Craving a late night sweet treat while realizing over a month passed since my last bit of noble-rot infected liquid, I grabbed this Chateau Coutet halfsie from my cellar to enjoy. While I am not as familiar with Barsac as I am with Sauternes, I'll rate Coutet as 2nd to Climens (my favorite Barsac remains a 1980 of theirs), with this being my 3rd Coutet vintage following a delicious 2010 & a still-strong 1995. Spotted this bottle in one of my local shops at $45, and I very rarely pass up aged 1st Growth Sauternes below 50! This vintage is a blend of 75% Semillon, 23% Sauvignon Blanc, and a bit of Muscadelle; harvested in seven manual passes between late September and early November, before spending a year and a half in French oak. Stored at 45, popped and poured – enjoyed outside over the course of two hours.
Visually, a strong gold color, only just starting to turn amber in the glass.
On the nose, caramel toffees and mango gummy candy on the rim. After wiping my drool off, we come to the usual strong botrytis notes – honey, apricot marmalade. As it warms, I started picking up pie crust, baking spices after an hour – ending with orange peel and a bit of that solvent/acetone note at the tail end of my last glass. Fantastic evolution and complexity here.
On the palate, well – here's how I know it's a Coutet! She's thick, folks. A dense slather of viscosity on the tongue compared to a Climens. A faint tannic tickle from the barrel aging, and great strength of acidity to balance that impressive sweetness – wonderful balance, even if the alcohol announces its presence a bit more forcefully than I'd like. This one I'd easily still buy again in 10-15 years. My ideal window for Sauternes is when the primary and tertiary flavors are both evenly present – this one still feels a bit youthful in that regard. And yes, the essential eternal finish that goes on, with flavors of tropical fruit, caramel, and dried stone fruit!
Truthfully, I'll never grasp how Sauternes/Barsac haven't entered the popular consciousness – I make it a point to introduce all my friends and family to the wines, and they've all been blown away. More for me (and us) I suppose! Great balance, structure, the usual wonderful flavors, that Coutet body – I'll be circling back in 5-10 years with another!
by JJxiv15