| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Sauternes and Barsac |
| Colour | Sweet White |
| Type | Still |
This shows the vivid, racy side of Barsac, with streaming flavors of pineapple, yellow apple, green plum and white ginger, displaying lovely energy from start to finish. Ends with enough honeysuckle and orange blossom notes to balance the richness. Best from 2020 through 2035. 4,000 cases made.
The 2014 Coutet has a slightly muddled nose, evident on two bottles that were opened. It eventually sorts itself out, scents of wild honey, dandelion, nettle, quince and melted wax. The palate is very well balanced and showed much more composure than the nose. This displays Coutet’s trademark crisp acidity, quite tensile, very pure with a long and tender viscous finish. There is a very good wine here but I just don’t think it showed on the day. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. 2020 - 2050
The fragrance of this wine is delightful, but it is a bit on the tart side and that pulls the brakes on. The tannins may not be abundant, but they’re a little edgy. Needs time to come together. Better in 2019.
Looks heavy in the glass. Unusually spicy. This wine really grabs the palate in a tactile way. Lots of texture and tension between sweetness and acidity. Exuberant. And unashamed.
Drink 2020-2040
Lively and fragrant on the nose the start of the palate has intensity with in the middle some sweet ripe peach balanced by tangerine freshness. Fleshy at the back with candied fruits yet on the finish it is lighter fragrant, peppery and spicy. 2025-36
Elegant, sublte and refined, as it often is, this is not a a blockbuster wine. It's highly scented and alluring, showing aromas and flavours of quince, orange peel, nutmeg spice, citrus and beautifully integrated oak. A beautifully balanced Barsac.
The Château Coutet 2014 is a blend of 75% Sémillon, 23% Sauvignon Blanc and 2% Muscadelle and delivers...cue the drumroll...a whopping 162 grams per liter of residual sugar, the highest level of any Sauternes that I have data for. As you would expect, the total acidity is slightly, but not dramatically lower than its peers at 3.9 grams per liter (compared to say, 4.3 grams per liter at Doisy-Daëne.) This Coutet '14 has a complex bouquet with razor-sharp, minerally, citrus fruit mixed with wild honey and a touch of Riesling-like petrol. The palate is totally convincing. There is a great thrust of rich botrytized fruit sliced through with Coutet’s trademark acidity, despite the spoonfuls of sugar, that lends this such vibrancy and tension. It possesses and almost clinical precision with long persistence on the finish. This is a divine Coutet that may warrant a higher score subject to how it evolves in barrel. Drink: 2019 - 2040
This shows a lively density, intensity of fruit and spiciness. Pineapples as well. Full body, medium sweetness and a long finish.
