Sauternes

The Ciron is a cold, spring-fed river that flows into the warmer Garonne just south of Barsac. The temperature differential generates morning mists that settle over the vineyards each autumn, creating the humid conditions in which Botrytis cinerea thrives. By afternoon, the sun burns through and dries the grapes, preventing the rot from turning grey and destructive. This daily cycle — mist in the morning, sun in the afternoon — is the climatic secret of Sauternes, and it is why the region produces botrytised wines of a consistency and quality unmatched anywhere else in the world.

The harvest in Sauternes is the most labour-intensive in Bordeaux. Pickers pass through the vineyard multiple times — sometimes as many as ten or twelve tries — selecting only the most perfectly botrytised berries. A single vine may yield enough juice for just one glass of wine. The cost of production is immense, which is why the finest Sauternes command prices that rival the greatest red wines of the Médoc.

The 1855 Classification of Bordeaux included Sauternes alongside the Médoc, and created a hierarchy that remains largely intact today. At its apex sits Château d'Yquem, awarded the unique designation of Premier Cru Supérieur — a category created specifically for it, acknowledging that no other estate in Sauternes operates at the same level. Below Yquem, eleven châteaux were classified as Premiers Crus, and fifteen as Deuxièmes Crus.

The Premiers Crus include some of the most celebrated names in sweet wine: Château Rieussec, Château Suduiraut, Château Guiraud (the first classified growth to convert to organic viticulture), Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey, and Château Coutet and Château Climens in Barsac. Barsac, though entitled to its own appellation, may also be sold as Sauternes — its wines tend to be slightly lighter and more delicate than those from the Sauternes communes proper, with a characteristic lemony freshness alongside the honey and apricot.

Château d'Yquem is the only wine in Bordeaux — red or white — to have been awarded a classification above Premier Cru. Its hilltop position in the commune of Sauternes, on a complex mosaic of gravel, clay, and sand over a limestone subsoil, gives it a unique combination of drainage and water retention that allows the vines to ripen perfectly even in difficult vintages. The estate has been making wine on this site since the sixteenth century, and its records of exceptional vintages stretch back to 1784.

The wine is made with a fanaticism that borders on the obsessive. In poor vintages — 1992, 2012 — no Yquem is produced at all. In great vintages, the tries successives may involve up to eleven passes through the vineyard. The wine is aged for three and a half years in new oak barrels before release, and it is capable of ageing for a century or more. The 1921, 1937, 1945, and 1967 vintages are considered among the greatest wines ever made in Bordeaux.

Sauternes is an easy day trip from Bordeaux — about 40 kilometres south on the A62 motorway, or a more scenic drive through the Graves via Podensac and Cérons. The village of Sauternes itself is small and charming, with a handful of restaurants and the Maison du Sauternes, where wines from across the appellation can be tasted and purchased. Most of the classified châteaux offer visits and tastings, though the most prestigious — Yquem, Rieussec, Suduiraut — require advance booking.

The best time to visit is October, when the harvest is underway and the vineyards are at their most atmospheric — the morning mists still hanging over the Ciron, the golden vines heavy with botrytised fruit, the pickers moving slowly through the rows. The wines pair magnificently with foie gras (the classic Bordelais combination), Roquefort, and the rich, creamy dishes of the Landes and Périgord cuisines that surround the appellation.