Les Champs Libres, Guinaudeau, 2020

“Les Champs Libres was born in 2013 from an idea that came on an impulse of Julie and Baptiste. This new cru is the fruit of our long lasting experience combined with precision work in our white parcels at Grand Village. The history of white wine at Grand Village is an ancient one, and we have always believed that great whites could be made on this terroir. In fact, the clay-limestone soil and sub-soil of some of our parcels seemed to us as perfect for the creation of a grand Sauvignon Blanc. In the past ten years, together with our team, we applied an extremely qualitative approach both in the vineyard as in the cellar, investing our energy and time in the elaboration of these white wines. These efforts bore fruit with our whites showing considerable progress in recent vintages. In 2012, the impressive complexity of some of the Sauvignon Blanc barrels pushed us to go even further. We kept apart two barrels of Sauvignon coming from the parcel À Louima, which showed exceptional aromatic complexity. Those two barrels were bottled separately. The resulting 240 bottles and 120 magnums were baptized as “À Louima 2012”. They represent the departure on a new adventure. Convinced by the path we have chosen, we decided in 2013 to blend the best barrels coming from three key Sauvignon parcels: À Louima, Les Pêchers and Les Acacias, to create Les Champs Libres 2013. And so, Les Champs Libres came to life. A new parcel, Mathilde, joined in 2014 to complete this new cru. In just a few vintages, Les Champs Libres became a grand white wine, without ever abiding to the “rules” of great white Bordeaux. Les Champs Libres reveals a floral and complex nose. On the palate, the wine is rich and mineral, showing great freshness, balance and a remarkably long finish. We dedicate Les Champs Libres to all lovers of great white wines. It is a rare bottle, elaborated with the same convictions we employ at Lafleur. Les Champs Libres 2020 : 100% Sauvignon Blanc harvested on the 25th, 26th and 27th August.” Jacques Guinaudeau, May 2021