Bordeaux 2010 Primeurs: Sauternes & Barsac
I have already given a lot of detail on the 2010 vintage in my vintage review, but that was really written with red wines in mind. There is of course much more to a successful vintage for Sauternes and Barsac than there is for a red vintage; alongside any analysis of temperatures and rainfall we must also add details of botrytis infection and the success of individual tries, the sweeps through the vineyard picking grape-by-grape, based on the level of infection, rather than the whole-scale snipping-off of bunches which allows red vineyards to be harvested in a single take.
Naturally the vines spent the summer labouring under the same drought that was stressing the red vines. This meant that, although concentrated and rich in sugar, dry conditions also caused the skins to thicken; and thick skins make life difficult for botrytis, which much prefers a thin, more fragile membrane to attack. This rather particular fungus also thrives in damp conditions (don’t they all, I suppose) and so it was a double whammy as far as noble rot was concerned. The grapes stayed dry and healthy through August into September.
