2012 White Bordeaux

Located in the heart of the village of Cérons in the Graves region, Ch. de Cérons is surrounded by tall stone walls. The château is located across from a beautiful 12th century church. Xavier and Caroline Perronmat took over management of the family estate in 2012. They accepted the challenge of producing wines of the highest quality in one of the least known, but oldest appellations of Bordeaux: Cérons.

Hand-picked and sorted in the vineyard, this is pressed in whole bunches. The juice is then fermented in temperature-regulated cuves to retain freshness.  With a fine, warm July and August the vines gave their best: complex aromas of exotic fruits, hints of brioche and rose. There is great finesse, purity and length on the palate. This wine won the first prize in the Trophée des Grands Crus de Graves.

Tasted blind at the Southwold 2012 tasting. The 2012 Haut-Brion Blanc has an entrancing bouquet of honeysuckle, fresh pear and greengage that is beautifully defined and seamlessly enmeshed with the oak. The palate is well balanced with just a patina of new oak, smooth and harmonious, fine mineralité here with a spicy finish that leaves the tongue tingling. This is very well crafted and it will just get better and better. Yes, my drinking window does advise ten years in bottle, since in my experience only this and the late Laville Haut-Brion age so magnificently. Therefore, that score may well rise in the future if I am ever afforded a chance to re-taste this superb white Bordeaux. Tasted January 2016.
Neal Martin - robertparker.com - October 2016

There is a qualitative similarity between 2012 and 2011 for the dry white wines of the Graves, high praise indeed given the undoubted quality of the latter. However the summer of 2012 was hotter and drier, giving what Remi Edange at Domaine de Chevalier called a "pulpeux" quality to the wines. That is to say a fleshy and juicy character. This 2012 white is very impressive with a bright firm fruit showing citrus and stoney flavours in equal measure. As usual as 70/30 blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, this is sure to be an outstanding wine once it has finished its maturation in oak.
Mark Pardoe MW, Wine Buying Director

A quiet nose at the start is misleading, as in the glass this opens up magnificently for a wine so young: a dense wave of white flowers, citrus, fine smoke and lanolin. The palate shows the unique terroir of Sauternes, often so shrouded by sugar, this is quite unlike any white Bordeaux I’ve tasted before, with sweet musk, white fruits and flowers, with a dense flavour of honeysuckle, supported by very well integrated acidity, which sweeps into a vivid and lively finish. Excellent now and given the age-ability of Sauvignon, will only get better over the next 10-15 years. 
Fine Wine Team

A dry and zippy white Bordeaux full of pure pineapple freshness on the nose with layers upon layers of lemon and chamomile scents. As soon as you take a sip, there is a lively attack and lots of fleshy Sauvignon character, gently supported by sweet spice from the oak. The acidity keeps this wine beautifully balanced and although it is deliciously fresh now, it will get better and better until 2028 or so. 
Laura Atkinson, Fine Wine Team Dry white Bordeaux is one of the greatest food-matching wines in the world. When produced by a chateau as great as D’Yquem, it has to be tried. In the 1855 Classification, Ch. d’Yquem was the only chateau to be given the top ranking of Premier Cru Supérieur. Its unsurpassed concentration, complexity and longevity has meant that it has always commanded high prices and huge demand.

The estate traces its history to the early 18th century, when Thomas Jefferson notably visited the estate in 1787 and ordered 250 bottles of the 1784 vintage for himself. It is unlikely that the wines at the time were as lusciously sweet as the method for creating sweet wines through botrytis infected grapes had not been developed. In time it became famous for producing probably the greatest sweet wine in the world, however the estate has produced a limited number of dry wines since 1959.

A powerful wine, with an inverse blend to the sweet wine, the dry ‘Y’ or ‘Ygrec’ is made with 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon. A tiny amount of botrytis is allowed on the Semillon giving an extraordinary depth to the wines. Ygrec is made with the same uncompromising quest for quality as their sweet and is one of the most impressive dry whites to come out of Bordeaux in years.

L’Esprit is the second label from one of the two or three finest white wine properties of the Graves: Domaine de Chevalier. Only five hectares (45 in all) are planted to white grapes, meaning yields are tiny and demand always huge. A delightful estate, with equally charming owners whose attention to detail is the reason their wines are so sought after.

These wines are never made to be ‘fruit driven’, rather the aim is to produce refreshing whites that stimulate the palate. Gooseberry and white peach on the nose, with a more mineral edge in the mouth. The palate broadens on the finish, with a lovely hint of lemon verbena. Drink now to 2017. Sauvignon Blanc 70%, Sémillon 30%
Philip Moulin , Wine Buyer