March 21, 2024 - Drank in London
Beautiful colour beautiful palate.
August 31, 2023 - Very deep golden color as expected.
Very intense and developed aromas, typical orange marmelade, ginger, crème brûlée.
Medium to full body, unashamedly sweet but not too much, flavours of abricot and orange marmalade, burnt crème brûlée, some toffees.
Very enveloping, long and intense. Doesn’t have the delicacy of other barsac but still very nice, developed and ready Sauternes.
August 24, 2023 - Half-bottle. 14% ABV. Medium to deep amber-golden colour. Dried fruit, ripe apricot, kumquat, orange marmalade, orange peel, burned caramel, brown butter, spice notes, and a notable amount of VA, with good acidity, a creamy texture, and very good length. The 1995 is not the most complex vintage for Rieussec, and certainly not on the same level as the striking 2005 or 2007, but it has good concentration, shows good balance, has decent botrytis character, and is easy to like.
February 9, 2022 - really spectacular. the nose boasts quinine, saffron, apricot and mango. the palate is round, rich but fresh and long. really nice and fully ready
January 6, 2022 - Rich Baltic amber color, at 26 years of age, this no longer qualifies as "sweet" or a "dessert wine." The acidity and savoriness have come to the forefront, and this is now a profound wine of meditation, that can be enjoyed with scallops, cheeses, or on its own.
December 17, 2021 - Holiday Champagne Gala (Park Ridge Country Club): Small glass with foie gras course, brief note. Dried apricot with traces of smoke and sweet spice, but overall simple, while certainly well balanced.
March 1, 2020 - Mörkgul lite grumlig färg
Oerhört mycket aprikos och botrytistoner på doften, vax och honung så det skriker om det
I munnen är det väldigt sött, möjligen en lite lägre syra än vad jag brukar få i en Sauternes. Bra längd där sötman helt klart bidrar till komplexiteten.
November 25, 2019 - Amber in color so I was worried a little about oxidation. Maybe there is a bit of it but mostly a good amount of botyrisis. Still good acidity to balance the sweetness from the gorgeous honey in the body. Slight ripe peach and hint of apricot but mostly viscous delicious honey. I kept searching for the saffron many reviews mentioned but I did not dense it. Otherwise a fine sauternes and just wish I had drank it a few years ago.
November 19, 2019 - first time tasting sautern. distinct nail thinner aroma, much more so than d'Yquem that i tasted following this one. sweet on tongue with long finish, since this is the first sauterne i have tasted without anything to compare previously with, giving this 90
November 16, 2019 - Dinner at Ashish's II (Ashish's): Medium amber. Lustrous.
Dense and silky. Explosive nose with clear saffron but not as much as typical Rieussec (95 was a low-botrytis year).
14%, with perfumed VA.
Almost saline. Savory. Saffron - dried out and slightly old (a familiar, pleasant smell). Floral levels of VA. Excellent acid - medium plus to high. Not the highest I’ve had in Sauternes but still energetic.
Really captivating, iridescent nose. Driven by saffron, supported by dried fruit and perfume. Persistent finish.
The umami/tamari nature is notable but not dominant. This still seems like it has decades to develop full tertiary complexity (caramel and savory ness).
Ashish/Hudak:
Phase 1: primary
Phase 2: fruit dropped out but no tertiary complexity (one might say it’s closed down)
Phase 3: still sweet but now has tertiary complexity. —> this is in phase 3.
Phase 4: fully savory and tertiary. Little to no sweetness. - will probably be here between 10 and 20 years from now.