Sauternes

Our last day in the Bordeaux district featured the perfect finish, a drive south into the small appellation of Sauternes. We drove through mixed country collowing the Garonne river then turned away into nearby higher country and straight into the vines then the Chateau of Ch Guiraud. The appellation is a smaller one, basically on a gentle hill gacing the river, with. Small stream, the Ciron, flowing around its base before joining the main river. The Ciron is a clean, cold spring creek, presumably arising from ground water sources further inland, and it's lower temperature triggers the mist on a warm summer evening, that forms over the stream then up the slopes of Sauternes. This mist encourages the botrytis that is the basis for their golden sweet white wine. At Chateau Guiraud we were welcomed by Augustin an 'ambassador' for the firm and also by their winemaker Xavier, who spoke little English but seemed determined not to mis out on anything! We walked into the vineyards on a somewhat hot morning,mthen into the cooler cellars. ugustin told us how the wines are made very simply but that the picking of the crop, berry by berry in a series of 'tries' ( passes) sometimes over a couple of weeks, was the basis for wine quality. As usual they had gorgeous old estate buildings etc, nd there we headed to taste their wine including a dry white form Sauvignon Blanc. I told Xavier, via ugustine, that we owned some Ch Guiraud bottles and had drunk it on a number of occassions. He wanted to know the exact details including the vintages, which I sort of knew, and took great satisfaction at his wines making it to NZ! We drove from the Chateau past other names we knew such as Rieussec, Lafarie Peyreguey nd others, plus driving along the foot of the slope of Ch d'Y Chem, with it's distinctive chateau perched at the head, being the top of the hill. The village of Sauternes itself was a rustic, narrow streeted, limestone and terra cotta roofed miniature, with steepled church, just as you would expect. Not a soul in sight at this time of day, with everyone likely out in the fields or whatever they do. Other rural villages are the same - almost abandoned during the middle part of the day. The highlight for me was driving over the Ciron, a sight I had much looked forward to. Clean water, flowing quickly and almost obscured by the canopy of forest trees that follow along it's route. Such a seemingly minor waterway but one that creates a wine district that is not replicated anywhere else in the world. The whole district was very quaint and pretty, somewhere you could spend a lot of time with your camera and would dearly like to see at different seasons.