2017 Domaine Cauhape Noblesse du Temps Jurançon Moelleux 750 ml

Domaine Cauhapé is the signature producer of the Jurançon region, which sits two hours south of Sauternes in the Basque foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. Owner-winemaker Henri Ramonteau is widely seen as a dessert-wine wizard, capable of bottles that leave wine lovers weak-kneed—like this 96-point 2017 Noblesse du Temps.

Cauhapé is to Jurançon what Coche-Dury is to Meursault, what Soldera is to Brunello: simply the ne plus ultra. Ramonteu’s meticulous and spiritual approach has led to Noblesse du Temps gracing the lists of three-star MICHELIN icons like Pierre Gagnaire, Georges Blanc, and Maison Lameloise. He’s a bit of a mystic, and sees his work as a dialogue with nature. His goal is to craft a pure wine of terroir. 

He makes the Noblesse du Temps from Petit Manseng—a grape variety that seems custom-made for the production of sweet wines. It’s capable of extraordinary ripeness but holds onto its whip-crack of acidity the whole way. Writer Andrew Jefford praised Ramonteu’s ability to craft a Petit Manseng “with its extraordinary sugar-acid balance creating not so much architecture as a magnetic field.” 

Ramonteu harvests the ripest grapes over several passes in the vineyard, then ferments and ages the nectar in new oak barrels, in the same style as Château d’Yquem, and the result stands with the greatest sweet wines of the world.  

We’ll be drinking some over the course of the next few years on special occasions, with meltingly soft cheeses, fresh peaches and cream, and on its own as an after-dinner treat—but we’ll also lay enough down that we can enjoy it for the next two decades as it deepens and becomes even more profound.