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Andrew Jefford: Bordeaux’s white wine resurgence deserves attention
'White wine allows Bordeaux proprietors to be creative and intriguing,' writes Andrew Jefford in his latest Decanter magazine column, exploring this vibrant tale of modern revival in the region.
I’m curious. Imagine we’re going to have dinner together: aperitif, white wine with the starter, red wine with the second course and a glass of Port (young, vintage) to finish. As I serve the first course, I mention that tonight’s white is from Bordeaux. What’s your reaction? He’s gone for a cheap option? Maybe. It’ll be a soundly made fresh white without much personality? Perhaps. Wow: an intriguing terroir choice! Doubtful. He’s found an exciting alternative to white Burgundy? Improbable.
That’s Bordeaux’s white problem. We’re hazy about it, we struggle to find benchmarks, it lacks precise origin and few nowadays see it as essential to the gastronomic toolkit. Prediction: this will change. And fact: you could have answered ‘yes’ to all of the deductions above. All.
The backdrop? Our world is heating: we want more chilled white wine. According to OIV figures, white wine accounted for 45.6% of global production between 2000 and 2004; that had risen to 49.3% between 2017 and 2021.
In Bordeaux, white wine helps proprietors escape from a marketing prison of haughty grandeur that fails to engage younger drinkers and leaves sommeliers bored and frustrated. White wine allows proprietors to be creative and intriguing; they can surprise and re-engage with consumers. Margaux second growth Château Durfort-Vivens’ beautifully labelled Blanc de Noir is an example: it’s made from Cabernet Franc and Muscadelle, and almost exclusively aged in amphora.
Bordeaux can produce outstanding white wine. Simple blends of Sauvignon and Semillon with a little Muscadelle fragrance can offer compelling satisfaction and drinkability for their price while, at the top of the ladder, the sensual allure of grand Bordeaux whites can be sublime.
The success of dry white wine is already changing the dire economics of Sauternes: Château Guiraud now devotes half its vineyards to dry white, while Château Suduiraut expects to be two-thirds dry white by 2030. Suduiraut’s dry 2020 Vieilles Vignes (see right) sells for about £40-£50 in the UK at the time of writing; to find a white Burgundy of equivalent quality, you’d need to pay at least three times that price.
The arrival, in August 2025, of a Médoc Blanc appellation marks the moment. It covers the eight Médoc APs (Haut-Médoc, Médoc, Listrac-Médoc, Moulis, Margaux, St-Julien, St-Estèphe and Pauillac) and the rules have been written with more varietal flexibility than the French norm, though three months’ wood ageing for 30% of the blend is mysteriously required.
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St-Emilion and its satellites are planning their own appellation extensions for white wines, too. Will it help? Remember that the dry whites of Château d’Yquem (named Y, or ‘Ygrec’ in French) and its Sauternes peers, as well as of Château Margaux (Pavillon Blanc) and Château Mouton Rothschild (Aile d’Argent) all go to market under the plain ‘Bordeaux Blanc’ appellation. This has creative advantages, as does Vin de France (used by Châteaux Palmer and Kirwan for their whites). But it also has consumer disadvantages – notably our inability to tell whether or not the wine in the bottle comes from grapes grown on the stated property, an issue the pan-Médoc Blanc AP won’t solve.
The resurgence of Bordeaux white should, of course, benefit Pessac-Léognan above all. Why ‘should’? The fact that some proprietors here took against Semillon over the last two decades and switched to making Sauvignon-dominated or pure Sauvignon whites was, in my view, a mistake.
The grandeur of white Bordeaux is grounded on a blend of Semillon and Sauvignon: the former for flesh, the latter for brightness, pungency and zest. Take away the flesh, and the wine can be too firm and linear. Plantings take time to resolve, so this situation plays into Sauternes properties’ hands at present. They’re the ones sitting on most of the Semillon – and they have great terroir stories to tell.
In my glass this month
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)
One of my wines of the year for 2025, the Château Suduiraut, Vieilles Vignes Grand Vin Blanc Sec 2020 (AP Bordeaux) is not only a seductive blend (56% Semillon and 44% Sauvignon Blanc, from vines with an average age of 45 years) but also embodies the teasing, creamy richness of a wholly successful oaked white wine. Our family loved its honeyed aromatic allure; its weight and balance; and its seamless leafysmoky complexities. Brilliant with food. You’ll go on sipping once the plates are clean, too.
Andrew Jefford has written for Decanter magazine since 1988. His monthly magazine column is widely followed, and he also writes occasional features and profiles both for the magazine and for Decanter.com. He has won many awards for his work, including eight Louis Roederer Awards and eight Glenfiddich Awards. He was Regional Chair for Regional France and Languedoc-Rossillon at the inaugural Decanter World Wine Awards in 2004, and has judged in every edition of the competition since, becoming a Co-Chair in 2018. After a year as a senior research fellow at Adelaide University between 2009 and 2010, Jefford moved with his family to the Languedoc, close to Pic St-Loup. He also acts as academic advisor to The Wine Scholar Guild.
Roederer awards2016: International Wine Columnist of the Year
