Château Moutin Blanc AOC Graves, 2016

The Graves region, to the south-east of Bordeaux, lies on the left bank of the Garonne river and is named after the gravelly soils found there that provide natural drainage. Graves produces some of the most interesting white wines in Bordeaux. The Darriet family have been cultivating grapes in the village of Portets in the Graves for 200 years. Château Moutin is a small estate with just one hectare of white and three hectares planted to black grapes. 2016 Château Moutin white has an intense and complex bouquet with smoky petrol notes sitting alongside chargrilled caramelized pineapple, grapefruit and lime jelly. It is smooth and medium bodied with a persistent finish. The majority of the wine is Sauvignon Blanc with 10% Sémillon. Both varieties were left on skins for a short maceration prior to fermentation. Once fermentation started, the wine was racked into one-year-old French oak barrels and underwent a slow ferment followed by another eight months on lees.