Winemaker Notes
The color is light and pale (straw). The nose presents nice notes of bitter orange, grapefruit, fresh ginger and white peach. At aeration, come floral touches of jasmine and acacia. The attack is supple, fresh and lively. The whole presents a beautiful density with a velvety and unctuous touch, all in finesse. The wine is characterized by a pleasant vivacity and a remarkable balance. The freshness lasts along the length, accompanied by aromas of orange and sweet spices on the finish.
Blend: 75% Sémillon, 23% Sauvignon Blanc, 2% Muscadelle
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale to medium lemon-gold colored, the 2018 Coutet has super intense, well-delineated notions of warm pineapple, green guava and baked pineapple with hints of mandarin peel, gingerbread, orange blossoms and lime leaves. The palate is alive with energetic tropical fruit and exotic spice notes with a lovely satiny texture and fantastic freshness, finishing with epic length.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Wine Enthusiast
This wine is beautifully textured. The orange-peel and candied fruitiness are balanced by a dry core of botrytis that gives the wine weight while keeping a light touch. It has all the tight freshness and minerality typical of this great estate. Drink from 2026. Cellar Selection
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Decanter
Deep in colour, with strong peach and apricot pit flavours, and welcome touches of almond bitterness on the finish that help things to lift off and take flight, because overall things are extremely concentrated here. 50% new oak was used. Drinking Window 2021 - 2034
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James Suckling
A delicate, refined Barsac with dried lemon, apricot and a medium-sweet palate. Medium body. Bright finish. Lighter style of Coutet. Drink now.
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Wine Spectator
Rather bold, with lots of ginger and graham cracker details out front, followed by warm glazed peach and pineapple flavors. A flash of green tea in the background adds a tantalizing note. Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle.
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.
Characterized by dried tropical fruit, candied apricot, citrus and honey, the sweet wines of Barsac are always balanced by a bright beam of acidity. While technically also part of the Sauternes region, Barsac’s sandy and limestone soils produce a lighter version in comparison. Its main grapes are the same: Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle.