2001 Château Suduiraut- France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes (5/30/2010)
Well, I didn’t wait a year for bottle number two. Still stone fruit and petrol / kerosene or what you will. Yummy!
2001 Château Suduiraut- France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes (4/4/2010)
First of a six pack. Sugar and spice with a hit of petrol on the finish. Very nice for a young Sauternes. After two days, the last couple ounces picked up some weight and dropped the petrol. Looking forward to one a year till 2015 to see the development!
Nancy and Alan, one of the flavors/tastes that I usually assign to Sauternes and Suduirat is the seed of an apricot seed. Just eat an apricot, split the inside seed open and eat the soft inside seed.
I used to eat a ton of apricot seeds as a kid. Yes they are somewhat bitter, but if you peel of the brown skin, the white seed is quite sweet and tasty.
I’m glad this came up because I’ve often wondered myself. I recently had the opportunity to taste with Johannes Selbach and asked him this question. Thankfully, he was very frank and said it is a flaw that he tries to avoid. If I remember correctly, he said it was due to overly ripe grapes. There is some chemical that causes it and is triggered when the fruit becomes more ripe. The reason Riesling is associated with this aroma is because Riesling has a higher amount of the chemical and thus is more prone to the aroma.
This is taken from memory from a tasting about six months ago so if you think it’s wrong, take it easy on me.
So, Nancy—you’ve added Sauternes to your list of sins, I see
I will be unabashed in my love (save and except for what I think was one off-bottle) of this wine. I am fortunate to have about 6-7 more in splits.
My last full note, from my 40th b-day party in 2008 where it topped 70 other wines from my cellar which were in the mix that day.
FTR, I had NEVER given a 99+ to anything before this.
"2001 Chateau Suduiraut
Honeyed overripe pears and apricot are grudgingly coerced out of the glass (I had it the night before and left it to Audouze overnight). There’s a slightly smoky undertone that is fine. And this is more than fine. This is stupidly good. Unctuous on the entry, supremely flavourful on the cheeks, with honey, maple and vanilla fudge and light as rain going down the throat. Every taste is bliss and a privilege. Some sugared lemon candy and some orange rind make an appearance later. Wow. This is everything I could ever ask for from a wine. My #1 today, 99+ points. I only don’t give it a perfect score because I know the dratted stuff will get even better in the coming years. If you have some, you are the most fortunate of oenophiles."
I’ve never been blown away by 01 Suduiraut but then again, I always felt it was a bit young to my palate. I think it has more brilliance but less pomp than de Fargues…haven’t had Climens or Yquem to comment. It best Rieussec due to its lithe balance. I’d wait for several years imo but glad others have had superlative experiences.
Mike, I have an eclectic taste in wines. Love your note. I will hold my last bottles for several years and find something to meet my sweet needs while I wait.
Don, good to see you here. I hope our shared birthday was as good for you last month as mine was to me!
with a name like Dolce i suppose it is inevitable that you would like a great dessert wine like the suduiraut…thanks for the notes, i only picked up a couple of these so mine are still sleeping…
We had a bottle of the 01 Suduiraut over the weekend with some fellow bdx enthusiasts at a dinner party. Absolutely fantastic. Rich, long, honeyed, apricots, ginger spices. 90 Second finish. And fabulous verve. Totally different player than the smaller 2001’s that we’ve been consuming more casually.
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