Wine Tasting 13 - Louis Eschenauer Sauternes

Name: Sauternes
Variety: 80% Sémillon, 15% Sauvignon and 5% Muscadelle
Region/Country: Landiras (Southwestern) France
Vintage Year: 2022
Price: $14.99

Shop Review: The shop describes this wine as a straw yellow color with a rich fragrance of white orchard flowers, apricots, and honey. They describe the taste by stating that this sweet wine is accompanied by an explosion of aromas such as crystallized tangerine, apricot jam, or citrus fruits, with an excellent balance between acidity and rich natural sugars. They suggest that this wine becomes even richer with age and is famous for being the ideal drink to serve with foie gras. It will nevertheless go very well with ordinary dishes like Roquefort cheese, white meats, and dessert.

Critic Notes: Nose: The fungal, apricot, and honey botrytis notes are very faint. I get more varietal aromas of grapefruit peel, pineapple, and lemon rind. A bit of vanilla sugar from the barrel. Palate: Much like the smell, I don’t feel like these grapes have seen a lot of botrytis. The more forward flavors are citrus oils, pineapple, and vanilla. Apricot is quite far in the back. Not all THAT sweet for a Sauternes. Feels between demi-sec and sweet, but that could be because of the punchy acidity. Much lighter in body and less cloying than typical Sauternes. 

Wine Folly Text: Also spelled as Sauternais, this is a dessert wine made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle grapes infected with a fungus called Botrytis cinerea. It should be served in a dessert glass, cold, and often spends 10-30 years in a cellar. Lower in alcohol, this wine has a strong body, is very sweet, and has a medium level of acidity. It has flavors of lemon curd, apricot, quince, honey, and ginger, and is often paired best with soft cheeses in which the sweetness of the wine counteracts the "funk" of the cheese (pg 164). 

My Review: 🍷🍷🍷 (out of 5)
This was yet another free wine (shout out to my mom for all the freebies) bc it was too sweet for my mom's liking. Upon pouring it into a glass, this wine has strong scents of honey and apricot. Once I tasted it, I immediately understood why my mom didn't like it. The honey flavor was so strong it tasted like I was drinking straight syrup, followed by an apricot aftertaste. This was my first sauternes, and it was very interesting. I low-key liked how light and sweet it was, and believe it would be better in the future with something to balance it out. Definitely not a wine I could drink a lot of... I couldn't imagine the hangover I would get due to it's high sugar levels. A little bit goes a long way in this wine's case.