Embarras de Sauternes luncheon, Sun 30 Sept

Last Sunday, G and I travelled to Windsor to visit T in his new abode and help him and a couple of other friends drink some of his stash of Sauternes. The goodies that awaited us more than made up for the complicated journey to get there - it's not often you get to drink five Sauternes at a sitting! G made notes which meant I didn't. Now I have nothing to refer to except my memory and the photos I took, so details may be a little sketchy.

First up was this Chateau de Fargues 2003 en demi. I've rated this chateau in the past and I remember a tasting I attended in Oxford years ago where we drank Yquem against Fargues and I came away with the distinct impression that I preferred the Fargues, particularly considering the price differential. As a welcoming drink it was very enjoyable but on further reflection we felt that it was a little low in acidity. 2003 was a very hot year so perhaps this had something to do with it. T has quite a stash of the stuff so maybe it should be tucked away for a bit to see if it gets better with age.

Next was this Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey 1996 which I'd never heard of, and I don't think I was the only one. We speculated that the difficult-to-pronounce name might be the reason it's not well-known in the UK. It was distinctly darker in colour than the other wines but I think the general consensus was that it was not one of the top-end Sauternes.

After that we had this Chateau Myrat 2007. Again I wasn't familiar with this chateau. I enjoyed it but the feeling was that this wasn't great Sauternes, by which I mean that both of these two were lacking complexity and also had relatively short finishes.

We got on to the good stuff at last with this Chateau Rieussec 2000. This was proper Sauternes with botrytis flavours - really lovely.

And finally, Chateau Guiraud 2002. Again this was clearly the real deal and T's favourite of the tasting. I'll beg to differ and go for the Rieussec instead. Arguably they were neck and neck, both fantastic.

To go with the Sauternes, T provided a wonderful buffet of epic proportions and G and I brought along a magnum of Yves Darviot's Beaune Greves 2005 which sadly didn't show very well. I have a number of theories as to why this could have been but probably drinking it in the middle of a sweet wine tasting was never going to do it any favours. Never mind, I shall look forward to drinking the rest in due course.

The leisurely afternoon was rounded off by listening to some Flanders and Swann classics. They don't make 'em like that any more. Then we suddenly realised it was past 8.00 and time to get back to the metropolis, and thus a new record for a six and a half hour lunch was set. Thanks very much to T for his hospitality and giving us this opportunity to drink such amazing wines - quite an experience!