Sauternes (Dessert Wine)

Sauternes is Bordeaux's great sweet wine appellation, producing botrytis-affected Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle from vineyards in the southern Graves. The wines are made only in years when the right conditions allow noble rot to develop, concentrating sugars and flavour compounds to produce wines of extraordinary richness, complexity and longevity.

Chateau d'Yquem is the appellation's sole Premier Cru Superieur and the world's most celebrated dessert wine, but the broader Sauternes classification includes many estates producing wines of the highest quality. The best bottles can age for 50 years or more, transforming from golden and honeyed to deep amber with notes of dried fruit, saffron and caramel.