Description

With a long history, the white Château Carbonnieux would have seduced from time immemorial by its crystalline robe and its very particular aromatic palette. Legend has it that it was even found on the table of an Ottoman sultan in the 18th century under the name of “Carbonnieux mineral water”. The vines grow on the famous clay-limestone soil of the Garonne gravel of Pessac-Léognan used to produce probably the best dry white wines of Bordeaux.
Although this may vary according to the vintage, the blend is traditionally 70% Sauvignon and 30% Semillon, with Muscadelle sometimes added. The harvest is obviously manual in order to obtain the most beautiful fruit at the arrival in the cellar. Once on site, the grapes are sorted, cleaned by hand, and pressed (with or without the stalk, depending on the vintage). After a few days of settling, the fermentation continues in barrels and then the wines are filled into barrels or tuns of different capacities. During the ten months of aging, the wines are stirred by an ancestral manual process. This brings more aromas and an additional chewiness and substance to the wine. The barrels and casks are made of oak from the center of France.
On tasting, this wine offers nice lemony notes as well as white flowers. Its color is pale yellow with some green reflections in its youth. The mouth is marked by a delicious fatness and an ample matter. We find the same citrus fruit aromas as in the nose to which are added notes of roasted hazelnuts.
It is a great wine that will benefit from a decade of aging. For the food and wine pairing, it will perfectly accompany fricassee of monkfish, a seafood gratin, or scallops honfleuraise. Serve it at around 11 degrees. You can keep this wine up to four or eight years, depending on the vintage.

James Suckling : “Very bright and mineral with lively citrus-fruit, ginger, white-flower and crushed-stone character. A hint of seashell, too. It’s medium-bodied, fresh and focused with tense acidity and a firm, lightly phenolic finish.”