Classic White Bordeaux in a Not-So-Classic Kitchen

The best match of the week came out of a Friday night takeaway bag. Next to the rotisserie chicken and garlic sauce was a tub of tabbouleh, and its parsley did more for a glass of white Bordeaux than anything we cooked from scratch.

The Bordeaux Wine Council had sent a case of Bordeaux blanc, and it sat in the corner of our tiny London flat like a piece of 17th-century furniture, handsome and a little imposing. Drinking Bordeaux blanc every day sounds very grand, so I wanted to see how a classic style copes with a not-so-classic kitchen. We opened a bottle or two each night with dinner and kept notes. If a label ever suggests serving it as an aperitif, ignore it, because without food you miss half of what this wine can do.

What to look for

There is a great deal more to Bordeaux than the classed growths, but at everyday prices the styles vary widely. Bordeaux blanc covers appellations including Entre-Deux-Mers, Graves and Pessac-Léognan, and the blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and sometimes Muscadelle or Sauvignon Gris changes from bottle to bottle. It helps to think of a spectrum running from bright and fruity (gooseberry, pineapple) to creamy and rich (cold French butter, candle wax). Labels rarely tell you where a wine sits, so advice from a good shop is worth having.

Friday

Château Lestrille 2014, Entre-Deux-Mers (86% Sauvignon Blanc, 14% Muscadelle)
With rotisserie chicken, tabbouleh, broad beans and toum

This one is fresh on the nose with cut grass, elderflower and asparagus, and fuller on the palate than you’d expect, with melon and some Bordeaux warmth. Roast chicken was always going to work. The surprise was how well it picked up the parsley, and it loved the garlic sauce too. Parsley turns up in so many dishes that this cheerful-seeming wine is more versatile than it first appears.

Saturday

Château Baret 2011, Pessac-Léognan (75% Sauvignon Blanc, 25% Sémillon)
With plaice in beurre noisette, capers and samphire

On its own it tasted like a simple, fresh Sauvignon Blanc. With the fish and brown butter it became big and buttery, almost Chardonnay-like, with aromas of lychee, rose petal and mango. The samphire was the best match on the plate, which we put down to both of them coming from estuaries. The late Denis Dubourdieu advised on this wine for the Ballande family.

Tuesday

With veal chop in a Pedro Ximénez, cream and mustard sauce, and thyme potatoes

Château du Druc 2012, Graves (Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadelle) was my favourite of the week. It went hand in glove with the creamy sauce, as Morrissey would have it, refined and smooth with elegant fruit. I would never have picked it from a shelf on the label alone.

Clos Floridène 2012, Graves (50% Sauvignon Blanc, 47% Sémillon, 3% Muscadelle) comes from Denis and Florence Dubourdieu, who also own Château Doisy-Daëne in Barsac. It was grassy, zingy and full of white peach and grapefruit, a little young at the time and better suited to fish than veal. It’s one to give more time.

Wednesday

With a tomato and tamarind fish curry and spiced wild rice

This was always going to be a test. Château Tour Léognan 2012, Pessac-Léognan, the second wine of Château Carbonnieux, struggled with the spices. The tamarind flattened it into a plain, lime-flavoured Sauvignon. It’s a decent introduction to the style, just not with curry. Château des Perligues 2014, Graves turned bitter with the curry, and on its own it was grassy, fresh and still too young. The leftover du Druc and Clos Floridène, however, held up well against the spices, so the curry only defeated the wines that weren’t ready for it.

Final thoughts

White Bordeaux is about as classic as French wine gets, yet it suited our everyday cooking well, provided you remember what Friday night taught me: parsley, butter and garlic.

Thanks to the Bordeaux Wine Council (CIVB) for the wines, which I chose from around 20 samples, and to my boyfriend, now my husband, for cooking every meal.