Last night, I hosted a wonderful Sauternes tasting. I’m excited to tell you all about it.
The Sauternes We Tasted
Here are the Sauternes we tasted (a big thank you to Debbie of Camas cellars for finding these wines for us):
- 2021 Chateau Haut-Mayne
- 2019 Chateau Les Justices
- 2018 Chateau Les Guizats
- 2017 Chateau La Tour Blanche
The beauty of Sauternes is that, while the wine is very sweet, it’s not in the least bit cloying. Why is that? Because there’s so much complexity, maturity and depth in every sip. There’s also nice viscosity, which gives the wine a velvety feel.
We liked all the wines we tried. Our favorite was the 2017 followed by the 2019. The 2017 was incredibly balanced. Here are the notes on it from Vins de Bordeaux.
The 2019 was the most interesting flavorwise, with notes of citrus and clove. The 2018 was a bit too sweet for us, and the 2021 didn’t have as much personality as the others.
The Dishes We Enjoyed During Our Sauternes Tasting
As I mentioned in my article a few weeks ago, this wine goes best with savory dishes. So, we enjoyed gorgonzola cheesecake (recipe is in my earlier article), a spicy cauliflower/lentil stew, smoked salmon pasta, bean dip, cheese ball with green olives and lemon humus.
On the dessert side, we enjoyed Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate and sundried and rum-marinated figs that I bought from Cherries and Figs, a wonderful wine store in Portland, OR.
About Sauternes
Sauternes comes from the Graves section in the Bordeaux region of France. The grapes in it are Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes. The first two grapes aren’t sweet. But something called noble rot or Botrytis gives the wine a sweetening and raisining effect.
According to Sommailier, “Typical tasting notes of Sauternes include apricot, honey, peaches, ginger, tropical fruit, honeysuckle, butterscotch, and toasted baking spices. Fresh acidity to balance out the sweetness of the dessert wine in addition to a decent amount of alcohol makes Sauternes delightfully complex.”
As you can see from this photo, Sauternes is good until the last drop.
If you haven’t enjoyed
