Great Value Bordeaux White
What comes to mind when you hear the word Bordeaux? Most people would think of a French red wine made from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, which accounts for 90% of the regions wine production. Bordeaux also makes renowned, unctuous and delicious Sauternes desert wines as well as refreshing, quaffable white blends. These refreshing white wines are mainly made from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. Some include small amounts of Muscadelle, Colombard and Ugni Blanc. They can range from light, zippy and fresh from the Entre-Deux-Mers region to the creamier, fuller bodied whites from the Pessac-Leognan region.
Enter-Deux-Mers is the wine sub-region I will be focusing on today. The area is located between the 2 major rivers of Bordeaux (the Garonne in the south and Dordogne in the north). Entre-deux-Mers produces both dry whites as well as sweet botrytized whites of Cadillac, Loupiac and Sainte-Croix-du-Mont. The landscape has gentle rolling hills 100m above sea level. The soils here are predominantly of alluvial type (sand and clay in varying proportions) from the two rivers. The rivers provide the humidity for the sweet wines as well as cooling influences at night.
Puyfromage Blanc Entre-Deux-Mers 2019 is an approachable White Bordeaux style. The vines are an average age 55 years old. The vines are trained in the Double guyot pruning system using sustainable viticulture. The wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks at cool temperatures in order to preserve the aromatics. It is then aged on the lees for 2 months with stirring of the lees in a barrel and then matured for 3 months in stainless steel tanks. The wine is a blend of 45% Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris, 45% Sémillon and 10% Muscadelle. The wine is a pale lemon color with bright citrus aromas. The wine is dry with dominant citrus flavors of grapefruit, lemon, lime as well as gooseberry, grass, wet stone, blackcurrant leaf, honeysuckle. It’s a light wine that shows vibrant, lively, crisp fruit aromatics .
Pair with a oysters, gougères, halibut tartare with avocado cream, asparagus risotto, cheese fondue, lobster mac’n cheese, cod with beurre bland or basil chicken.
Looking for a great value white wine that is a cross between a herbal New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and zesty Italian Pinot Grigio? Give a White Bordeaux a try!
