2013 Château Respide-Médeville, White Bordeaux, Graves Blanc

This wine hails from Bordeaux’s Graves region, which lies on the Garonne’s left bank, south of Medoc. The only sub-region to boast sweet, red and white wine, Graves is home to the divine, saffron-laced sweet wines of Sauternes, the famous reds (and whites) of Château Haut-Brion as well as the best white wines in Bordeaux. Taking its name from the gravel soils left over from the ice age, Graves’ cultivated history reaches back even further than the now-famous Medoc. The Medoc was once mere marshland until the Dutch drained what would be prime real estate in the seventeenth century. In fact, Eleanor of Aquitane’s marriage to Henry II in the Middle Ages ushered in the long relationship of wine trade between Bordeaux and England and Graves was the source of England’s prized claret for centuries. The owners and producers of Respide-Médeville, Julie and Xavier Gonet- Médeville, are products of rich winemaking history as well. While Julie descends from the Château Gilette clan, Xavier finds h