Château Rahoul Graves Blanc 2020

Graves may be overshadowed by the more famous appellations of the Médoc peninsula, and those orbiting the towns of Libourne and St Emilion on the right bank, but it has no shortage of vinous history. Château Rahoul, situated close to the Garonne river, sandwiched between the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan to the north-west, and those of Cérons, Barsac and Sauternes to the south-east, is a case in point. Its story can be traced back to 1646, when proprietor Guillaume Rahoul built the château. There were surely vines at this time, although it was during the 18th century that the vineyard was expanded to something approximating its current size.

Having said that, the most significant chapters in the story of Château Rahoul come more recently, including a remarkable interlude beginning in 1978 when it was acquired by Len Evans (1930 – 2006), an Australian wine legend who parachuted in another legend from Down Under, Brian Croser, to make the wines. Evans held on to the property for a few years, before selling it in the early 1980s to another winemaking legend, Peter Vinding-Diers. He employed his nephew, a cellar rat still wet behind the ears, to aid in the running of the estate; that nephew was Peter Sisseck, today better known as the man behind Pingus and Château Rocheyron.

Peter’s time at Rahoul was most notable not for his famous nephew, though, but for his own ground-breaking work with yeasts. At a time when many wine academics doubted the impact of yeast on the flavour of wine, in 1985 Peter proved their significance by fermenting three otherwise identical vats of Semillon with yeasts isolated from the vineyards of Château Rahoul, Château Lynch-Bages and Château d’Angludet. The result was three distinctly different wines, said to each carry the flavours of their yeast’s origins. Peter invited the local cognoscenti to taste the results (in case you are wondering I was not invited – perhaps because I was still a high school student at the time) and his guests included the late Denis Dubourdieu (1949 – 2016); it was not long after this that a yeast laboratory was established in the Department of Oenology in Bordeaux University.

The drive to push the wines to the level of quality seen today began after the property was acquired in 1986 by Alain Thiénot, and this project received a boost in 2007 when he joined forces with Vignobles Dourthe to manage the property. For many years the wines, including this 2020, were made by estate manager Pierre Estorge working with head winemaker Frédéric Bonnaffous; the latter had responsibility for the wines from across all the Vignobles Dourthe properties. Frédéric has since retired though, with Pénélope Godefroy appointed to this position in April this year.

Key to the revitalisation of the estate’s white wines was the establishment of new white facilities in 2012. The estate’s orangerie, presumably not in use as you can now buy oranges by the kilo at the local Intermarché, was repurposed as a cellar for the vinification and élevage of the white wine, exclusively in barrel. From just 4 hectares of white vines (on a vineyard totalling 35 hectares – it is remarkable just how small many of the white vineyards of Graves and Pessac-Léognan are) the blend is something of a nod to Peter Vinding-Diers and his work, being Semillon dominant, sometimes by a small margin (53% in the vintage featured here) but often by a large one (between 60% and 90% is the norm, peaking at 87% in 2022). This alone, in a world where I feel many of the Bordeaux region’s whites are a little too focused on Sauvignon Blanc, is enough to make the wine interesting.

The 2020 Graves Blanc from Château Rahoul displays, at just five years of age, a fresh clarity in the glass. A blend of 47% Sauvignon Blanc and 53% Semillon, fermented and aged in oak barrel including a modest percentage of new oak, the aromatics are turning now from the former variety to the latter, as the Sauvignon yields to the richer notes of waxed citrus fruits coming from the Semillon. Alongside, there are touches of white peach purity, with a trace of matchstick and smoke, the scents of the barrel fermentation still edging through. This remains true on the palate, which is smoky and still shaped by the barrel, with notes of graphite and toast, the fruit residing in a richly phenolic substance. It has the rather modest acidity of a warmer vintage, but there are some good structural elements here to give it frame. Long, peppery and energetic, this is a smart white Graves which is ready for drinking now, but which should continue to develop more waxy and concentrated Semillon interest over the next few years. The alcohol on the label is 12.5%. 90/100 (30/6/25)

Read more in:

• My prior reports on the Bordeaux 2020 vintage
• My guide to the Graves appellation

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