2010 Bordeaux En Primeur Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes Tasting

2010 En Primeur Chateau d'Yquem Tasting

At the Chateau d'Yquem 2010 En Primeur tasting I had to nip outside to make this video as it was a bit too hushed inside the tasting room!

I've got a sample of the 2010 Yquem Sauternes here. It is a richer yquem than usual, but you don't really feel it at all. It has that perfect equilibrium yquem always gets.  So at this stage what shows is that it's got that great balance, poise and pure elegance.

Dare I say... its worth the money?

Watch more of Bordeaux expert Bill Blatch's wine videos and follow the 2010 Sauternes news on Bill's Blog at Bordeaux Gold.

 

 

 

 

2010 Bordeaux En Primeur Chateau Climens Sauternes Tasting

 2010 Bordeaux - Chateaux Climens, Barsac

2010 Chateau Climens being a Barsac, harvested a little bit earlier than in Sauternes. But as yet at Climens there's no sample of the finished product, its sitting in 23 lots, so we tasted them all!  You have to do the assenblange in your head at this stage.

We started with some surprisingly sweet lots, and Chateau owner Berenice Lurton told me that at this stage she had to tell the pickers to pick wider adding more of the less botrytised fruit to bring down the sweetness, thus making this a fruit forward and fresh style vintage.

We moved on to some lots of lovely big opulent Sauternes, and after that to some very rich stuff . Finally we tasted the lots from the magic weekend towards the end of the harvest which accounted for 30% of the wine, and has this wonderful concentration and  great depth of flavour.

We reserve judgement on the Climens for a month or so until we can taste a sample in the bottle, but what I can say is that we've got one hell of a vintage on our hands here at Climens - where the style of the vintage is going to really match the style of Climens.

Watch more of Bordeaux expert Bill Blatch's wine videos and follow the 2010 Sauternes news on Bill's Blog at Bordeaux Gold.

 

 

 

 

2010 Bordeaux En Primeur Lesser Growth Sauternes Review

2010 Lesser Growth Tasting
 

This year with the 2010 Bordeaux en primeur tastings, I take my hat off to the lesser growths Sauternes such as domaine d'Alliance and Cantegril, for producing some fantastic wines that really reflect the freshness, purity and style of the vintage.

They show how good a vintage this is across the board and that it's definately not just a Cru Classe vintage. This isn't always easy for the lesser Growths to achieve as sometimes at harvest they don't have the patience or just can't wait or take the risk as some of the other Chateaux can.

Watch the wine video by Bordeaux Expert Bill Blatch to see why at all levels, the 2010 Sauternes vintage is not to be missed.

 

 

To watch other wine videos made by Bill Blatch including tasting notes on the individual 2010 Sauterne wines, click on the link to go to Bill's Bordeaux Gold Blog. 

Get a full report on 2010 Bordeaux En Primeur wines from Bordeaux expert Bill Blatch and regular up-dates from his Bordeaux Gold Blog.

 

 

2010 Bordeaux En Primeur 2nd Growth Sauternes Review

2010 Sauternes 2nd growth tasting

2010 Sauternes and Barsac Second Growths are showing more of a mixed bag in terms of style of wine than the lesser Chateaux or First Growths.

However, these Sauternes are becoming veryinteresting and maybe we should be paying a lot more attention to them - don't forget they're also a lot cheaper..

The 2010 Sauternes at this level show an increased exaggeration of their own style, from the dense sweetness yet lovely freshness of Caillou, to the precise and rather northern style of Doisy Daene and the very sweet but minty style of Doisy Vedrine.

I think they're paying so much more attention to detail at this 2nd Growth level and there's better control in all areas of the Sauternes wine making.

It's interesting to note that the 'kids' are starting to take over at some of these Chateaux - so could this be a start of a golden period of 2nd growths?

To watch other wine videos made by Bill Blatch including tasting notes on the individual 2010 Sauterne wines, click on the link to go to Bill's Bordeaux Gold Blog. 

Get a full report on 2010 Bordeaux En Primeur wines from Bordeaux expert Bill Blatch and regular up-dates from his Bordeaux Gold Blog.

 

 

2010 Bordeaux En Primeur Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes Winemaker

2010 Bordeaux En Primeur Chateau Yquem Tasting at Cheval Blanc

One of the 2010 Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes En Primeur tastings was held at Cheval Blanc and as Yquems wine maker Sandrine Garbay had come all the way up to St Emilion to serve us, I asked her to tell us in her own words how she saw the vintage.
 
Sandrine felt it was a wonderful vintage for Yquem and that the cold temperatures during harvest gives it a lot of freshness, acidity and fruitness.

Shes more than happy with what she describes as a very classical wine. "It's very elegant, very delicate, precise, and very different from the very powerful 2009 Sauternes".

Watch more of Bordeaux expert Bill Blatch's wine videos and follow the 2010 Sauternes news on Bill's Blog at Bordeaux Gold.

 

 

 

 

2010 Bordeaux En Primeur Divide On Best Sauternes Vintage

 

2010 Bordeaux vintage is creating some interesting debate as far as the Sauternes are concerned at en primeur stage.

Without doubt they are an impressive range of wines, but what is up for discussion here is whether the style of the 2010 Sauternes is better than the blockbuster 2009 Sauternes.

It's a matter of finesse and elegance versus rich and opulent. The owners and makers prefering one, while the critics and wine merchants appearing to come down on the side of the other.

Watch the video below to find out more.  It's certainly going to be interesting to see how this debate develops over the next few weeks of the 2010 Bordeaux en primeur campaign.

To watch other wine videos made by Bill Blatch including tasting notes on the individual 2010 Sauterne wines, click on the link to go to Bill's Bordeaux Gold Blog. 

Get a full report on 2010 Bordeaux En Primeur wines from Bordeaux expert Bill Blatch and regular up-dates from his Bordeaux Gold Blog.

 

 

Chateau Lafaurie Peyraguey 2010 Sauternes Wine Comparison

In cellar of Chateau Lafaurie Peyraguey I get a chance to sample the 2010 Sauternes vintage and discuss what kind of wine Lafaurie Peyraguey will be producing, with their Manager Eric Larramona.  

We taste direct from the barrel, in fact from the very 1st lot of the Lafaurie Peyraguey harvest. 

The harvest produced a series of small lots over a whole month of picking, making it a very different harvest to that of the 2009 Sauternes. I asked Eric how it compared with the exceptional 2009 vintage, and what other of the 9 vintages of this century so far would he compare it to?

Watch the video to find out how the 2010 Sauternes vintage is shaping up. 

 

Watch more wine videos from Bordeaux expert Bill Blatch on his Sauternes Wine Blog Bordeaux Gold and stay up-to-date on all the latest developments.