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PREMIUM

White Graves: panel tasting results

Top Bordeaux dry whites can be delicious in their youth, but can also cellar extremely well – best to buy early and seek your merchant’s guidance.

Andy Howard MW, Tom Parker MW and Tim Triptree MW tasted 82 wines with three Outstanding and 35 Highly Recommended

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their Graves AP and Pessac-Léognan dry whites, up to two vintages each, one recent and one mature (including grand cru and cru classé de Graves)


White Graves panel tasting scores

82 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 3

Highly recommended 35

Recommended 40

Commended 4

Fair 0

Poor 0

Faulty 0


This was an illuminating tasting, providing an insight into some of the Graves region’s recent vintages while also providing an opportunity to taste older vintages and see how the wines have developed.

The panel were left with more questions than answers but, in the right hands, it’s clear that the best white Graves wines can be a match quality wise for some of the better-known Burgundy Côte d’Or appellations, and often at considerably keener prices.


Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top-scoring white Graves wines


The panel tasted dry white wines from Graves and Pessac-Léognan.


Top-scoring wines from the white Graves tasting

Wines listed scored 90 points or above.


The judges

Andy Howard MW is a contributing editor to Decanter and a DWWA Regional Chair. Formerly a wine buyer in the UK retail sector for 30 years, he now runs his own wine consultancy Vinetrades Ltd, focusing on wine education, investment and sourcing.

Tom Parker MW has been a wine buyer for merchant Farr Vintners since 2011, with a particular focus on Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône. A Master of Wine since 2018, he writes when time permits, contributing to a number of publications including jancisrobinson.com.

Tim Triptree MW is the international director of wine and spirits at Christie’s, responsible for the planning and execution of Christie’s wine and spirits auctions internationally. A Master of Wine since 2018, at DWWA 2021 he judged on the Bordeaux and Rhône panels.


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