Château Rieussec
The vintage
Climate: a hot, dry year right up to the harvest, which went perfectly. Early budburst and flowering.
Location
The Sauternes appellation stretches on the left bank of the Garonne, about 50km South of Bordeaux. The natural humidity arising from the Ciron river provides the ideal conditions for the development of Bortrytis Cinerea, also known as noble rot.
Terroir
Château Rieussec sits on the border of Fargues and Sauternes, bordered by Château d'Yquem to the West. Rieussec is one of the largest properties in Sauternes and Barsac, covering 93 hectares of gravel sitting on sandy-clay soils.
Winemaking
All batches are pressed individually in small pneumatic presses. After a few hours of cold settling, the must is transferred into new oak barrels from the Tonnellerie des Domaines in Pauillac for fermentation. Alcoholic fermentation is interrupted when the desired balance between alcohol and sugar had been reached. After fermentation, the wine is aged in barrels for 18 months.
Grapes
Tasting
This is a wine for laying down. It has all the qualities of a great sweet wine: a beautiful golden color, a nose of honey and fruit, an attack offering the wine's finesse without assaulting the palate, and brutally, the blossoming of its power to finish with that famous " queue de paon " given by the roast.
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