Curious about opinions on dry White Bordeaux. In general, it gets very little love. It’s a weird category that is somehow simultaneously under-appreciated and wildly overvalued. I say under-appreciated bc huge shops typically only carry a tiny selection, most of which is inexpensive and mediocre (though I’ve had a few that were inexpensive and blew my socks off- 2008 Grand Enclos du Château de Cérons for SommSelect comes to mind). But it’s also overvalued when you consider Haut Brion and La Mission going for nearly $1000 a pop. In my opinion, any region with new release bottles costing this much is overvalued.
So, what do you all think? Do you like white Bordeaux? Not like it? Who buys these mediocre low priced bottles? The wines can be fantastic, but there seems to be so much crap to wade through. Do you have any recommendations for quality producers that cost less than an arm and a leg? Smith Haut Lafite makes a well regarded blanc, though still $100+. Anybody think its worth it?
The 2017 SHL blanc was one of my top wines from last year, truly a great wine with all the signs that it will age well. It was exceptional. So yes, I like dry Bordeaux blanc.
I think vintage is important with this type of wine, have not liked the versions I have had nearly so much from warmer vintages like 2016.
Am thinking of trying 2017 Larrivet or Carbonnieux, should be under $40.
In the close-to-$100 range I’d recommend Domaine de Chevalier (around $80). It ages well and has real character.
There’s a really wide range from crisp, drink young wines to very rich, long aging wines. There are a bunch of dry wines from Sauternes/Barsac that can show off more Semillon, and some more modern whites from the Medoc, like Lynch Bages (though some like Ch. Margaux have made whites for a long time there). Lots to explore if you like SB/Semillon.
I would make sure to explore the Loire, though. If what you really like is SB from Sancerre, for example, then I’m not sure Bordeaux will provide better value.
This - think DDC white is a great wine with a lot of character, but I haven’t had much else in the white Bordeaux world that has excited me, and I don’t see myself drinking LMHB or HB blanc anytime soon. With HB and LMHB I do wonder if they trade on their names, but without having tried either of them I couldn’t say.
That said, I’m certainly super open to interesting wines if people have suggestions - if DDC is $80 and as good as it is then there must be good bottles in the $15-40 range.
There are, but you have to search for them. One of my favorites is DDC’s blanc second wine. $20, and very solid at that price — but that is what you are getting: a really solid $20 wine. DDC’s blanc is superb, but I’d rather buy two Cotats than one DDC. Same with SHL. Overall, I find Bdx. Blanc most useful in the value category.
Some great values for dry white wines even in the 10- 20 buck range.
Makes no sense to focus on Crus only.
Excellent with sea food.
One on the real bargains of bordeaux wines until now.
It’s a tough category. A lot of high pricing, many wines that need age but are vulnerable to premox, highly variable styles (some very faint and delicate, some very bold and aggressive), limited availability and selection.
Like any category, if you were highly knowledgeable about it, I’m sure you could navigate to buying the right wines and drinking them at the right ages, but it’s a tough category to dabble in. I’ve had some very good ones, but not enough and at favorable enough prices to get me to invest more deeply in the category.
I’ve been to hundreds of wine tasting gatherings, and I’m struggling to think of even a single time anyone brought Bordeaux Blanc. It probably happened once or twice, but I can’t even remember it.
I’ve found that in the US it is common to find either very inexpensive bottles (<$15) or higher end bottles ($60+). When I lived in the UK it was easier to find good bottles in the $20-$30 range. Alas, I tend to think that the most enjoyable white bordeaux is built to be consumed with some age, and as that practice has (understandably) declined, the attempt of the Bordelais to compete with the Loire and New Zealand has produced wines of a style that I enjoy less (more typical of SB, and less of the waxy semillon character). Some of my favorite producers in the old style are (or at least were a few years ago): Larrivet Haut-Brion, Brown, Bouscaut, Olivier, and De Fieuzal. There is no real logic to that list, alas.
I am a fan.
Years ago I brought a bottle of SHL blanc to the French Laundry. The Sommelier commented that he loved the wine and he needed to add it to the list.
My wife loves white bdx. For a quality producers my go-to is the blanc from Malartic. It’s sub-$100 and just a gorgeous bottle of wine. It shouldn’t be all that difficult to find, I don’t think.
Doisy-Daene and Roquefort are nice for weekday wines.
I like it, but do not drink it often. A few years ago, we had an aged Domaine de Chevalier Blanc that was fantastic. At a much lower price point, I think Carbonnieux Blanc is annually a great value and something I always enjoy.
Really don’t know anything about the category except that I like the grapes, but am coincidentally drinking the first white BDX I’ve opened in years: Chateau Les Charmes-Godard 2018.
Really very good and a wine I’d be happy to drink regularly. I paid a bit under $20.
You must be new here. This topic, with almost identical headline wording, gets brought up every year or other, and the answer is the same:
sure we like them, but they are more difficult to find than red Bordeaux and are pricier.
I think that there is a very wide range of quality & styles from this category. There are some wines that I think fall into the “exceptional value” category like the Château Carbonnieux Blanc & a new wine Château Climens Asphodèle (100% Semillon). I’ve had SHL in a few good vintages as well, but I found those to be a bit “bigger” than I like. On NYE in 2019 I opened a 2017 Y de Yquem, and it was special enough that I chased down a 6 pack of that vintage, bought a bottle from 2015, and pre-ordered 6x750 & 1x1500 of the 2019 vintage of that wine. So this is a growing area in my cellar. I do think that there are some wines that you will pay more for than they are worth. However, I also think $129 for the Y de Yquem is a silly and undervalued price for a wine of that quality.
I am new here! First post was a month or so ago. Thanks for noticing!
And thank you to everyone for their thoughts- they confirm my notions before posting, namely, that there are loads of cheap-o wines, a fair number of over priced mediocre wines, and a few great wines that are few and far between and difficult to single out unless you really know what you’re doing. I put down almost $100 for 2014 Aile d’Argent and was mightily disappointed. Honestly, I preferred the 2008 Grand Enclos for <$30 that I mentioned in the original post. Love the recs and I would love to hunt some of those down; keep 'em coming!
In 2000, doing a night on the floor of the Heathman restaurant, I opened a 1985 La Mission du Haut-Brion Blanc for a guest. Alongside a bottle of 1964 Lopez de Heredia Blanc the 1985 La Mission ranks as the Best white wine I have ever had.
I would pay $1000 to repeat that experience 10 times out of 10 before I spent $1000 on anything else. There’s a lot of delicious inexpensive white Bordeaux, but the best, in my opinion, equal any other white wine. I love Dagueneau, and none of those wines have come close.
For less than an arm and a leg, take a look at the Haut-Rian wines, both Blanc and Rouge. They come into Oregon via a smal importer called Animaux des Vins. If you like authentic, regional wines I highly, highly, highly recommend looking for Animaux des Vins wines. It’s a one man show, and Chad Zimmerman(the one man) is a veteran and someone for whom place trumps great(a key ingredient in authentic). Strangely, when authentic is the real focus, delicious and great qpr seem to follow. I love his producers from Jacques Rouze in Quincy to Haut-Rian in Bordeaux, to Laurent Pillot in Burgundy.
I’ve had very, very few white Bordeaux I’ve liked (including Haut Brion).
Really old DDC can be amazing though. And I certainly haven’t tasted widely as I’ve had so many disappointments over the years that I don’t seek them out.