2021 Chateau Carbonnieux Blanc Pessac Leognan - One of Bordeaux's top white wines at one of the best prices in the country!!
“Friday 10th April 1663… Here we drank a sort of French wine, called Ho Bryan, that hath a good and most particular taste that I never met with”.
Samuel Pepys - The first wine critic (February 1633 – May 1703)
Bordeaux has a long history of making great wines and although some feel that the top wines are way overpriced, the price is dictated by the simplest economic indictors in a free market economy- supply and demand!
It’s rare that you get a vintage from Bordeaux where the critics say buy white but for some reason it seems to happen with vintages ending in 1 the last few decades; 2001, 2011 and now 2021. Critics are calling 2021 Bordeaux an average early drinking vintage for the reds but the whites have been getting high marks and praise from Bordeaux top critics.
One of my favorite Chateau in the Pessac Leognan region for value in white wine is Chateau Carbonneiux and I will never forget my first visit there at the UGC tasting in 2002. This was only my second trip to Bordeaux and for a Chateau to be more famous for their white wine than your red is unique in Bordeaux. Carbonnieux is the only classified growth that is better known for its white than its red and we have one of the best prices on the outstanding 2021 vintage of this benchmark white Bordeaux.
Chateau Carbonneiux Blanc 2021 at one of the best prices in the country!
2021 Chateau Carbonnieux Blanc Pessac Leognan
Average Price on Wine Searcher $50.00 Sale Price: $39.50 Stock: 120
(92-94 Points) The 2021 Carbonnieux Blanc has a relatively spicy bouquet, very slight touches of muscat filtering through the citric fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with a spicy entry and good weight. Persistent in the mouth, leaving behind a long, saline aftertaste. This is another excellent dry white Bordeaux. - By Neal Martin on April 2022
About Chateau Carbonnieux:
Graves is unique among all the wine regions of the Medoc in that its producers make both red and white wines. When you talk to a wine collector about the wines of Bordeaux the conversation almost always goes toward the great red wines of this ancient and famous wine producing region. The top names from Bordeaux are purchased by collectors up to two years before they will receive the wines from their local wine merchant. Most of the white wines made in Bordeaux get very little attention or respect, however true Bordeaux aficionados know that the white wines of Graves or more specifically Pessac-Leognan are just as highly regarded as their reds and in many cases are even more expensive!
The Graves region is the closest one to the city of Bordeaux, it is a fairly large region stretching some 35 miles from the southern limits of the Medoc, round the west and southern outskirts of Bordeaux, past Langon, and almost to the limits of the Bordeaux region along the western bank of the Garonne to a depth of 10 to 15 miles. The INAO produced a classification of both red and white Graves in 1953, which was revised in 1959. It lists only thirteen red wines and eight white wines, but unlike the five-tier 1855 classification of the Haut Medoc, there is no distinction among them with the exception of Chateau Haut Brion, the only wine from Graves to be included in the 1855 classification and one of the great first growths of Bordeaux.
Chateau Carbonnieux is located just 10 kilometers from the city of Bordeaux. The chateau was originally built during the troubled times of the Hundred Years’ War, as can be seen today from the defensive features of the castle. Carbonnieux was also often at the heart of turbulent times throughout the history of this region because of its close proximity to the city of Bordeaux.
In the latter part of the 19th century, phylloxera struck the Bordeaux vineyards, causing a long period of upheaval. Full recovery came only at the end of the century, but was closely followed by an economic crisis due to overproduction. Then not long after this came the Great Depression of 1929 and, in its wake, two world wars that ravaged the country, and by no means left the vineyards unscathed. It was mainly these reasons why Carbonnieux and most of the other great chateau of Bordeaux were considered to be underachievers in the 1940’s.
There were only 29 hectares of vines planted in 1950 compared to the 60 hectares that were planted two centuries ago! The existing vineyards were not tended for in years so even the older vines on the property were in quite bad shape and in need of replanting. The chateau had been uninhabited since the 1st war and was also in very poor shape. Not much good can be said of the winemaking equipment and the market for wine at this time was barely buoyant in terms of sales.
This was the state of the chateau when the Perrin family bought the property in 1956. Today, the Perrins have proven to be one of the greatest families of Bordeaux and in addition to owning Carbonnieux they also own Chateau Le Sarte, Tour-Leognan, Bois-Martin, Lafont-Menault and Haut-Vigneau. None of which are household names in the United States, but they are very well known in France and many of the everyday connoisseurs of Bordeaux rely on these properties to provide them with very high quality everyday wines.
Anthony Perrin is one of the most respected producers in this region and a very well liked man among his peers. Anthony gave this interview in Bordeaux News. “Things were not very easy in the beginning. I must say that during that first winter at the property, in 1956, the thermometer went down to minus 20 degrees Celsius! The extreme cold knocked out all the vines that were left. My father came up with a new plan for replanting the vineyards that was fairly faithful to the way that they were laid out in the early 18th century, when the estate was at its peak. Replanting started in 1957 and was further intensified in 1962. Putting order into the cellar was so difficult at first, my father was often tempted to simply give up. The wines of Carbonnieux from the 1960s were not of particularly outstanding quality and were sold in a market that was saturated.
Times were better in the 1970s which coincided with an economic boom and increased consumer spending. As of the 1980, profits from wine production (the vines had finally reached maturity) were such that we could make some necessary major investments. It was during this decade that a modern wine making facility was created, corresponding to the increased size of the vineyard. An entirely new fermentation area was built in 1990.”
Chateau Carbonnieux has a microclimate that is all its own. Located along a rise combined with the effect of the nearby Gironde River and Eau Blanche Stream, Carbonnieux has excellent quality gravelly soil throughout its 90 hectares of vineyards. Furthermore the proximity to Bordeaux has the effect of increasing the temperature by an average of 2-3 degrees Celsius during the winter months and the opposite effect when the weather is extremely hot. All these factors combine to make Carbonnieux exceptionally early maturing, while not prone to spring frosts. The vineyard is planted to 47 hectares red varietals and 43 hectares to white varietals making the white wine equally as important as the red at this great property.
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