Aile d'Argent, Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2024

Bright lemon and lime destinies on the nose with some white acacia floral scents too. Green grapes, crisp bramley apples and white peach. Piercing brightness but then softens with a peach and apricot element. Focussed and taught but there’s gorgeous hints of pineapple as well as some wet stone minerality that really cleans the palate at the end. It’s definitely got a bitter vein with grapefruit pith but I like the upfront nature. Racy but still with mouthfeel to counter the acidity. A hint of oily, waxiness brings the breadth too. It makes you smile at the end. Perfect to drink with oysters. Ageing 45% new barrels, nine months. 3.05pH. 6.5% malolactic fermentation, four more weeks of batonnage to balance the brightness with richness.

Beautiful aromatics, this is a gorgeous wine, with white peach, pear, lemon peel, capsicum, sage spices, gunsmoke, apple orchard. Extremely elegant and finessed, builds through the palate, a slow slow build that layers on grated ginger, lemongrass, white pepper, cold ash, gunsmoke... sublte layers that set it apart. Harvest 9 to 20 September. 3.05 pH. 45% new oak. Just 6.5% malolactic only on Sauvignon Blanc, with more lees stirring than in a normal year.

Skips out with vibrant notes of lime blossom, green apples, and fresh grapefruit with hints of pineapple and fresh pears. The light to medium-bodied palate delivers great intensity and tension with a silky texture and long tangy finish. Yum!

Notes of pear, mint, flowers, citrus and boxwood preface the 2024 Aile d'Argent, a moderately weighted, rich and satiny wine that's ample, framed by bright acids with a gently green finish, a consequence of the vintage's climatology. This is a blend of 54.5% Sauvignon Blanc and the rest Sémillon with a pH of 3.05.