Bordeaux 2012 Primeurs: Le Retout
I have already mentioned Château du Retout in my report on Haut-Médoc 2012, and following my very informative visit there at the end of the primeurs week I will be adding a full profile to the subscribers section of the site. In the meantime, however, please let me draw your attention to what is one of the most exciting and innovative projects in existence in Bordeaux today.
Having been informed some time ago by an official from the Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité that a plot of red varieties lay outside the appellation, proprietors of Château du Retout, Frédéric and Hélène Soual decided that, rather than continuing on producing the red wine, and marketing it as a hard-to-sell generic Bordeaux, they would instead realise Hélène’s long-held dream to produce a white wine. The obvious course of action would be to plant Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon – vines would be easily available from the local nurseries, in huge quantities – but as Fréderic put it, “that wouldn’t be very interesting“. What I found fascinating about their story here is not just the eclectic mix of varieties planted, but Frédéric’s candour in admitting that this side of the Gironde doesn’t have very exciting terroirs for white varieties. I would agree with him – there are some very good wines made on this side of the water, those by Cos d’Estournel and Margaux being two high-flying examples – but the wines very rarely (or should that read ‘never’?) display the exciting minerality and energy you can find in many white wines from elsewhere in France.
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