Visiting Chateau Climens, one of the very top Barsac estates, I was honoured to be the first to taste the 2010 Sauternes from the barrel alongside owner Bérénice Lurton and Frédéric Nivelle, her technical manager.
It's early days and, as always, it's not easy to assess what the 2010 Climens will be like when tasting 19 different lots, from pickings covering well over a month of harvesting.
However, in Bérénice’s own words, she feels that they have something ‘absolutely incredible’ in 2010 that she knows ‘in her heart is going to be tremendous’.
The harvest was very on/off, on/off as they waited for the botrytis to reach the right stage, but eventually the miracle weather they needed arrived giving them a few days with nice afternoons, quite hot sun and wind. Then everything fell into place and the resulting crop was "suberb" says Berenice.
Certainly we could see some wonderful freshness, acidity and citrus fruit flavours across the lots.
The blending process for the 2010's will be getting underway at Chateau Climens - but not until Berenice has finished blending the 2009 Sauternes!
Watch more of Bill Blatch's wine videos and follow the 2010 Sauternes harvest new on Bill's Blog Bordeaux Gold.
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