One of the most memorable wine events I’ve ever attended was a lunch hosted by a château owner from Bordeaux whose holdings included a property in Sauternes. Not only did this man bring the wine, he cooked the lunch, and rather than save the Sauternes for the dessert course, he served it as an apéritif—paired with foie gras he had seared in butter and spread on brioche toasts with a dab of marmalade.
It was pretty fantastic, so much so that I’ve replicated it many times over the years, and after tasting today’s 2007 from Clos Haut-Peyraguey, I’m poised to break it out again! But it doesn’t have to be foie gras. It might be a winter citrus salad. Maybe some fresh, sweet sautéed scallops wrapped in bacon. Do you have a bring-your-own Chinese or Thai restaurant nearby? This wine would sing with so much of that food. Now with a decade of age, it has shed some of its youthful forwardness and begun to develop the complex aromas and flavors that come from ultra-mature grapes and the magical effects of
botrytis cinerea, the “noble rot” that makes Sauternes Sauternes. The sweetness—actually, rather marginal in this case and balanced by still-vibrant acidity besides—is not the story here. This is a rich, complex white wine with myriad applications at the table. And, given that it’s grown less than a kilometer from (very expensive) regional benchmark Château d’Yquem, it’s an absolute steal.
Though I doubt many of our subscribers need a Sauternes refresher, here’s a quick one anyway: Located in the Graves region about 40 kilometers south of the city of Bordeaux, the vineyards of Sauternes occupy low plateaus along the Garonne River, in soils of sandy clay and gravel. Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc are the principal grape varieties used in Sauternes wines, which are made using late-harvested (i.e. extra ripe) fruit that has also been ‘infected’ by botrytis bunch rot. As opposed to regular grey rot, which creates off flavors in wine, the botrytis fungus manages to be beneficial, withering the grapes and concentrating their sugars without ruining them. There’s a slight smoky aroma many tasters associate with botrytis, although ultimately, its main effect is to help dry the grapes while they’re still on the vine, resulting in ultra-concentrated juice that is rich not only in sugars but flavor compounds. Given all this, you’d expect the finished wine to have a higher alcohol content than its 14% a.b.v., but fermentations are halted deliberately in order to achieve a balance of sweetness, acidity, and alcohol. This is not a “fortified” sweet wine, like Port, in which brandy is added to arrest the fermentation and bring the a.b.v. up to about 17-20%; Sauternes is merely a late-harvest wine with an exceptionally high concentration of residual sugar.
Nevertheless, Sauternes tends to be expensive, because (a) botrytis needs perfect conditions (misty mornings, sunny afternoons) to develop, meaning that some harvests are much smaller than others; and (b) the act of harvesting the grapes, which is done in multiple passes, is labor-intensive and costly. It’s difficult to predict, from year to year, how much wine you’ll make, if any. But when it works, there’s no other wine in the world like it.
Clos Haut-Peyraguey was originally a noble property that passed through a few hands before being acquired by the Garbay-Pauly family, generations of which owned it from 1914 to 2012. It is now part of the portfolio of Bordeaux magnate Bernard Magrez, whose other holdings include Graves’ Château Pape-Clement, among many others. Located in the commune of Bommes, Haut-Peyraguey, like its neighbor, Yquem, sits at the highest point in the appellation. Relatively speaking, it’s not a high elevation—only 100 meters or so above sea level—but it’s significant in terms of air circulation, which is critical to the development of botrytis. By Sauternes standards, Haut-Peyraguey is quite small, with just 8.5 hectares under vine.
Comprised of 95% Sémillon and 5% Sauvignon Blanc sourced from vines averaging 40 years of age, the 2007 Haut-Peyraguey was fermented and aged 18 months in new and used French oak barrels. In the glass, it’s a lustrous, burnished gold with flecks of orange and amber, with a heady, full-throttle aromatic attack: apricots, peaches, orange peel, mango, almonds, vanilla, yellow flowers, ginger, honeysuckle…the list goes on and on. It is full-bodied and viscous, but also citrusy and bright at the same time, which really is the magic of Sauternes. The sweetness is moderated by the lively acid, so that it finishes with freshness. There’s nothing cloying or weighty about it, which is why I advocated for pairing it with savory foods as an apéritif or ‘early course’ pairing. No need to decant it: Just pull the cork about 30 minutes before serving (rest the cork over the opening to prevent any fruit-fly intrusion) at 50-55 degrees in all-purpose white wine stems (small Port/Sherry glasses won’t get the job done; you need room for aeration!). Yes, it’s a great “meditation wine” for slow, contemplative sipping after a meal, but I found a riff on the pairing I mentioned above and can’t wait to try it. Best of all, this wine still has decades of evolution still ahead of it. It’s investment-grade wine in every sense, so don’t stop at just one bottle. Enjoy!
