Chateau Margaux Pavillon Blanc 2017
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The Sauvignon Blanc’s earliness (harvesting took place between August 28th and September 5th) kept it safe from late-season rainfall. The grapes were in perfect condition and fine summer weather allowed them to ripen in the best of circumstances. As a result, their sugars concentrated while retaining excellent acidity that is essential to the balance of a great white wine. We selected the best from our plots in Virefougasse to blend a wine of complex aromas, with roundness on the palate and an extra-long finish with delicate notes of citrus and white flowers. The 2017 vintage is distinctive for its opulence and a very generous fatness that recall the finest Pavillon Blanc vintages.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
This is a wonderful Pavillon Blanc with great aromatics and powerful flavours that highlight how those cool summer nights have given real zip and freshness without losing intensity. Intense and concentrated flavours of quince, fleshy tropical fruits, nectarines and white peaches are combined with a mouthwatering tension that holds your interest and delivers a stunningly slatey, mineral finish. Margaux didn't lose anything to frost, so had a 22hl/ha yield after careful selection (a normal amount for the estate). It was an early harvest, from 28 August to 5 September. 20% new oak. 3.1pH. 98-100 points.
Barrel Sample -
James Suckling
So energetic and wicked, in a good way, with a subtle start to the palate. Then it takes off on the finish. Sliced dried-apple, green-pear and crushed-stone notes. So minerally and levitated at the finish. Great finish. Explosive. Drink now and enjoy the freshness and youth, or age as long as you like.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: If one white wine can stand on the stage alone, it is the 2017 Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux: it is a magnificent wine! TASTING NOTES: This wine has the precision of an artist. Its concentrated and focused aromas and flavors of green apple and mineral go beyond those descriptors. A decade or more of resting in the cellar will bring all of its hidden elements into focus, and the wine will perform its perfect solo performance for those who have the patience. (Tasted: October 25, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
Another great white from this team, the 2017 Chateau Margaux Pavillon Blanc doesn't get the recognition it deserves, All Sauvignon, it has a rocking bouquet of white grapefruit, crushed citrus, salty minerality, and hints of mint. Rich, medium-bodied, ultra-fresh yet with terrific fruit, it can be drunk today or cellared for 10-15 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Chateau Margaux has a spraying system to combat frost at this vineyard. Still, yields were down to 22 hectoliters per hectare due to some crop losses. As always, the 2017 Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux is made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc. It opens slowly to reveal scents of fresh pineapple, lime blossoms, orange peel and lemon curd with hints of yuzu zest, wet pebbles, struck flint and kumquat. Medium-bodied, the palate absolutely sings of vibrant citrus fruits and mineral accents, sporting a very lively line of freshness, finishing with great length and whispering of tons of aging potential. Stellar Pavillon Blanc! Readers should note that after 15 years of experimenting with Diam, this is the first year this wine will be bottled under this closure. To further aid aging with consistency, this is also the first year that the wine is in a dark green bottle as opposed to the former clear glass.
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Wine Spectator
Very lively, featuring a juicy, mouthfilling mix of peach, nectarine and tangerine notes, laced with a singed orange peel thread. Exotic yet pure flavors are married to electric energy. Best from 2021 through 2029.
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Wine Enthusiast
Beautifully perfumed, this wine has ripe yellow fruits as well as a greener herbal character. Along with its tension and minerality, the wine is rich and has freshness and potential. Drink from 2022.
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Chateau Margaux, a Premier Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux, is one of the most famous wines in the world. Care has been lavished on the property by a line of owners with an abiding concern for the reputation of the estate.
For more than five hundred years, season after season, generations of vineyard-workers, grapeharvesters, cellar-workers, coopers and many other craftsmen have all played a part in making Chateau Margaux what it is today: a wine with an incomparable personality, reflected in the elegant Palladian building which adorns its label. In 1977, the estate was purchased by the late André Mentzelopoulos, and it is now run by his daughter, Corinne Mentzelopoulos.
Sometimes light and crisp, other times rich and creamy, Bordeaux White Blends typically consist of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Often, a small amount of Muscadelle or Sauvignon Gris is included for added intrigue. Popularized in Bordeaux, the blend is often mimicked throughout the New World. Somm Secret—Sauternes and Barsac are usually reserved for dessert, but they can be served before, during or after a meal. Try these sweet wines as an aperitif with jamón ibérico, oysters with a spicy mignonette or during dinner alongside hearty Alsatian sausage.
One of the most important wine regions of the world, Bordeaux is a powerhouse producer of wines of all colors, sweetness levels, and price points. Separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a coastal pine forest, this relatively flat region has a mild maritime climate, marked by cool wet winters and warm summers. Annual weather differences create significant vintage variations, making Bordeaux an exciting French wine region to follow.
The Gironde estuary, a defining feature of Bordeaux, separates most of the region into the Left Bank and the Right Bank. Farther inland, where the Gironde splits into the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers, the bucolic, rolling hills of the area in between, called Entre-Deux-Mers, is a source of great quality, approachable reds and whites.
The Left Bank, dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, contains the Médoc, Graves, and Sauternes, as well as the region’s most famous chateaux. Merlot is important here as the perfect blending grape for Cabernet Sauvignon adding plush fruit and softening Cabernet's sometimes hefty tannins. Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec may also be used in the Left Bank Bordeaux wine blends.
Merlot is the principal Bordeaux wine variety of the Right Bank; Cabernet Franc adds structure and complexity to Merlot, creating wines that are concentrated, supple, and more imminently ready for drinking, compared with their Left Bank counterparts. Key appellations of the Right Bank include St. Emilion and Pomerol.
Dry and sweet Bordeaux white wines are produced throughout the region from Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and sometimes Muscadelle or Sauvignon Gris. Some of the finest dry whites can be found in the Graves sub-appellation of Pessac-Léognan, while Sauternes is undisputedly the gold standard for sweet wines. Small amounts of rosé and sparkling Bordeaux wines are made in the region as well.