Château de Rayne Vigneau 2001

Plenty of apple, honey and caramel on the nose. Medium-bodied, somewhat sweet, with fresh acidity and a medium-length finish. Lemony aftertaste. Balanced and easy. Drink now.

Deep gold colour, tinged with copper. Lifted, beguiling aromas of syrupy apricot, caramelised peach, almond, chestnut and some pronounced volatile-acidity notes. Broad and viscous, but it’s not very sweet (the sweetness mainly manifests towards the back of the palate) and still has lively acidity. (JRL)

Ready to go. The wine is medium-bodied, fresh, and focused on its tropical, pineapple, apricot, tangerine, honey, and spicy personality. While it lacks the weight of the top wines from the vintage, the acidity is good, giving the wine the right amount of freshness and sweetness to make it fun to taste today. It is not a wine I’d wait for miracles to happen in the bottle, however.

Bright yellow. Dreamy, gently toasty bouquet, fine hint of vanilla, forest honey, candied lemon peels. Velvety, smooth palate, incredible nobility concentrated in the finish, lingering long.

02: Barrel sample (19/20): Bright, medium yellow. Delicately toasted bouquet; almonds, mint, and peaches. On the palate, soft with rolling extract, again cooked fruit, plenty of mirabelles in the long finish, sensational balance. A light yet nevertheless legendarily great Sauternes; almost playful. The Château owners must be pleased to have produced one of the greatest Rayne-Vigneau vintages after such a catastrophic performance as the 2000 vintage. First tasting after bottling: Bright yellow. Dreamy, gently toasted bouquet; fine vanilla note from the barrique, forest honey, candied lemon peel. Velvety, supple palate with incredible nobility, focused and long on the finish. Currently a bit closed. 19/20 2006–2040

Velvety, sweet, finely opulent bouquet: honey, almond cream, linden blossom, vanilla, biscuit dough. A silky, creamy, plush palate with pronounced sweetness, generous structure, light acidity, complex aromatics, and a long, plush finish. 18/20 drink - 2040

Quite rich, but not as refined or complex as its Premier Cru peers, and above all less pure. This terroir deserves better.

The color is darker than the 2002, yet still in the same golden, sunlit, crystalline tones with green highlights. The nose has medium intensity, with a slightly floral, heady note that I generally don’t care for in the 2001s. With aeration, the wine remains the same, without gaining any additional nuances. The attack is gentle. The wine moves straight across the palate, rises in the mid-palate, and very slowly picks up a tannic feel on the tongue to become sappy. It suggests candied fruit in the mid-palate, without the brightness of the 2002. Its whole personality shifts to the length. It then offers flavors of gentian, licorice, and white fruit with good persistence. The length is normal. To guide the reader, I’d say this wine is built like a Cabernet: rather discreet at first and showing more on the finish, without being very expressive afterward. By contrast, the 2002 is built like a Merlot—attacking with roundness, melt-in-your-mouth texture, and aromatic brilliance—and it delivers a charm that I’m not sure the 2001 will ever achieve, so opposed are these two structures stylistically. The 2001 is more classic, while the 2002 has something completely different, no doubt due to the quality of the élevage—but my, how that 2002 lingers on the palate.

This light medium gold-colored, heavy-duty, full-bodied Sauternes is cloyingly sweet as well as monolithic. Hopefully, more complexity and finesse will emerge. Nevertheless, it is big, chewy, and honeyed, but not yet singing. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2020.