Château Guiraud 2007

The 2007 vintage in Sauternes

Vintage benchmark: 96/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A divine autumn for botrytis gave the great vintage of the sweet wines: precise, complex, of rare freshness.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Sauternes. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

This wine is exceptionally balanced. The climatic conditions brought coolness at night and a certain warmth during the day, which allowed the botrytis to settle in slowly and perfectly. Careful sorting allowed us to make a deep, mineral wine, combining great freshness with a clear presence of botrytis. We clearly feel aromas of exotic fresh fruits, peach, almond and then a floral side of acacia which indicates great complexity. The palate is frank, clean, tense, mineral and very balanced. The botrytis is masterfully present and refined. It reminds me a lot of the 88s with less austerity.

Blend of the 2007 vintage

Figures from the 2007 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 35 yrsVine age
• 100,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

The fermentation and ageing carried out in barrels take advantage of the beneficial effects of contact between the wine and the wood by the extraction of certain organoleptic characters from the oak thanks to the action of the yeasts which will mix with the wine, also providing a certain finesse.

Ageing

Depending on the vintage, ageing on lees for 3 to 6 months is practiced with regular stirring, then regular racking is carried out every 3 months.

Terroir

Situated 45 km south of Bordeaux on the left bank of the Garonne, Château Guiraud, with an area of 128 ha, has among its distinctive features that of lying entirely within the commune of Sauternes. The climate of the Sauternes appellation is oceanic. Winters there are mild and damp; spring, also damp, is temperate. Summers are moderately warm and give the vine a gradual ripening. It is in autumn that the weather conditions differ from those of a normal oceanic climate. The Sauternes district then comes under the influence of a particular microclimate, favouring the development of a microscopic fungus, botrytis cinerea or noble rot, without which Sauternes would not exist.