Bordeaux 2009 Primeurs: Sauternes & Barsac
It is a crime, of course. One of the world’s most distinctive wine styles, from one of the world’s greatest wine regions, made each year in the most painstaking fashion, reduced to a mere after-thought on the back of a nine-page report. Sauternes: always the bridesmaid, never the bride, it seems.
Just as with the red wines of Bordeaux, Sauternes and Barsac have had their fair share of ups and downs over the years, the glorious successes more than matched by the washout vintages. But this no longer seems to be the case. The last decade has seen unparalleled success not just for the clarets of the left and right banks, but the sweet wines of the region have also earned the right to take their moment in the limelight. First and foremost there was the fabulous richness and balance of the 2001 vintage, but as if to hammer home the message there then came the voluptuous 2003 vintage, and then the broad creaminess of 2005. Then, for those seeking a different style along came 2007, with its precise and incisive vibrancy. The intervening vintages, while not magnificent, were certainly not terrible either. And now we have the 2009 vintage…..and it is one of the best yet.
