Since I came in hot the other day with my Sherry-Lehmann Bordeaux disaster, I figured I’d post about a much more pleasant experience I had with a 2001 Suduiraut. Not that I needed my love of Sauternes to be rekindled or anything, but this bottle reminded me why I love the stuff.
2001 Château Suduiraut - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes (8/28/2022)
First had this wine in 2019 and this bottle was even better. Nose was all coconut, orange blossom, and maybe less spicy botrytis than my first bottle. Palate was just as rich and weightless as I remembered it. This Suduiraut is a sumptuous, fresh stunner and I'm so glad I have 11 more bottles to enjoy in the future. (97 points)
That’s a great question. I’m not sure, to be honest. This was the first from a case purchased at retail a couple months ago, so it may well be a recent ex-chateau release.
I’ve had this on multiple occasions and agree. Suduiraut is one of the great wines of that great Sauternes/Barsac vintage. I’ve posted several notes similar to yours over the years, including:
Warms my heart that other people love this wine as much as me! From the 2001 vintage the only other wine I have is Climens, but it’s a 375 and I’m saving it for some special future occasion…
A great wine; 2001 was a superb vintage and the wines are still showing very well. Suduiraut is one of the best.
With Suduiraut dedicating more of the vineyard to their redefined portfolio of dry wines from the 2020 vintage onward, production here is only going to diminish over time. Happy to have more 2001 (and other vintages!) tucked away.
Yup. Used that opportunity to reload on these for like the 3rd time. I’m not sure there’s more pleasure to be found in any bottle of wine at that price.
It was especially nice back when Costco was the best non-Ponzi price in town many years back. I had a very nice stock person at a Costco go through a pallet in the back and find the case of this and the 2001 Rieussec that I knew had been delivered. Ah, the good old days…
Yup. I don’t drink as much sweeties as I use to, but did load up when the heralded 2001 Sauternes were released…bought Rieussec/Sud/Guiraud/Yquem etc…the 2001 Suduiraut was a 100pt wine for me.
Agreed. Outstanding. Better than the WOTY 2001 Rieussec – which was less focused IMO. Admittedly I loaded up on both (twins birth year). Suduiraut second only to the ethereal d’Yquem (truly magnificent) although sadly I have not had experience with the 2001 Climens.
Have not tried Yquem yet (saving mine until 2026), but Suduiraut is #1 for me for now. Climens is amazing but still very backwards - perhaps better than Suduiraut in another 20 years. Agree on comment that Rieussec not as focused, but again, who knows in 2041.
Have had this twice relatively recently. From my cellar depressurization event in June:
"2001 Chateau Suduiraut
From half. I get baked maple fudge with orange underneath. Sheez! The first mouthful takes your breath away with the focused intensity. Luscious and fresh at the same time, the orange, nougat and honey is intoxicating. Revelicious, just a smidge under the D’Yquem today. I should note that it does pull back the next day."
And from April from my east coast tour:
"2001 Suduiraut
This was my contribution, and my first try from a full in a very long time. This has what I want from this house–brown sugar, orange, orange blossoms and apricot with vanilla bean lurking in the background. It’s still not at peak, on the tongue poached peaches get added. I won’t say this is showing at the 99-100 level…yet…but it’s very solid with a long, long finish for me."
