Freddy R. Troya

9.5

Château Larrivet Haut-Brion – 2020
Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux – France 🇫🇷

Overview
This white Bordeaux is built on the classic backbone of Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and (often) a dash of Muscadelle. What makes this cuvée stand out is the use of egg-shaped concrete vats for fermentation and aging — these facilitate a gentle, natural stirring of the lees and preserve freshness without imparting oak character.

Aromas & Flavors
Tropical notes, citrus zest, white blossoms, and a soft mineral streak. The influence of the egg vats gives it a rounded texture without harsh edges.

Mouthfeel
Silky yet crisp — the texture is elegant, clean, and balanced. The finish lingers with refreshing clarity.

Food Pairing
Fantastic with seafood (oysters, scallops), grilled fish, or creamy goat cheese.

Verdict
One of my favorite Pessac-Léognan whites — this expression marries Bordeaux structure with modern winemaking finesse. Great value and beautifully made. Cheers!
📌 Did You Know?
Egg-shaped concrete vats create a “micro-vortex” during fermentation, gently stirring the wine and keeping lees suspended. That subtle movement adds texture and complexity without the overt influence of oak — a technique growing in popularity among modern Bordeaux blancs. — 8 months ago

Michael Faddis

9.3

So smooth. Great Polar Vortex drinking by the fire. — 7 years ago

with Louise and Kimberly

Julie Hamman

9.1

Polar Vortex Wine! — 7 years ago

Christine Havens

9.1

LaFou is a small producer in the Terra Alta region of Spain, one I was lucky to visit on a recent trip to the Catalan. An expressive, fruit-driven blend of old vine Garnacha Negra and Garnacha Carignan—it's heavily laden in pie cherries, strawberries roasted in balsamic, olive tapenade, and warm spice. Intense and concentrated in the mouth, here red fruit is lifted by a jolt of bright acidity at the center, a vortex that dwindles to complex flavors of sweet tobacco, Yankee Candle and Christmas Pudding. — 9 years ago

Keith Levenberg

9.2

This is better today than it was two days ago, when first opened. Promising then, but impenetrable and showing some wood toast on the veneer. That's gone now. It's still a structured vortex of a wine, so tight it's practically turned itself inside out, but the flavors have gotten more expressive even with that forbidding structure. It's got a nice mix of apply orchard fruit with pleasantly bitter blackberry putting it in a much deeper, blacker pitch, which together with some gravelly minerality hints at the tarry flavors that'll come out in a few years. — 11 years ago

Morgan Harris

Head Sommelier Aureole New York

8.9

2011. Interesting this. Trying to hard to be fruity, but ultimately cannot escape the dominant vortex of Gruner's savory side. Definitely ripe at 14.5%, the wine is almost completely botrytis free. Pure, ripe green citrus (kefir, yuzu) as well as a steady tempo mid-line of ripe yellow and green apple, on the fringes lurk stranger tropical notes: pineapple rind, kiwi skin, green banana and green mango. There's that radish-and-lentil savoriness, shiso, fresh basil, tarragon. Chinese five spice chimes in (maybe the botrytis?) and pleasant Asprin-like bitterness on the back palate. There's an additional chemical note (SO2-related?) that reminds me of riesling's petrol, but it's really more like if someone had tried to turn the flavor of municipal pool water into a food, like a not unappealing chlorine snack. I know that's really weird, but it's what it made me think of...big without being baroque, and kept together by the acid and bitterness. Not a shy wine. The ambition and quality are obvious, but it's not harmonious at the moment. — 11 years ago

Carlos Burger

9.5

This feels like what all of the best “funky” orange wines without extreme skin contact are gesturing towards, their platonic ideal. But it isn’t a static edifice of an ideal, rather a great vibrating energy vortex, changing from minute to minute. Marmalade, spot prawn heads, salt, new sneakers, gooseberries, Bacardi limon, pickled red onion, sherry, green tomatoes, curry leaf, Hoja Santa, cilantro stems, seville orange. Enjoying on my first Father’s Day while Hugo and Kalen take a nap. Sichuan Impression delivery on its way. — 3 years ago

Kylie Farinelli

9.4

Dan Murphy’s $23.99 — 4 years ago

Bruce Leboff

9.3

Perfect and well balanced. And enough alcohol to take the sting out of the polar vortex and warm the bones. — 7 years ago

with Allan and David

Alishia Odom

9.0

Alishia had this 9 years ago

Cynthia Selzer

9.1

Mild sweet rose wine — 10 years ago

Julia Weinberg

9.2

There is a vortex of awesome happening right now — 11 years ago

Mark Lindzy

8.9

Waxy pears and wet river stones. Makes the polar vortex more bearable. — 11 years ago

David Kline

9.5

Big fruit with lime leading and citrus nation dragged into the vortex. Kefir, lemongrass toasted brioche. Palate: Lemon juice and pith, ditto the lime, big splashes of starfruit, quince and grapefruit suppressed in chalky adhesion. Clean and focused, brilliantly backlit by cool herbs and ends with lime zest and juicy lime and just a few drops of saltwater.

#laurentperrier #lp #ultrabrut #brutnature #champagne #bubbles #bringthepagne — 4 years ago

Francisco Perez

8.9

Australian complex red blend of mostly Cabernet with Tempranillo and garnacha. Very nice. Full bodied, fruity. Needs to breathe. Great with a rib eye. Dark berry tones prominent. Good wine! — 4 years ago

Kimberly Jamrozek

9.0

Fighting the Polar Vortex with a nice warm Blend. Light flavor and easy drinking. — 7 years ago

Doctor No

9.2

Beautifully backwards, but deeply buried in the immense black hole of this is gobs of herb-roasted meat, white pepper, violet, cedar, and a dark skinned fruit whose name I may never know but who grows only in the involuted vortex of the Northern Rhône. — 8 years ago

SV

9.3

Oh my. Bright, flinty red fruit in the nose. Incredibly herbal and rustic but balanced. It tastes like the hot, southern Oregon clime it came from. Lovely.

This wine might just sustain me through the polar vortex that has settled over Oregon. — 9 years ago

KayCe Parsons

9.0

Very sweet dessert wine. Tastes great chilled. — 11 years ago

Dan Fredman

Chef Sommelier World of Pinot Noir

9.8

Sucking me back into the Burgundy vortex. Near perfection, everything I want from pinot noir- seductive femininity with underlying power. A great bottle of an excellent wine. #ipob2015 — 11 years ago