Barton & Guestier Sauternes 1998

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    Barton & Guestier Sauternes 1998 Front Label
    Barton & Guestier Sauternes 1998 Front Label

    Product Details


    Varietal

    Region

    Producer

    Vintage
    1998

    Size
    750ML

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    Somm Note

    Winemaker Notes

    The Sauternes region spreads over about 2000 hectares (5000 acres) and covers 5 villages: Sauternes, Fargues, Bommes, Preignac and Barsac. Located at about forty kilometers to the South-East of Bordeaux, it is surrounded by the Graves region. The diversity of the soils (gravely, chalky and clayey) and subsoils gives character to each wine, the most famous ones being planted on gravely hills. Three grape varieties are used: Semillon (70 to 80%), Sauvignon Blanc (20 to 30%) and Muscadelle. The maximum authorized yield is 25 hl/ha. VINTAGE The 1998 vintage was a great one in Sauternes! A rather mild and dry winter had led to early bud burst and the frost at the end of April caused some damage. The cool wet weather during the first half of May and the dull weather in June prolonged flowering and slightly reduced the number of berries. After a cold beginning of summer and uneven color change, botrytis cinerea began to appear in August, accompanied by ideal climatic conditions of heat and humidity. September and October were exceptionally warm and dry. On September 5th (a record date for the beginning of harvest in Sauternes) the first grapes picked had already reached an alcohol potential of 20%! The harvest lasted until mid November, (one of the longest in recent years!) and enabled 6 to 8 selective pickings depending on the Châteaux. The 1997 vintage is a great year for sweet wines with low yields of between 8 and 15 hectolitres per hectare. WINEMAKING The vineyard is gone over several times, and the grapes are picked berry by berry, so that only the botrytis-affected ones are taken. At its arrival in the cellar, the harvest is pressed. The must, very rich in sugar (between 250 and 300 g/l) ferments slowly in tanks. One part is fermented in oak barrels. The alcoholic fermentation stops when the alcohol content reaches approximately 14%. The residual sugar, whose quantity depends on the richness of the must initially, gives to the Sauternes wine its concentration and its richness. WINEMAKER NOTES Deep yellow golden color. Fine and complex aromas of baked and crystallised fruit (dried apricot, citrus and almonds). The first impression is of powerful sweetness, the development is upheld by an excellent acidity and remarkable balance and the finish is long and aromatic.
    Barton & Guestier

    Barton & Guestier

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    Barton & Guestier, France
    Barton & Guestier Winery Video

    Barton & Guestier is the oldest and one of the most prestigious wine houses in Bordeaux. With nearly 300 years of history, Barton & Guestier was established in 1725 by Thomas Barton, a renowned negociant coming from Ireland. In the early 19th century, his grandson joined forces with Frenchman Daniel Guestier, a reputed importer of Bordeaux wines into Baltimore, in the British colonies in America, and the one who delivered the wines that President Thomas Jefferson had ordered from the Barton family. It remains the most iconic French wine brand bringing authentic French terroir and emotions to wine lovers all over the world.

    The Barton & Guestier range represents a wonderful diversity of the best French wine appellations with about 200 passionate winegrowers over the main winegrowing regions: Bordeaux, Loire Valley, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Rhône Valley, Languedoc, Gascony and Corsica. With its wide variety of wines, Barton & Guestier enables wine lovers - from the occasional wine drinker to the connoisseur - to make a journey through France. The B&G winemaking team guarantees consistent quality and style, vintage after vintage. The company headquarters is based at Château Magnol, Haut-Médoc, a great Cru Bourgeois wine estate certified “High Environmental Value” and ISO 14001. Chateau Magnol also serves as a guesthouse and wine academy open to wine professionals from all over the world. 


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    Apart from the classics, we find many regional gems of different styles.

    Late harvest wines are probably the easiest to understand. Grapes are picked so late that the sugars build up and residual sugar remains after the fermentation process. Ice wine, a style founded in Germany and there referred to as eiswein, is an extreme late harvest wine, produced from grapes frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar. It is becoming a specialty of Canada as well, where it takes on the English name of ice wine.

    Vin Santo, literally “holy wine,” is a Tuscan sweet wine made from drying the local white grapes Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia in the winery and not pressing until somewhere between November and March.

    Rutherglen is an historic wine region in northeast Victoria, Australia, famous for its fortified Topaque and Muscat with complex tawny characteristics.

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    Sauternes Wine

    Bordeaux, France

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    Sweet and unctuous but delightfully charming, the finest Sauternes typically express flavors of exotic dried tropical fruit, candied apricot, dried citrus peel, honey or ginger and a zesty beam of acidity.

    Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle are the grapes of Sauternes. But Sémillon's susceptibility to the requisite noble rot makes it the main variety and contributor to what makes Sauternes so unique. As a result, most Sauternes estates are planted to about 80% Sémillon. Sauvignon is prized for its balancing acidity and Muscadelle adds aromatic complexity to the blend with Sémillon.

    Botrytis cinerea or “noble rot” is a fungus that grows on grapes only in specific conditions and its onset is crucial to the development of the most stunning of sweet wines.

    In the fall, evening mists develop along the Garonne River, and settle into the small Sauternes district, creeping into the vineyards and sitting low until late morning. The next day, the sun has a chance to burn the moisture away, drying the grapes and concentrating their sugars and phenolic qualities. What distinguishes a fine Sauternes from a normal one is the producer’s willingness to wait and tend to the delicate botrytis-infected grapes through the end of the season.

    CGM42523_1998 Item# 38314

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