Checking in as 100% Sauvignon Blanc brought up eight months in 20% new oak, the 2023 Château Margaux Pavillon Blanc was harvested earlier to avoid the heatwave, yet this is still a rich, concentrated example of the cuvée. Grilled citrus, grilled peach, mint, and floral nuances all emerge from this beauty, and it has a riveting minerality and chalkiness. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated, rich, and layered on the palate, it builds with time in the glass, has bright yet integrated acidity (the pH is 3.1), and a great, salivating, salty finish. It will have two decades of longevity. Drink 2026-2046.

This is quite a big Pavillon Blanc with sliced pineapple, ripe apple, lemon and stone. It's full-bodied, layered and phenolic with a ripe sense to it, but then it’s citrusy and salty. Like fresh oysters. Reminds me of vintages from the 1980s, but with more freshness and clarity. 100% sauvignon blanc.

The 2023 Pavillon Blanc from Château 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.

The 2023 Pavillon Blanc is quite powerful in this vintage marked by a combination of creamy textured fruit bright acids and an almost phenolic feel that adds pseudo-tannic structure. I imagine the 2023 will need a few years in bottle. Pavillon Blanc is usually more immediate and racier but the 2023 looks like more of a long-distance runner. Lemon confit almond and white flowers unfurl in the glass. 2025-2035

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.

100% Sauvignon Blanc. 37 hl/ha (largest yield in 20 years). 45% of the production. Cask sample. Pale yellow. Sleek and aromatic with citrus, pear and mineral notes. Less concentration than some years but long, poised and zesty, that stony minerality reappearing on the finish. (JL)