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2013 Atlantique Blanc “Définition”

Domaine de l’Alliance

A couple years ago Daniel Alibrand told me how he once threatened to smash a bottle of his wine over a retailer’s head who refused to give it a try. “That way,” he told me, “he’d be sure to have a taste!” Daniel is a peaceful guy, but times were tough back then. Nobody wanted to hear about Bordeaux, especially an estate based in Sauternes. It was just not hip enough for the too-cool-for-school crowd. As a result, the bank threatened to take the Alibrands’ land and house, all while their first child was due any day. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and Daniel began insisting—short of breaking bottles on anyone—that people just try it and see. That’s all it took. To try Alliance is to drink Alliance. Whether his sweet Sauternes or this bone-dry, unusual, and inviting blanc, his wines are nothing short of addictive. Once people gave it a whirl, they all came back for more, and the rest is history.

Chris Santini


Technical Information
Wine Type: white
Vintage: 2013
Bottle Size: 750mL
Blend: 50% Sauvignon Blanc, 50% Sémillon
Appellation: IGP Atlantique
Country: France
Region: Bordeaux
Producer: Domaine de l'Alliance
Winemaker: Valérie & Daniel Alibrand
Vineyard: Average of 50 years
Soil: Gravel, Clay, Sand
Aging: Vinified in barrels that have seen at least three passages of wine, raised sur lie with regular stirring of the lees for a year before bottling
Farming: Organic (practicing)
Alcohol: 14%

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About The Region

Bordeaux

map of Bordeaux

Often considered the wine capital of the world, Bordeaux and its wines have captured the minds, hearts, and wallets of wine drinkers for centuries. For many, the wines provide an inalienable benchmark against which all other wines are measured.

Bordeaux is divided into three winegrowing regions with the city that gives the region its name in the near geographical center. The “right bank,” or the area located east of the Dordogne River, produces wines that are predominantly Merlot with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The “left bank” is located to the west of the Garonne River and produces wines dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, with Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

The third region, Entre-Deux-Mers, lies between both rivers and produces white wines from Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and Muscadelle. Though technically in the left bank, it is worth noting the appellation of Sauternes, which produces arguably the world’s most famous sweet wines from Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and Muscadelle as well.

Though many top Bordeaux wines are sold en primeur (in advance of their bottling) and often through a middleman known as a negoçiant, Kermit has always preferred to purchase directly from the winemaker. For more than three decades he has sought out small producers, who make classic Bordeaux wines and are willing to play outside the negoçiant system. This ethic has led to longstanding relationships, excellent prices, and perhaps most important—wines of great value and longevity.

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Inspiring Thirst

I want you to realize once and for all: Even the winemaker does not know what aging is going to do to a new vintage; Robert Parker does not know; I do not know. We all make educated (hopefully) guesses about what the future will bring, but guesses they are. And one of the pleasures of a wine cellar is the opportunity it provides for you to witness the evolution of your various selections. Living wines have ups and downs just as people do, periods of glory and dog days, too. If wine did not remind me of real life, I would not care about it so much.

Inspiring Thirst, page 171