2023 Chateau Closiot Le C du Sec Blanc

“The 2023 Le C du Sec du Château Closiot, a 100% Sémillon wine that underwent malolactic fermentation and matured in one-quarter new barrels, reveals aromas of ripe orchard fruits, baked pear, vanilla pod, white fruits, lemon and spices. It is medium to full-bodied, with a textural and layered palate that includes a fleshy core of fruit, bright acids and a deep, concentrated mid-palate, concluding with a long, chalky and tense finish. Crafted by Jean-Marie Guffens, this promising wine offers a broad drinking window, indicating its potential for both immediate enjoyment and aging.

The inimitable Jean-Marie Guffens, a Belgian theater school graduate who created one of Burgundy’s greatest domaines in the Mâconnais, also produces white wines in Bordeaux. White Bordeaux is an unfashionable category among serious wine lovers, and it’s easy to see why: enzymed and cool-fermented in stainless steel tank and hit with high doses of sulfur dioxide, many of these wines exhibit caricatural varietal aromas of Sauvignon Blanc and questionable balance on the palate. What people forget is that this is a recent phenomenon: in the past, the great dry white wines of Bordeaux were based on Sémillon, fermented in barrel and matured on the lees. Guffens, however, hasn’t forgotten; and this vinous, characterful white demonstrates that Bordeaux can still produce wines that will interest discerning drinkers.”