2 - 2 Served at friends 47th bday party. Beautiful bright tea color, the nose of apricot laced with hints of citrus zest, crème brûlée. Medium sweetness, oily texture, great complexity of tropical fruits, honey, some spice, sufficient acidity to keep things in focus. Long finish. This kept opening to show more over the next two hours. In a great place well stored bottles have a decade or more at this level. 1975 is my favorite vintage for Barsac/Sauterne
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Rezek Society Honors Hugo (Casino Club): A delicious showy treat. Ripe dense yellow tropical fruits with a tangy honeyed flavor that builds nicely over the silky dense rich oily texture. A beautiful wine drinking marvelously. Rezek Society dinner honoring Hugo.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Very top shoulder fill. Cork saturated and starting to give in. Very impressive wine with unusual level of concentration. The intensity of the botrytis character gives this wine a textural richness. Supposedly, this wine has 14+ % alc and almost 100 g/l RS. I believe it... This has everything that you can expect in an aged Barsac but clearly doesn't fit the mold of Barsac being "lighter" than Sauternes. If it wasn't for the corks, this wine would go another 10-20 years; even in his half bottle format. I will recork remaining bottles and enjoy them over the next two decades.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Very similar experience to others here. Leaky rotting cork - shoulder fill. I was worried about it but the wine was fine. It had darkened to an amber color. Nice candied orange and honey notes with less prominent acidity than some sauternes. Nice finish to a Christmas dinner.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Very good and really satisfying with its tart Seville orange peel, subtle Chantilly cream, and wildflower honey, but not quite complex enough to really push it to the next level. Good acidity, but slightly angular on the palate.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Dinner at JP. Deep golden yellow. Velvety smooth. Concentrated, complex, notes of caramel, coconut and honey and not cloyingly sweet. Doesn’t quite have the level of acidity of younger Climens I have tasted but this is still quite fresh. Highly enjoyable. The oldest Sauternes (Climens is technically Barsac) I have tried so far, testament to the impressive aging potential of these wines. This is a good reminder of the under appreciated appeal of Sauternes.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
From a half bottle with base neck fill. Cork in very questionable condition. Moist on top with mold. Luckily the wine seems to have held up but it has surely aged a little quicker. Golden hue. Excellent clarity. Intense aromatics jumping out of the glass: refined candied fruit, noney, tropical fruit, papaya, passion fruit. Almost a minty lift to wine. Great balance, no cloying sweetness, great acidity, so lively. This particular bottle probably peaking; others could go a while longer....
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Such a delight; how can you not love Sauternes and Barsac with wines like this in the decanter? These age so slowly; this still has magnificent fruit density, a bit tropical, a bit of lemon, biscuit, parchment, a little flower, a hint brulee. So many facets, lovely. A beautiful weight to it. 94-5.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Dried orange peel, apricot, membrillo, mountain honey and faint caramel. Great balance of sweetness and acid. Went very well with caramelized pineapple.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
HS fill 750ml. This was great. Better than expected, and holding well for its age. Maybe not as complete and concentrated as the best, but still this is very good and should hold a bit longer. A-
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Dinner @ Librije: score based on the better of two bottles served that evening. A nice and mature sauternes. Some marmalade, apricot and still the right touch of freshness coming from some citrus in the background that prevents this from being just a sweet fruit bomb. But I still had a 75 Yquem in mind had at this same restaurant a few months before and that clearly is a wholy different level.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
From 375 with high shoulder fill. This is clearly fully mature, but holding well. Very nice medium gold color, elegant fruit and a nice long finish. Was great with cheese. A-
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
2010 Bouchard wine dinner organized by Panos (Lavandou, Washington DC): It is an extremely fresh bottle with the color that is as light as the 04 that was served side by side. Perfectly ripe apricot, honey, burnt caramel, vanilla and oolong tea. Medium concentration, steely, nice tension but slightly lacking in complexity. This ain’t no D’Yquem but still very enjoyable.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Brown, delicious, everything in it's proper place - acidity, sweetness and a killer nose. Hard to put the glass back on the table before it's all gone.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Dinner at Ming Kee (Ming Kee, Macpherson Road): From a lightly-corked 375ml. A real pity - this bottle seemed to have really nice underlying material. It had a super honeyed, caramelly nose, with drippings of sweet orange marmalade and lemon curd wed to a bit of coconut and some really nice mushroomy, earthy undercurrant. It would have been a stunning nose if not for a little touch of iodine and cardboard that hinted at TCA. That seemed to fade a little with time on the nose, but unfortunately kept haunting the wine in patches. The palate, much like the nose, showed a lot of richness, with treacle and honey, lemon candy and marmalade, dried apricots and peaches along with a touch of sultanas, all powerful, ripe flavours, but nicely held in perfect balance by a good touch of Barsac acidity. It was only towards the long finish where the flaw seemed to reassert itself, stripping the wine of some of the power it showed on the attack and across the midpalate. It finished just a bit lighter, with the acidity standing out more alongside some honey lemon flavours. Still a really pleasurable drink that paired really well with deep-fried crispy tripe. Pity about the TCA though.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
This was from a 375 with mid-shoulder fill. It was pleasant, but a little tired. I think the rest of the bottles are much better fill and will hope for more. B+/A-
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Had all of the qualities of a great sauterne but lacked the backbone of flavor that I desired to end the new year with. Quite disappointing and probably a wine that should be drunk now.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
We had this wine in St. Martin on our Gourmet Night with Barbara’s fabulous Mango Tartlet. The color of the wine was a deep golden hue. The nose was reminiscent of honey, kiwi, lemon and mango. The taste was very concentrated with flavors of honey, lemon, mango and hazelnut. The lemon curd in the tartlet gave the wine some additional acidity that made it seem much younger. It was a unique experience to have such well developed, rich fruit framed perfectly with acidity in an old Barsac.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
8/16/2022 - paul195 wrote: 95 Points
2 - 2 Served at friends 47th bday party. Beautiful bright tea color, the nose of apricot laced with hints of citrus zest, crème brûlée. Medium sweetness, oily texture, great complexity of tropical fruits, honey, some spice, sufficient acidity to keep things in focus. Long finish. This kept opening to show more over the next two hours. In a great place well stored bottles have a decade or more at this level. 1975 is my favorite vintage for Barsac/Sauterne
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/17/2021 - KenK Likes this wine: 95 Points
Rezek Society Honors Hugo (Casino Club): A delicious showy treat. Ripe dense yellow tropical fruits with a tangy honeyed flavor that builds nicely over the silky dense rich oily texture. A beautiful wine drinking marvelously. Rezek Society dinner honoring Hugo.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
9/9/2021 - paul195 wrote: 95 Points
Beautiful medium gold color…. medium sweetness, layers of tropical fruit, creme brûlée, long finish …. Delicious mature Sauternes
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/5/2021 - vagrantone Likes this wine: 93 Points
Very top shoulder fill.
Cork saturated and starting to give in.
Very impressive wine with unusual level of concentration.
The intensity of the botrytis character gives this wine a textural richness. Supposedly, this wine has 14+ % alc and almost 100 g/l RS. I believe it...
This has everything that you can expect in an aged Barsac but clearly doesn't fit the mold of Barsac being "lighter" than Sauternes.
If it wasn't for the corks, this wine would go another 10-20 years; even in his half bottle format. I will recork remaining bottles and enjoy them over the next two decades.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/26/2020 - Doblk wrote: 92 Points
Very similar experience to others here. Leaky rotting cork - shoulder fill. I was worried about it but the wine was fine. It had darkened to an amber color. Nice candied orange and honey notes with less prominent acidity than some sauternes. Nice finish to a Christmas dinner.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/30/2020 - englishman's claret wrote: 93 Points
Very good and really satisfying with its tart Seville orange peel, subtle Chantilly cream, and wildflower honey, but not quite complex enough to really push it to the next level. Good acidity, but slightly angular on the palate.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/13/2020 - SGoenophile Likes this wine: 95 Points
Dinner at JP. Deep golden yellow. Velvety smooth. Concentrated, complex, notes of caramel, coconut and honey and not cloyingly sweet. Doesn’t quite have the level of acidity of younger Climens I have tasted but this is still quite fresh. Highly enjoyable. The oldest Sauternes (Climens is technically Barsac) I have tried so far, testament to the impressive aging potential of these wines. This is a good reminder of the under appreciated appeal of Sauternes.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/13/2018 - vagrantone Likes this wine: 93 Points
From a half bottle with base neck fill. Cork in very questionable condition. Moist on top with mold. Luckily the wine seems to have held up but it has surely aged a little quicker.
Golden hue. Excellent clarity. Intense aromatics jumping out of the glass: refined candied fruit, noney, tropical fruit, papaya, passion fruit.
Almost a minty lift to wine. Great balance, no cloying sweetness, great acidity, so lively. This particular bottle probably peaking; others could go a while longer....
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/3/2017 - vagrantone wrote:
Faulty cork. Deep caramel color. What a shame...
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
10/31/2017 - englishman's claret wrote: 94 Points
Such a delight; how can you not love Sauternes and Barsac with wines like this in the decanter? These age so slowly; this still has magnificent fruit density, a bit tropical, a bit of lemon, biscuit, parchment, a little flower, a hint brulee. So many facets, lovely. A beautiful weight to it. 94-5.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/13/2015 - BigTarheel Likes this wine: 91 Points
Med-bodied, tangerine and vanilla cream notes. Well-balanced and velvety. Very good but not quite concentrated enough to be great
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
7/12/2015 - MC wrote:
From 375ml. This never gets enough attention coming so late in the evening, but was great with cheese and still holding firm. A-
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
6/6/2015 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 92 Points
Dried orange peel, apricot, membrillo, mountain honey and faint caramel. Great balance of sweetness and acid. Went very well with caramelized pineapple.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
7/11/2014 - MC wrote:
HS fill 750ml. This was great. Better than expected, and holding well for its age. Maybe not as complete and concentrated as the best, but still this is very good and should hold a bit longer. A-
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
6/6/2014 - johannes.c Likes this wine: 91 Points
Dinner @ Librije: score based on the better of two bottles served that evening. A nice and mature sauternes. Some marmalade, apricot and still the right touch of freshness coming from some citrus in the background that prevents this from being just a sweet fruit bomb. But I still had a 75 Yquem in mind had at this same restaurant a few months before and that clearly is a wholy different level.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
6/6/2014 - Burgaddict wrote: 92 Points
Leiden visits Librije tasting: Refined Sauternes, fresh, apricot, honey, figs, some caramel. Medium bodied, good botrytis.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/31/2013 - MC wrote:
From 375 with high shoulder fill. This is clearly fully mature, but holding well. Very nice medium gold color, elegant fruit and a nice long finish. Was great with cheese. A-
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
6/19/2013 - rnellans wrote: 94 Points
Caramel, apricot notes. Quite viscous with nice mouthfeel. Very sweet and pretty nice finish. Enough acid to balance.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
5/16/2013 - jlgnml Likes this wine: 95 Points
Dinner at Catbird Seat with Krug, La Mouline and older Dominus (Nashville, TN): light caramel color, smooth, lasting and lingering sweetness on the palate of apricots and figs.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/16/2013 - dcwino wrote: 93 Points
2010 Bouchard wine dinner organized by Panos (Lavandou, Washington DC): It is an extremely fresh bottle with the color that is as light as the 04 that was served side by side. Perfectly ripe apricot, honey, burnt caramel, vanilla and oolong tea. Medium concentration, steely, nice tension but slightly lacking in complexity. This ain’t no D’Yquem but still very enjoyable.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
9/17/2012 - BigTarheel wrote: 90 Points
Very refined, airy and tasty. Still quite youthful and fresh with a lengthy finish. Should drink well for years to come.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/30/2012 - Serge Birbrair wrote:
Brown, delicious, everything in it's proper place - acidity, sweetness and a killer nose. Hard to put the glass back on the table before it's all gone.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/20/2012 - Paul S wrote: flawed
Dinner at Ming Kee (Ming Kee, Macpherson Road): From a lightly-corked 375ml. A real pity - this bottle seemed to have really nice underlying material. It had a super honeyed, caramelly nose, with drippings of sweet orange marmalade and lemon curd wed to a bit of coconut and some really nice mushroomy, earthy undercurrant. It would have been a stunning nose if not for a little touch of iodine and cardboard that hinted at TCA. That seemed to fade a little with time on the nose, but unfortunately kept haunting the wine in patches. The palate, much like the nose, showed a lot of richness, with treacle and honey, lemon candy and marmalade, dried apricots and peaches along with a touch of sultanas, all powerful, ripe flavours, but nicely held in perfect balance by a good touch of Barsac acidity. It was only towards the long finish where the flaw seemed to reassert itself, stripping the wine of some of the power it showed on the attack and across the midpalate. It finished just a bit lighter, with the acidity standing out more alongside some honey lemon flavours. Still a really pleasurable drink that paired really well with deep-fried crispy tripe. Pity about the TCA though.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/20/2012 - Alex H wrote: flawed
Quite sweet and rich botrytis apricotish fruits but had a taint of wet cork. A pity
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/15/2011 - MC wrote:
This was from a 375 with mid-shoulder fill. It was pleasant, but a little tired. I think the rest of the bottles are much better fill and will hope for more. B+/A-
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/5/2009 - jlgnml wrote: 90 Points
Had all of the qualities of a great sauterne but lacked the backbone of flavor that I desired to end the new year with. Quite disappointing and probably a wine that should be drunk now.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/16/2006 - johnwine wrote: 96 Points
We had this wine in St. Martin on our Gourmet Night with Barbara’s fabulous Mango Tartlet. The color of the wine was a deep golden hue. The nose was reminiscent of honey, kiwi, lemon and mango. The taste was very concentrated with flavors of honey, lemon, mango and hazelnut. The lemon curd in the tartlet gave the wine some additional acidity that made it seem much younger. It was a unique experience to have such well developed, rich fruit framed perfectly with acidity in an old Barsac.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment