Sauternes is the obvious starting point for dessert wines, but it is not the only ‘sweet’ appellation in Bordeaux. Barsac is right next to Sauternes, and can be labelled Sauternes even though it is often a little less weighty and more floral than its neighbour. Alternatives in the region include Cadillac, Sainte-Croix-du-Mont and Premières Côtes de Bordeaux. And from the neighbouring Bergerac region Monbazillac can offer particularly good value, especially in good vintages.  

The thing that unites all these appellations are the grape varieties:  semillon, sauvignon blanc, and sometimes a little muscadelle. Sauvignon blanc provides a strong acid backbone to balance the residual sweetness in the wine.  Semillon and muscadelle have thin skins and are therefore susceptible to the wondrous and desired, but rather unsightly, process of botrytis ‘infection’, so when blended together, the rich flavours and sweetness are held in frame by plenty of ripe acidity.

Wines reviewed below

Botrytis, or noble rot, is a feature of the end of the ripening season.  As the weather cools down in October, and sometimes into November, low-lying river mists creep up their banks and into adjoining vineyards, bringing the botrytis mould with them, which settles on the skins of the grape berries.  Emerging late morning sunshine dries off the berries, preventing the botrytis mould from becoming unpleasant, and to survive, the mould effectively sucks out water from the berries. This results in complex chemical changes within the grape which makes the juice more viscous and unctuous. 

Botrytis wines are identified by their characteristic dusty, honeysuckle and fresh mushroom tones on the nose and a lush, concentrated, complex, viscous palate which can include more or less barley sugar, tangerine and marmalade flavours.

This is quite a high-risk type of wine to make, and labour intensive with several passes in the vineyard to collect fruit, either individual berries or part bunches, as they become shrivelled by the mould. But if the sun doesn’t emerge to dry off the berries, the mould may just rot the berries, and having no wine to make is also rather expensive!

Bordeaux is not the only region where these river mists seep over adjoining vineyards.  In the Loire Valley, where the firmly acidic chenin blanc is king, vineyards around the river Layon create lush and concentrated sweet wines in such appellations as Bonnezeaux and Coteaux du Layon. Similarly in Alsace the sweet sélection de grains nobles are botrytis-influenced, and the vendange tardive (made from any of gewürztraminer, pinot gris, riesling or muscat) may also be.

But botrytis is not the only way to achieve sweetness in wine. Leaving selected fruit on the vine late into the season can also concentrate the sugars, but without any botrytis.  In places such as Jurançon, they take this late season concentration to another level by the technique of passerillage, where the wood of the vine is cut close to the bunch to prevent any late season moisture being added to the berries from the vine itself.  In Australia this is called ‘cut cane’.

Another factor to take into consideration is the use of oak in the winemaking. Whilst ‘entry level’ Sauternes is likely to be made in inert, possibly concrete or stainless steel containers, ‘posh’ Sauternes will be fermented and matured in new oak, or part new oak. This will add toastiness, creaminess and a nutty complexity to the fruit and botrytis flavours.

In the south of France, in Languedoc and Roussillon, and in the Rhône, there is a long tradition of making fortified sweet wines, both red, from grenache, and white, from muscat. Collectively these are called vins doux naturels. Ripe, healthy grapes are harvested, fermented a little, and then the fermentation is stopped abruptly by the addition of  extremely high strength neutral grape spirit, so the finished wine ends up at around 15% alcohol (still lighter than some new world shirazes and zinfandels!). The sweetness comes from the unfermented sugars. The use of neutral spirit helps to preserve the fresh fruit characters of the grapes. After the fermentation, the maturation can either follow a course that preserves the fresh, juicy, primary fruit notes, or follow one that allows oxygen to develop complex nutty, figgy, mocha and toffee notes. This latter is called ‘rancio’.

Understanding which grape varieties are used, as well as how the wine is made, whether with or without botrytis, with or without new oak influence, with or without neutral grape spirit fortification, with ‘fruit-focused’ or ‘rancio’ maturation, is important to finding style preferences. Above all, though, the level of acidity must be sufficient to carry the sweetness and concentration.  A sweet wine should leave no cloying sensation on the palate. 

Château de Fesles, Bonnezeaux 2005, Loire
£29.00 per 50cl   The Wine Society 
Cork, 12%
From one of the top sweet wine appellations of the Loire, by definition made entirely of chenin blanc grapes. It took seven successive picking passes in the vineyard to bring in all the botrytised fruit. This is rich, honeyed, with a waft of aromatic wood smoke on the nose. It has a densely sweet palate attack of allspice, cloves, ginger, marmalade and juicy-ripe baked pineapples and crystallised quince. Rich and unctuous mouth-filling palate, sweet, serious and sophisticated.  It leaves the mouth aromatically spicy and tingling with balanced acid freshness.

Domaine Pouderoux, Maury 2007, Vin Doux Naturel, Roussillon
 £17.49 / 75cl   Quaff Fine Wine Merchants
Cork, 15.5%
Sweet red wines are not so common, port being the obvious example. This delicious one comes from the sun-soaked Roussillon, and is made entirely from grenache. The bright, purple-cherry colour is immediately appealing, followed by allspice, plum, black cherry and blackcurrant aromas. It’s lush, dense and sweetly spiced with rich primary, fresh berry fruit compote flavours, mouth-filling, sweet and slippery-textured, and concentrated.   

Château Montdoyen, Monbazillac 2005, Bergerac
£16.70 Great Western Wine  
Cork,  13%
This is a pretty classic ‘Bordeaux’ sweet blend of 80% semillon, 10% sauvignon blanc and 10% muscadelle, from the adjoining region of Bergerac. It was fermented and matured in cask for 22 months, so has had expensive winemaking lavished on it, and to good effect. The bouquet is aromatically spicy, with cinnamon-infused pineapple and tangerine fruits. It is fresh and warming on the palate, with rich sweetness enveloping the tongue with creamy texture and nicely rounded supporting acidity to balance the piquant, creamy, lemon-curd complexity. It’s not over-complex which is part of its appeal.    

Le Clos Lapeyre, La Magendia de Lapeyre, Jurancon 2006, South West France
£23.99 / bt ; £12.99 / half.   Caves de Pyrene  
Cork, 12.5%
This wine is late harvested, with passerillage, in four picking sessions in the vineyard, where drying of the petit manseng grapes is helped by warm southern winds. The aroma is creamy, honeyed, aromatic and peachy. Fresh peach, apricot, even mango combine on the palate with delicious freshness from the acid spine. The flavours grow in the mouth, with orange blossom, honeysuckle, and the sweetness defined by palate cleansing freshness. Hints of oak loiter in the background, offering an added note of support and complexity. Complex and long.  

Les Vignerons de la Méditerranée Narbonne, Muscat de St Jean de Minervois, NV, Vin Doux Naturel, Languedoc
£4.48 per 37.5 cl.  Sainsbury’s   
Synthetic, 15%
This is fresh, light, grapey, honeyed and fully sweet in its classically simple style. It’s typically light, even though it has 15% alcohol. This style is designed to be straightforward and grapey, with smooth texture and succulent tastiness, with plenty of flavour impact for not so much money. It has a bit of piquant alcohol warmth at the finish in a good, clean, true, fruit-focused muscat vin doux naturel.

 
In Tolkien’s Middle Earth are made some of the most enticing and ethereal sweet wines. Or so it seems in middle Europe’s north-east corner of Hungary, close to the Slovakian and Ukrainian borders. The confluence of the rivers Bodrog and Tisza, sounding just like another challenging situation for the battle-weary Frodo and Sam, contains the long- and illustrious-historied region of Tokaj, oft-forgotten vineyards of one of the most ancient of all the demarcated vineyard areas.

Hétszőlő Vineyards

Sandwiched between the volcanic Zemplén Hills to the north and the great Hungarian plain to the south, just 5,500 ha of white-only grape varieties exist on the south and south-east facing foothills, overlooking those two rivers on which they depend. It is in the mists of both time and these rivers that the mythologies of Tokaji wine are born.  The rivers still engender the daily mist to bring noble rot to the autumnal vines.

But, it is only since 1989 the region has been clawing its way out of nearly fifty years of Communist rule, out of the shadow of Mordor.  Early foreign investment gave a much-needed injection of capital and technological expertise to begin re-discovering the true Tokaji, work that is still the subject of debate.  Should the style focus on nuttiness and baked fruit, or fresh fruit with a savoury hint of botrytis? What remains true is that Tokaji has, despite its sweetness, a rapier-like freshness of acidity that leaves the palate fresh.   

Tokaji has one of the most complex production methods imaginable. That it results in liquids of luscious limpidity, liveliness, length and, frankly, loveliness means the efforts are worthwhile. It is easy to forget how simply delicious these sweet wines are. In essence, healthy bunches of grapes are harvested to make dry wine. A botrytis (as in Sauternes, beerenauslese, trockenbeerenauslese, Ruster Ausbruch etc) sheen in the vineyard is combined with a shrivelling of the grapes – berry concentration by wind in this regularly breezy patch of land.

Botrytis and shrivelled grapes are hand picked individually (aszú berries), often in a number of passages through the vineyard, as in Sauternes. These are kept safe until there’s enough.  Berries are added to the dry wine (or sometimes unfermented grape juice) in measured units of 3, 4, 5, or 6 puttonyos. Anything more than 6 puttonyos and it’s called aszú-eszencia. Wine and berries are macerated for 1-3 days to extract all the goodies in the berries (flavour, acidity, sugars, aromas).

Picking aszú berries

The number of puttonyos added determines the sweetness of the final wine.  The berry/wine liquid is pressed and a bit of fermentation takes place in the now sweet wine.  It must age for at least two years, and does so in underground labyrinthine tunnels, reminiscent of Shelob’s lair.  Thick cobwebs adorn the winding, deepening, stooping, chilling tunnels, lined with barrel upon barrel of serenely maturing Tokaji wine. But for Hobbits and humans there is nothing more sinister than a velvet-soft fleece of mould clinging to the tunnel walls and ceiling, which feeds on the alcohol evaporating from the maturing wine.

Is Tokaji nectar of the gods perhaps, or miruvor of the elves, that precious, fragrant liquor which conferred new strength of heart, gave fresh hope and vigour to Fellowship of the Ring as it was defeated by the snowstorm on mount Caradhras and forced to go down into the mines of Moria.  It is certainly a restorative potion, and one that opens up gastronomic opportunities.

Tokaji comes in a variety of easy to identify sweetnesses:
3 puttonyos                         > 60 g/l residual sugar
4 puttonyos                         > 90 g/l residual sugar
5 puttonyos                         > 120 g/l residual sugar
6 puttonyos                         > 150 g/l residual sugar
Aszú-eszencia                    > 180 g/l residual sugar

By the time the wine has finished maturing, alcohol can be as low as 9% (maybe 6% for aszú-eszencia) but it’s more usually around 12%, really quite modest by today’s standards. This is noticeably lighter than Sauternes, for example, and there is rarely new oak influence in Tokaji, so food matching is much simplified.  Indeed the secret of Tokaji is the balance between sugar and acidity which results in an elegant, fruit-concentrated potion, with complex flavours of citrus fruits, apricot, peach, tropical fruits, cinnamon, nuts, chocolate, fresh-roasted coffee.
 
As with Sauternes, the foie gras connection is obvious, but the range of Tokaji makes it a more adaptable food pairing wine.  Lighter sweetness with piquant ham starters, sweeter styles with rich blue cheeses such as Roquefort or England’s Barkham Blue, and with seriously mature cheddar or other flavoursome hard cheese.  High acidity fruit desserts or sorbets of apricot, pear, raspberry, strawberry, kiwi, mango or pineapple are well suited to the zingy freshness of Tokaji’s acidity. Tokaji sorbet perhaps?

Spare even a thought for Christmas pudding with its crystallised fruits and nutty notes, and spiciness form cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, all complementing the spicy notes of the wine. 

Chef Tibor Hornyák at the Gróf Degenfeld Palace restaurant in Tokaj recommends roasted duck liver with onion ragout flavoured with almond and dried apricot, or broccoli souffle with gorgonzola sauce, with an aszú 3 puttonyos; a cappucino-mousse with amaretto sauce with aszú 4 puttonyos; gingerbread parfait with caramelised fig, or strawberry cottage-cheese mousse with aszú five puttonyos; and a Gundel pancake for the aszú 6 puttonyos, whose chocolate sauce and walnuts complements the sweetest wines. 

Of the Aszu Eszencia, the folk at Disznókő seem to have the right idea: “We advise drinking it in small portions, by itself, to celebrate life.” Frodo would probably agree.

Bordeaux wine region

Bordeaux is the most prestigious and the finest wine producing area in the world. The eponymous region in south west France is the home of some of the most sought-after “collectors’ items” in the world, as well much good value everyday wine. It produces 14% of all French wines, 65-70 million cases, which is more than Romania.

HISTORY

The region is one of the oldest wine growing regions, and there is a long trading history with England. A 12^th century royal marriage gave to England much territory in south west France, and favourable trading terms.  

During the 17^th and 18^th centuries, long after the land reverted to French ownership, entrepreneurs from several countries such as Ireland, Britain, the Netherlands and Germany moved to Bordeaux to trade and export wine to their home countries.   

It was the Dutch, with their excellent land-drainage skills who, by draining the marshy land of the Médoc in the mid 17^th century, exposed their beautifully draining gravels, laying the foundation for the modern Bordeaux wine region – the left bank -  and its top quality wines. 

Bordeaux reds are often called claret in the UK as a linguistic artefact of our centuries-long historical trading association. 

GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

The Bordeaux region covers over 120,000 hectares (300,000 acres). The climate is similar, but a bit warmer to southern England: temperate, with mild winters, damp springs and rainy autumns.    

The region is sliced into three big chunks by the Gironde estuary, which is fed by the rivers Dordogne and Garonne.  The Entre-deux-mers is akin to the bread-basket of Bordeaux producing much everyday red and white wine.  But it is the left bank of the Médoc that lays claim to the finest red wines of Margaux, St. Estephe, St Julien and Pauillac, and the right bank to the highly-prized reds of Pomerol and St. Emilion. 

The best dry whites come from the Graves, immediately south of the city of Bordeaux, and the most famous sweet whites just south of that, in Sauternes and Barsac.                                            

Bordeaux has a total of 57 appellations — a specific, delimited area of land, the name of which appears on the label.   These appellations generally avoid land that is of too poor quality to grow grapes such as low-lying badly drained land, or soils that are too sandy. 

To qualify for an appellation all the grapes must be grown within the borders of the appellation. So, for a wine labelled ‘Bordeaux Appellation Contrôlée’ the grapes can come from anywhere within the 120,000 hectares.  But there are fewer than 800 ha of vines in Pomerol, which makes average production per grower a tiny 2,500 to 3,000 cases.  As a point of comparison, in the UK, we buy over 2.5 million cases of Aussie wine Jacob’s Creek to drink at home.

Another criterion for appellation is the use of specific grape varieties.  For Bordeaux, all red wines are made from cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc (sometimes with sprinklings of petit verdot and malbec).  All white wines, both sweet and dry, are made from differing proportions of sauvignon blanc and semillon, sometimes with a little muscadelle.  Bordeaux wines cannot be made from any other grape varieties. As a comparison, the appellations of Burgundy must be just pinot noir for reds and chardonnay for whites.

GRAPES AND BLENDS – RED

Pauillac vineyards

It is the red wines of Bordeaux that have claimed their place in wine immortality. They account for the lion’s share of production, about 90%. Over the centuries the Bordelais have found that blending their grape varieties can add additional layers of complexity and palate profile to a wine, with the best aspects of one grape variety complementing the best aspects of another.  For the classic cabernet sauvignon/merlot blend the deeply coloured, tannic and richly blackcurrant-fruited cabernet sauvignon can be softened and rounded a little by the more supple tannins of merlot and its additional flavours added of earth, plum and warm bread.  

Within this classic blend there is a useful distinction to be found between the left bank and right bank.  The Médoc tends to have a higher proportion of cabernet sauvignon in the blend, maybe 60-70%, which lends a stronger, more structured profile, with more tannic grip.  The remainder will be 20-35% merlot, up to 15% cabernet franc, plus a little “seasoning” from those other two grape varieties.

Right bank wines tend to have a higher proportion of merlot (~60%) and cabernet franc (~30%) which offer a softer, rounder, more approachable and supple profile, supported by the strength of about 10% cabernet sauvignon. Right bank wines are often considered an easier introduction to people unfamiliar with the wines of Bordeaux.  And in terms of value, some of the best reds are to be found in the lesser known right bank appellations such as Bourg, Blaye, Fronsac and Côtes de Castillon.

GRAPES AND BLENDS – WHITE

White Bordeaux wines are made from semillon and sauvignon blanc, and the sweet styles may have a little muscadelle also.  For dry whites at the lower end of the market – likely from the Entre-deux-Mers – the best may be varietal sauvignon blanc, unoaked, aiming at primary fruit expression, an aperitif style.  At the top end dry whites are generally blends and are serious, overtly oaked, creamily-textured wines needing appropriate food pairing to show their best colours.  The emphasis for this style is on structure and potential longevity rather than immediate fruity appeal and the price reflects this, often £20 and more. 

The sweet white wines of Sauternes and other appellations such as Barsac, Saint-Croix-du-Mont and Cadillac are made in a very different way.  Some grapes are left on the vine after the ‘dry wine’ harvest.  As autumn approaches and with it the risk of rain, the mornings in places close to the river may be misty which brings a beneficial mould, botrytis. Botrytis wraps itself around each intact berry, drawing water from it, thereby concentrating all the other grape constituents.  So long as the afternoons are dry all is well, but if the autumn is damp and rainy the mould can turn nasty and cause the remaining crop to rot, by splitting the berry skin and exposing the pulp. Semillon has thin skins which are susceptible to this magical, risk-laden botrytis.  Blending with sauvignon blanc, which has naturally high acidity, balances the final wine.

CLASSIFICATION

Almost unique to the wine-producing world, a few Bordeaux properties are classified.  About 200 properties are classified, among the ten thousand growers, and it is these ‘top’ châteaux that provide the global benchmark.

The 1855 Médoc classification is the most widely known (see it here).  It was drawn up for the Universal Exposition in Paris of the same year.  Market prices of the day formed the basis of a list of producers whose wines consistently attained the highest prices.  This group of 60-odd châteaux were ranked into 5 groups – first growth through to fifth growth – what are now known as the ‘classed growths’. 

Other properties, such as those in the Graves, Sauternes and St. Emilion, have also been classified, bringing the total up to 200.

REPUTATION AND QUALITY

At their best and classic expression, the prestigious appellations (containing those classified properties) of St. Estèphe, Pauillac, St. Julien, Margaux, Graves, Pomerol, St. Emilion show subtly different flavour profiles, which reflect the particular site where the grapes have grown.  This is the essence of ‘terroir’ or the ’sense of place’ that good quality wines display.

The vast majority of wine is produced in the less prestigious appellations – the Entre-Deux-Mers and areas lying outside the key names.  Some of these wines are bottled at the property and sold as “petit châteaux” wine under its specific appellation and Château name.  Much is sold in bulk to merchant firms which blend various wines into brands e.g. Mouton Cadet, Numéro 1, Sirius, Calvet Classic, sold under the most generic appellation of Bordeaux Appellation Contrôlée.  The advantage here  is that the merchants are able buy fruit and wine from all the Bordeaux vineyards with the aim of finding the best quality they can to fit into the price of their brands.  This is a vital part of the Bordeaux market, and a way of potentially offering consistent and reliable wine styles for consumers to try the region’s wines.