Bordeaux 2008 at Two Years: Sauternes & Barsac
The 2008 vintage was not an easy one for the Sauternes communes of Barsac, Bommes, Preignac, Fargues and of course Sauternes itself. Although I suspect no vintage ever really seems ‘easy’ here, because good wines here demand more than the right balance of sunshine and rain. Here the managers and proprietors are looking for other factors, morning mists and showers to stimulate the desired waves of botrytis, later warming sunrays to encourage the desiccation of the fruit. ‘Vintages of the Century’ might be common in claret-land, but here they are less frequently encountered I think.
All the same 2008 held some early promise, the rather damp weather in September fostering a warm blanket of noble rot, which with the drying effects of the Indian summer generated a good crop of handsomely roasted, shrivelled grapes for the first tries. But sadly this first bountiful picking was not to be repeated. There was a little more rain in October bringing another very minor wave of rot, but nothing of note. What had initially promised to be great turned out to perhaps rather more ordinary.
