2006 Château Coutet Barsac

Community Tasting Notes (62) Avg Score: 91.2 points

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  3/23/2024 - aagrawal wrote: 91 Points

  Cork broke on opening, surprisingly. Rescued with a Durand. Light golden color, as expected for its age; aromatic, floral, white flowers, citrus zest, slight apricot; palate is medium bodied, medium-plus alcohol (14%), zippy medium-plus acidity throughout, certainly has sweetness throughout but balanced so it seems lighter and more elegant than typical for sauternes, early honeyed notes; finish is medium-plus length, clean, with slight grapefruit/citrus pith on the finish. Really lovely for an "off" year, now out of its awkward teenager phase but still with plenty of development left ahead of it over the next 1-2 decades. 90-91+
  1-2 hours air: Continues to integrate and improve. No longer shows any alcoholic heat, well balanced overall, lovely elegance and acidity. This is exactly what I hope for when I buy and open Coutet.
  Day 2: Still youthful and sweet, but balanced and with an underlying elegance. This will continue to evolve well for a long time.

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  12/15/2023 - tickingnotes wrote: 95 Points

  An outstanding Sauternes! Wonderfully complex due to its age, with refreshingly high acidity. A marked difference from the 2018 Coutet I opened in October (I know - way too early).
  
  NOTES
  
  Medium golden-amber. Powerful bouquet of raisins, dried apricot, honey, marmalade, chamomile, rum, almonds.
  
  High acidity, full-bodied. Strong flavour intensity. Flavour characteristics consistent with bouquet. Long finish.

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  10/26/2023 - SpenceP wrote: 92 Points

  A third bottle, and different enough from the earlier two (10/10/23 and 10/11/23) to justify an additional tasting note. Vanilla, delicate peach, a touch of nutty salted caramel, followed by a lovely long aftertaste. A gentle wine, and really very nice. [Tasted over an hour from the Jancis Robinson glass.]

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  10/11/2023 - SpenceP wrote: 93 Points

  As promised, after last night's bottle, where a horrifically dry and crumbly cork made me suspect that I might not be getting a fair sense of the wine, I opened a new bottle tonight. This time, the cork, while far from perfect, was at least in decent condition for a bottle of this age--much better than last night. And the difference in the cork showed in the wine. The profile was roughly similar: a gentle wine, very quiet, not a hint of flamboyance, with orange peel, spices, poached peach, poached quinces, salty minerals, and hints of almonds and orange blossom, then a very brief burst of vivid vanilla at the beginning of the extremely long and lovely aftertaste. The real change, though, is that from this bottle (and cork), the wine is much more clearly present, with more than a touch of additional complexity as well, and these make all the difference! [Tasted from the Jancis Robinson glass.]

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  10/10/2023 - SpenceP wrote: 91 Points

  This bottle had a cork that was shockingly dry and fragile for a wine less than two decades old. Once past the cork, the wine was gentle, with white peaches, orange peel, and pine trees, as well as hints of flowers and honey. Very long aftertaste. Until I taste another bottle, though, one with (I hope) a better cork, I won't be sure that the cork didn't affect the wine. Will try to open another of these soon.

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