Clos Haut-Peyraguey
Some of my earliest and most enjoyable experiences with Sauternes have concerned Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey. Bottles bearing this name popped up at the tastings that formed my Bordeaux education, and the wine merchants I first frequented always seemed to have a bottle or two on the shelves. And, over the years since those youthful discoveries, Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey has remained a firm favourite, the 1986, 1990 and 2001 vintages being some of the most delicious examples of Sauternes I have ever had the good sense to purchase and consume.
But what of its similarly named friend, Clos Haut-Peyraguey? This estate has a somewhat lower profile than Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey although the two are in fact siblings, having both been born from the division of the original Peyraguey estate. I have tasted a number of vintages at a variety of different tastings, usually when in Bordeaux or in London, but the wines are not so commonly encountered otherwise. It is not a wine that I have often savoured in the comfort of my own home, enjoyed in the manner for which all wine is intended. And this is a shame, because the wine is, despite its lower profile, of very good quality, largely down to the efforts of Martine Langlais-Pauly, proprietor of the estate until it was sold in late 2012. The new owner, who added Clos Haut-Peyraguey to a huge portfolio of Bordeaux estates, was Bernard Magrez; he moved on to purchase Clos Haut-Peyraguey having just failed to add Château Romer to his portfolio.
