By Rene Garansky

Sauternes & Barsac

Liquid Gold: Why Sweet Wines Deserve Your Attention

I love sweet wines — and these are among the most neglected bottles in the world of fine wine, which is precisely why they deserve your attention. Oh, and yes, it is the Bordeaux season. Placing the legendary wines of the Right and Left Bank to one side for a moment, Bordeaux offers diversity beyond red wines. The whites of Pessac-Léognan and Graves, and the sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac, offer world-class quality. Although tiny in percentage compared to red wine production, white and sweet wines form an integral part of the identity of Bordeaux.

Across the world’s wine regions, there are many routes to sweetness. Whether it’s through drying the grapes on straw mats in a well-ventilated loft, thus concentrating the sugars, acids and flavour intensity; through late-harvest, where long ripening and extended hang-time result in Brix levels going through the roof; or by freezing the grapes on the vine — a very stressful undertaking, requiring harvest temperatures of at least -7°C! Whilst all these wines have their place in the sweet wine pantheon, for me, it is the wines made through the influence of the fungus botrytis cinerea that are the pinnacle of the category. From the volcanic soils of Tokaj to the maritime climate of Bordeaux, botrytised sweet wines are in a class of their own.

Noble Rot: The Fungus That Creates Magic

Botrytis cinerea sounds off-putting, and on the wrong grape at the wrong time, it is. Most winemaking regions actively protect their grapes from the more destructive form of botrytis, which — under overly humid conditions — results in grey rot. But here, in this landscape, it is transformative.

The fungus penetrates the skin of the grape — predominantly Sémillon, with some Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle — causing water loss and berry shrinkage. Sugars and acids are concentrated to extraordinary levels, while botrytis contributes its own distinctive orange peel, honeyed, and mushroomy complexity. The warm afternoon sun causes water to evaporate from the grapes, in turn allowing the fungus to do its job. The result is a wine of unusual depth: rich but never cloying, sweet but always underpinned by a bright, cleansing acidity.

Mist, Rivers & the Hardships of the Harvest

Sauternes, with its sub-appellation Barsac, is located in the southern reaches of Bordeaux, where the small, cold-water River Ciron meets the warmer Garonne. The influence of the two rivers is crucial here. The mixing of cold and warmer waters during late summer and early autumn produces a yearly spectacle of misty mornings followed by warm, drying afternoons. As a fungus, botrytis requires humidity to take hold, but it is the warm afternoons that keep it ‘noble’, drying and concentrating the grapes rather than spoiling them.

The unpredictability of botrytis means that the harvest must be done by hand, in multiple passes through the vineyard (tries successives), with pickers selecting only the most perfectly affected berries. This method is incredibly demanding — pickers must identify the bunches and berries with precision, as sour rot can often take hold if conditions are too humid. Effectively, performing the first level of quality sorting in the vineyard itself. Resulting yields are tiny — as little as one glass of wine per vine in some vintages. In 2025, reports suggest average yields for sweet wines in Sauternes were as low as 12.5 hectolitres per hectare (the legal limit being 25hl/ha).

The appellation of Sauternes is the main sweet wine-producing area of Bordeaux. Some of the most iconic producers are to be found here, including a Bordeaux-wide rarity in terms of classification — a single premier cru supérieur, a title awarded solely to Château d’Yquem. Barsac, though part of the wider Sauternes appellation, is entitled to its own designation and tends to produce wines of slightly lighter body and a touch more freshness — an elegant counterpoint to Sauternes’ more opulent style. There is excellent value to be found in Barsac, and in truth, some of my favourite wines come from here. A great example to look out for is the delicate and elegant premier cru classé Château Climens, which delivers outstanding quality vintage after vintage.

The 2025 Vintage: Small Yields, Big Reward

The 2025 season is defined by a common thread: low yields, as evidenced by producers who spoke to our team during a visit to the region just weeks ago. Crucially for sweet wine production, following a hot summer, late August and early September brought significant rainfall. Combined with the magic triggered by the two rivers every year, the onset of botrytis was very solid, and the sunny afternoons that followed concentrated sugars, acids and phenolics. Whilst yields are always small in Sauternes & Barsac, these are wines very much worth seeking out — and, given the low yields, sooner rather than later!