Best dry white Bordeaux 2023 wines tasted en primeur

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Verdict & top-scoring wines | How the weather conditions shaped the vintage | Decoding the yields | Wine styles: what to expect

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Dry white Bordeaux 2023: An undeniable success

Average yield for whites in Pessac-Léognan: 50.3hl/ha

Variance from 2022: +45%

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top dry white en primeur 2023 wines

Vintage overview

2023 is an excellent vintage for Bordeaux’s dry white wines, not only from Graves and Pessac-Léognan, but also from the Médoc and Right Bank. The best wines reflect what Bordeaux oenologist Axel Marchal describes in his 2023 vintage assessment: a relatively cool summer ‘preserved’ the grapes so that they ‘did not suffer too much’ from heatwaves in late August and September.

But it was not always that case. Take for example the excellent dry white at Château Brown in Pessac-Léognan.

‘The sum of temperatures for the vintage are closer to 2018 and 2020,’ remarked owner Jean-Christophe Mau. And while June and July were ‘exceptional’ for the whites, he added, ‘if we had not had the hot three weeks at the end of August and September, it would have been a great vintage.’

In Pessac-Léognan and the Graves, the Sauvignon Blancs handled the heat wave better than the Sémillons, which explains why many wines, from Château Brown Blanc to La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc, have higher-than-normal percentages of Sauvignon Blanc in the blends. Cooler terroirs performed well, including for Sémillon, such as the fresh, focused, and precise Domaine de Chevalier Blanc, known for its forest-surrounded, cooler microclimate.

Some dry whites surpass the (also excellent) 2021s, combining opulence with a keen precision. Even better, the high quality is in evidence at multiple price points, from an excellent Château La Louvière Blanc to a pricier and seductive Château Smith Haut Lafitte.

Furthermore, high yields (up 45% in Pessac-Léognan) did not lead to dilution. As Marchal points out, the dry whites proved more consistent in quality versus the reds. In some areas – such as the southern Graves region – they clearly surpassed their red counterparts. Based on tasting the whites over a three-week period in April, I agree with Marchal’s characterisation that 2023 is an ‘undeniable success’ for the dry whites.

Readers will find no shortage of excellent dry whites crafted from grapes grown in cooler soils in Entre-Deux-Mères, the Médoc and on the Right Bank. Take for example the affordable and excellent Château Arums de Lagrange, or a revelatory Le Tertre, benefitting from its cooler microclimate.

Wines like Château Sainte-Marie Vieilles Vignes in Entre-Deux-Mers or La Rivière Blanc in Fronsac (Bordeaux Blanc AOC), as well as affordable and successful dry whites from the southern Graves like the tangy Château Cérons are all worth your while.

See the top-scoring Bordeaux dry white 2023 en primeur wines

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