90 points
Sauternes, Bordeaux. 13.5%
Not a tightly wound fruit style, more loose knit, with some formic acid, not dirty but not ultra modern. Not hugely sweet. Drinking well now (Sauternes drink so much earlier today now that minimal levels of sulpher are used).
92 points
Sauternes. 13.5%
Practically everything one would want in a Sauternes of this age.
86++ points
Bordeaux, France. 14%
Young sweet glucose hints. Simple and undeveloped. Needs time but less impressive than expected.
84 points
Sauternes. 13.5%
Muddy wine, didn’t shine. Consumed over several nights this half bottle never impressed. Odd bottle perhaps?
91 points
Sauternes. 14%
Luscious in the 2005 soft acid ripe grape style. Attractive now although needs another 5 years to build complexity. Personally I prefer tighter more elegant vintages. But it is very useful to be able to enjoy this so early.
90 points
Loire. 12.5%
More lucious than sweet. Almost spirit like concentration yet still graceful. Showing some fragility, more than I expected so drink now.
Very good but slightly less exciting and fine than expected.
91 points
Vouvray, Loire. 12%
I’m giving this lower points than I’d expect. It’s certainly a lovely luscious wine. Sweet bit not a dessert wine. Still with fantastic acidity. It’s concentrated almost spirity but with low alcohol.
It’s just that the lovely acidity and gentle sweetness overwhelm. It seems to lack minerality and aged characters.
Lovely elegant despite the concentration but a bit simple.
89+ points
Oporto, Portugal. 20%
Freshness combined with considerable depth of ripeness. Brambly and plummy. A lovely after dinner glass today, but has years ahead of it to develop secondary character.
93 points
Sauternes. 14%
Burnished sort of nose, not quite apricot like (thankfully). Palate is different, quite creamy, very concentrated. This is serious, and delicious.
88 points
Another creamy attractive 2005 Sauternes. They aren’t typical with less acid, bortrytis etc. But nice clear ripe fruit.
91 points
Sauternes. 13.5%
A complex creamy tarte aux pommes sort of Sauternes. Delicious now. I had thought that 2002 was a fine tight acidic vintage but this has soft acidity.
I’m sure it will last 10+ years but it is surprisingly approachable now. Enjoy.
PS from a full bottle purchased in Bordeaux (no travel).
92 points
Sauternes. 13.5%
A bit rustic with formic acid characters. But the thing I enjoyed was just how characterful this wine was. Not so fine but plenty of fun.
90 points. Drink now.
Bonnezeaux, Loire. 12%
Delicious but surprisingly low acidity. Forward creme brullee creamy smooth.
72 points
Loupiac. 13.5%
Makes me realize how good the Sauternes I’ve been drinking recently are.
This is bland. Low acid, not terribly sweet with a lack of character. Alcohol flavour is too obvious. It’s clean winemaking but the vintage and the vineyard have created a boring wine I’m sad to say.
91 points
Sauternes. 13.5%
I wouldn’t normally drink Sauternes so young (although it can be charming when the initial fruit is so forward in the first few years) but this was so cheap.
Lovely fresh with excellent sweetness, uncluttered by oak. This will turn into a fine beeswaxy Sauternes with purity and complexity. Today it is quite simple but lovely still. It drank well over a week.
91 points
Sauternes. 14%
Low-ish acid and a touch heavy on alcohol but I’m being harsh. It’s difficult to fault this wine which is drinking very well at 11 years of age and at a reasonable price. Sure it doesn’t hit any high notes but it’s still a class above 90% of the world’s sweet wines by being much more than simply sweet.
Nice little touch of formic acid and coconut oak.
93 points
Sauternes. 13.5%
Don’t drink with desserts. For the first few nights I thought this was a bit tired, sweet but a bit hard and simple. Lacking creamy lanolin, bortrytis, just not quintessentially Sauternes. Then on the 3rd night I paired it with sardines cooked in olive oil, lemon juice, shallots and capers. What a transformation.
And the wine clearly wasn’t oxidized as it drank well over the next 3 nights (under winesave argon).
91 points
Honey puffs with acid and lanolin. Baked pear and custard apple. These 2005 Sauternes are the most wonderfully approachable I’ve ever experienced and yet true Sauternes flavours. Drink now, oh I expect they will last a good while but they are in danger of losing freshness due to the soft acidity. A vintage to enjoy while waiting for others.
91+ points
Sauternes, Bordeaux. 14%
Young, of course, with separate disjointed flavours. Oak a bit jarring, but the ripe dry 2005 vintage makes this wine drinkable. The acid is soft but not lacking and there is some custard apple and lanolin flavours which make the wine enjoyable now.
But best not to drink it now. Leave until 2013 at least if you can.
92+ points
Sauternes, Bordeaux, France.
From a half bottle this is just starting to show its form. Gorgeous beeswax aromas, creamy lanolin and sweetness. This unoaked Sauternes marks a jump in quality for Filhot. Drink over the next decade or more.
89 points
Sauternes, Bordeaux, France. 14%
Approachable with some complexity for its youth. But lower acid and less zingy fruit than I’d have expected or hoped to see.
89+ points
Mosel Saar Ruwer, Germany. 7.5%
Bracing acidity, complexity just starting to develop, gentle. Needs time. This was in great condition but I still wish they wouldn’t use cork I’ve had too many off bottles lately.
80 points
A rare disappointment from the Loire. Sweet, low acid. Nice but without character.
89 points
Seemed very sweet a true dessert wine. Perhaps because I had no eaten anything sweet prior?
91 points
Cadillac, Bordeaux, France. 13.5%
A sweet wine from the Bernard Magrez stable. I’m not a fan of his steroid dulled reds but this is luscious. A low acid custard creme sauterne. And I don’t want to give the impression that this is a simple commercial wine, it’s quality sauterne but in a freak super accessible vintage. A very useful sweet vintage I shall look out for 2005 whenever I have to drink young sauternes.
91 points
Sauternes, Bordeaux, France. 13.5%
The famous 1983 Rieussec put me off the wine, I associate it with incredible levels of bortrytis and sugar – which is too like an Australian ‘sticky’ for me (I can buy these at home much cheaper than Sauternes).
This 2002 resets my opinion of Rieussec. It’s fine and fragrant. It’s lost the intensity of primary fruit of a young Sauternes and hasn’t really developed much in the way of the complexity of age – which sounds like a terrible time to drink it, and probably it is. Then again it has lost the rawness of a young Sauternes, so it is very pleasurable.
88 points
Cadillac, Bordeaux, France. 14%
Sauternes satellite region. Reynon is own by Denis et Florence Dubourdieu who appear to be very talented.
This very good value sweet wine has some distinctive fruit character (perhaps it’s Savignon Blanc retaining some primary fruit flavour in the blend). Nice zippy acidity and sweetness, well balanced. Starting to build some complexity with age. Not a lot of noticeable bortrytis or oak. Great value.
89 points
Sauternes, Bordeaux, France. 13.5%
Mellow wine with complex fruit (pears and other things) and far less racey acidity than I’d expected – a bit less than I might have hoped for. In some ways its simple, in others it hints at considerable complexity – I guess that’s just because it is far too young. Too easy to drink now. Keep for 5 more years.
This wine is produced by one of the largest producer-negociants in the lower Rhone valley, Gabriel Meffre. The Laurus brand is an attempt to create a line of wines made from the range of styles available in the Rhone under one name. They have everything from Chateauneuf du Pape to Condrieu and wverything in between, including this slighty fortified Muscat.
I worried that 6 years might be a bit long for this fresh-bottled light Muscat, but just smelling the open bottle, fields of lavender-honey blossoms opened up. The texture was thick but not cloying with more lavender, honey and a bit of nutmeggy spice. The finish is clean with spicy acid aftertastes. Yum Yum, both as a glass for an appertif and after the meal with dessert.
The top 3 wines on this blog were:
Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2002 and Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2002
Rockford Basket Press Shiraz 1996
For the commercial wine of the year I’d nominate Tyrrells Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz 2003.
I’ve picked over the blog to list all the 90+ point wines that there is a not unreasonable chance of being able to buy still.
Brini Blewitt Springs Shiraz 2002
Chateau Leoville Las Cases 2001
Wolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz 2002
Chateau Leoville Barton 2001 and 1999
Massena Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2004
Tyrrells Rufus Stone Heathcote Shiraz 2003
Robert Chevillon Nuits St-Georges ‘Les Roncieres’ 2002
Roger Sabon Chateauneuf de Pape ‘cuvee prestige’ 2000
Torbreck The Struie shiraz 2003
Browns of Padthaway Ernest shiraz 2002
Peter Lehmann 8 songs shiraz 2000
Henriques & Henriques Madeira Malmsy 15 yo
Greenock Creek apricot block shiraz 1999
Chateau Senechaux Chateauneuf-Du-Pape 2001
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