Bordeaux Wine Guide: Other White Varieties
In this section of my guide to the wines of Bordeaux, I look at the other varieties after the two most significant. These are principally Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle.
Sauvignon Gris
Although you would probably expect to see Muscadelle listed third after Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, it would be remiss of me not to mention Sauvignon Gris, and this seems like the right moment to do it. On the other hand, perhaps it should not be included at all; this is a colour mutation of Sauvignon Blanc, and is effectively the same variety. The same is true of all the Pinot varieties, however, and we would certainly split any discourse on those varieties into its component parts, so why not here? Besides, I have some nice photographs (below).
This variety can be found in the Graves region growing alongside Sauvignon Blanc, although only in tiny quantities. It is planted in larger quantities at Château Monbousquet (the location of the fruit pictured below – and unless I am mistaken the picture on the left also shows some leaf galls, probably phylloxera) where it accounts for one-third of the white vineyard, and contributes a handsome proportion to the final blend. It is a pink-skinned mutation, one that goes by the name of Fié Gris in the Loire Valley, a name that also reflects the ‘wild’ appearance of the vine (fié being a derivative of the Latin for wild, ferus). In terms of taste, it tends to lend a fatter, more feminine perfume to the finished wine.
