2007 Chateau Suduiraut Sauternes Premier Grand Cru Classe (375 mL) Half-Bottle

The gloriously rich 2007 Château Suduiraut Sauternes is one of the best ways to add value to your collection, and ensure you can supply Premier Grand Cru after-dinner fireworks whenever called upon. That could be on your granddaughter’s wedding day, given the monumental ageability of this perfectly preserved Sauternes classic.

We’d have to rack our brains to think of many other 97-point library wines that can add so much to your cellar for so little money. For $39, you can own the bottle that Wine Enthusiast called “a wine with immense potential” and that Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate hailed as “a confident, almost ambitious Suduiraut with great power and intensity towards the botrytis-rich, viscous finish that is endowed with great persistency. Lovely.”    

Golden and luminous in the glass, wafting up notes of honey, citrus preserves, poached pear, balsam, and baking spice, this shows the rich concentration of the vintage, as well as the linearity, length, and light minerality that define the Suduiraut style.

Equally sweet and crisp, balanced by bright acidity, spilling over with orange marmalade and clover honey, it lives up to the promise of its First Growth pedigree with every ounce. With supplies dwindling, already sold out elsewhere, this is an outstanding library beauty you should stock up on without delay.

A stone’s throw from Château d’Yquem, Suduiraut is one of the greatest producers of Sauternes—second only perhaps to its illustrious neighbor. We’ve long loved their wines for the mix of sweetness and acid so bright, it almost gives the impression of dryness. Their 2007 in particular blew us away, due to the vintage’s strong botrytis character. Managing director Christian Seely has gone on the record as saying that the 2007 in particular is the best representative of the long, sleek Suduiraut house style.

With a history dating back to the 1600s, Suduiraut has mastered the art of cultivating the “noble rot” brought on by Botrytis cinerea. A beneficent fungus, Botrytis increases glycerol and concentrates sugars and acids by the dehydration and shriveling of grapes. Nothing is more important to the development of noble rot than the warm, moist conditions at the sites known for producing top-flight Sauternes.

Situated in the village of Preignac, the Suduiraut estate actually borders the Yquem vineyards, and possesses the same incredible diversity of soils and parcels, ranging from sandy-gravel to clay. In 2007’s storybook growing season, five passes were made through the vineyard from September 15th to October 30th to ensure each parcel was harvested at the peak of perfection. Vinification is classic, in barrels with careful temperature control.

Only a few wines in the world can match this level of cellar-worthiness. None of them cost $39. Claim this one while you can.