Bordeaux 2022 at Two Years: Pessac-Léognan, White
In this, the second of two instalments looking at the wines of Pessac-Léognan in the 2022 vintage, now the wines are in bottle, I continue with the white wines.
This was not an easy vintage for those looking to make a dry white. Those châteaux which focus exclusively on red wines – most notably Les Carmes Haut-Brion and Haut-Bailly – escaped these trials. But everybody else in the Pessac-Léognan and Graves appellations with vineyards of white varieties had to face the stark reality of the excessively warm and dry 2022 season.
Tasting the reds at the primeurs, and again now they are finished wines in bottle, they seem to transcend the warmth of the season, coming out of the fermentations with unprecedented and unexpected levels of floral and perfumed freshness. The whites, however, have always – both from barrel, and from bottle – displayed with clarity the warmer nature of the season.
The warm conditions brought the fruit to an early technical maturity, the sugars accumulating quickly in the dry conditions, and the Bordelais were left with a stark choice. Wait for good phenolic maturity, for the desirable aromatic compounds to develop, and as a consequence make a wine beautifully rich in aromatic expression and flavour, but without much (if any) tangible acidity and potentially high alcohol as well (some wines declaring 14.5% on the label). Or pick earlier, grabbing the acidity before it dissipates, but risk making a wine with unripe phenolics, with unappealing aromas and flavours of blotting paper (classic for unripe Sauvignon Blanc, and present in a number of wines in this vintage) as well as green, herby, pine needle notes.
