Region | |
---|---|
Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Sauternes and Barsac |
Colour | Sweet White |
Type | Still |
View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Château Guiraud
Ex-chateau bottle tasted blind in Sauternes. Tasting the '03 Guiraud blind, my tasting note is consistent with the bottle tasted later that day, although here there was just a slight adhesive scent that perhaps knocked a point from my score. Otherwise this is a delicious Guiraud from Xavier Plantey, albeit a vintage surpassed in more recent releases. Drink now-2020. Tasted April 2013.
This is very sweet and rich on the nose, with toffee, honey and spices. Full-bodied, and thick honey. Spice, dried apricot and syrup flavors. Lasts for minutes on the palate. Big botrytis bomb. Love it. Best after 2010. 8,000 cases made.
This thick-as-honey botrytis bomb is proof that two decades of improvements have paid off at Guiraud. One of the region's largest estates, with more than 210 acres of vines, Guiraud produces intense wines despite a higher percentage of Sauvignon Blanc (about a third) than many of its neighbors. Four investors, including longtime managing director Xavier Planty and auto scion Robert Peugeot, bought the estate for $25 million in 2006, putting Planty firmly in charge of maintaining the quality he's built. 8,000 cases made.
Intensely sweet, luscious, yet racy wine; beautifully defined, prolonged, stylish and vital. A particularly aristocratic Guiraud.
It is against my better judgment to taste the sweet wines of Barsac and Sauternes at such an early age, as I find they typically require at least 12 months to reveal the definition/delineation so essential in these creamy, creme brulee, and honeysuckle-flavored offerings. Nevertheless, because this vintage is so highly regarded, I tasted through most of the top estates. The 2003s appear to be somewhat in the style of the 1990s, with high levels of residual sugar (higher than 2001 for the most part) as well as botrytis, low acidity, and fat, full-bodied personalities. This region’s harvest began extremely early (early September), and was completely finished within three weeks. It does not appear that the nobleness and racy richness of the 2001 vintage will be found in the 2003s, but readers who like the big, flamboyant, over the top style of the 1990s will enjoy the 2003s even more than I did.
Unlike most of my red wine tastings, this offering was only tasted once. Readers should keep in mind that this a very early, pre-bottling judgment from very unevolved wine that is not nearly as defined and easy to evaluate as the reds.
This showed loads of wonderful botrytis character, with apple tart and cloves, honey. Full-bodied, very sweet and concentrated. Superlong and honeylike, with sweet mace and sweet tobacco on the palate. Pure bot baby.