Db’s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay’s virtual tour of the 2024 en primeur releases comes to a characteristically sticky end – in Sauternes and Barsac.
There’s something inevitable about it. Eventually all roadshows have to come to an end and, paradoxically perhaps, all of the best en primeur roadshows tend to come to a sticky end – in Sauternes and Barsac. Let’s be honest, there are worse places to finish up.
Indeed, it is particularly important to me that I do not sign off on my en primeur coverage without paying appropriate attention to these unique but often over-looked wines.
Sauternes and Barsac are, in a way, both the perfect incarnation of Bordeaux’s plight today and at the same time an indication of what can and now needs to be done more widely to win back the consumer. They offer us a glimmer of hope. For these are appellations that, be honest, have struggled to sell their wines now for well over a decade but which have already responded creatively and dynamically in their very conscious and deliberate efforts to diversify and update their offer for a new generation of consumers.
They have, of course, broadened their appeal largely through the construction of – or, where they existed already, the giving of a new life and identity to – their dry white wines [reviewed separately – link]. But, crucially, they have managed to do that without compromise to the quality of the wines which made these appellations rightly famous in the first place.
It is on those wines that this, my final en primeur report, focuses as we come to the end of our journey together.
The story here is not unfamiliar. This was very far from being an easy vintage, with the growing season characterised by the persistent threat of mildew and by the assorted weather-related woes that you are by now as familiar with as am I.
Yet for Sauternes and Barsac the constant cloud cover that plagued the vintage contained a silver lining, indeed two. First, the absence of temperature spikes and any sustained heatwave period during the growing season as well as the general absence of hydric stress helped the fruit to build aromatic complexity and to retain essential freshness. Second, rain at the end of August and the start of September allowed botrytis cinerea to establish itself on already ripe grapes with good levels of acidity. And the subsequent alternation between periods of humidity and hot and dry conditions in September and October helped the establishment and then concentration of this noble rot (at least for those who picked before the rain returned).
In theory, then, 2024 has all the potential hallmarks of excellence: an intense noble rot character, aromatic complexity and a signature freshness and vivacity. It also has a certain amount of quantity, as Table 1 shows, with final yields around what is becoming the new normal.
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
10-year average |
| Sauternes & Barsac |
13.6 |
12.3 |
3.5 |
14.1 |
12.2 |
12.7 |
13.8 |
| - Barsac |
-- |
1.5 |
13.4 |
12.0 |
11.5 |
13.4 |
| - Sauternes |
-- |
4.0 |
14.7 |
12.4 |
13.0 |
14.4 |
Table 1: Average vineyard yield, Sauternes & Barsac (hl/ha) Source: calculated from Duanes data compiled by the CIVB Service Economie et Etudes
But, a little like the dry whites, the theoretical promise of the vintage is far from evenly present in the wines that I tasted. Even Sauternes, it turns out, is heterogenous in 2024.
There are stars and they shine very brightly – notably, the truly exceptional trio of
L’Extravagant de Doisy-Daëne,
Lafaurie-Peyraguey and
Suduiraut. But, more often than not, these wines in fact lack the very acidity and freshness that otherwise characterises the vintage, and that is needed to cut their richness and opulence.
That said, there is great value to be found, once again, in Sauternes and Barsac – from
Doisy-Daëne and
Coutet, as ever, from a newly resurgent
Clos Haut-Peyraguey and from the ever excellent
Sigalas-Rabaud.
Cantegril and
Haut-Bergeron also bring class, elegance and grace at incredibly competitive prices, above all when one considers the vanishingly small yields.
Highlights in 2024:
Best of the appellations:
- L’Extravagant de Doisy-Daëne 96-98
- Lafaurie-Peyraguey 96-98
- Suduiraut 96-98
Truly exceptional:
- Doisy-Daëne 94-96
- Coutet 93-95
- Clos Haut-Peyraguey 93-95
- Sigalas-Rabaud 93-95
Value picks:
- Cantegril 91-93
- Haut-Bergeron 91-93
For full tasting notes of see here.
For full appellation-by-appellation reviews, see here:
St-Estèphe, Pauillac,
Saint-Julien,
Margaux, Haut-Médoc, Listrac-Médoc, Médoc, & Moulis-en-Médoc,
Pomerol,
Saint-Émilion, ‘satellite’ appellations of Saint-Émilion (Lussac, Montagne & St Georges),
Pessac-Léognan & Graves rouge,
Pessac-Léognan & Graves white, and
Sauternes & Barsac.
