Château Le Puy Marie-Cécile 2023

Château Le Puy sits in the Francs - Côtes de Bordeaux, on the high eastern edge of the region, and is farmed both biodynamically and as a natural wine. Marie-Cécile is its white, made from Semillon, a low-acid, waxy Bordeaux grape that gives weight and a lanolin richness and rewards barrel ageing. Biodynamic farming works the vineyard as a living system without synthetic treatments, and natural winemaking keeps additions to a minimum, so the wine reflects site and season closely. It spends eight months in oak barrels, where slow oxygen exchange through the wood and contact with the fine lees build texture and a toasted, nutty layer while rounding the palate. At 14.4 percent this is a ripe, full-bodied white. The colour is deep straw-gold. The nose shows green apple and pear alongside beeswax, vanilla, toasted bread and a savoury, herbal note. The palate is broad and textured, the oak and lees weight held by a firm line of acidity into a long, faintly grippy finish. Serve at 11 to 13 degrees in a large glass, and decant a young bottle briefly.