Sauternes and Barsac

The local conditions of Sauternes are special, thus enabling the development of the unusual fungus botrytis to make the arguably under-appreciated sweet wine. One key element is the mists that form along the River Ciron on autumn evenings, lasting till dawn.

Only the well-financed chateaux can afford to employ pickers to go over as many as eight or nine times to pick the berries, often lasting from September to Novemeber. Botrytis cinerea, also called noble rot, is formed on Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle during the misty nights, multiplying in the morning heat to attack the skins to brown pulp.

But instead of giving the grapes a moldy flavor, the botrytis draws out the water, leaving the sugar, acids and flavors more concentrated in the juice. The result of the painstaking fermentation of the extremely rich grape must in small barrels impacts the intensity of flavors, a smooth and rich texture, and exceptional ageing potential that no other wine can compete.

However, it means the each berry needs to be picked one by one, with the less financially competent chateaux having to pick the entire crop at once and hope that the botrytis affected grapes are concentrated.

Production volume is also very low with each 100 hectare, in Chateau d’Yquem for example, makes fewer than a thousand bottles, which a comparable first-class Medoc will make five to six times more.

The risk is also high, with the humid weather in October could turn the mould into the noxious fungus known as grey rot, rendering it not possible to make the sweet wine or even any wine at all. The costs are correspondingly high, so it is less profitable to the producer.

With the prices now rising, it remains underpriced especially when compared with the red counterpart. Sauternes is the only commune outside Medoc to be classified in 1855, with Chateau d’Yquem ranked a First Great Growth, a unique ranking for all Bordeaux.

There are eleven other chateaux ranked first growths while another twelve made it to the second growths. There are five communes which could use the appellation Sauternes, including Barsac which is the biggest, and it could be called either Barsac or Sauternes.

The style can vary, with Lafaurie-Peyraguey can taste floral, Suduiraut can be lush and sumptuous, Rieussec is deep-colored and rich. Other top performers include Clos Haut-Peyraguey, de Fargues, Raymond-Lafon, La Tour Blanche. A different style with unoaked treatment is made at Chateau Gilette. In Barsac, Climens, Coutet and Doisy-Daene lead the group with fresher feeling than Sauternes.  

 

 

I have tasted the following wines from Sauternes and Barsac so far:

 

Chateau Caillou Private Cuvee	1996
Chateau Caillou	2005
Chateau d'Arche	2003
Chateau de Malle	2003
Chateau de Rayne-Vigneau	2001
Chateau Filhot	2005
Chateau Guiraud	1989
Chateau Lamothe-Guignard	2005
Chateau Lamothe-Guignard	2005
Chateau La Tour Blanche	1998
Chateau Rabaud-Promis	1999
Chateau Raymond-Lafon	2005
Chateau Romer	2007
Chateau Romer du Hayot	2005
Chateau Suau	2001
Chateau Climens	2005
Chateau Nairac	1996