Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Clos Labere Sauternes, 1983

This wine's very deep old gold color suggests that it may be a bit past its prime. And it is. Nevertheless, it's a delightfully sweet dessert wine with smells and flavors of apricots, peaches and coconut. As a second wine of Chateau Rieussec (one of the top Sauternes in 1983), it probably was made from some of the estate's less botrytized grapes. But, at least at this stage, that may be a plus for the wine. It has none of the bitter, honeycomb flavors that even the best Sauterne wines often develop in their old age and lots of sweet fruit flavors that make it a delightful dessert wine.

I paid $4.99 for a half bottle of this in the mid-1980s and am getting several times that much pleasure tonight.

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