Close
Search
Filters

De Fargues 1997 75cl

AOC | Sauternes | Bordeaux | France
CHF 83.80
Critics scores
93 Robert Parker
Comte Alexandre Luc de Saluces rates this within the top five vintages of the estate. The weather during harvest was excellent and the first trie was carried out between September 15-19, stretching out until November 4, over five tries in total. It has a lower residual sugar level than recent vintages, 116 grams-per-liter and an alcohol level of 13.45%. It has a quintessential de Fargues bouquet with scents of brown sugar, mandarin, over-ripe Satsuma and just a whiff of chlorine. The palate is very well balanced with crisp acidity and very fine tension. It is a little leaner than more recent vintages, thanks to the modest residual sugar levels, but it builds suggestively toward a relatively drier, but beautifully defined mandarin and dried orange peel finish. What a fabulous Sauternes – but alas only 15,000 bottles were produced. Tasted April 2013.
Producer
Château de Fargues
Château de Fargues may be the only Bordeaux château that has had the same family of owners since the 1500s. It is owned by the de Lur-Saluces family, the previous long-term owners of Château d'Yquem who sold their prized château to LVMH in 1996 following a long family feud. De Fargues is notably different from that of d'Yquem, however. Much of it is connected to its micro-climate which actually ripens a week later than d'Yquem. The yields are also naturally and incredibly low with 7.5 hectare per hectolitre not being uncommon. The reason may be the sandy loam soils which strongly discourages the vine to grow. As can be expected with such lows yields, the style of the wine is also incredibly deep, with a texturally richer and denser feeling than that of d'Yquem.