TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

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AKR
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TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

Post by AKR »

01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes] From a split, first day a touch too warm, the second day at 50F which was better. Light yellow, hasn't darkened in color yet. Tropical fruit nose. Pleasant, yummy balanced palate. However it feels like its losing its verve. These were bought on futures, and stored fairly cold, so it seems vexing that the acidity that many 2001s feature is getting blurry, at least to me. Ever so slightly it also feels like its getting some dilution in taste. I'll give it a B, and I thought it was better when younger. Maybe larger bottles will show and age better. Another bottle two months later was simiar, but had some buttery flavors on the palate. I'm drinking mine up.

Also enjoyed a 2010 Borgo Scopeto [Chianti Classico] the last few days which was a ruby hued, food friendly lighter bodied wine. sour cherry flavors, and easy to drink without overthinking. I know nothing about Tuscany so am experimenting to see what is palatable to me. A retailers suggestion, which worked out.

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Above are from a while ago, but revisted the Sauternes again last night. It seems to have gotten 'thinner' with age as I remember it more fondly in its youth.
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Harry C.
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

Post by Harry C. »

Agree with your experience concerning the acidity of 2001 Sauternes. The past few have bordered on cloying. I am praying that they are just going through a phase and will improve back to their predicted bright future.
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stefan
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

Post by stefan »

We may have to wait for the minerals to develop before the '01s again taste great. That will take patience, I think.
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

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It may just be a concern with the 'smaller wines'

We'll see
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

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It may just be a concern with the 'smaller wines'

We'll see
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DavidG
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

Post by DavidG »

I have a handful of 2001 Sauternes. Coutet, Doisy-Daëne and Fargues. I figured they should be good to go now and for a decade or two to come. I'm not ready to write them off based on one bottle from a different producer. Harry, which ones did you find cloying?

Stefan, my experience with old Sauternes is extremely limited compared to that with red Bordeaux. Are you saying that Sauternes go into a dumb stage this far after the vintage where the acid can seem to recede into the background, leaving them cloying? And that they can come back from this to re-establish a better balance when the sweetness recedes?
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AKR
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

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DavidG - I am not concerned with those producers, the sense of their ageability from this vintage. That 01 was my last bottle of B-L from this vintages. Drank them from release up til now. Wonderful when young, and just now starting to tail off. They were cellar defenders for the Coutets and Suduirauts of that vintage!
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

Post by DavidG »

Arv - you're making me feel a little better, thanks!
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stefan
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

Post by stefan »

Yes, David; that is exactly right in my experience.
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

Post by DavidG »

Thanks, Stefan, that makes sense. I wonder what happens chemically to the acid and sugar over time. I don't think that they polymerize like tannins/polyphenols, becoming less noticeable as the molecules get bigger and the wine ages.

The only Sauternes I've followed longitudinally has been the '88 Climens. I've been drinking one every few years since 1998, and other than two suspiciously dark secondary-market bottles with soaked corks that were a bit oxidized, they seem to be maintaining a nice balance throughout the years and at last look were still sweet.
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

Post by AKR »

I thought the acids can form cystals? isn't that what all those tartrates at the bottom of some sauternes/whites are? I seem to remember hearing it was a problem with very cold cellars.

The sugar in dessert wines is supposed to stay in solution, but I suppose it too could have something happen. I don't think I've seen anything happen the way one sometimes observes with a jar of honey where some of it changes from viscous form to a solid form. Maybe that can't happen at those levels.

I think we need a chemist to opine here!
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

Post by DavidG »

You're right about tartrate crystals Arv but I don't see them that often, and that's not the only acid in wine.
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Harry C.
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Re: TN: 01 Bastor Lamontagne [Sauternes]

Post by Harry C. »

David, without going thru my notes I remember Lafaurie-P. and DeMalle as two that lacked the expected balancing acidity.
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