Chateau Margaux - Pavillon Blanc 2023

JAMES SUCKLING: "This is quite a big Pavillon Blanc with sliced pineapple, ripe apple, lemon and stone. It's full-bodied, layered and phenolic with a ripe sense to it, but then it’s citrusy and salty. Like fresh oysters. Reminds me of vintages from the 1980s, but with more freshness and clarity. 100% sauvignon blanc."

DECANTER: "Peach, apricot, nectarine, white chocolate, smells a little lemongrass and yoghurt on the nose, some richness on the nose. Weighty with a great texture on the palate. Seeing acidity gives the lift straight away - lemon juice, fully citrus, but so clean and so mineral too with oyster shell and salt on the undercurrent. It’s still quite lean, but graceful and very elegant and very moreish. I love the style, sharp and tangy. Fresh, orange, lemon and peach, lovely bitter elements with juiciness and some richness in terms of texture. Bright and alive. It’s very good. I like the tang on the super long finish. Well constructed. The teams picked between August 23 and 30 just in the mornings and pressed gently to preserve acidity. 3.15pH - a little higher than in 2021. 37hl/ha yield. 45% grand vin production, 50% second wine."

VINUM: "Goldgelb, duftig, reife Zitrusfrucht, weisser Pfirsich, Lindenblüten; knackiger Gaumen, viel Frische, leichtfüssig, mit Würze und Rasse, tänzerisch leicht, langer Abgang, saliner Touch."

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: "The 2023 Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant notes of fresh grapefruit, pineapple, and white peaches leading to hints of honeysuckle, orange blossom, and coriander seed with a waft of yuzu. The medium-bodied palate has vivacious citrus and tropical fruit flavors with a racy backbone and long chalky finish. This is delicious! The yield was 37 hl/ha and the pH 3.15."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "White flowers, pomelo, white peach, green apples, and tangerine create the perfume. The palate continues with that theme. It takes a second before the fruits sneak up on you and starts to pop in the finish, leaving with you layers of sweet, vibrant, crisp, juicy, citrus, and green apples, with a complicating touch of chalk on the the backend. The wine is produced from 100% Sauvignon Blanc.13. ABV. 3.15 pH. Harvesting took place only in the mornings, from August 23 - August 30. Drink from 2025-2038."

JEB DUNNUCK: "The 2023 Château Margaux Pavillon Blanc is knockout stuff and consistently checks in with the crème de la crème of dry whites from Bordeaux. All Sauvignon Blanc, it has a riveting nose of honeyed limes, grapefruit, and mint. This carries to a medium-bodied white with remarkable purity, a racy, almost bracing spine of acidity, incredible precision, and a great finish. It's going to be incredibly long-lived, and I suspect 2-4 years of bottle age will help its acidity round into form."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2023 Pavillon Blanc from Château Margaux, harvested during the morning hours of the August 23-30 heatwave, possesses a deep, complex bouquet of spring flowers, lemon oil, ripe orchard fruits, lemongrass and sweet gooseberries, followed by a medium to full-bodied, round and concentrated palate that's animated by lively acids, concluding with a long, taut, delicately phenolic finish. This bottling amounts to only 45% of the entire crop, the rest being relegated to a second wine."

FALSTAFF: "Helles Grüngelb, silberfarbene Reflexe. Feine weiße Tropenfrucht, zart nach Guaven und Birnen, ein Hauch von Stachelbeeren, attraktives Bukett. Straff, weiße Frucht, grüner Apfel, rassige Säure, Limetten und Grapefruit im Abgang, ein lebendiger Speisenbegleiter, salziger Nachhall."