2007 Les Carmes de Rieussec, AC Sauternes
My 2007 Bordeaux futures finally came in, pulled out a bottle because this was the least expensive of my order - therefore, I would feel the least guilty about opening this bottle. Funny how you find all sorts of justifications when you just want a drink. The second wine of Château Rieussec.
Anyways, the first of two sweet wines I opened, to disprove, definitively, that sweet wines should only be drunk with dessert. So, being such a young wine, I double decanted for a few hours, chilled it, and got ready to be dazzled. Powerful bouquet, lots of honey, apricots. Certainly rich and viscous, even on the nose. Alcohol is roaring though. Palate shows quite the same. It's a good wine, but a blunt butcher knife. Hopefully age can give it some delicacy, transform it into something more fine.
Works well with Chinese food though. Well-balanced, our food brought out some mineral elements, the creaminess. I'm certain 2007 Sauternes need at least a decade to settle down - the alcohol is an issue at the moment, and the botrytis needs bottle age to develop. But I'm convinced as ever that these sweet wines marry beautifully with dinner. The second sweet wine, next.
DF
It's so hard to resist En Primeur Sauternes when it arrives! 2007s are a bit closed though at the moment and best left for a couple of years at least in my opinion if you can manage it.
ReplyDeleteSteve, I absolutely agree, but they're all safe in a friend's cellar now, far, far away from me!!
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