Off the bat, when I think of Bordeaux, I think Big Reds. Big Cabs. Bodacious Merlots. Banging blends? Um, when was the last time anyone actually called anything banging?
And yet I do appreciate a big personality.
Somehow big, with charisma, translates in my head to bang-able. So hey! Bangable Bordeaux blends it is. Especially the whites and Sauternes. They are sexy AF and I will never not say that, unless climate warming royally fucks us in the unenjoyable, not bang-able way.
Although! Bordeaux, as a region, is on top of adapting to climate change, having recently approved some new varieties, ones perhaps more at home in warmer climes. Who knows, the region could be on track for continued success. They’ve essentially been killing it since the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Louis IV (see it WAS sex appeal) and, oh shoot now it’s a complicated history of allegiances between England and France and…okay anyway that was in 1137, this has turned into a ramble but Bordeaux has been a stalwart ever since. In the wine world.
But with the new kids aka anyone born after, say, 1980-ish? Not so much. They (including me) have not been so keen on the region. The thing is, the big Bordeaux wines hit a pricing bubble. And got associated with old-school taste buds. And here’s the other thing–there are a ton of wines from the region with reasonable prices, especially the whites. And then we get to my true love, Sauternes. Which suffers as people don’t think they are supposed to be into sweet wines but my dudes, my dudettes, my duds and milk duds, they can be quite perfect.
Anyway I had the opportunity to taste some Bordeaux delights, nah, good enough for me to call them bangers, and here’s a Bordeaux Blanc and Sauternes delight. Get down.
Clos Floridene Graves 2019
The spectacular thing to me is that through all the ripe ripppppe mandarin, fresh cut grass and treacle nose, beyond the ripe peach and lemon-mandarin orange-honeysuckle palate, lurking beneath it all, is the idiosyncratic pencil lead/friendly ashtray minerality grit–not gritty–grit. It’s an oomph that declares I AM BORDEAUX. It is omnipresent in most reds but sometimes skips out on the whites but here it is. With graceful girth. just a hint of muscularity and bite beneath voluptuous fruit forward body. Really a tremendous wine.
Château Laribotte Sauternes 2018
The suave lushness, the underbrush of earth, the lift even under the sunshine of nectarines, tarragon, mushrooms and soil and then the honeysuckle of it all. It gives and it gives and evolves and it gives.
My sweet babies. Give Bordeaux a chance. You don’t have to delve into the crazy expensive Cru Classé wines. Unless you want to share a bottle of Château Margaux, or Leoville-Las Cases with me. I’m here for that. Or if you have a bottle of Château d’Yquem–that is on my bucket list of wines. But seriously, just get at least a Bordeaux Blanc and dm me to tell me how it was.
Be back soon. Much love.
Scrumptious Gruel 