Beautiful pale-yellow colour with youthful glints of green. The nose is reserved before aeration, but already offers a glimpse of a very fresh wine. On aeration, the Sauvignon aromas emerge first. They are classic with a hint of exoticism. Then come more flowery notes of Sémillon. The oak is very well-integrated. On the palate, the attack offers volume without being excessive, and reveals a pleasant, tight structure. This is an R that will be remembered: simultaneously lively and delicate, with superb length!
VINEYARD ATTRIBUTES
Appellation : Bordeaux
The Sauternes appellation stretches on the left bank of the Garonne, about 50km South of Bordeaux. The natural humidity arising from the Ciron river provides the ideal conditions for the development of Bortrytis Cinerea, also known as noble rot.
Terroir : Château Rieussec sits on the border of Fargues and Sauternes, bordered by Château d'Yquem to the West. Rieussec is one of the largest properties in Sauternes and Barsac, covering 93 hectares of gravel sitting on sandy-clay soils
VINTAGE SUMMARY
The season began with a mild, dry winter. However, there were then six serious threats of frost between March and May. After a relatively cold, rainy start, June brought an early summer heat wave the likes of which had not been seen since 2003.
Fortunately, it was brief. The vines coped well with the lack of water in July, almost as if the dry spring had prepared them.
Miraculously, some rain arrived on 26 July. The timing was perfect, and it had the effect of triggering the véraison, when the grapes change colour and begin to ripen.
The temperate weather in August proved to be a godsend for our dry white wines: the grapes were harvested from the end of August to mid-September with superb freshness and well-preserved aromatic potential.
The work to determine which plots should be dedicated exclusively to dry white wine is bearing fruit. This year the Sémillon is particularly vibrant, and the young, recently planted plots of Sauvignon are living up to their promise.
Following the 2017, here is another R that will go down as a great vintage.
