Old, but full of life: Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 1906-1945 vertical stuns   

Sauternes is probably the most misunderstood of France’s classic wines and it has also struggled due to the unfashionable status of dessert wines in many markets. This combination plus a lack of determination on the part of some châteaux owners during recent decades led the appellation into crisis.   

Vineyard prices are a good indicator of this situation. The average price of one hectare (just shy of 2.5 acres) of vineyards in Sauternes is 30,000 euros (US$34,300), whereas the cost of one hectare in Pauillac/Médoc averages euro2 million and one hectare in Pomerol around euro1.5 million. 

Denz is determined not only to bring Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey back to the top, but also to lift the image of the Sauternes appellation.   

So how does a 1906 Sauternes from one of the top properties of the appellation taste? Not nearly as old as you would imagine. The crème brulée and dried apricot aromas give it plenty of appeal and the herbal freshness plus a hint of tannin balance these nicely.

“It’s really amazing for a wine that’s more than 100 years old,” said Romain Ittis, the head sommelier of Restaurant Villa Lalique in Wingen-sur-Moder in Alsace/France. “1906 was not a great vintage and is totally forgotten. You can say the same about many of the other wines in the tasting!”

Indeed. The forgotten 1909 impressed us even more than the famous 1911, the former wine rating 95 and the latter 94. Both the 1923 and 1926 showed extremely well with great richness and depth of character, both rating 95 and holding their own next to the sublime 1929 that rated a perfect 100 points. The 1930s were a difficult period for Sauternes due to the Great Depression, but the 1938 earned 93 points and didn’t taste out of place next to the famous 1937 and 1945 that I rated 98 points each.   

Of the 28 wines shown, only one - the slightly edgy 1918 - failed to rate 90+, and one other, the 1939, was withdrawn due to cork taint. Considering the youngest wine in the tasting was 73 years old that’s an amazing result and this is down to the performance of the wines from the “lesser” vintages. Clearly, Sauternes from lesser vintages can age far longer than generally supposed if the vineyards are well tended, harvest of nobly-rotten grapes is well-selected, and winemaking is precise.   

That will surely be the case with the stunning wines of recent vintages from Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey. We loved the exotic fruit coulis character and electric acidity of the 2015, rating it 97 points and including it in our list of the best 100 French wines tasted in 2018. The 2015 was a great vintage for Sauternes and it’s well known that such wines have great aging potential. Even the Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 2014 – not a special vintage for Sauternes – that we rated 93 points has a great future ahead of it.   

The dinner that accompanied the tasting in the restaurant of the Relais & Châteaux Hotel in the château also demonstrated that mature Sauternes is a more flexible food wine than it is normally. Pan-roasted foie gras – a savory dish – is an ideal partner. Their other advantage is the modest prices at auction compared with top Bordeaux reds of the same age. — Stuart Pigott, Senior Editor