Wine Ratings

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Readers may not know it, but this team makes some incredible whites. The 2020 Virginie De Valandraud Blanc has a beautiful perfume of bright citrus, lemon pith, and chalky minerality as well as a medium to full-bodied, concentrated, yet still racy and vibrant style on the palate. It’s gorgeous today, but this will evolve gracefully for 15 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 94 JDTypical Sauvignon Blanc nose of herbs, peas, apple and stalky elderflower with some white chocolate. Bright, textured and clear, a lovely clean sensation, I like the creamy yet piercing lemon and lime. Thrilling with clarity and elements of chalky, lemon, salty lime, nectarine and bitter orange peel. In a quiet phase but plenty of appeal.Decanter | 93 DECThis has aromas of almonds, thyme, clove, lemons and green apples. Crushed stones, too. Creamy, medium-bodied and textured, with a nutty thread throughout. Excellent weight and intensity. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 93 JSThe 2020 Virginie de Valandraud Blanc is a very pretty and expressive dry white. Hints of passionfruit, tangerine oil, mint and pineapple all grace this airy, weightless white.Vinous Media | 92 VMThe 2020 Virginie de Valandraud Blanc leaps from the glass with exuberant notes of green guava, passion fruit and ripe pears, plus hints of coriander seed, lemongrass and wet pebbles. The medium-bodied palate has impressive purity and intensity, delivering a racy backbone to offset the tropical fruit flavors, finishing long and lively.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 89-91 RPCrackles nicely from the start, with oyster shell, lemon peel and gooseberry notes. Shows lots of mouthwatering zip through the finish, which brings you back for another sip. Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris. Drink now through 2024. 1,200 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

The 2021 Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc is a powerful, medium to full-bodied beauty with straight racy acidity as well as beautiful notes of tart melon, chalky minerality, charcoal, and white flowers. I love its mid-palate depth and balance, but it’s going to require bottle age. It will be very long-lived. The blend is 55.2% Semillon and 44.8% Sauvignon, aging in 53% new barrels.Jeb Dunnuck | 94-96 JDPeach and waxed-lemon character here. Some fennel and aniseed, too. Very fresh. Medium to full body with a round, creamy palate. A little closed for now at the end. 55.2% semillon and 44.8% sauvignon.James Suckling | 95-96 JSThe 2021 La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc marries the natural energy of this cool year with lovely mid-palate creaminess and texture. Understated yet persistent, the 2021 presents a gorgeous display of pear, white flowers and mint, along with a subtle touch of oak that frames the finish. Today, the 2021 is quite a bit less expressive than it was en primeur. It was also bottled in May 2022 (versus May 2023 for the reds) and may be in a closed period, which is not unusual for wines from cold years. We shall see.Vinous Media | 95 VMWhite chocolate, satsuma, lemon peel, peach and white flowers on the nose. So much intensity on the palate but in the purity of detail so you get the expansive flavour, succulent lemon and orange, zest grapefruit, crisp apple and delicate creamy patisserie elements all underpinned by a salinity and crushed stone texture. It’s focused but so expansive as well, chiseled and detailed. A great combination where you get so much flavour in such delicate and defined packaging. Really very delicious and moreish.Decanter | 95 DECComposed of 55% Semillon and 45% Sauvignon Blanc, the 2021 La Mission Haut-Brion blanc requires a fair bit of swirling to reveal notes of grapefruit, lime zest, and yuzu, with hints of sea spray and lanolin plus a touch of coriander seed. Light to medium-bodied, the palate shimmers with energy and citrusy layers, supported by a crisp backbone and satiny texture, finishing long and chalky.The Wine Independent | 93-95 TWIA fresh, incipiently complex bouquet of pear, grapefruit, freshly baked bread and wet stones prefaces the 2021 La Mission Haut-Brion, a medium to full-bodied, fleshy wine with a satiny attack that segues into a taut, structured mid-palate built around chalky dry extract, which lend this a more tightly-knit, mordant profile than the broader, fatter and more enveloping Haut-Brion Blanc.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94+ RP

This estate makes a bevy of terrific dry whites in addition to an incredible Sauternes. Starting with the 2021 Lions De Suduiraut Blanc Sec, which is a blend of 52% Semillon and 48% Sauvignon Blanc, it offers subtle grapefruit and citrus notes, a kiss of minerality, and a refreshing, vibrant, wonderfully balanced style on the palate. It’s a seriously good bottle of wine to drink in its youth.Jeb Dunnuck | 94 JDThe 2021 Lions de Suduiraut Blanc Sec is gorgeous. Rich, creamy and expressive, the 2021 is exquisite in its balance of textural richness and freshness. Orchard fruit, white flowers, mint, lemon oil and chamomile envelop the palate, while bright floral accents perk up the finish. Lions is the new name for the Blanc Sec, which is the same wine as before.Antonio Galloni | 91 AGA tangy white with sliced grapefruit, apple and celery character. Medium body. Fresh finish. White pepper. Dry and chalky.James Suckling | 91 JS

This is a really serious white. Vibrant and tangy with fantastic energy. Plenty of lime zest, pineapple, crushed stone, cedar, anise and white lavender. Grapefruit, too. Medium body. So much tension at the end. Focused and precise and it just keeps on going. The pH is 3.04, yet it has intense ripeness. A masterpiece of sauvignon blanc. The chateau says it is the best Pavillon Blanc ever. 100% sauvignon blanc.James Suckling | 99-100 JSWhile the red gets all the love at this heralded address, don’t miss their white, which has hit incredible heights over the past 7-8 years. Coming from a selection of 52% of the production and all Sauvignon Blanc, the 2021 Blanc De Margaux offers a vivid perfume of white grapefruits, salted citrus, and honeyed minerality. This carries to a medium-bodied, vibrant, vivid white with bright yet integrated acidity, plenty of mid-palate concentration, and a great finish. It needs 2-3 years of bottle age, but it’s a brilliant wine in the making.Jeb Dunnuck | 95-97 JDGorgeous peach tone on the nose, with bright lemon, clementine, green apple skin and crushed stones too. Super sharp and fresh straight out the gate, this is searing, focussed and neat with a shot of lemon juice, so zingy on the mid palate giving a green apple and peach freshness towards the end. Fruity and extremely lively. It has an unctuous texture, not weighty but delectably textured with a silkiness. You have the acidity but also the opulence, it’s both sharp and immensely layered. A joyful combination of freshness and power - supremely impressive with vibrancy and mass appeal.Decanter | 97 DECThe 2021 Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux sings of lemongrass, lime leaves, orange blossoms, and sea spray, followed by nuances of elderflowers and paraffin wax. The light to medium-bodied palate delivers super-intense notes of tightly wound citrus and mineral layers coupled with a racy backbone and incredible length. This should age very well!the Wine Independent | 96+ TWIThe 2021 Pavillon Blanc is stellar. Vibrant and chiseled, with fine depth, the 2021 impresses with its total sense of harmony. Lemon peel, mint, white flowers, crushed rocks and a kiss of French oak are all finely delineated. All this needs is a few years in bottle to shine.Vinous Media | 95 VMThe wine, as always, shows a tropical side of Sauvignon Blanc. Having said that, the wine also has the purity of mineral acidity and citrus freshness. Wood aging has softened the intensity of the fruit and rounded out the wine. Drink from 2026.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEThe 2021 Pavillon Blanc is likely to be remembered as a reference-point vintage for the new racy, incisive style that Château Margaux has favored with this cuvée for several years now. Wafting from the glass with notes of lime, pink grapefruit and pear mingled with white flowers, green almond and mint, it’s medium-bodied, bright and racy, with tangy acids and a penetrating, saline finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RP

"The Chatin family purchased Château de Respide in 2021. Amelie Chatin is originally from the Champagne region and worked as an oenologist for Dom Ruinart for nine years prior to travelling and eventually settling here in Graves. Her regular bottling of Graves Blanc is made from a fifty-fifty blend of sauvignon blanc and sémillon, with the vines generally planted on gravelly or sandy soils, though some plots are on chalk. The wine is fermented and raised in stainless steel tanks. The 2022 version offers up a deep and complex bouquet of fresh fig, gooseberry, a lovely base of soil, gentle notes of fresh-cut grass and a topnote of lime zest. On the palate the wine is vibrant, focused and full-bodied, with lovely depth at the core, fine soil signature and grip, bouncy acids and excellent balance on the long, complex and very serious finish. This is outstanding white Graves."John Gilman | 91 JG