Sauternes aka sweet wines 31 October 19

Quick side note before we start on today. Lard et Buchon was really good. The restaurant sits below street level in a tunnel/cave formed when they pulled limestone blocks out to build the city. Once I got over that feeling of 'the ceiling is going to fall on us at any moment!' it was a nice meal. When we popped back above ground, we found that it had started misting/raining and we had the entire village to ourselves. We walked along the convent road and circled the town. The rain and the lighting made for a really beautiful night and I feel lucky to have seen the city in a way that I'm guessing few outsiders do.

La Tour du Roy in the foreground and the bell tower of the Monolith in the back.

I've really been looking forward to today! We're headed to the Sauternes district, famous for it's sweet, white wines. While I enjoy these wines, I really don't know much about them other than they are dependent on the 'Noble Rot.' My hope for this visit it to start to understand why I like some wines from this area and others not so much.

Our first stop today was at Chateau Coutet in Barsac. I picked this a bit at random although I specifically wanted something from the Barsac region. This turned out to be a really happy surprise! The property was, at one point owned by the same family that owned d'Yquem due to some of the events in the French Revolution. Some of the architecture dates to the 13th century. Our guide was fantastic and patiently answered my many questions about the Sauternes wine making process. We also happened to cross paths with the current owner, which is always a happy chance.

One of the things that really struck me on this tour was how different the smells were for this wine. We're lucky to be here during the primary fermentation phase of the process, which has a very special aroma. The chateaus doing red wines have a smell that is very familiar from our trips to California. On the rare instances that we've ended up at wineries predominately making white wines, the fermentation smell is still fairly similar. Not so Sauternes! I can't begin to explain the differences; suffice to say that all are delicious.

All of the 'How it's made stuff' now out of the way, we got to taste the wine! We had the opportunity to do a vertical tasting, which simply means we tasted the same wine, just from three different years. In this case, we had the 2016, the 2010, and the 1989. Literally the only thing that was different between these three wines was the age and the growing conditions for the grapes. The wine maker here keeps the percentage of grapes in the blend the same from year to year. The youngest wine was thick and sweet like really good pineapple - enough acid to keep things from getting too cloying. The middle wine was starting to get some notes of spices and the fruits had more of a caramel-cooked note. The last wine was completely different from the first two! All of the syrupy-ness was gone. The mouth feel was still elegant and smooth and the taste was still sweet, but it had thinned somehow. Deep caramel flavors were dominant with spices in the background. The fruit flavors have now changed into more floral notes. What an amazing journey! And these wines are a steal! We loaded up on three bottles (That's a quarter of our carrying capacity!)

We then headed to our first Maison du Vin (We've tried, repeatedly, to visit the maison du vin in Pomerol, but apparently they are never open.) The owners are a lovely couple who gave us a grand map tour of the region and explained that while the house (store) is owned by a collective of vineyards, the owner gets to pick and choose which wines they'll sell at any time. Tasting fees are a steal here (3 euro for 3 wines) and the bottle prices are, by law, the same as what you'll pay at a vineyard. We ended up tasting 4 wines here and bought another bottle.

Our guide at Coutet gave us two recommendations for lunch - Kris picked La Chapelle because it's on a road that shared a name with a white Bordeaux that was on the list at Piccolo for a while - Guiraud. Somehow, until we drove up, the penny never dropped for us that a white wine from Bordeaux could be related to a Sauternes. Sure enough same winery and it turns out they are predominately known for their sweet wine. The restaurant also turned out to be owned by the same group that runs La Terrasse Rouge where we ate yesterday. The food was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the pairing with Guiraud wines!

Our final stop for the day was at the famous Chateau d'Yquem. The visitor's center certainly shows the LVMH influence. The various years and bottle sizes are displayed on pillars in front of panels that seem to invoke the shoulders of bottles or the legs of a Sauternes trailing down the sides of a glass after a good swirl. The bathrooms (Well, at least the ladies) are completely gold, including the lighting. Clearly invoking the colors of the wines. Everything here is hushed and reverent and there is absolutely no interacting with the barrels, the messy harvesting areas, or anything that might speak to work or labor. We did a vertical tasting here as well - The '16, the '11, and the '06.

Similar story as with Coutet, except after 2006, the amount of time the wine is aged in oak was shortened. All three wines are delicious and very different from each other. I have to say though, I struggle with the cost of d'Yquem even more after this visit. I get that they are the only vineyard to receive the premier grand cru in all of Bordeaux. These wines sell for easily 10x their neighbors up the road though. And while part of what you pay for is the ability to age the wine (supposedly) 100+ years, that isn't really a factor for me. I'd prefer something I can enjoy now (Or even age for 20 years and be able to enjoy then) rather than worrying if the occasion is 'special' enough for the pricey wine.

All in all, a very successful day with lots of 'learnings'. Since tonight is Halloween I hope we've actually figured out how to turn our porch lights off remotely so we don't end up with any tricks!