Carré d'As is a small Graves estate, and this is its white: Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grown on the left bank of the Garonne, south of Bordeaux. The 2023 vintage is dry, medium-bodied and built on a spine of high acidity.
- Graves AOC, the left bank south of Bordeaux.
- Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, the classic Graves white blend.
- 2023, a dry vintage with high natural acidity.
- 13% ABV, 750ml.
- Certified Sustainable HVE.
How it is made
Graves is the only Bordeaux appellation that takes its name from its soil: gravels, graves in French, laid down by the Garonne over thousands of years. Those stones drain fast and hold heat, which ripens Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon slowly and keeps the acidity sharp. The two grapes are picked and blended together, Sauvignon for the aromatics, Semillon for weight and texture. Carré d'As farms under HVE, the French certification for high environmental value.
How it tastes
Grapefruit and lemon first, then white peach, then a flinty, mineral edge that comes off the gravel. Dry, medium-bodied, high in acidity, with low tannin and a finish that stays crisp rather than round. The Semillon softens the Sauvignon without dulling it.
Where it comes from
Graves sits on the left bank of the Garonne, the same strip of gravel that runs up through Pessac-Léognan. It is Bordeaux's oldest white wine country, and the only place in the region where dry whites and reds have been made side by side for centuries.
Good to know
Graves was the first Bordeaux appellation to be delimited, in 1937. Before that, the name referred simply to the gravel soils, and the wines were known long before the classification of 1855 ever mentioned them.
