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Bordeaux 2001: Sauternes, May 2010
Bordeaux 2001
Towards Maturity
Sauternes, May 2010
Put yourself in my shoes. It is early 2002 and the memory of missing out on the 2000 vintage - which for Bordeaux was proclaimed in some quarters to be "the greatest ever" - is still fresh in your mind. It's not that you were caught napping, but in order to buff up your curriculum vitae you took a highly regarded but severely underpaid (a pay cut to the tune of 50% in fact) research job. But that two-year contract is now history, its short-lived financial straitjacket just a memory. And now along comes the 2001 vintage with its fabulous Sauternes, and suddenly the adjectives so recently applied to the red wines of the previous vintage are now being appended to these sweet nectars. What else would you do - provided you are in love with Sauternes as much as I am, of course - other than load up?
That is just what I did. And so with the cellar well stocked with dozens (or rather elevens and tens now) of numerous different wines you can be certain that I will be looking in on this vintage from time to time over the coming years (the coming decades I hope!) to see how they are getting on. I plan repeated examinations of this selection of wines, a representative sample which should act as an indicator of how the vintage as a whole is progressing. I first looked at the wines in July 2006, at five years of age, alongside a taste of Yquem (not sourced from my own cellar, sadly) and they showed very well indeed. As a whole they were largely vibrant, fresh and rich, and so nearly four years on from that date I concluded it was time to take another look.
If these had been my only bottles I would have rued this decision as a
mistake; the wines did not show as well as was hoped for. Thankfully, having
started out with a dozen bottles or halves of each, I can look forward to better showings
in the future. The wines clearly displayed their quality, their substance and
structure, but in terms of flavour and finesse - the bright delicacies that lift
a wine away from being 'merely' excellent onto the next adjective-laden rung of the ladder -
they were less welcoming than I recall from our previous encounter. A
disappointment you might think, but not really. Wine is a viable substance, one
with a life that does not end once it is bottled. Over many years it will
evolve, developing more character and substance as it does so, taking on depth
and, dare I say it, revealing its soul. Having a case of bottles - or indeed
many different cases - and thus being able to observe this evolution in progress
is one of the great joys of wine, a delight that takes us beyond the pleasure
obtained from a single point reference, a single glass from a single bottle, on
any single day. And as the wine grows and develops we should be prepared,
somewhere along the way, for the awkwardness of the sullen teenager. Of course
this teen-angst analogy only works if we accept that, like dogs, wine-years are slightly
different than human years. Judging by the behaviour of these nine-year old wines,
with behaviour akin to that of my
hormone-laden son, one wine-year is perhaps equivalent to about eight human
months?
Whatever calculations on 'wine years' we might make, the message from this tasting is simple. These remain delicious wines from a great vintage, and although that is easy to sense when tasting, and I have scored them appropriately, they are not at their best at present. We should leave them alone for a year or two at least, and then we can think about returning for another look. Perhaps in 2014 they will have ended their sulk and so they might display once again their vivacious characters?
And what about the red wines of the 2000 vintage that I missed out on? Thankfully I have been able to 'back-fill' in more recent years, and so I should be able to take a look at this vintage in the near future too. But not the very near future. A few lesser wines will make an appearance in my 2000 Ten Years On Tasting, but most I will leave for a year or two (or three or four or more) yet I think. (11/5/10)
Sauternes 2001 - Tasting Notes
Tasted in May 2010. Click
to locate stockists.
Les Charmilles de La Tour Blanche 2001: Fine, shimmering, light-golden
hue. Honeyed yet savoury, deep and fairly concentrated, slightly drying but
aromatic. Lots of lovely texture on the palate, but well balanced too with
appropriate acidity too, which is more than you get from many second wines in
Sauternes. Great savoury, barley sugar sweetness, white pepper, and more than a
nuance of toffee and caramel. Good wine, great value, holding up and developing
very well. 17+/20
Chateau Filhot 2001: The first
was corked, but a
replacement soon materialised. From a half bottle. Clean, slightly sherbetty and
talcy-sweet lemon fruit on the nose, with a delicate flower petal edge. Quick
fat on the palate, but very well polished, a firm outer shell holding the fruit
and sweet texture within. Lots of substance here, creamy but well rounded, and
not simply sweet; there is an appealing bitter character here, lemon pith and
bitter oranges alongside the sweeter, more exotic fruit elements. A nice style,
long but not deep, but there is certainly more here than you find in many
vintages of Filhot. 17+/20
Chateau Lamothe-Guignard
2001: An impressive, rich, orange-golden hue in the glass. The nose has a
similarly rich character, with plenty of apricot, honey, cashew nut and pastry
elements, all suggestive of a very stylish, botrytis-rich wine. The palate
continues this in a similar vein, rich and a little creamy. Plenty of structure
too though, firm acidity, forceful grip. Great wine, with far more character
than a cursory glance at the label would suggest. Needs time to show its best
though. 18+/20
Chateau Sigalas-Rabaud
2001: This wine has a great, straw-gold hue. The nose is very primary still,
full of orange peel and lemons, honey and little hints of caramelly botrytis. Viscous,
with orange and marmalade flavours, and an intense sweetness against which the
acidity struggles somewhat. It is an impressive wine, where the sweetness is
backed up by a layer of chalk and barley; a remarkably good effort with very
nice potential. But showing its awkward youth too. Needs time. 17.5+/20
Chateau Guiraud 2001: From a half
bottle. A rich hue in the glass, glossy gold. On the nose there is plenty of depth and
structure rather than any simple sweetness. We have here oatmeal, the oak of
old whisky barrels, marmalade and barley sugar. The palate is typical Guiraud,
very fleshy and soft, rich, expansive, with fruit-pastille-orange character
alongside orange blossom. It has acidity too, firm although admittedly rather
swamped by the wine's impressive substance. Very good, great potential, although
it remains in a very primary state at present, a melange of loose-knit
components. Excellent potential though. 18+/20
Chateau Suduiraut
2001: From a half bottle. A gentle golden hue in the glass. The nose is aromatic and enticing,
with clear elements of botrytis, also with oranges, apricots, vanilla, touches of
gently spiced wood. There is certainly none of the volatility I noted when I
last tasted this wine, although I note that this was more than three years ago
now (how time flies!). The palate has a pure style, lifted and creamy, rich but
defined, with almost ethereal fruit in combination with gentle but burgeoning
botrytis flavour which builds greatly towards the end of the mouth. Beautiful, pure,
rich and very long, this is the best showing for this wine so far, and exceeds my
expectations from previous tastings. Brilliant. 18.5+/20
Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey
2001: A rich golden hue here. A great nose, rich and impressive,
laced with minerals, tangerines, lemons, barley sugar, almonds and pistachios.
On the palate it has a very broad and yet fine substance, composed and nicely
integrated. Wonderful and elegant texture, underpinned by a little grip, which
sits perfectly with the slightly fat fruit and nut flavours. Perfectly polished
on the finish, sweet but also savoury, orangey, and very, very long. This is
just brilliant, and although the various components of this wine are very
enjoyable now the true quality of the wine will only come with more time.
Excellent. 19+/20
Chateau Rieussec 2001: From a
half bottle. A gloriously deep and yet vibrant golden hue in the glass. First
impressions are of honey drizzled over oranges, with stronger botrytis elements
becoming apparent with a little air, including some fleeting touches of caramel,
alongside pistachio nuts. The palate is divine, although rather soft at present
it still seems to maintain a splendidly detached, lightfooted character as it
dances across the palate. It has finesse, very nicely polished flavours of
honey and nuts, backed up by a most wonderful bitterness and grip which lends
the wine true status. Elegant, substantial yet harmonious, this is a superb
effort, very stylish and also broad and fabulously long. Stunning; what a
shame...I only have another ten halves left! 19+/20
Chateau Climens 2001:
From a half bottle. This wine has a vibrant and golden hue. And a glorious nose, almost ethereal, in
fact. It shows great vivacity, with aromas of honey and orange, and a sprinkling
of botrytis, and yet it has the freshness of morning dew and spring water. As
the nose suggests, the palate has a crystal-clear definition, with a vivacious
presence of oil of oranges plumped up by gorgeous extract and a chalky
minerality. This well delineated wine the fades into a fine, lingering finish.
There is fabulous potential here, although to see this it needs to rest in the
cellar for a few years yet. This has to be one of the better wines of the
vintage. 19+/20
Chateau Doisy-Daëne
2001: From a half bottle. The only deuxième cru in this
line-up of wines from my cellar. A really pretty colour here, vibrant and
golden. Plenty of green apples and fresh garden mint on the nose here at first,
slowly supplanted by notes of pineapple, deep, smoky, slightly peaty oak and
botrytis too. Lovely palate, very elegant and very well structured, immediately
showing some earthy, oaky fruit immersed in a fine, creamy-oily texture. This
oaky fruit dominates through to the finish, which in terms of freshness and
persistence shows very good potential for the future. Very good indeed. 17.5+/20
