Les Champs Libres, Guinaudeau, 2023
The most backward wine of the Guinaudeau range, but compellingly intense. Gripping flavours of crunchy, ripe yellow fruits and white grapefruit dominate the palate with hints of woody spices and stones adding further dimension to the wine. There is lots to admire here, a layered wine of backbone and stature. This has many elements to it, which will require time to come together, but make for an exciting prospect indeed. This has become one of Bordeaux’s most serious whites. Les Champs Libres is proudly 100% Sauvignon Blanc from majority (80%) Sancerre clonal material. The principal parcel for the blend is planted on profound clay over limestone on the higher plateau, while the remaining 20% of the blend is a parcel called Les Acacias, planted in the 1980s with a Bordeaux clone of Sauvignon.
critic reviews
The 2023 Les Champs Libres has a well-defined bouquet, discreet at first, like the Grand Village Blanc, touches of apple blossom, wet limestone and touches of lemon thyme. The palate is well-balanced with a crisp line of acidity, citrus-fresh with a dab of stem ginger toward the finish. Utterly delicious.
Les Champs Libres 2023 is 100% Sauvignon Blanc. It erupts from the glass with a powerful perfume of lime and orange blossoms, leading to a core of fresh grapefruit, lemonade, pineapple, and aniseed, with a waft of wet pebbles. The medium-bodied palate is intense with wonderful tension, offering layers of mineral and citrus flavors, finishing with a tropical kick.
Has there been a better launch in Bordeaux in recent years than this wine? Once again it presents an arresting, steel-tipped example of what can be produced in the region. Pummice stone texture, shot through with citrus, lime bud, lime zest, sage, grated ginger, confit lemon, with energy and lift. Unracked until this point, 80% new oak for ageing. Hard not to want to own this wine, from the same team as Lafleur in Pomerol.
The Les Champs Libres 2023 Blanc is one of the white wines of the vintage. Exhaling aromas of lime blossom, spices, confit citrus, lemon oil and spring flowers, its chalky and concentrated with fleshy, structuring tannins and bright acids that segues into a long, saline and mineral finish. This is crafted from 100% Sancerrois massal selections of Sauvignon Blanc. Kudos!