Bordeaux estate Château Pichon Baron has become the latest property in the region to launch a white cuvée.
The Pauillac cru classé announced that the first vintage of its new white wine – from the 2023 vintage – would be made available through a ‘selected number of chosen négociants’ from October this year.
Les Griffons de Pichon Baron, Grand Vin Blanc Sec is a 100% Semillon and will be priced between £45 and £48 per bottle.
The estate made a massal selection of Semillon from Château Suduiraut, its sister property in Sauternes, back in 2018.
The cuttings were then grafted onto 20 year-old vines in a cool, chalky part of the Pichon Baron estate in Pauillac, a vineyard site known as ‘Boua’.
The wine was made with whole bunch pressing and then vinified in one-year-old barrels. It did not undergo malolactic conversion and was aged for nine months in oak with regular lees stirring.
Given current restrictions in current classification laws, it will be bottled as an AOC Bordeaux Blanc Sec.
‘We are extremely pleased with the result, which confirms both our faith in the quality, character and individuality of the Semillon we selected but also our confidence in the quality and suitability of this parcel for making dry white wine at the highest level,’ said the estate.
Growing offering
Pichon Baron’s announcement makes it just the latest in a growing list of Médoc estates adding white wines to their offering.
It was recently announced that Château d’Issan was picking the grapes for its first white cuvée this harvest – albeit from varieties typically found in the Rhône not Bordeaux.
And Decanter also recently examined the development of a new appellation for Médoc blanc which is currently under consideration.