If you want to taste something that makes Team Table Wine jump with joy, you're going to want some of this. The 2021 Tour des Graves Cotes de Bourg Blanc is rare, unique, and utterly delicious. Stay with me, it just gets better :)
In the 25+ years I've been working in the wine industry, this is the first Cotes de Bourg Blanc I've ever encountered. What an entry point! This is a prime example of why we should all be drinking more White Bordeaux.
Heady, engaging, and flowing with luscious notes of summer peach, ripe citrus, white flowers, and just a hint of vanilla and almond, it's a wine that delivers $50+ notes at a sub-$25 price tag.
2021 Chateau Tour des Graves Cotes de Bourg Blanc
Ripe, exotic, and complex White Bordeaux at an amazing price!
ORDER NOW in our online store.
Being rare or limited doesn't always make a wine good, but that's totally what's going on with the Tour des Graves Blanc. The obscure Cotes de Bourg AOC sits right across the Gironde River from Margaux. The unique terroir found here mixes the best soils of the Right Bank (chalk and clay) with those of the Left Bank (gravel).
These well-drained, mineralic soils impart this wine with a noble personality that I rarely find at this price point. In the Cotes de Bourg, just 70 acres are dedicated to white grapes, and of that acreage, just 5% is planted to Sauvignon Gris. If you want to go down the rabbit hole on that grape, click here, but for now, just understand that it's basically a mutation of Sauvignon Blanc.
The 2021 Cotes de Bourg Blanc is a blend of 80% Sauvignon Gris and 20% Semillon, all from 30-year-old, organically-farmed vineyards. Matured and "behaving" a lot like the famed white wines of Graves and Pessac-Leognan, this sees 8 months of aging "en fut" (in barrel) in French oak.
Trust me, this wine has got the power to handle the oak just fine. Pale yellow in the glass, this offers up a rich and powerful nose of white peach, apricot, caramelized melon, honeysuckle, and brioche. Quite full-bodied and balanced on the palate, the finish goes on for a good 20+ seconds.
It's one of those bottles you don't want to end, and that's why I recommend buying at least 6, especially if you have some experience with wines of this sort. It's a pretty "advanced" white wine, but I think it's one that a lot of folks are going to fall in love with.
14 cases just landed, great pricing, and ideal as an aperitif or serve it with scallops, crab cakes, or lobster. One last word of advice before I let you go -- DO NOT SERVE TOO COLD. You will mute all of those beautiful and exotic aromas and flavors.
ORDER NOW in our online store.
Josh Spurling
Owner, Operator, Wine Monger
Table Wine Asheville