2017 Château Carbonnieux Blanc- France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (3/28/2020)
This immediately blew both of us away…the nose is full of tropical fruits, crushed stone, and a floral lift that lingers with an air of perfume in the nostrils. The palate is lean and lithe with notes of kiwi, green banana, green apple, and candied ginger. This is light-medium bodied, with bright & vivid fruit notes. One other aspect to this wine is that it is under the Diamanté’s 30 year cork. For me, that along with the balance and elegance that this shows…leads me to believe that this can easily last 25+ years. This is absolutely Outstanding!! I decided to buy a case of this after tasting this bottle.
This is my first time with this producer…but I’ve been tasting a lot of Bordeaux Blanc recently and this was an immediate hit for both my wife & I. I had an epiphany with a 1981 LaCour Pavillon in late 2019. So we’ve really been searching out more White Bordeaux. I think it really says something when a $40-something bottle of White Bordeaux has a 30 year Diamanté’s cork.
1981 LaCour Pavillon- France, Bordeaux (11/10/2019)
This is F-ing ridiculous!! A deep golden yellow in the Zalto Universal. This leads with butterscotch, chamomile tea, and honey comb on the nose. Open close to 90 minutes now and this just keeps getting better. There is no perceptible acidity, but it is just plain lovely. The Semillon seams to be screaming out. There’s a lemony richness in the mid palate that just explodes and unloads enough tropical fruits to justify a fruit salad. Outstanding!!!
Buzz, I think this is probably the year where I went big on Bordeaux Blanc. We opened a 2017 Y de Yquem on New Years Eve…and it started me chasing down a few more that I could like and scratch the itch.
I always ask myself why I don’t drink more Bord Blancs? I LOVE them! Love the bright lemon/lime citrus…some tropical flair, as well as lanolin oil and honey butter creaminess, white flower florals. The ones with that chalky minerality, crushed limestone, and petrol nuance I love the most. Of course Haut Brion is my benchmark…but have loved ones from La Tour-Martillac, Smith Haut Lafitte…and killer qpr’s from La Louviere, Ducasse, and Graville-Lacoste. I will now add this Carbonnieux to the mix…as it has all those classic traits I adore!
Carbonnieux were long one of the worst offenders for premox in white BDX, so much so that I would caution anyone buying 1994 to at least 2010 for essentially any price.
Thank you for sharing this…I have not heard this, or if I did I forgot it. It will certainly encourage me to drink the first 6 in the first year…and check in on them periodically over time.
There’s a couple 1962s on auction through K&L right now. Clearly different degrees of oxidation, but that’s to be expected at this point. Under $200 for the pair last I checked a couple days ago.
Kirk that is a wine that I remember as being one or our “special occasion” whites during the 80’s and early 90’s. Haven’t had one in a too long time and will have to revisit. Slight drifting as I tend to do, I also want to note that my most recent bottle of another " Kirk Grant Recommendation" -2017 Henri Bourgeois Baronnes Sancerre - was in tremendous form. So much so I even asked my wife if I could finish her last glass. Shameful! Special and the best of the few bottle that I have had, though the others were excellent. Fantastic QPR of course. Best -Jim
Thank you for sharing this. My experiences with Carbonnieux begin with the 2000 or 2001 vintage and I presumed they simply weren’t agers. Which was too bad since they tasted so good young.
Oh no, the fruit quality is there for very long lived wines but they’ve had serious premox issues. Much of white bordeaux has, but alas it is not oft spoken about.
Incredibly frustrating as the winemakers seemed to dodge the limelight as white burgundy was getting all the attention.
I am sure DIAM will do good things like it has done for white burgundy, but it is inescapable that the closures Carbonnieux et al were using have not changed versus what was common place in the 70s and 80s, yet along with burgundy they suffered a crash in ageability around the 1995 mark. 1994 Domaine de Chevalier has a criminal hit rate (look out for blue/grey stained corks coming out of the bottle, that always seems to indicate premox in white bordeaux), and 1996 Carbonnieux Blanc is much the same. 99, 00, 01, 02 all awful. I gave up after that, although DDC seems to have sorted themselves out after about 2005.
Jim, it’s always nice to hear that someone likes a recommendation. It’s also nice to hear that we’re not the only ones that let one another finish a wine if the other is really enjoying it.
After really loving my last bottle of this I opted to buy a case. It’s happened only a few times that I buy a full case…but this was so damned good and at $34/bottle a no-brainer in my book.
2017 Château Carbonnieux Blanc- France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (10/19/2020)
First bottle of a case. This has a Diam 30 for a closure, which tells me how long the winery expects the wine will last (& likely improve). I have been quoting Action Bronson each time I take a drink over the last hour, “Fu@k That’s Delicious!” the nose is filled with a barrage of tropical fruits, crushed stone, with this lovely perfume that comes in near the end. The palate is impeccably balanced calling forth flavors of pineapple, cherimoya, green banana, green apple, and candied ginger. This is light-medium bodied, with bright & vivid fruit notes. My last bottle of this was in March 2020 & I am beyond happy that I bought a full case so that I can see how this wine evolves over time. Outstanding!!!
