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Sweet Wine: 1989 | Chateau Raymond Lafon

Oily, clove-scented oak and flowers dominate the nose. Juicy and bright, but with a seductive billowy texture. Compelling inner-mouth flavors of ginger, coconut and caraway seed Solid acidity frames and extends the fruit through a long, oak-spicy finish.

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Producer: Chateau Raymond Lafon

Ratings: WA | 91  WC | 90

Vintage: 1989

Size: 750ml

ABV: 13.5%

Varietal: Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc

Country/Region: France, Bordeaux

Detailed Description

Oily, clove-scented oak and flowers dominate the nose. Juicy and bright, but with a seductive billowy texture. Compelling inner-mouth flavors of ginger, coconut and caraway seed Solid acidity frames and extends the fruit through a long, oak-spicy finish.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 1989 exhibits aromas of honeyed pineapple/tropical fruit and toasty new oak, as well as an exotic, flashy perfume that is not as pronounced in either the 1990 or 1988. The 1989 exhibits less botrytis than the other two vintages. The wine possesses an opulent, full-bodied, exotic, lavishly rich personality, moderate sweetness, and huge quantity of extract, glycerin, and alcohol in its finish. The wine is also extremely young and unevolved.

• Wine Cellar: Oily, clove-scented oak and flowers dominate the nose. Juicy and bright, but with a seductive billowy texture. Compelling inner-mouth flavors of ginger, coconut and caraway seed (serve with a Thai curry?). Solid acidity frames and extends the fruit through a long, oak-spicy finish. A very good showing.

Producer InformationChâteau Raymond-Lafon is a wine estate situated in the sweet wine appellation of Sauternes, 50km (30 miles) southeast of the city of Bordeaux on the left bank of the Garonne River. The estate was founded by the eopnymous Raymond Lafon in 1850 and today boasts 16 hectares (40 acres) of vineyards within the Sauternes appellation. Louis Pontallier inherited the estate from Lafon (his uncle) at the beginning of the 20th Century. He continued his family's winemaking legacy here until 1952, when he sold the estate to the Bourdier family (Louis' grandson Paul Pontallier would go on to become the well-known manager of Médoc First Growth Château Margaux in the late Twentieth and early 21st Centuries). In 1972, Francine and Pierre Meslier acquired Château Raymond-Lafon and today their three children, Marie-Françoise, Charles-Henri and Jean-Pierre, have taken over the running of the estate. The property's vineyards lie in close proximity to those of Sauternes' renowned Château d'Yquem, which lies just to the southeast of Raymond-Lafon. Sémillon accounts for 80 percent of the grape varieties grown on the Raymond-Lafon estate, with Sauvignon Blanc making up the remainder. The vineyards are hand-harvested across three to ten passes (or "tries" in the vineyard) and the grapes ferment naturally for three to five weeks. Château Raymond-Lafon's wines age in hand-split, new oak barrels for three years and are racked on a three-month basis. This entire process produces approximately 20,00 bottles of wine a year that fall under the estate's three wine labels: Château Raymond-Lafon, Jeunes Pousses de Raymond-Lafon and Le Cadet.

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