Château Doisy-Daëne 2023

Fresh and expressive, flowers, lavender, exotic fruits, playful; on the palate taut, straight, fine acidity, crunchy fruit, showing spice and excellent length. An excellent sweet wine.

With some variation among the three samples I tried, this Barsac is lighter on its feet both aromatically and on the palate than usual, with candied lemon and lime freshness, meringue, butterscotch sweetness, and peppermint spice. Owner Jean-Jacques Dubourdieu notes excellent botrytis when speaking about the wine, which exceptionally includes 10% Sauvignon Blanc in what is normally 100% Sémillon, and this accounts for a bit more freshness and lightness than usual. While lacking the depth of fellow Barsac Château Coutet, this is nonetheless an excellent Barsac.

The 2023 Doisy-Daëne has a bright and quite intense bouquet: dried honey, candle wax and quince, quite complex but it deserves time. The palate is just exquisite on the opening, with a viscous texture, orange pith and quince mixed with wild honey and a touch of white peach. There is real weight and density on the finish, another superb Doisy-Daëne and perchance superior to the previous vintage, tasted a few weeks later.

Precocious, the wine already displays its flowers, honeyed apricots, vanilla bean, white peaches, overripe pineapples, and hints of candied orange rind. Rich, lush, sweet, and, most importantly, racy, this beauty will deliver its ample charms young and for decades to come. Drink from 2027-2055.

Light yellow gold, silver reflections. Delicate nuances of cloves, ripe pineapple, hints of bergamot. Ripe peach on the palate, juicy and ripe, fine acidity, lingers, sweet apricot on the finish, more like a sweet late harvest.

This is so good, as it was En Primeur, luscious, concentrated, totally delicious, silky but not overly sweet, with pink grapefruit, grated ginger, boom. An exceptional wine from the Dubourdieu family.

Score: 93–95. Initially very shy, the nose gradually reveals aromas of yellow flowers (broom, laburnum) and orange blossom. Very creamy, the palate retains an unexpected freshness. We find notes of candied lemon, passion fruit, and dried mango. A silky finish that maintains tension.

A superb bouquet marked by notes of nougat, gingerbread, citrus and white-fleshed fruit (apples, pears). Dense, smooth and saline, the wine is lively, broad, linear and driven by exceptional energy that extends well beyond the finish. A truly great wine!

A ripe, showy style, with piecrust, meringue and lemon curd notes that drape together, while flashes of sweetened butter, mango and papaya emerge through the finish. A hint of bitter orange adds a groundwire on the finish. Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Drink now through 2050. 1,800 cases made, 20 cases imported.

Yellow color with green highlights. An intense, refined, fruity nose—subtle and noble. It gains depth in the glass. Magical from the first sip, especially aromatic on the mid-palate, the wine melts across the palate, complex and constantly carried by an exceptional silky texture. It’s superb and so deep. Bravo!