Château la Louvière White 2002, Pessac-Léognan
2nd September 2007
One must always be careful with dry whites from Bordeaux. Far too many of them are sour, ill-bred nasties, guaranteed to leave your breath smelling like a drain. They are the unhappy result of decades of government subsidy, a system which debased much of the region’s wine and cheated everyone else both as taxpayers and consumers. (”Screwed front and back”, as a friend of mine put it.)
Heaven knows, the Bordelais are not the only culprits. Continental Europe is awash with subsidy wine, much of it foisted upon undemanding consumers from Calais to Calabria by small restaurants and corner grocers. The rest, too awful even for that fate, is converted into industrial alcohol.
But if every tale must have a villain, the bad guy of this story might as well be Bordeaux. The subsidy regime was devised above all else to protect the Bordelais. And it was Bordeaux’s filthier products that did most to drive British and US consumers into the arms of New World winemakers - unpretentious Aussies and cheerful Californians offering good, clean-tasting wines for the same money or less.
As a result of all this, many of us now avoid Bordeaux altogether, convinced that the only choice this region offers is between a few insanely expensive prestige wines and a vast lake of sewage. This view is understandable but mistaken. Good, affordable Bordeaux do exist. They simply need to be hunted down.
When it comes to whites, Graves is the stuff to look out for. The best is from the northern part of the region called Pessac-Léognan. This particular example, Château la Louvière, is excellent. The 2002 is lemon-yellow in colour. It is crisp and juicy thanks to its 85% Sauvignon Blanc component, yet with a slightly honeyed finish imparted by its 15% Sémillon, that strange, luscious grape most famously used to make Sauternes. The maker, André Lurton, suggests that it accompany fish. I think it would go better with poultry. Around $29 in the US, £17 in the UK.
Apparently Lurton has bottled his most recent vintages with metal screw-caps. To his surprise (and mine) this has provoked no deafening outcry.
