I recently had the dubious pleasure of tasting my way through the 2021 vintage in Bordeaux blind, in London, now that the wines have had plenty of time to settle into bottle. As I pointed out rather forcefully in this article, the reds really weren’t very pleasurable at all, especially in view of their decidedly inflated prices.
But for the whites, both dry and sweet, it’s a different story. As I reported in May 2022 just after tasting 2021s en primeur, in Bordeaux 2021 – buy white!
The stars of the recent blind tasting in the annual so-called Southwold-on-Thames series, were the sweet whites. The most delightful discovery was how good the 2021 vintage of Château Bastor-Lamontagne is and yet it is, as usual, one of the least expensive Sauternes.
In most earlier vintages, Château Bastor-Lamontagne has been a decided underperformer: sweet and a little simple, perhaps because of high yields and efficient rather than dedicated winemaking, though never overpriced. But things have been changing at this 45-ha (111-acre) property in Preignac downhill from Château Suduiraut. As long ago as 2010 it started conversion to organic viticulture and boasts of being one of only three Sauternes properties to have organic certification, since 2016 in this case.
Their website (which supplied these images) also boasts of ‘three centuries of history [of a] former royal property’. JancisRobinson.com members with good memories may recall that there was a stunning 1922 labelled La Montagne in the second Sauternes-athon at Hambleton in 2020. It scored 19.5(!) and we worked out it was from an estate that was a precursor of Château Bastor-Lamontagne.
The estate’s recent history is somewhat chequered. In 1936 it was acquired by a French bank and in 2014 it was bought by the Cathiard family of Château Smith Haut Lafitte and the Moulin-Houzé family who own Galeries Lafayette. But four years later they sold the property to the Helfrich family, owners of the vast wine company Grands Chais de France. But Bastor-Lamontagne appears to operate independently of this extensive group.
According to the 2022 edition of Stephen Brook’s excellent book The Complete Bordeaux, key to the success of Bastor-Lamontagne is Michel Garat who managed the estate from 1987 for the bank and has been brought back by the Helfriches. He has instituted several quality-oriented changes such as spontaneous fermentation, increasing the proportion of wine fermented in barrel to 75%, and raising the proportion of new barrels to at least a third. The 2021 suggested that he is continuing to raise the bar. We must expect the price of Bastor-Lamontagne to rise from its current bargain level.
My tasting note on the 2021 when I tasted it blind recently:
‘Intense and floral on the nose. Very opulent and complete. Really excellent Sauternes that’s already approachable but has the acidity to last. Long. (Congrats to the current team there!)’
I gave it 17.5 points out of 20 and suggested drinking it between 2025 and 2040.
The estate is one of the biggest in Sauternes with an average annual production of 200,000 bottles (though some of them are of the drier Confidence bottling of Sauvignon Gris inter alia, whose 2021 vintage I was no fan of). Most of the sweet wine is based on the usual Sauternes formula of 4:1 Sémillon:Sauvignon Blanc. Château Bastor-Lamontagne 2021 Sauternes is available in the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore with Cru World Wine offering it in the last two as well as in the UK.
It really is worth seeking out. If you buy six bottles, they could provide pleasure over many years.
At lunch today I heard a keen MW student saying he tends to drink a glass of sweet wine instead of a dessert. Follow that advice!
Check out more options for Sauternes from the 2021 vintage in our tastings note database, or find older bottlings ready to drink and worth seeking out!
