| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Bordeaux (White) |
| Colour | White |
| Type | Still |
This is the dry white wine of Château Margaux, made from 100% Sauvignon Blanc. Less than 1,000 cases are produced annually.
The clarity and focus of this white is phenomenal with honeysuckle, white peach, lavender, and melon aromas that follow through to a full body, yet it’s tight and focused with super fine phenolics that keep it together. Great balance between the opulence and freshness. It has great acidity. Incredible energy. pH 3.1. Drink or hold.
The 2020 Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux comes skidding out of the glass at high speed with vibrant notes of lemonade, fresh grapefruit, lime blossoms, and yuzu, followed by hints of coriander seed and chalk dust. The medium-bodied palate quivers with tension and energy, perfectly matching the vivacious citrus and mineral layers, finishing with epic length and grace. Pavillon Blanc has been bottled with a DIAM 30 cork since 2017.
Clear gunsmoke character with slate and graphite, also a ton of white peach, white pear, some sweet mango and a scrape of salinity on the finish. This is balanced and successful, and easy to recommend, completing a strong set of wines at Margaux in the 2020 vintage. 40% of the overall production in the final blend. 3.01pH. Harvest from 24 August to September 1. 100th anniversary of the name Pavillon Blanc (even though they have made a white wine at Margaux for 300 years).
Drinking Window 2022 - 2040
The 2020 Pavillon Blanc bursts with aromas of lemongrass, crisp green apple, white flowers and fresh mint, followed by a medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy palate that's pure, racy and charming, exhibiting a somewhat more giving profile than the more chiseled 2019. 2023 - 2040
The 2020 Pavillon Blanc is quite opulent and oaky on the nose. It’s more tropical than its peers, with dried pineapple, white peach and light lanolin scents, but there is sufficient countervailing energy in situ. The palate is medium-bodied with a delineated and lightly spiced entry, a little honeyed in texture, building nicely toward the finish. This needs a couple more years in bottle, but it will come good. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. 2027 - 2037
100% Sauvignon Blanc. Cask sample.
Fresh and aromatic with citrus and pear notes and a brush-stroke of vanilla oak that adds an extra tone. Appealing depth, texture and weight and everything in balance. (JL) 13.2%
Drink 2022 – 2032
(100% SB; 13.2% ABV)
Pale lemon; fresh, fragrant, peach, nectarine, and citrus-vivid to smell; a concentrated, elegant, vital, wonderfully harmonious constitution; bone-dry, crisply ripe in flavor, long, racy, fragrant, and fresh, a beautifully proportioned, intensely aromatic midweight of enormous class and definition, great length of flavor, and great, fragrant, mouthcoating length. A notable performance to celebrate the centennial of Pavillon Blanc, first produced in 1920. 2025–55.
The 2020 Pavillon Blanc was bottled in June 2021 after aging for 8-9 months. It needs a lot of swirling to unlock restrained scents of lemon curd, white peaches, and lime leaves, with touches of orange blossom, crushed rocks, and coriander seed. Medium-bodied, it has ethereal weight with great intensity of stone fruit and lots of citrus accents, finishing long and steely.
Since I reviewed the 2020 last year, I tasted the bottled 2021 Pavillon Blanc during my visit. The nose is a little stubborn at first, opening with discrete white peach and yellow plum scents, a touch of jasmine. It's certainly less flamboyant than the barrel sample. The palate is well balanced with a lively entry, citrus fresh with lemon verbena, menthol and pineapple notes. Strangely, it's got something…Chardonnay about it! Vibrant, maybe a little exotic compared to previous vintages, full of joie-de-vivre on the finish.
The 2020 Pavillon Blanc de Château Margaux was picked on 24 and 25 August after rain had lent more acidity and freshness. The pH is low at 3.10. It has a delightful bouquet with enticing scents of green apple, white peach and pressed flowers, conveying a sense of energy and playfulness. The palate is very well balanced with an underlying salinity that gets the saliva flowing. Very good tension here, impressive considering the warmth of the summer, it offers discrete touches of stem ginger and Nashi pear on the finish. This was virtually the final blend as it was due to be bottled the following week. N.B. As this is the centennial Pavillon Blanc, Philippe Bascaule hinted that it may come in a specially-designed bottle.
2020 marks a century of Pavillon Blanc. The harvest took place from 24th August to 1st September, determined by the preservation of acidity. We were unable to taste this wine En Primeur.
