For our tasting today Wine-Searcher’s Master of Wine, our Wine Director, David Allen MW, tastes a Sauternes from a 2eme Grand Cru Classe estate – The wine concerned is Chateau Filhot 2020.
Chateâu Filhot is a wine estate in the sweet white wine producing region of Sauternes, 45km (28 miles) south of Bordeaux city. The estate was classified a Second Growth in the 1855 Classification of Sauternes and Barsac.
The château’s vineyards date to 1630 and the château itself, one of the largest in the region, was built in 1709 by founder Romain de Filhot. Following the French Revolution, the château was owned by the Lur-Saluces family, best known for its long-term relationship with the esteemed Chateau d’Yquem.
From 1855 until 1901 the Filhot estate was known as Château Sauternes. Today it is owned and managed by Gabriel de Vaucelles, a descendant of Romain de Filhot.
Filhot’s vineyards span 62 hectares (153 acres) at the southern end of appellation. The soils here are composed of deep gravels, clay, and sand on a limestone base. Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle are planted on the estate’s southwest-facing slopes located near the Ciron River.
Morning mists rising from the likes of the Ciron are known to encourage the development of botrytis, or “noble rot”, on the grapes. It is this that enables the production of the sweet white wines synoymous with the region.
The composition of the château’s so-called “grand vin” (its main wine) broadly reflects that of the vineyard: 60 percent Sémillon, 36 percent Sauvignon Blanc, and four percent Muscadelle. Once the grapes are affected by noble rot, the fruit is picked by hand in tries (multiple, selective vineyard picks).
The varieties are fermented separately in stainless steel vats for 10 to 30 days, then age two years in vat and French oak barrels, of which a third is new oak, before blending and bottling.
To find out more about this wine, its price and where to buy it follow this link to the Wine-Searcher website: https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/filhot+sauternes+bordeaux+france/2020
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1 Comment
That scenery from your deck is pure poetry. Thank you for another review. Love the fact you mentioned the WS aggregated score. Great approach and provides good perspective. Thanks for this channel and all the content!