2008 Château Suduiraut
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Tasting notes
With 135 grams per liter of residual sugar, the 2008 Suduiraut exhales a complex, spicy bouquet of flowers, ripe orchard fruits, plums, herbs (attributed to shriveling rather than noble rot) and vanilla pod mingled with an exotic touch. Medium-bodied, long and round, it’s dense and layered with a delicate core of fruit, though a somewhat metallic, short finish. This blend of 92% Sémillon and 8% Sauvignon Blanc, picked in five tries between September 28 and November 19, shines as a remarkable wine amidst a challenging vintage marked by frost and downy mildew. It matured for 18 months in 40% new oak barrels and 60% one-year-old barrels.
Critic scores
The Wine Advocate
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
92% Sémillon, 8% Sauvignon Blanc. Complicated year: frost and downy mildew. Harvested 26 September to 19 November (5 tris). Aged 18 months in oak barrels (40% new, 60% one year). RS 135 g/l, TA 4.3. Yellow gold. Light, ‘fruity,’ the botrytis less discernible. Plenty of freshness and a certain purity but lacks a bit of punch. For drinking rather than keeping. (JL)
The 2008 Suduiraut is a vintage that I have not met for several years. It might pale against the 2009 however; it offers attractive scents of dried honey, mandarin, beeswax and chamomile. It does not quite possess the harmony of other vintages. The palate is very well balanced with a fine line of acidity, very pure and full of tension and gaining more cohesion towards the finish that offers notes of mandarin, spice box and pepper. It is not the most refined Suduiraut in recent years but it possesses plenty of energy. Tasted at the Suduiraut vertical at the château.
Tasted blind. Simple and sugary – a long way from sublime. (JR)
About the producer
Among the very best Sauternes estates, Ch. Suduiraut is owned by AXA Millésimes, which also manages Pichon Baron. The team works meticulously to select the finest fruit from its 91 hectares of vines, bordering Yquem. The resulting wines are intensely concentrated, balanced, complex and age-worthy.