Chateau  Bechereau 2000 Sauternes Dec 04

I was sitting in a local Berrima restaurant a few months ago having lunch with my next door neighbour when I was approached by someone I had met previously at a dinner in Canberra. Tony, also known as "The Mayor" (for some reason, on a wine forum) was hobnobbing it and eating lunch with a wine pro, one Lester Jesberg of Winewise fame. Tony introduced me to Lester and it turns out Lester does more than just produce Winewise, he also imports French wine for sale. Lester was kind enough to give me a bottle of his imported wine to try, a Sauternes. As this week feature article was pitting three publications against each other and one was Winewise, I thought it was fitting to try the wine after I had written the article and post the TN at the same time.

The bouquet was aromatically delightful with honey, a big hit of menthol, subtle sawdust, intense apricot, a touch of citrus marmalade with some astringent characters. Initially there was a bucket load of astringent resh acid but the copious quantities of sweet fruit to counter provided a perfect foil. Cumquat, marmalade, honey flavours were very clean, rich and smooth and it finished dry which is a nice effect for a sticky. Seriously enjoyable, it screamed out for a bit of blue cheese with a drizzle of honey. Rated as Highly Recommended now, the rating is bound to improve as the wine matures. It is available from Lester Jesberg