Chateau Guiraud Sauternes 2015
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Wine
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Robert
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Spectator -
James
Suckling - Decanter
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Jeb
Dunnuck
Product Details
Winemaker Notes
After 3 years of relatively cold temperatures, the heat finally arrived in 2015! From springtime onwards, we had a beautiful run of weather, with higher than average temperatures allowing the vines to blossom week early. Temperatures in June and July peaked at over 40°C, meaning that grapes could ripen early. Slightly cooler weather and sporadic rain provided the perfect conditions for « liquid gold ». Our organic methods allowed us to begin harvesting botrytis-affected grapes from the 7th September! Wind, humidity provided by the Ciron, and afternoon heat… a perfect cocktail for optimal, even concentration. In 1 month, the harvest was done. Everything went perfectly smoothly. This vintage is one for the history books.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Barrel Sample. This wine is packed with dry botrytis flavor, but also a bright freshness. Together they give an obviously sweet wine good structure as well as ripeness. The tension between the fruit and the mineral texture will allow this wine to age for many years. Barrel Sample: 94-96 Points
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Guiraud, tasted in two occasions, has a sumptuous bouquet with scents of wild honey, apricot and a faint smear of marmalade. The palate is fresh and tensile on the entry, brimming with energy with impressive energy towards the blood orange and quince-tinged finish. This is a stylish, suave Guiraud that should age beautifully in bottle. Barrel Sample: 94-96 Points
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Wine Spectator
Intense, with candied lemon peel, glazed yellow apple and honey notes streaming through, picking up mirabelle plum and papaya accents through the finish, which is carried by a buried racy streak. This has a good bright feel overall. Best from 2020 through 2040.
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James Suckling
No heavy caramel here; rather, a lot of candied citrus on the nose ranging from lemon right across to bitter orange. On the palate this is both creamy and fresh. The sweetness and alcohol are already beautifully integrated. Drink or hold (and this has at least a couple of decades of ageing potential).
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Decanter
The relatively high level of Sauvignon Blanc is doing its bit to give precision and poise to the flavours here. Caramel runs through the mid-palate, lending richness and intensity, but it remains a restrained wine at all times.
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Jeb Dunnuck
One of the few Sauternes I was able to taste, the 2015 Château Guiraud is well worth spending money on. Boasting tons of tangerine, caramelized citrus, honeyed peach and white flowers, this full-bodied beauty has good acidity, ample concentration, and a clean, balanced style on the palate that’s going to allow it to age gracefully.
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Connoisseurs'
Guide
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Robert
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Robert
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Throughout its history, Chateau Guiraud, Premier Grand Cru Classé in 1855, has always been proud of its independence and has always followed its own path. This domain, with its 128 hectares situated exclusively around the village of Sauternes and its unique combination of grape varieties, is one of the rare properties in France to have created its own conservatory of vine stock varieties.
In 1996, ever faithful to its pioneering spirit, the vineyard underwent a cultural revolution under the impulse of Xavier Planty, who was at the time manager of Chateau Guiraud, which prohibits the use of all synthetic products. In 2011 Chateau Guiraud became the first Premier Grand Cru Classé in 1855 to be awarded Agriculture Biologique (AB) certification.
The philosophy at Chateau Guiraud is guided by constant questioning and their desire to let nature take its course, thus allowing the vines to achieve their full potential.
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.