This is a naturally fermented sweet wine by Chateau de Biac.
But with 99 grams per litre of residual sugar, on paper, it’s not overly sweet. At 12% Abv of alcohol content, it seems rather reasonable in terms of power, probably aiming and finesse rather than strength.
Many wines from neighboring such as Sauternes or Barsac, and many Cadillac wines are well over 200 or even 250 grams per litre!
Made with 100% Semillon grapes harvested while they were affected by boble rot (Botrytis), the wine was, after fementation, aged for 14 months in French oak barrels.
Tasting Notes:
Bright gold ripe apricot color.
The aromas are dominated by ripe apricot too. Plenty of Botrytis-like depth to it too. It’s deep from a mature and slightly evolved nose (it’s nearly ten years old after all), but is till remarkable fresh and fruity.
The wine is medium sweet. You can feel the sugar obviously, but it’s well balanced by some delicate slightly drying tannins, and am enjoyable-bitter finish providing a good savory counter-balance to the sweetness. It’s a wine to pair with food, desserts that would be.
Citrus are the flavors that stand out on the palate, the sweetness, the acidity, and the bitterness of it, like in a grapefruit, not as acidic though. Confit pineapple, and dried aprict (again) complete the fruity palate’s spectrum.
Overall
An appetizing salivating mid-body mid-sweetness ‘sweet’ wine full of the Botrytis wine’s deliciousness: savoriness with plenty of sunny and tropical fruit characters.
It also has the complexity from nearly ten years of ageing. But here, all these qualities are in a light-weight version keeping it rather fresh and easy to drink and enjoy.
On the flip side, it doesn’t have the concentration and sheer power of some more powerfully built Bordeaux Botrytis wines. The complexity, character, and enjoyment is definitely there though, without the weight.
Please let me know your thoughts