"Medium pale slightly brassy colour. Fresh sweet lemon curd, mandarin light marzipan aromas with herb, toasty oak notes. Sweet lemon, Satsuma flavours with touches of toasted almonds, and cashew, fine loose knit lacy textures, attractive mid palate viscosity and long fresh acidity. Well balanced wine with bitter lemon minerally notes at the finish. Very good potential. Tasted at the Union des Grand Crus."
95 points - Andrew Caillard, MW
"The 2016 Château Guiraud, which had been already released onto the market by proprietor Xavier Planty when I visited, has a very refined bouquet this year: nicely poised with pure botrytised fruit, quite minerally and developing subtle white flower scents with time. The palate is fresh and vibrant with crisp acidity, orange rind and tangerine coming forth with a tang of stem ginger towards the long finish. It will require three or four years in bottle just to meld together, but there is great potential here."
93-95 points - Neal Martin
"Pineapple, passion fruit, honey, candied orange peel and spice give the 2016 Guiraud its tropical profile. The flavors are intense, but the structure and feel lean toward the medium-bodied end of the spectrum. Already quite open and expressive, the 2016 will be ready to offer pleasure pretty much upon release."
89-92 points - Antonio Galloni
"A full-bodied young Sauternes with lots of rich sliced cooked apples and pears. All the same, this remains spicy and energetic with an abundance of dried mushrooms, walnuts and almonds on the finish. Botrytis character comes through nicely already here."
94-95 points - James Suckling
"RS 155 g/l, TA 3.79 g/l. Complex nose. Still obviously embryonic with a hint of ginger and lots of acidity on the edge. Some lemongrass. Far from the sweetest, this wine gives the impression of having been 'built'. Quite a dry finish."
17+/20 points - Jancis Robinson
"No heavy caramel here; rather, a lot of candied citrus on the nose ranging from lemon right across to bitter orange. On the palate this is both creamy and fresh. The sweetness and alcohol are already beautifully integrated. Drink or hold (and this has at least a couple of decades of ageing potential)." 94 Points, James Suckling
"Masses of candied citrus and marzipan, plus a touch of mango chutney, make this full-bodied Sauternes easy to enjoy. Generous and succulent finish. Moderately sweet for this appellation. Drink or hold."
93 Points, JamesSuckling.com
Sauternes is home to arguably the most prestigious and long-lived sweet wines in the world. Located 65 km south of the city of Bordeaux at the southern tip of the Graves, the appellation has 2100 ha of vineyards planted on flat, alluvial gravels overlying thick layers of limestone. Although viewed as one appellation, Sauternes actually consists of five communes; Barsac, Bommes, Fargues, Preignanc, and Sauternes with Barsac also a designated appellation in its own right. What makes Sauternes unique is its special mesoclimate caused by the confluence of the Ciron and the Garonne rivers.
The region experiences evening mists in autumn which set in until late morning and are subsequently burnt off by warm sunny afternoons. It is precisely these conditions that provide the ideal environment for the growth of botrytis cinerea – a fungus that attacks the grapes, causing them to dehydrate leaving sweet shrivelled fruit, ideal for sweet wine production. Sauternes wines are made predominantly from Sémillon with Sauvignon Blanc with small amounts of Muscadelle. Golden in colour with enticing aromas and flavours of honey, acacia, stone-fruit, candied citrus and marmalade, classic Sauternes is rich, unctuous and beautifully balanced by fresh acidity. Capable of long-ageing, the wines turn deep amber with age, taking on more tertiary caramel flavours over time.
