SAUTERNES: FIVE VINTAGES TO DRINK NOW
Sauternes is one of those wines that can be enjoyed young but in good vintages can age and evolve for decades. In the past, it wasn’t so accessible when young, often due to high doses of sulphur dioxide at bottling, which suppressed many of the wine’s characteristics, in particular its fruit. Today, SO2 additions are more tightly regulated, and winemakers prefer to use the minimum in order to preserve the wine’s intrinsic freshness.
Even so, it’s usually worth giving a Sauternes at least five years in bottle before pulling the cork. As the wine matures, high acidity and any flagrant new oak aromas will usually subside or integrate. Depending on the vintage, the wine will develop more opulence and nuance as it ages, so the primary expression won’t be of simple fruitiness, but will show more complexity.
The following vintages can all be broached now, and the 1999 and 2005 should not be kept too much longer –
