Sauternes for Your Sweetie This Valentine's Day
What wine is more romantic than a delicious Sauternes? Bordeaux’s infamous dessert wine is versatile enough to accompany so many different activities and foods. They are good as an apéritif when they have fine acidity and not too much sweetness. Of course, with foie gras, they are perfect, as are they with a fruit dessert or custard or flan. Just no chocolate please—save that for after Sauternes with your Port. Here are a few suggestions that are in stock and a few superb pre-arrival offerings (you’ll be ahead of the game for next year).
In Stock
2011 Suduiraut, Sauternes (375ml) $34.99 We just tasted this lovely wine in the stores—it is delicious right now. Buy it! 96WS: “A big, broad, powerful style, with pie crust, roasted almond, and hazelnut cream notes framing the core of apricot, creamed peach, and dried mango. Picks up extra fig and pear details through the toasty finish.”
2003 Rieussec, Sauternes (375ml) $49.99 97JS So rich and powerful with so much dried apricots and citrus aromas and flavors. Caramel and toffee. Full and very sweet. Amazing.
Pre-Arrival
2021 Château de Rayne Vigneau, Sauternes $49.99 (Coming Soon) Wow! We just served this lovely wine at our UGC event at the end of January (400 people tasting 88 wines). In fact, it was the only 2021 Sauternes we tasted at the event! Why, you say? 2021 was a superb vintage for Sauternes, but the problem was almost no production because of weather problems. Very little production from most properties and none from some. This Rayne only had about 20,000 bottles (normal is almost 100,000 bottles). I was blown away by the precision and balance of this beauty. Quite lush, but with tremendous acidity and botrytis! Long and lingering on the palate too. Talking to the director of the property, Vincent Labergère thinks his 2021 is better than his 2001!!! Tasting it, I agree. Fabulous value. I can’t wait to taste the Yquem 2021 in Paris on Valentine’s Day at Vinexpo!
2005 Coutet, Sauternes $49.99 92-94WS: "Intense aromas of honey, spice, and candied lemons. Full-bodied, very sweet and dense, with a syrupy mouthfeel and a long finish. This is very concentrated. Almost classic quality."
2021 Suduiraut, Sauternes $89.99 98-99JS: “Terrific potential and pure botrytis character to the aromas and flavors of dried mushrooms, clove-like spices, and dried fruit, such as apricot and pineapple. It’s full-bodied, very long and intense with a great finish. Lively and compact with a dense but agile center-palate.”
K&L Bordeaux experts Clyde Beffa and Ralph Sands meet with Lorenzo Pasquini, Director of Winemaking at Château d’Yquem in our Redwood City store.
2011 d’Yquem, Sauternes (Elsewhere $475) $389.99 99WS: “A lovely, creamy, tropical style, with mango, papaya and guava notes lending a caressing feel, while singed almond and warm piecrust accents blossom through the lush finish. Just when you think that's all there is, toasted coconut, fig, orange blossom and persimmon details kick in, lending length and dimension. The finish is ridiculously long. *Collectibles*” (JM)
1989 d’Yquem, Sauternes $499.99 100JA 99WA 99VN A member of the epic Yquem trilogy alongsite the 1988 and 1990! The best three consecutive vintages of Yquem ever? I think so. This 1989 is sexy and very lush. 99WA: “One of the high points of this vertical tasting, the 1989 d'Yquem is a magical wine offering up a complex, refined bouquet with aromas of quince, apricot, pineapple, menthol, flowers, and white truffles, followed by a full-bodied, concentrated and seamless palate, pure and vibrant structure and lively acids, concluding with a long, perfumed, ethereal finish.”
2001 d’Yquem, Sauternes $749.99 The legend and best since 1967? 100 points by everyone. Enough said.
2021 d’Yquem, Sauternes (Coming Soon) Some of us at K&L were able to taste this gem in late January in the Redwood City store. What a great vintage for Yquem! They made 54,000 bottles, which is less than normal, but much more than most Sauternes properties made. 2021 had excessive rain early on, then frost and mildew leading to a cool summer. Quite a few properties did not produce a 2021 Sauternes. Most of our tasters of the 2021 were blown away by the precision, focus, and purity of this wine. Not sweet, unctuous, and powerful, but elegant and balanced. Lots of melon and citrus on the nose. Perfect balance on the palate. Understated right now, but so delicious even this young. You want to drink it up now—but, oh, the magic that awaits if we are patient. I will buy a few bottles for my cellar—should be affordable as the property does not gouge.