- white
- 0 in stock
- Organic
- Low Sulfur
- no discounts
It is very rare to be able to enjoy a 100% sémillon from old vines, and made with all the due respect to the plants and the wine. Here it is a great occasion, allowing you to discover the potential of this underrated grape which is the main component of iconic Haut-Brion and Laville Haut-Brion blanc. More subtle and maybe more long-lived than Sauvignon Blanc, this rich grape reveals itself gaining superb depth and tension with bottle age, something that Jean-Mary Le Bihan understood very well for this cuvée. Originally produced from 1925-1929 Sémillon-Sauvignon-Muscadelle on boulbènes, it has come since 2008 only from 1938 Sémillon planted on Oligocene limestone. After being hand-harvested, the grapes are slowly pressed over 6 or 7 hours, then vinified in new (¼) and used 300 and 400 liter-barrels (from local copper Francis Miquel) with spontaneous alcoholic and malolactic fermentations. The wine is just topped off until bottling, with sulfurs added if needed (50 ppm total usually), and aged for 24 months in oak then 24 months in a 27 hl cement tank before being bottled and kept to rest for more time. This is the current release in the US (in France they just started to sell 2014). From a cooler vintage with a great late summer, this is quite a spectacular wine that would please and probably confuse mature white Hermitage or Pessac-Leognan lovers! Full of lilies and almond blossom, honey and lemon pie, the palate is rich yet dry, with a superb texture, serene and poised, spicier, smokier and racier than you could expect from the nose with a salivating gentle bitterness. This bottle can still gain with a couple more years of aging, yet opened today, decanted and served in large glass, it will be perfect with a poached guinea hen and root vegetables, a morels risotto or aged hard-press cheeses. 100% Sémillon. Pascaline Lepeltier.