Bordeaux 2003 at Two Years: Sauternes & Barsac
The Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux 2003 tasting terminated with an assessment of Sauternes and Barsac, with an impressive thirteen châteaux showing their wares. There were notable absences, of course; one could hardly expect anyone from Yquem to turn up, but it would have been satisfying to see Rieussec and Coutet man the stand along with some of the other similar exalted stall-holders. Nevertheless, here was a handsome display of mostly yellow-golden wines (with only Sigalas-Rabaud showing a deeper, more orange-tinged hue). And on assessment, I’m pleased to report that on the whole the wines fulfilled the promise suggested by their appearances on both the nose and palate. This is another in a run of strong vintages for Sauternes which includes 1997 and 2001 and, in the opinion of Christian Seely at least, 1999 as well.
My favourites should be pretty easy to pick out from my notes and scores, but specific mention for Suduiraut, which had the strongest showing of all the Sauternes and of the whole 2003 tasting on the day. Credit to Christian Seely and the AXA team. Other top performers were Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Climens and Nairac, the latter coming as a little surprise as I have little prior tasting knowledge of this property. (28/10/05)
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