Tag Archives: Château Bonnet Blanc

Wine of the week: Chateau Bonnet Blanc 2022

Wine of the week: Chaeau Bonnet Blanc 2022
Chateau Bonnet Blanc 2022/$8-$20

This French white blend remains one of wine’s great values

The blog’s final wine of the week is a French white blend, Chateau Bonnet Blanc — one of the great cheap wines of all time. It has been a wine of the week five times and has been a regular in the Hall of Fame since the first hall appeared on the blog in 2008.

Of course, wine being wine, I haven’t reviewed the Bonnet Blanc for three years. For one thing. I haven’t seen it much on store shelves since the 2018 vintage. For another, when I have seen it, the price has been as high as $20, which is ridiculous. It’s a great cheap wine, not a mediocre supermarket wine.

So be glad I found the Chateau Bonnet Blanc 2022 ($12, purchased, 13%) in time for this post. This vintage is mostly what it has always been, a traditional white Bordeaux blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon. The semillon is still noticeable, and it adds some richness and a little spice.

But there’s also a touch more lemon fruit and less minerality than in previous years, so the wine tastes a bit less French in style and more like New Zealand. Still, that could be a vintage difference and not a deliberate attempt to focus group the wine.

Regardless, I bought six bottles of it (with a new label, even) before tasting it, and I haven’t been disappointed. You can’t offer higher praise than that, can you?

Imported by Monsieur Touton Selection

Wine of the week: Chateau Bonnet Blanc 2016

chateau bonnet blancThe Chateau Bonnet Blanc reminds us of the greatness inherent in cheap when the producer truly cares

The greatest testament to Chateau Bonnet’s wines and founder Andre Lurton’s vision is that this bottle of  Chateau Bonnet Blanc was three years old, but still tasted fresh — and may even more interesting than it was when it was released. How often does that happen with $10 wine?

There is a 2018 version, apparently, though it and the 2017 have not made it to Dallas yet. In fact, I’ve resisted buying this vintage for just that reason. How could any $10 wine, even one as well made as the Chateau Bonnet Blanc ($10, purchased, 12.5%) hold up this long?

Oh Wine Curmudgeon of little faith.

Know that this wine is structured, impeccably made, and will pair with anything from greasy takeout to one of those perfectly roasted chickens that the French pride themselves on. Look for some stone fruit backed with a not so tart kind of lemon, and the richness that adding semillon to the blend (55 percent sauvignon blanc) provides.

Highly recommended, and I’m sure – even without tasting them – that the 2017 and 2108 are just as delicious. And toast Andre Lurton, who died this month at the age of 94, for advancing the cause of well-made wine that anyone can afford to buy.

Wine of the week: Château Bonnet Blanc 2014

Château Bonnet BlancThere aren’t many wines that I would drink every day, but the Chateau Bonnet Blanc is one of them. What higher praise does a cheap wine need?

The Bonnet has been in the $10 Hall of Fame since I started the blog, and it has never been anything other than consistent, delicious, and a value. Quality cheap wines come and go, but not the Bonnet – something I wish the rest of the wine world understood. That the Bonnet doesn’t do better in the annual best cheap wine poll is surprising and may speak to distribution difficulties for inexpensive foreign wine in the U.S. One retailer told me his store, part of good-sized chain, was at the mercy of the wine’s distributor, which brought the wine in from France when it wanted to, and not when the retailer needed it. Regardless, the Bonnet Blanc – as well as the red and rose – is worth looking for and asking your retailer to find if he or she doesn’t carry it.

What do you need to know about this version of the Chateau Bonnet Blanc ($10, purchased, 12%)? It’s a white blend from France’s Bordeaux region, mostly sauvignon blanc, but also semillon (typical of white Bordeaux), plus muscadelle to add interest. Look for some tropical fruit aromas; clean and long throughout; some, but not a lot of citrus; and even white flowers from the muscadelle.

Drink this chilled on its own, or with any kind of summer food that isn’t big and beefy. Highly recommended, and this time the marketing blurb on the website isn’t more annoying gratuitous foolishness: “In 2014, Château Bonnet produced a wine in keeping with its legendary reputation.”