Elixir Blanc du Grand Enclos – 2012

This is Giorgio’s top wine. At nearly 80% Semillon and with broadly equal mix of Sauvignon Blanc and Gris this wine is made in tiny quantities in a 0.5 hectare plot and aged in 100% new oak. Volumes of this are so limited that by the time you read this there maybe none left but if there is you will not regret it!

Official Tasting Notes:
A complex bouquet of honeydew melon, acacia, broom and tobacco, with vanilla and toast notes. Very creamy on the palate, with incredible depth and fullness. The intense fruity notes (pear, apricot and mirabelle, yellow peach) are accompanied by soft roasted aromas. Excellent structure with a very, very long finish. Already one of the best white wines from the Graves area.

John’s View:
This stuff is not cheap; in fact it is a wine for special occasions not least because this wine alone will make any occasion special. I said above that I am not a big fan of Sauvignon Blanc so the lack of it here is good news for me. Having said that some other wines with similar levels of Semillon taste heavy and glutinous, I have no idea how Giorgio avoids the same problem here but he certainly does. I guess the flinty soil keeps it fresh! The result is a perfectly balanced white wine that has more layers than an Eskimo and enough interest to keep Einstein engrossed! Bad jokes aside this is, in my opinion, the best white wine coming out of Bordeaux right now (and yes that does include Haut Brion, Pape Clement and Chevalier Blanc) – in fact it is more than a match for most of the great white Burgundy’s.