Sweet But Not Just Dessert Wine

One of nature's miracles and an aberration in viticulture is a peculiar mould that transforms the otherwise tart and shy white grape, Semillion, to nectar of unparalleled concentration of exotic fruits, honeyed sweetness, sumptuous richness and creamy viscous texture with a harmonious marmalade-like piquancy, pleasant bitterness and powerful natural acidity that imparts a perceived dryness. The scientific or Latin name of this extraordinary fungal organism is Botrytis Cinerea, although it is known more colloquially as 'Noble Rot' or 'Pourriture Noble' in France. Whilst biologists and winemakers who toil with late-harvest style wines have an intimate, if not metaphysical knowledge of its behavior, the genome of this unique and naturally occurring phenomenon, there being so few moulds that can be considered beneficial or friendly to the taste, has yet to be fully explained and continues to fascinate scientists.

In layman's terms, the cooler autumn waters of a small tributary river bordering Sauternes and Barsac called the Ciron, flowing into the warmer Garonne River estuary, creates conducive misty and humid morning conditions to awaken the Botrytis spores that have been hibernating during the winter months. Transported through the air on water molecules, these spores cling to the grapes, already approaching their full ripeness. It only takes a single spore clinging to a healthy grape to facilitate the spread of Botrytis throughout the whole bunch, the fungus penetrating the grape skin and feeding off the natural sugars beginning a process of dehydration, slowly extracting the water within the grape, concentrating the sugars, intensifying and preserving the fruit flavours. It is an incredibly risk-prone transformation at the mercy of the weather and devastatingly unwelcome rain, requiring drier, warm afternoon sun to inhibit the onset of the conversely detrimental Grey Rot, which can rapidly turn the grapes into an unusable mush.

As the grapes take on an unsightly shriveled, raisin-like appearance within a web of fungal growth, expert grape pickers begin the labour-intensive harvesting of individual berries, selecting the most Botrytis infected grapes and leaving those requiring further hang-time. Needless to say, this is painstaking work as the yields are meager, as little as two or three glasses of wine per vine. It is here that the inequitable disparity in the selling price and ratio to yields between Bordeaux sweet wines and the Chateau that produce red wines is clearly, if not frustratingly, evident. Depending on the vintage, red wine producers can be permitted up to a maximum of 50 hectolitres per hectare (hl/ha), whereas Sauternes and Barsac producers are normally restricted to 25 hl/ha, although in actuality the top estates in both regards will crop significantly lower, in Sauternes and Barsac it can be as low as nine hl/ha, about one glass of wine per vine!

However, the harsh reality is that red Bordeaux is eminently more popular than sweet or dry white Bordeaux for that matter, particularly in the strategic emerging markets of Asia and subsequently reflected in the secondary market, with sweet wines simply not achieving the exponential returns of their red peers. To add insult to injury, such is the obsession with red Bordeaux vintage ratings that a poorly rated year for reds does not auger well for Sauternes and Barsac, even if the conditions are exceptional for the white grapes and the onset of Botrytis. Take 2001 as an example, a supposedly mediocre vintage for red Bordeaux wines (which is unjust as many 2001 wines are delightful) but a fabulous year for sweet wines, yet the stigma of the lighter red wines imparted on overriding negative sentiment making it a 'hard-sell' for the Chateaux in Sauternes and Barsac.

Having not partaken in a Sauternes or Barsac wine for considerable time, a few months ago I found myself in the cellars of Chateau Coutet in Barsac, immersed in a line-up of some 26 already lusciously inviting, albeit decidedly youthful barrel samples of 2007 Cru Classe Chateaux as well as a handful of non-classified producers. There was already an air of high expectation at this en primeur press tasting - the word well and truly out on this spectacular sweet wine vintage. However, tasting barrels samples of any wine has to be put into perspective, as the wines are unfinished and are invariably obscured by yeasty-less fermentation characters and high levels of free sulfur. Moreover, in this primary state the defining elements of provenience and distinctive soils (terroir) are subdued. Essentially one should treat the exercise purely to form an impression of the vintage and subsequent characteristics in the wines.

It is important to note that all the following wines were tasted blind; an imperative if one is to form an objective opinion and commentary. From an overall perspective, one can draw a comparison to the amazing harmony of the 2005 red Bordeaux vintage - the 2007 conditions in Sauternes and Barsac were perfect in every respect, engendering exceptional quality across the board, and particularly in the lesser ranks, where there will be some excellent price/quality rapport. The wines exhibit pronounced perfumes with marked musky, apricot, honeyed scents indicative of high levels of Botrytis and sugar. There is a marvelous intensity to the fruit flavours and sweetness, also superb textures, noticeably more viscous yet balanced by impressive acidity. Such harmonious wines will no doubt be attractive in their youth but clearly there will be wines capable of extraordinary longevity - easily 20 to 30 plus years, indeed eternal for the top wines and in larger bottle formats.

Sources : Cuisine and wine, sept 2008,029, www.winejournal.com