1997 | Chateau La Tour Blanche

A subtle, sweet wine, with intense aromas of honey, almond, spice and vanilla. Full-bodied and very sweet, with a lovely, ripe tropical fruit character.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The gorgeously perfumed and layered 1997 La Tour-Blanche displays a medium golden color, as well as a honeyed, kinky nose of buttered roasted fruit, quince, oranges, and minerals. Dense and full-bodied, with terrific fruit extraction, this unctuously-textured, sweet, full-bodied wine is one of the stars of the vintage.

• Stephen Tanzer: Explosive, superripe aromas of orange marmalade and toffee; shows the tang of an Alsace SGN. Large-scaled, rich and thick with extract; juicy acids give it a mouthwatering quality. Intriguing gamey nuance adds complexity to the tropical fruit flavors. Very long, ripe finish tastes like a cross between late-harvest tokay and gewurztraminer. Powerful but not heavy.

Producer Information

Château La Tour Blanche is a French wine estate in the Bommes commune of the Sauternes appellation, approximately 25 miles (40 km) south of Bordeaux. The estate was listed as a Premier Cru in the official 1855 Classification of Sauternes and Barsac. Although dating back to the 17th Century, the property was bequeathed to the French state in 1909 and is currently overseen by the administrative branch of the Nouvelle Aquitaine region. The château building itself was constructed in the 17th Century by a Monsieur de Saint-Marc and received classification as a First Growth under the guidance of German proprietor, Friedrick Focke, in 1855. The estate was subsequently taken over by Daniel Iffla, who often went by the pseudonym "Osiris". Iffla died in 1907 and although he had bequeathed the property to the state (on the condition that a wine school was established on the site), the handover was not formally completed until 1911. It has remained both in national ownership and housed the local faculty of oenology since. La Tour Blanche's vineyards are predominantly planted to the traditional Sauternes grape varieties Sémillon (83 percent), Sauvignon Blanc (12 percent) and Muscadelle (five percent). This proportions are broadly reflected in the final wines. Château La Tour Blanche makes several wines: the grand vin, La Tour Blanche (Premier Cru); the second wine, Les Charmilles de Tour Blanche; a third wine, the still sweet Brumes de La Tour Blanche; the dry white wine, Duo de La Tour Blanche, a Sémillon/Sauvignon Blanc blend with the former predominating; and the Jardins de la Tour Blanche range which includes a Merlot-dominant red and rosé, and a Sauvignon Blanc-based white wine.

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