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Château Rieussec 1970

Mrs Winedoctor* enters the study, where I am slouching, rather than working, in my rather worn-out office chair.

“So,” she begins, with some sense of authority, “after 25 years of Winedoctor scribbling, you’re finally writing for a proper publication. I take it you will be kicking off on The Wine Independent with a Weekend Wine report.”

I open my eyes, and try to pretend I was busy, rather than daydreaming about pizza.

“I was just thinking about that. I thought I should put this wine in the spotlight,” I reply, pointing to the foremost bottle (of many) on my desk, a Vin de France blend of Cabernet Franc and Syrah from the western reaches of the Loire Valley.

By the way, if you think that is ridiculous, there are at least three domaines I know of growing Syrah in the Loire Valley, one in Anjou, one in Chinon, one in the Upper Loire. There are probably others. Two of them are commercialising the wine, although none are at present blending it with Cabernet Franc. So my introduction to this weekend’s favourite wine is not complete fantasy.

“Oh you klutz,” she counters. “You’re on TWI now. You can’t start with a wine like that, especially as I happen to know there is only one caviste, on the backstreets of Doué-la-Fontaine, who sells that wine. You need something people know – a wine with a little more gravitas.”

“Aha!” I exclaim. “Like a first growth!”

“No, no. Too ostentatious. And too obvious. Maybe one day in the future, but it will just look like you’re following the crowd. Or you’re desperate to please. What about an older wine, something to counter the strange notion you should buy 2024 Bordeaux en primeur. Maybe a birth-year wine? Sauternes maybe? Nobody drinks Sauternes now. Except, perhaps, for that ghost** you met when you were in Bordeaux tasting the 2024 barrel samples.”

“You’re right,” I concede. “Drinking Sauternes is definitely not following the crowd. And I know just the bottle.” I leap from my chair, pulling a hamstring in the process (and it’s only three weeks until I run the Trail de Sancerre too), and grab the key to the wine cellar with its gigantic, football-sized key-ring. If you’re wondering about the key-ring, it is because I once lost the key, 15 years ago. Never again. I hobble as quickly as I can in the direction of the cellar door…..

And so here we are, with the 1970 Château Rieussec.

Château Rieussec 1970

Regular Winedoctor readers may already be familiar with the character of the 1970 vintage in Bordeaux, given that I might have discussed this vintage once or twice before during the past 25 years. If I see a 1970 pop up on a merchant’s list, or in an auction catalogue, I find them difficult to resist. It is the year I was born, and so I figure I should buy them to drink.

Well, that’s the idea, isn’t it?

Luckily for me, 1970 is a fairly decent vintage. Alright, it’s not 1961 or 1982, but I could have done a lot worse, particularly in the 1970s. I could have been a 1974. Or a 1977.

While the end result was good enough, the 1970 season did not start out brimming with confidence; after an early budbreak the weather was cool and cloudy, and the vines were soon lagging behind. Happily, the flowering in early June went well, and after some benevolently warm weather in July, August and September there was a good and bountiful harvest. The conditions favoured the reds rather than the sweet wines though, the lack of rain late in the season inhibiting the development of noble rot; there was modest concentration, but it is not a vintage renowned for rich botrytis or great complexity.

Indeed, while this is perhaps the best vintage for reds in the 1970s, for Sauternes it may be that 1971 is superior. Writing in Sauternes (Faber & Faber, 1995) Stephen Brook acknowledged the competition between the two vintages, noting that the raw material in 1970 was perhaps better, but that 1971 was blessed with more botrytis. The late Michael Broadbent, who knew a thing or two about old bottles, was always on the side of 1971, as he declared in Vintage Wine (Little Brown/Websters, 2002). In The Complete Bordeaux Vintage Guide (Quadrille, 2023) Neal Martin seems to prefer 1971, but then that was his birth year, so he would, wouldn’t he? (sorry Neal).

In truth, I would be quite happy with another bottle or two from either vintage in my cellar.

In the glass the 1970 Sauternes from Château Rieussec displays an amber-gold hue, with a modest rim of green, as if it wished it were an old Madeira. Thankfully that is the only Madeira-like quality it possesses, as it soon impresses with a nose of toasted nuts, with a modestly complex evolution somewhat reminiscent of axle grease and dried orange slices, but also some rather ‘fresher’ notes of green olive and herby menthol. There is a nice density to the start of the palate, which is still showing a welcoming texture and gentle sweetness which seems only to build through the midpalate, with emerging layers of lightly grained caramel and barley sugar, and the same herby touches seen on the nose. There is plenty of peppery grip and a long sweetness in the finish, and this wine is clearly not just surviving, but thriving; it has poise and sweetness, with a long, lithe and granular fade. All in all this is a fine showing at 55 years of age. 93/100 (26/5/25)

*As I near the end of 25 years of writing on Winedoctor, and following the introduction above, I must of course recognise the support received and tolerance exhibited by Mrs Winedoctor over this time period. Especially as she told me she was a bit miffed at not receiving such a nod in my TWI bio. Thank you.

**A reference to Aubrey Ealdwyn de Latour. You need to read the psychotic ramblings within my Bordeaux 2024 primeur reports to understand this further.

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