Global EditionASIA 中文雙語(yǔ)Fran?ais
    Lifestyle
    Home / Food

    Life Sauternal

    China Daily | Updated: 2019-05-18 11:14
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    The emphasis on food and wine-matching with Sauternes-it goes particularly well with aromatic and spicy dishes, with the sweetness acting as a great complement to spice, which can often overpower red wines. [Photo provided to China Daily]

    Sweet Bordeaux is having a moment that's as close to immortality as wine gets.

    Liquid gold, the gold standard, luxury in a glass, wine's Chanel No 5, the silence that follows a piece by Mozart in which the listener remains suffused with the music - that's Sauternes, the sweet white wine from France's Bordeaux region. Made from semillon, sauvignon blanc and sometimes muscadelle grapes, it's having a magnificent moment in Asia.

    China is now the world's second-biggest market for this sweet Bordeaux elixir, according to Emma Baudry, who represents the Sweet Bordeaux association and travels annually to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo to promote the golden wonder in October and November.

    Sauternes, and especially at Chateau d'Yquem, its most esteemed estate, is produced 40 kilometers upstream of Bordeaux in a region nestled between the left bank of the Garonne and the immense Landes forest. This noble area of about 2,200 hectares is divided among the villages of Sauternes, Bommes, Fargues, Preignac and Barsac. Although they can all properly claim the famous Sauternes appellation, the producers in Barsac are allowed to choose between the Sauternes AOC and its sister appellation, Barsac AOC, which controls production in a very similar manner.

    At Hong Kong's most recent Wine and Dine festival, Baudry and the Sweet Bordeaux delegation sold more than 13,000 glasses over four days to the trade, visitors and amateur oenophiles. "The winemakers worked hard to explain the diversity of AOC (appellation d'origine controlee) to the young audience of Hong Kong," explains Baudry. And so popular it was, she ran out of stock.

    Sweet Bordeaux's silver bullet, irony of ironies, is something called botrytis cinerea, commonly known as noble rot and capable of reducing a potential harvest of 40 hectares to just 18. Semillon, sauvignon blanc and muscadelle grapes are left on the vine longer than a normal grape, the result of which makes the grapes raisin-like and shriveled, and covered in a veil of fungus. Sauternes is one of the few regions where contamination happens frequently; in years when it doesn't, the winemakers desist from producing.

    Grapes are often picked one by one and winemakers may take batches for harvest each day as they assess their state of noble rot. Some estates harvest the sauvignon blanc as soon as it's ripe to retain its aromatic finesse and acidity in order to produce fresh, more vigorous wines, while producers of heady, fuller-bodied Sauternes wait for the maximum amount of noble rot to set in. The natural concentration and selection process afford minuscule yields; a single vine produces just one to three glasses of this extraordinary wine.

    Feared everywhere else, rot is providential and makes sweet Bordeaux, in all its iterations, a wine with extravagant complexity and variety; notes of orange, honey, apricot, peach, grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, lemon, mango, litchi, cooked apple, ginger, vanilla, acacia blossom, walnut, almond, hazelnut, nutmeg, light and dark creme brulee, and even saffron can all be evident. Really, no other wine bears such profundity in its sultry and seductive versatility.

    So why isn't it more commonly drunk? Sauternes and sweet Bordeaux have endured a curious agony-and-ecstasy of an image problem over the years, as a multitude of preconceptions have built up around the wine's consumption.

    1 2 Next   >>|
    Most Popular
    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
     
    无码少妇一区二区性色AV| 最近中文字幕完整免费视频ww| 亚洲AV中文无码乱人伦在线观看 | 亚洲AV永久纯肉无码精品动漫| 亚洲欧美日韩中文久久| 最近中文国语字幕在线播放视频| 精品久久久久久无码国产| 国产亚洲中文日本不卡二区| 亚洲制服中文字幕第一区| 亚洲精品高清无码视频| 韩国三级中文字幕hd久久精品| 亚洲AV中文无码乱人伦下载 | 熟妇人妻中文字幕无码老熟妇| 日韩va中文字幕无码电影| 无码精品国产VA在线观看| 性无码专区一色吊丝中文字幕| 欧美日韩中文字幕久久久不卡| 韩国中文字幕毛片| 亚洲一级特黄大片无码毛片| 极品粉嫩嫩模大尺度无码视频| 东京热加勒比无码少妇| 免费在线中文日本| 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线咪咕| 亚洲av无码一区二区三区人妖| AV无码人妻中文字幕| 中文字幕无码高清晰| 亚洲日韩中文字幕在线播放| 亚洲综合中文字幕无线码| 中文字幕乱偷无码AV先锋| 亚洲高清有码中文字| 熟妇人妻中文字幕无码老熟妇| 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线r▽| 中文字幕无码一区二区免费 | 久本草在线中文字幕亚洲欧美| 亚洲精品无码专区在线播放| 亚洲精品国产日韩无码AV永久免费网| 国产成人AV无码精品| 久久精品无码免费不卡| 无码毛片一区二区三区中文字幕 | 久久久久亚洲AV无码专区桃色| 精品无码人妻一区二区三区不卡 |