critic reviews
The 2023 Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant notes of fresh grapefruit, pineapple, and white peaches leading to hints of honeysuckle, orange blossom, and coriander seed with a waft of yuzu. The medium-bodied palate has vivacious citrus and tropical fruit flavors with a racy backbone and long chalky finish. This is delicious! The yield was 37 hl/ha and the pH 3.15.
White peach flesh on the opening gives an opulent start that quickly narrows inwards to flint and steel. An exceptional white wine, with sculpted charm, showcasing citrus, lime zest, green apple, anis and sage. Harvest August 23 to 30, yields 37hl/h compared to 15h/h in 2022.
The 2023 Pavillon Blanc was picked from August 23 to 30 during the heat wave, so the fruit was picked only in the morning. The yield clocked in at 37hL/ha. It has a crisp nose with green apples, nettle and grass clippings, perhaps not as complex as I expected. The palate is well balanced with touches of melon and orange rind on the entry. Modest in depth and quite fresh with a touch of lemongrass, it is a fine and comparatively opulent Pavillon Blanc, even if I would not place it on the mantelpiece with the great vintages in recent years.
The 2023 Pavillon Blanc from Chateau Margaux, harvested during the morning hours of the August 23-30 heatwave, possesses a deep, complex bouquet of spring flowers, lemon oil, ripe orchard fruits, lemongrass and sweet gooseberries, followed by a medium to full-bodied, round and concentrated palate that's animated by lively acids, concluding with a long, taut, delicately phenolic finish. This bottling amounts to only 45% of the entire crop, the rest being relegated to a second wine.