Bordeaux 2010 Primeurs: Sauternes & Barsac Tasting Notes
Fortified by meal-time glasses of 2005 Climens and 1997 Sigalas-Rabaud I soldiered on until Thursday. I entered the first-floor tasting room at Desmirail to find it stifling; the windows were tiny but the rays of sun beating through were still warming the room to an uncomfortable degree. Thankfully the samples were kept cool on ice throughout, so while not a perfect environment for tasting in my opinion the samples – all but one, anyway – were showing very well indeed. The only offender was Rieussec, which showed an unusual oatmealy character and seemed warm and soft in the mouth; some of this may have been post-fermentation hangover (although it was not really typical of that) but whatever the cause it was not appropriate to provide any judgement in this case.
The overall style of the vintage is one of tightly wound substance, polished and fine, but well hidden, and countered by a bright acidity. It does not possess the more opulent character of 2009, but there is certainly richness and botrytis within these wines. It is easy to miss though, as always; at this stage the wines never seem to display the overt flavours that betray the presence of noble rot in the vineyard. It shows through more as a textural element in the wines, a texture I find very hard to describe; it is more than mere ‘fatness’ or ‘weight’, it is that the wines show a grainy depth to their substance. In my notes below I have tended to use the words grainy or gritty to convey this; neither are perfect for the task, and I appreciate they are somewhat nebulous, but they are the best I have been able to come up with.
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