Sauternes. That majestic and mythical wine. The wine that played a role in the The Great Gatsby when Daisy drank a bottle when regretting her decision to marry Tom Buchanan. You have to admit she had taste. But the Sauternes in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic of American literature was most likely the suave unctuous liquor-like wine that Sauternes is famous for throughout the world today. The venerable Sauternes-producing house of Château de Rayne Vigneau whose Sauternes was one of the first to be given premier cru status back in 1855, has brought out a dry white wine from the Sauternes region. The wine-making team of general manager Vincent Labergère at Château de Rayne Vigneau has elaborated over a ten-year period a lively white dry wine born and raised in the good earth of Sauternes. 

This is an exceptional wine. Year after year, vintage after vintage the origins of the grapes, the harvest dates and the vinification and aging processes were adjusted to produce this exceptional wine, brought out as Grand Vin Blanc Sec-Millésime 2022. Only 1,927 bottles of this wine have been produced and the result is crisp, fresh, unique. It is unctuous like its liquor-like brother and structured, too. The grapes emanate from a parcel of the Rayne Vigneau estate made up of blue clay and limestone. Remember it is the singular soil of the Sauternes producing region that is part of the greatness of Sauternes wine.

The wine makers then used the Sémillon grape variety which accounts for 70% of the blend in all of its aromatic complexity while Sauvignon, which accounts for 30% of the blend brought in the power and structure to make a great dry white wine. The wine was aged for 12 months in new oak casks. This is an excellent choice to pair with poultry, fish carpaccio and veined cheeses, we imagined it with a Roquefort. The Grand Vin Blanc Sec-Millésime 2022 from Rayne Vigneau will be available in September in selected wine shops and on line at https://www.raynevigneau.fr/  ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette