Top Bordeaux dry whites from 2017

For me this is the wine of the vintage. Both of the whites in the Haut-Brion stable are exceptionally well sculpted and finessed, but this has the aromatic edge. It has a powerful, intense concentration of flavours, hemmed in by slate walls that make you slow down and inch your way through the palate - and I am more than happy to go as slow as possible. The cool nights over the summer have been very kind to these grapes; they are in full control, with luscious, creamy citrus, passion fruit, nectarine, white pear and touches of lemongrass. It's persistent and mouthwatering, an absolute testament to what white Bordeaux can achieve. 40% new oak. 98-100 points.

Both La Mission and Haut Brion Blanc are incredibly accomplished, sit-up-and-take-notice whites this year, showcasing the potential brilliance and longevity of white wines in 2017. The Sauvignon Blanc comes through as a slight wildness on the attack because the intensity is just so clear, with touches of white flowers and chamomile. It hits all the right notes, evolving into wonderfully polished flavours of white peach, fleshy apricot and rosemary that just keep on coming, hitting your palate with mouthwatering precision. La Mission has all the finessed aromatics on the attack, while Haut Brion has the length. 3.22pH.

A sophisticated, grown up white with the most beautifully placed savoury white peach flesh, shadowed by lime and tea leaves, and enclosed by slate. The fresh tension stands head and shoulders above many wines in this vintage. It's full of personality, zip and complexity, and is clearly going to age beautifully.

This is totally delicious, the best Cos white for many years. There's excellent shape and form through the palate, with a huge intensity of flavour. This has a slatey lick of minerality that almost knocks you off your feet but ends up just making you want more. Flavours of apricot, white pear, tight rosemary and grilled almonds are joined by a succulent structure, austere in all the right places. Good ageing potential. Harvested 5-22 September. 3.17pH. 6% new oak.

Knife-edge fresh citrus and lime blossom. Lean mid-palate – again, seems a characteristic of the vintage. 75% Sauvignon Blanc, 25% Semillon and just 20% new oak.

Subtle notes of charred wood, linseed and nutmeg with citrussy fruits. Crisp, with great purity of fruit beautifully melded with oak character.

This has a tautness and an intensity to it, with extremely well placed citrus and white peach flesh, a lick of fresh slate and some wet stones. Good quality.

Slightly reticent on the nose, with subtle creaminess and savoury spice. Full-bodied and opulent in style with vibrant acidity.

Utterly gorgeous freshness and zip, with intensity of flavour. It has a little more Sémillon than usual, due to frost affect the Sauvignon Blanc, which seems to mean the aromatics of the Muscadelle are a little more prominent than a classic Lynch Bages Blanc, adding a white flower honeysuckle lift. It is beautiful and works within the cascade of flavours, although I miss their more classic blend - they probably do too, to be fair. Already bottled. 45% new oak. Harvested 4 September to 8 September.

This is an excellent white, the best example I have tasted from this chateau. An intense Sauvignon nose of citrus, touches of grass and passion fruit displays a lovely freshness of expression. The palate is frank and open, with intensity and juiciness that slowly builds to the finish. An oak-driven sweetness on the finish gives it a Pessac Léognan swirl of glamour. 30% new oak.

This has the estate signature, which always has a touch of glamour in its whites. It's gorgeous, vibrant and extremely bright, with creamy apricot and peach fruit followed by a kick of lime leaf and lemongrass, plus a wonderfully salty lick on the finish. 50% new oak gives that creamy patisserie feel. This will please lovers of Château Brown, and also newcomers to white Bordeaux. A real success.

Dried grapefruit peel, nutmeg and dried herbs come through on the nose. Silky textured with honeyed fruit flavours and a savoury finish.

Jean-Jacques has done a great job in a vintage that you just know his father Denis Dubourdieu would have loved to make. 2017 has produced some of the best Graves whites for years (where they escaped the frost), and this has those singing touches of minerality that this terroir does so well. It's fairly subtle on the varietal side, with clear citrus and lemongrass notes, but it stays well away from caricature. It steals up on you, finishing with a really clear, juicy, saline character and good persistency, revealing those Barsac-adjacent limestone soils. Fermented in oak , 25% new, then kept in barrels for eight months with regular lees stirring. A buy!

This is an exceptionally good Clarté, a second wine to buy this year if you possibly can, underlining just what exceptional whites have been produced at the Haut-Brion stable in 2017. It has lovely aromatics, with persistent flavours of exotic stone fruit, white flowers, soft rosemary and slatey minerality. It's generous without losing focus. Just 7% of production was put into Clarendelle. Harvested 22 to 31 August. 60% new oak.

This has grilled edging with a whiff of rubber reduction that clears in the glass. In the mouth there's a good weight of fruit and great tension. It's well held together and, as with the reds, the oak is far less evident this year. It will be interesting to see whether this is a style change, or the influence of the vintage. Citrus is joined by some elderflower and white flower notes that lift the palat. Plenty to enjoy here.

A 100% Sémillon dry white from Sigalas Rabaud, which I love this year. It has that Sauternes signature, tasting a little exotic with a rich, round mouthfeel, while still maintaining a strict line with fresh citrus and a squeeze of lime. Excellent.

Clear and bright gourmet apricot along with lemon curd flavours. This has has a lovely push through the palate, where it acquires sculpted rosemary and lime notes. Although it doesn’t adhere to this producer’s typically richer style, this is one of the most successful examples of this wine to date. Aged in 50% new oak. The estate worked with Jacques Lurton in the initial stages of producing this wine, and the crop yielded only three bunches per vine.

This is excellent quality, punching right off the bat with a mouthwatering blend of citrus and stone fruits, followed by a wave of rosemary and white pepper. It's bracing but full of life, and there's no question that the slate minerality will deepen over the next few years in bottle. The grand vin is chosen both by specific plots within the vineyard, and also from tasting at the moment of pressing the grapes after harvest.

There is no red this year due to frost, but there is a white, and it's good. Extremely precise and well-finessed aromatics from the first nose lead into a hugely juicy palate of cut grass softened by ripe citrus, and even a slightly toasted lemon meringue character from the lees stirring. This has weight, focus and good fruit delivery - easy, but full of flavour. It's hard to see what more you could want from a Graves white. 30% new oak.

This dry white from Doisy-Daëne is a lively pale gold colour. It's bright, tight, firm and sculpted, with some verve through the palate. An impressive dry white this year, with good persistency.

This is an excellent La Garde, a success in both red and white guises in a vintage that was not clear cut. Clever use of rounding oak smooths the flavours and delivers a Pessac Léognan signature that not everyone has managed. It has good aromatics with pronounced citrus notes, and rich stone fruits fill out the mid-palate. The finish is elongated, stretching out over several minutes. This impressive wines is one to own, and a great way to win over newcomers to white Bordeaux. 40% new oak.

Rieussec's dry white is intense and concentrated, with exotic fruit, fleshy white pear and white peaches. It has great length and tons of minerality. A great year for the dry whites of Sauternes.

They suffered around 35% frost loss here in 2017, meaning just 1,200 bottles of white were produced this year - coming from the vines in the cooler parts of the vineyard which were worst hit. The blend has a little less Sauvignon Gris than usual, one of the signatures of this wine, but owner Sophie Burgetand, technical director Jean Christophe Barron and consultant Eric Boissenot have done a great job here. This has a lovely sense of intensity on the attack. It's not hugely persistent through the finish but is a very good wine, with nice weight and an emphasis on creamy citrus fruits. 30% new oak, entirely Burgundy barrels. Yield 25hl/ha.

An impressive, fruit-filled, intense white this year, with gorgeous minerality and well-balanced creamy citrus fruits. Fermented in barrel with lees stirring.

Closed right now but with clear potential. I love the flinty gunsmoke character alongside plenty of tension that softens and expands through the mid palate to show slices of soft nectarine. It has a juicy finish and the salinity is clear. The layers that come with the best Pessac whites are fully on display.

This estate was badly affected by frost - a real loss for the appellation, as this is one of the leading lights. But they have managed to produce a small quantity of this excellent white. Rich, round and succulent, it has a fleshy texture with white pears and white peaches. It's subtle but builds in power through the palate, and is going to give a lot of pleasure over the next five to 10 years. There's an excellent mouthwatering quality on the finish. Fermented and aged in 50% new oak with lees stirring for nine months.

Caroline and Xavier Perromat have made this estate one of the unmissable Graves names. Aged in stainless steel, which perhaps contributes to the slightly reductive, attractive flinty edge to the nose, which clears quickly but leaves an enjoyably sharp flinty feel through the palate. This is fairly austere as a result of that reductive edge, plus it has a high proportion of Sémillon which gives structure. Give it time to reveal the citrus and apricot edge, with rose petals emerging on the nose after a few minutes in the glass too.

There is a slightly sweet edge to the pineapple and citrus fruit, and a lovely juiciness on the finish. It's fairly rich and intense, with touches of rose petal - a good quality, gourmet white.

This is extremely enjoyable, it’s focused on the light touch and you only realise how creamy this in on the mid palate. Fragrant white flowers accompany the palate right through to the finish line. A great year for whites, and those wonderfully bright and clean flavours skip into view from the first sip.

A clear success, although unusually for the vintage I almost prefer the red. The acidity here is pretty high, with a lively smack of enjoyable white peach and pear flesh. It's not especially expressive right now, showing some austerity and a touch of flinty reduction which clears.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable Médoc white, with a juicy palate of fleshy nectarine and mineral touches.

An appealing richness alongside the minerality, the brightness to the overall structure is clear, as is the fleshy white peach character. Excellent quality, depth and power. Hard to quibble with in terms of value and the clarity of flavour it delivers.

Intense and focussed, with bright, fresh acidity balanced by textured, juicy white peach flavours that bring the whole palate into focus, finishing on a delicious salty note. This is a serious step up from the 2016 white. Vinified and aged in oak.

A touch of reduction on the first nose clears to reveal a tight and austere wine that gathers steam through the palate and finishes with bright, juicy, mouthfilling stone fruits.

Clear, bright citrus and apricot aromatics lead into a lovely, intense palate which curls upwards towards the end, gathering a juicy, candyfloss-edged finish without too much acidity. This is an absolutely lovely white wine: fresh and clean, and one to enjoy young. Fermented and aged in oak barrels with regular lees stirring. The Sémillon is grown on gravel, clay and limestone soils, and the Sauvignon Blanc is grown on clay-limestone soils.

Displaying ripe apricot fruit and good intensity. This has great persistency, with good mouthfeel and white flower edging. As a rule the dry whites are really showing well in the smaller appellations and they could be where the value is this year. 10% new oak aged and rested sur lie for 9 months. Biodyvin and Ecocert approved.