Championing white wine of Bordeaux

August 30, 2011

About Wines from Bordeaux
Best wine supplier in Philippines discusses wine related topics

Championing white Bordeaux

Bordeaux whites, wine lovers might say, are forgotten but not gone. Not the famously seductive sweet wines, of course. Sauternes such as the brilliant Château d’Yquem and Suduiraut, and choice Barsacs from châteaux such as Doisy-Daëne and Doisy-Védrines, are very much with us, though hardly populist.
What’s in trouble – indeed, invisible – are Bordeaux’s dry whites: those from the Graves region, which extends 30 miles southeast of the city of Bordeaux along the Garonne River’s left bank and is known primarily for reds.
On the long shelf of France’s decorous aperitif and food-oriented dry whites, those from Graves, and from the Médoc, should rank high. Yet these serious wines suffer tokenism on restaurants’ wine lists and in shops. The Christmas catalog of Zachys, a large-scale merchant in wealthy Westchester County, New York, cited merely seven.
Dry Bordeaux whites are nearly absent in wine auction catalogs, too: In the Zachys Christie’s catalogue for a February 22-23 sale, there was exactly one lot – eight bottles of 1985 Laville-Haut-Brion.
How paradoxical a fate for a class of whites that, at their height of finesse, can rival collectible Burgundies. These full-bodied, pale wines are composed mainly of sauvignon blanc and sémillon grapes that are cultivated on glaciated gravel (Graves) terraces and blended in varying proportions for different stylistic emphases.
Leading-edge dry Bordeaux whites, when drunk young, are mouthwateringly fresh and, owing to the sauvignon blanc, pungent and herbaceous in bouquet and flavor; their brisk acidity virtually guarantees at least a decade’s life. Sémillon provides richness, smoothness and viscosity. Muscadelle, in tiny quantities, adds aromatic grace notes.
As the wine ages, it can become creamy, honeyed and figgy, perhaps melon-like, nutty and round, with the early, nearly sweet oak and vanillin accents diminishing.
White Bordeaux’s distinctive style has spawned a copycat school of California Sauvignon Blancs, which, ironically, sell far better than their mentor.
Quick, can you name top-flight producers of Bordeaux whites? If not, while focusing your attention on Pessac-Léognan, the subdistrict appellation created in 1987 in the northern sector of the Graves region, concentrate on these châteaux: Class A – Haut-Brion, Laville-Haut-Brion, Domaine de Chevalier, de Fieuzal. Class B – Carbonnieux, Couhins-Lurton, Haut-Bergey, La Tour-Martillac, La Louvière, Malartic-Lagravière, Olivier, Pape-Clément and Smith-Haut-Lafitte. And in southern Graves look for the whites of d’Archambeau, le Bonnat, Chantegrive, Clos Floridène, Rahoul and Villa Bel Air.
Some Bordeaux whites are so stratospherically expensive they inhabit the “fuhgeddaboutit” zone, unless you’re flush from an unlikely Wall Street triumph: for example, 1997 Haut-Brion Blanc (about $210).
The pricing of others hover closer to earth: the 1997 Pavillon Blanc de Château Margaux (about $65); this label, perhaps the best Médoc white, introduced me to the genre. Alternatively, consider 1996 Domaine de Chevalier (Pessac-Léognan, about $87) or the 1998 Blanc de Lynch-Bages (Pauillac, about $35).
I have seldom encountered Mouton’s small-production white, Aile d’Argent, and then only as a curiosity and first-course accompaniment at black-tie dinners in fine restaurants, never in retail shops. In my dog-eared wine literature, it is merely an asterisk; surely, it is no better known than the estate’s scarcely seen number two red wine, Le Petit Mouton de Mouton-Rothschild.
For any crucial social or professional occasion, when you’re the buyer, and informed judgment and affordability are concerns, Château Carbonnieux Blanc (the 1998 costs about $28) is a dependable safety net. Alternatively, pick up the stylish Les Arums de Lagrange (the 1998 is about $22), from Marcel Ducasse, the director and winemaker at Château Lagrange, a reinvigorated Third Growth in Saint-Julien that deserves Second Growth status.
Ducasse possesses a keen perspective on the 1990s upgrading of white Bordeaux. Sauternes aside, until 10 or 15 years ago “quite a lot of grapes with rot” went into the dry whites, he says. Until the 1950s or early 1960s, he explains, these whites were sweet, and to produce them “you didn’t need pristine grapes: a bit of rot was okay.” Even when that style died in the early 1960s, “fruit that was less than perfect was accepted.” The result was “heavy, unfruity, stale wines,” he says. But “for bright, clean whites, it’s very important to avoid rot and overripe grapes, which are lacking in acidity – they make the wine flat.”
Ducasse partly attributes the improvements to greater use of sauvignon blanc and less of sémillon and muscadelle. Further, “the quality of the fruit is much better now than ten years ago,” he says. “People wait longer to pick, so the flavors are more evolved.” Because of modern vineyard practices, today’s grapes are not overripe and rot is absent, he adds.
Ducasse says cellar technology also is much better. The main factor is “barrel fermentation with bâttonage,” stirring the lees, to increase their influence on flavor. “Before, mainly old barrels were used, and now it is 50, 60, 70 percent new oak barrels in the best white wines,” he explains.
Not surprisingly, Graves literature has celebrated the region’s wine culture. Both the political philosopher Montesquieu (1689-1755), whose argument for the separation of powers in “The Spirit of Laws” (1748) influenced our Constitution, and the novelist François Mauriac (1885-1970) came from the region.
Montesquieu, whose family owned the Château de La Brède and who himself was a vineyardist and winemaker, wrote that “the air, the grapes, the wines from the banks of the Garonne and the humor of the Gascons, all are excellent antidotes to melancholy.” According to the Conseil des Vins de Graves, he shipped his wine to Paris and “the vast British Empire.”
Many of the writings of Mauriac, who struggled with issues of morality and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1952, are set in and were influenced by the pastoral setting and the winegrowing life of the Gironde region.
“I have learned to esteem the ‘aristocracy of the cork’ more highly than any other part,” Mauriac wrote. “It plays, in our modern world, a modest, but clearly defined, part. Since the burning of the Tuileries the hereditary nobility of France has lost its function. But the great wine cellars of Bordeaux are eternal, and the vintages of my native land have a right to ennoble the families who serve them.”

Source: http://www.thewinenews.com/aprmay01/comment.html

Leading Philippines Wine Supplier Yats Wine Cellars based in Clark Philippines with outlets in Angeles City, Subic Freeport and Manila Philippines has been not only a wine shop for fine wines covering all major wine regions but also a source of reliable and useful information about wine, wine appreciation, wine accessories, wine and health, food and wine pairing and all other matters relating to wine and its appreciation. This Philippines Clark Freeport based Wine Supplier and Wine Shop frequently holds public wine tasting events in Pampana Clark Freeport Zone, Angeles City, Subic Bay area, Makati, Fort Bonifacio and other areas in Philippines capital city Manila. Private Wine events such as private wine tasting and private wine dinners are also designed and organized for private clientele for their wine loving guests.

This wine shop in Angeles Clark Philippines is also renowned for a very unique product called Vintage Beer which many characterize as “Champagne beer” because it comes in a bottle with a Champagne stopper and metal restrainer. Vintage beers are top-of-the-line luxury beers bottle-conditioned for a slow fermentation to take place inside the bottle, a process that is very similar to Champagne which is designed to not only create the bubbles but also for an amazing complexity and depth of flavors.

For fans of Port and Sauternes, this wine shop in Clark Pampanga has a large selection of vintage port, Sauternes and Barsac as well as Eiswein/Icewine from Austria and Germany. Likewise, there is a good selection of Vintage Champagne at the wine shoppers’ disposal in the cellars of this wine shop in Clark Pampanga.

http://www.ClarkWineCenter.com

Getting to this wine shop in Pampanga Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Philippines from Manila
Getting to the Clark Wine Center wine shop from Manila is quite simple: after entering Clark Freeport from Dau and Angeles City, proceed straight along the main highway M A Roxas. Clark Wine Center is the stand-along white building on the right, at the corner A Bonifacio Ave. From the Clark International Airport DMIA, ask the taxi to drive towards the entrance of Clark going to Angeles City. From Mimosa, just proceed towards the exit of Clark and this wine shop is on the opposite side of the main road M A Roxas.

Clark Wine Center
Bldg 6460 Clark Observatory Building
Manuel A. Roxas Highway corner A Bonifacio Ave,
Angeles Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga 2023
(045) 841 4006 / 0922-870-5173 / 0917-826-8790 (ask for Ana Fe)

Wine@Yats-International.com

YATS Wine Cellars
Manila Sales Office
3003C East Tower, Phil Stock Exchange Center,
Exchange Rd Ortigas Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
(632) 637-5019 0917-520-4393 ask for Rea or Chay

Best place to buy wine in Clark Pampanga outside Manila near Subic and Angeles City Philippines is Clark Wine Center. Visitors buy wine in Manila and Pampanga should not miss stopping at this wine shop for a few bottles of fine vintage wines to bring home.

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While in Clark, it might be a good idea to enjoy an evening of wine-and-dine in the fine dining Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar that features an award winning 2700-line wine list. It is located in Mimosa Leisure Estate of Clark Freeport Zone. For more information, visit http://www.YatsRestaurant.com

YATS Leisure Philippines is a developer and operator of clubs, resorts and high-class restaurants and wine shops in Clark Angeles Philippines http://www.yatsleisure.com

Looking for famous tourists spots, places to visit and see, relax and unwind in Clark, Pampanga, Philippines? You may want to check out these sites also:

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http://www.HotelClarkPhilippines.com

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http://www.YatsWineCellars.com

Yats Restaurant is the best restaurant for special dinner, best restaurant for dinner with friends near Manila, also the best place to celebrate special events.

A Well-known Restaurant in Pampnga, an interesting place to celebrate Birthday Party in Pampnga.
A best place to dine with friends in Pampanga

Are you looking for an attractive restaurant or a nice place to eat with friends in Clark, Angeles City Pampanga? Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar is a restaurant with good food and good wines for dinner located at Clark Angeles City Pampanga. Perfect for exclusive dinner venues for groups, recommended for private dinner in Philippines. A Restaurant in Clark for business dinner meeting. Private dinner place or dinner restaurant in Clark Subic Near Manila Angeles City Pampanga. Yats Restaurant is one of the Good Restaurant in Pampanga Angeles City Clark near Manila.

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Looking for interesting hotels near Manila Subic Clark Angeles City Pampanga?
Trouble free hotels and well recognized hotels in Subic Clark Angeles City Pampanga
Clearwater Resort and Country Club offers a good place to stay in Subic Clark Angeles City Pampanga. In offers nice place to have rest in Subic Pampanga outside Manila.
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Where to go in Clark? Hotel Clark Philippines is a De Luxe Hotel in Clark and Subic, a risk free place to stay, cozy and nice ambience, a nice function place for special occassion

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