We tasted some older dessert wines at Pig+Fig on Thurs:
1. Ch.Doisy-Vedrines Sauternes (13%) 2007: Med.dark gold color; strong botrytis/Sauternes/earthy some toasty/pencilly/oak rather complex beautiful Sauternes nose; rather tart classic Sauternes/botrytis/figgy slightly sweet rather youthful strong taosty/butterscotchy/oak rather youthful complex flavor; very long/lingering botrytis/Sauternes finish that tracks flavor; not as rich/lush as most Sauternes and still rather youthful & not showing a whole lot of evolution.
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2. Ch.Rieussec AC: Sauternes (12.5%; MeBaC; 1er Grand Cru Classe 1855; Bedford West Co/San Francisco) Fargues: 1983: Very dark gold/brown/PX color; some oxidative bit maderized strong toasty/woody/oak slight botrytis fairly earthy some complex nose; quite tart rather oxidized/maderized/botrytis some sweet bit hot/alcoholic flavor; a rather maderized expression of Sauternes w/ only slight botrytis; prematurely aged & very disappointing.
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3. Ch.Caillou Sauternes AC: Barsac (11%-14%; Merchant du Vin/Seattle) J.Bravo 1975: Deep golden color; rather toasty/pencilly/Fr.oak bit earthy/dusty fairly strong boytrtis bit oxidative/volatile some complex nose; slightly sweet light botrytis bit figgy/Semillon/ripe somewhat dried-ut some toasty/butterscotchy/Fr.oak complex flavor; very long/lingering botrytis finish that tracks flavor; a somewhat dried-out expression of an old Sauternes & lacks sweetness. $12.00 (HSL)
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4. Jaffurs Roussanne StolpmanFamilyVnyd/SBCnty (15.2%) JaffursWineCllrs/SantaMaria 1998: Fairly dark gold/bit browning color; very strong grapey/LateHrvsty some toasty/pencilly/oak slight Rouss/honeysuckle fairly alcoholic not very complex nose; soft very grape/LHrvsty bit hot/alcoholic slight Rouss/honeyed quite sweet some honeyed/honeysuckle not very complex flavor; very overripe/LateHrvsty & not evolved into anything very interesting.
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More grottlebrick from the BloodyPulpit:
1. A rather disappointing collection of Sauternes. The Doisy-Verdrines was good enough but just that. The Rieussec was way old for its time. Probably a failed cork that compromised the wine. And thee Caillou should have been in much better shape.
I was expecting much more of the Jaffurs but it had just not evolved into anything interesting.
Tom