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Rieussec 2011

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Sauternes and Barsac
ColourSweet White
TypeStill
Grape VarietySauvignon Blanc/Semillon

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Tasting Notes

This is a fabulous Sauternes with dried peaches, pineapples and mango. Apricots and hints of spices. Even jam. Full-bodied, medium sweet with intense and powerful palate. This wine has 147 grams of residual sugar. So balanced and long. We will see what is better -- Rieussec or Yquem?

96/97
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, April 2012

People who normally have to buy Rieussec to get their hands on a case of Lafite may decide that it's not worth the aggravation in 2011, but that would be a mistake. This isn't the best Sauternes of the vintage, but it's still rich and concentrated with notes of barley sugar and honey and just enough acidity for balance. 6+ years.

92
Tim Atkin MW, timatkin.com, April 2012

Departing from its usual unctuous style, this vintage displays great purity and lifted, elegant flavours. Great concentration of flavours and amazing complexity. Exotic fruits and floral notes are typical of Rieussec. A precise, detailed wine with a long finish.

18.5
Jeannie Cho Lee, Decanter.com, April 2012

Tasted blind at the Sauternes 2011 horizontal tasting. The Château Rieussec 2011 transcends its somewhat "middling" performance from barrel and delivers a knockout wine in bottle. For sure, it demonstrates a lot of vanilla from the new oak on the nose, complemented by almond, French patisserie and touches of white peach. The élevage is more expressive than the terroir at the moment, although there is clearly a lot of fruit underneath. The palate is very well balanced, with thickly textured honeyed fruits that lacquer the inside of the mouth and stay there. This is extremely well balanced but very young and primal, yet the crescendo of flavors is very impressive. Tasted blind, I hazarded a guess that this might be Yquem '11. Enough said. Drink 2017-2045.

95
Neal Martin, Wine Advocate (217), February 2015

The 2011 Rieussec has a lifted, at the moment quite oaky, bouquet with scents of honey, almond and pineapple. Hopefully it will develop more definition by the time of bottling. The palate is medium-bodied with tropical fruit and mandarin on the entry and a satisfying viscous core of honeyed fruit. It seems a little disjointed towards the finish, although I am sure it will become more cohesive by the time of bottling. For me, it just seems a little predictable. Drink 2015-2028+.

91/93
Neal Martin, Wine Advocate (200), April 2012
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.