In 2008 Sauternes and Barsac were not generally seen as having had a great year. It’s the first chance I’ve had to taste this vintage and the nine wines shown at the MW Institute tasting were better than expected overall. They had sweetness and fruit but perhaps did lack zip [acid] and that creamy botrytis stamp of the great years. That said I really enjoyed Chateau Climens, Chateau Clos Haut-Peyraguey and Chateau Rieussec. Chateau Suiduiraut looked very good indeed. Chateau d’Yquem was difficult to evaluate on the basis of the small sample size given but it had great length. Still I was a lot more excited tasting the 2010 vintage in Sauternes and Barsac at the UGCB a week later. More on that wonderful vintage for red, white and sweet white shortly.

Overall 2010 not as rich and sweet in feeling as 2009 but there seems more elegance here and maybe it is bit more akin to 2007 but with more strength. The best wines had great balancing acidity which makes them extremely fresh. I’d also imagine that the wines will be pretty long-lived. The wines are listed below in terms of how I’ve marked them. Chateau d’Yquem and Chateau Climens are the important exceptions here and were not tasted.

2009 is a wonderful vintage for Sauternes and Barsac. It is not that common that the conditions for a great red wine year provide the same conditions for a great sweet wine year but this does look to be the case in this vintage. Although it is early days the wines in general have a wonderful delicacy and balance and the warm year produced ripe fruit, high in flavour and with high potential alcohol.