Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Chateau Doisy-Vedrines 2014 is a blend of 85% Semillon and 15% Sauvignon Blanc, a modest 134 grams per liter residual sugar and a pH of 3.55 (a figure that might be a little lower than recent vintages.) It has a fragrant bouquet that is actually quite similar to Doisy-Daëne this year, a reticent at first but opens up with honey, orange zest and mineral aromas. The palate is fresh and vibrant on the entry with a fine line of acidity, much more race than recent vintage with citrus lemon, honey and orange peel on the long, persistent finish. Yes, there is a little more unctuousness on the finish compared to Doisy-Daëne but at the end of the day, they are both superb expressions of Barsac.
Barrel Sample: 94-96 -
Wine Enthusiast
While the texture is rich, the flavors are muted at this stage. It does have an opulent character that will develop to give ripe yellow fruit tones. Rich in nature, a vein of acidity runs under all this concentration. It will need time to develop and will age slowly.
Barrel Sample: 94-96 -
Wine Spectator
Glazed pear, fig and apple notes form the initial display here, followed by hints of dried orange peel, maple and almond. The long finish is coated with a heather honey accent, yet this still shows cut and drive overall. A slightly more powerful style of Barsac, and should age beautifully. Best from 2020 through 2040. 3,167 cases made.
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Decanter
Fresh, subdued nose of lemony botrytis, fresh citrus fruits and green fig – the blend's 15% Sauvignon Blanc is almost too noticeable. Lovely floral lift to stone fruit and papaya flavours, extended by lively but harmonious acidity. A trace of alcoholic heat here.
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James Suckling
The full candied citrus, pineapple and mangoes and the generous sweetness make this quite a lush wine, and there’s just enough acidity to bind it all together into a neat package. Not as exciting as from barrel but outstanding. Drink now.
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.
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.