I've been stuck on ever since (though along with that, I went through phases of White Rhone, White Burgundy, the Loire, Friuli and of course GV -some of which I still love, but harder to come by in Germany.) Besides a very good deal that I got on 5 cases of mixed 2000 vintage Donnhoff, the best all-time wine buy that I've ever scored was 10 cases of Smith-Haut Lafitte Blanc 1996 for $25 a case! (distributor going out of biz fire-sale). This was probably twelve or so years ago and the bottles are long gone, but I can't help but recall that deal every time White Bordeaux is brought up.

Speaking of high-priced Bordeaux Blanc, that Arietta could not have been cheap.

Thanks for the notes,
Bill