Sauternes & Barsac 1995 & 1996

Below are notes taken from a fascinating blind comparison at Ch Lafite of top sweet white bordeaux made in the 1996 and 1995 vintages described in When sugar is good.

Wine director of Lafite Charles Chevallier is such a fan of Sauternes, and Barsac of course, that he did the tasting himself, with the bottles all chilled and served blind. Because 1996 was a much more successful vintage for sweet white bordeaux than 1995, only nine 1995s were submitted, but we had the pleasure of tasting 16 1996s. (I tasted the Yquems separately with Pierre Lurton; the first growths...