Quick facts:
- White Bordeaux
- Aromatic and uplifting
- £14.95 from Decorum Vintners
I recently tried this Chateau de la Grave 'Grains Fins' 2019 and absolutely loved it. A blend of Semillon and Colombard, this wine from Bordeaux was not at all what I expected. Although in a gorgeously traditional bottle, that is where the convention ends.
The wine is wonderfully golden in the glass, and on the nose it is lustrous with aromas of apricot and hay. When you take a sip, it has a slightly oily mouthfeel from the Semillon, which is counterbalanced extremely well by uplifting aromatic flavours of citrus, honeysuckle and mango. The finish is long and graceful, with subtly spiced nectarine rounding off the palate and ensuring that it feels decadent until the very end. It is astounding winemaking, resulting in one of the most memorable bottles that I have tried to date.
This is exactly the kind of lively complexity that I admire in wine. There is so much going on, yet it manages to retain vibrancy and - most importantly - drinkability. All for an astonishingly reasonable price point.