Why some Bordeaux vineyards don’t make White Wine

Bordeaux is famous for its structured reds and fresh whites, yet surprisingly, many châteaux produce one or the other, not both.
At Château Canon Chaigneau, we’re proud of our red wines. But we’ve never made white wine ourselves. Here's why and how we found the perfect solution.

It starts with the appellation

Our vineyard sits in Lalande-de-Pomerol, an appellation dedicated entirely to red wine. The AOC regulations only permit red grape varieties like Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Pressac — no whites allowed.

So even if we planted Sauvignon Blanc (which we haven’t), we couldn’t label the result Lalande-de-Pomerol Blanc. It would fall under the generic Bordeaux Blanc.

It’s also about the land

Beyond rules, there’s terroir.
White varieties like Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and Sauvignon Gris thrive on cooler, limestone-rich soils with excellent drainage, conditions common in the Entre-Deux-Mers region, but not in our corner of Néac.

Our soils are better suited to red grapes, and we’ve learned to respect what the land does best.

So we looked just across the river…

We searched for a wine we’d love to drink and share, and found it at a family-run vineyard in the heart of Entre-Deux-Mers. Their white wine had everything we were looking for:

• freshness,

• aromatic complexity,

• and that fine balance of roundness and minerality.

It’s a blend of 70% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Sémillon, and 10% Sauvignon Gris, fermented and aged on lees for extra finesse.

Now part of the Famille Canon Chaigneau collection

We named this cuvée under our Famille Canon Chaigneau label: a way to share something we didn’t grow ourselves, but fully believe in.It’s available exclusively in our Summer and Luxury Holiday mixed cases, alongside our reds and rosé.

In short: we don’t make white wine because we shouldn’t. But we’re delighted to offer one that feels just right.