Winemaker Notes
A deep golden yellow wine, Château Suduiraut 2018 unveils a subtle bouquet. Very fruity at first, with notes of ripe cherry plums and yellow peach, it evolves into hints of candied fruits, vanilla, and spices. The body is unctuous with an ample and fresh development in the mouth. There are suggestions of yellow fruit and vanilla. The finish is unctuous, spicy, and admirably long. The 2018 vintage confirms the excellent hold, fruitiness, and elegance of this wine.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Intense aromas of dried mushrooms, dried apricots, hazelnuts and citrus skin. Medium to full body with density and beauty. Flows across the palate with beauty and interest. I like the salted caramel and dried fruit at the finish. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
There’s not much of the 2018 Château Suduiraut to go around but it’s a beautiful wine. Lovely orange blossom, honeyed apricots, white flowers, and subtle spice aromas and flavors all emerge from this full-bodied, decadent Sauternes that has a layered, pure, beautifully balanced profile. With good complexity, terrific balance, and a clean finish, it’s going to shine for 15-20 years.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Wine Enthusiast
Densely textured and with intense botrytis dryness, this wine is rich and concentrated. Marmalade and honey shine along with sweetened apricots. The wine also has a fresher edge, reflecting the lightness of the vintage in Sauternes. This allows room for acidity and therefore balance. Still young, the wine has a fine future. best after 2026. Cellar Selection
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Crafted entirely from Sémillon grapes, a decision influenced by the challenges of a year that saw the estate lose half its crop to downy mildew, the 2018 Suduiraut evokes a floral, exuberant bouquet of rose, fresh grapes, Gewürztraminer grape and spices mingled with notes of exotic fruits. Medium to full-bodied, rich and concentrated with a delicate, precise mid-palate, it’s tense and ethereal with bright acids and a long, penetrating finish.
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Wine Spectator
This has a fairly concentrated core of dried apricot, peach and mango flavors wrapped with almond and ginger cream notes. Ample marzipan detail coats the long finish.
Barrel Sample: 91-94 -
Decanter
Not the easiest vintage for Suduiraut, with a final yield of 5hl/ha in 2018, of which 40% went into the grand vin. It is rich and succulent, with a sense of confident spice. One for lovers of opulent Sauternes. Tasted twice; issues with first bottle. Drinking Window 2021 - 2034
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.