2001 - de Fargues, Sauternes

The 2001 Château de Fargues has a ton of botrytis on the nose, along with those trademark scents of Manuka honey and quince, Seville oranges and perhaps more delineation than I noticed on previous bottles. The palate has a lovely balance with botrytis-soaked fruit, unctuous in texture with stem ginger and even a hint of rhubarb on the finish. This is firing on all cylinders at the moment and represents the best bottle that I have encountered. Tasted at the Château Figeac dinner.

Burnt marmalade in colour, extremely concentrated with contrasting sweet and bitter flavours, vanilla bean, white truffles and lemon curd patisserie against tart lime zest and passion fruit. Harvest took place with five passes through the vines from September 29 to October 24, in fairly easy successive waves, everything late ripening because of the Indian summer, with abundant noble rot (alhtough the national weather service was on strike, so they had to harvest without accurate previsions!). Excellent quality, needs time in a carafe to open up. François Amirault winemaker.