Conrad Green

9.4

Honey, biscuits, orange peel, fresh and lifted. Beautiful texture. Light and precise. Long and delicious. — 6 days ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

Second Sauternes pairing with my homemade Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Didn’t use the additional crushed pineapple this time. Both preparations are very good. I think I prefer it w/ less pineapple.

In 2014 I attended the Bordeaux En Premiere. One of the six days, we toured 8 Chateau’s tasting multiple vintages at each in Sauternes & Barsac. Then, went back to Chateau Guiraud for dinner. Before the dinner, Bill Blatch then arranged for a Sauternes tasting after tasting at 8 Chateau’s in Saternes & Barsac. We tasted 50 Sauternes in basically in 60 minutes. After that, my hand was like Winne the Poo in the honey jar from dumping. After, my wish wasn’t necessarily for the forthcoming dinner, but rather wished to go to a Dentist for a teeth cleaning I had so much RS in my mouth. None the less, dinner was fantastic and started with warm Foie Gras & gravy. Perfect as is w/ the Pineapple Upside Down Cake tonight.

This 05 is everything that you taste in the Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Perfect paring. Newly a quarter century and no fading in its evolution.

Dry; stone fruits, pineapple, orange citrus, pineapple. Marmalade, caramel, saline, limestone, honeycomb, beeswax, coconut, vanilla, saline, round acidity with yellow florals, toasted nuts with round acidity for days. Elegance, balance, structure and round, rich polish that goes in and on. Coravined from 375ml.

Bill Batch (who worked for Cristy’s & owned his own negotiate company) has somewhere around 5,000 bottles of Sauternes. He does a Sauternes & Sausage party bi-annually. Good luck getting a well sought after invitation. There are more people in Bordeaux who want to attend then there are available invitations. — 7 months ago

Jerry Kahn

8.9

Total different taste than New Zealand Sauvignon Blanco, but delectable.
— 2 years ago

Stefan Dolhain

9.5

2010 vintage. Technically a Barsac, but sold as Sauternes ( Barsac being the only Sauternes commune allowed to do so). Much deeper, more evolved colour compared to the 2010 Guiraud (in half bottle!) tasted alongside. Intense perfume with wild apricot, roasted pineapple, and caramelised nuts. Richer than the Guiraud, this is a very impressive effort that is definitely of Cru Classé quality. Superb value too. — a month ago

Shay A

9.8

Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.

I’ve had a few days to think on this wine, and I finally feel comfortable saying this is the greatest dessert wine I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking. 100% semillon. Each grape is picked one-by-one by hand. This was the 9th time this wine was made since 1943.

Between dark gold and deep amber in color. Aromas of honeyed tropical fruits and sweet espresso that fill the room like a candle. Unctuous and oily on the palate, there is coconut richness with an insane amount of brown sugar and orange marmalade too…honey roasted cashews, pineapple upside down cake. As massive as this is, it still has structure but also a vein of acidity to keep this thing afloat. At 35yrs, this is unbelievably good and shockingly youthful. If you have a bottle, it’s no good. Send to me so that I can dispose of it for you… — 7 months ago

Shay A

9.2

Alexander Vineyards has a great selection of wines, all at great values. This is their only dessert wine, and it has been delicious every time I’ve had it.

Last bottle of mine. This is from the Barsac region. Richly colored gold in the glass. Viscous, but not overly so. If comparing to a Climens, I’d say this doesn’t have as much of the orange-honey roasted cashew type note, but lots of orange marmalade, honeyed tropical fruits and honeysuckle. This showed a more powerful core than a 2009 LaTour Blanche I had a few weeks ago (which I enjoyed how bright it was). Paired with truffle salted popcorn at the end of the night, and it was great. — 2 years ago

Paul K

9.2

This is the third Sauternes I’ve ever had. The first two were crazy good d’Yquems. This was gifted open so I thought we could try tonight with dinner. Didn’t have high expectations but really pleasantly surprised!
Pairing really great with the salad I whipped up. Pretty proud of it actually; quinoa, tomato, cucumber, steamed broccoli, mixed greens, chicken, and poppyseed dressing. — 5 months ago

AHF

9.3

Mellow sweetness. Slightest hint of bitter botrytis. Drink up next two years, I think. — 7 months ago

Shay A

9.4

My second set of wines to provide as part of a co-host event.

I picked these up during a visit to Morlet in the fall of ‘21. Sadly, these are the last of my initial stash. 58 semillon/36 SB/6 Muscat.

Poured blind for a group of 20 people at the end of a wine event, I was shocked that not one single person called this Cali. Many Sauternes, Barsac, and a few South African dessert wine guesses. It’s undeniably sporting botrytis flavors, but the richness has a wonderful spine of acidity. Honeyed mango, white peach and chock-full of orange blossom on the nose, there’s added candied spice and honeycomb on the palate. Didn’t pick up any nutty flavors (which I enjoy in Sauternes), but this was also fairly young. Extremely “fresh” for a dessert wine, if that makes sense. Best Cali dessert wine I’ve had, I think. — a year ago

Jeremy Shanker

Sommelier at RN74

8.9

Great entry level sauternes for younger drinking. — 3 years ago