Sauternes
Maritime
Bordeaux's legendary sweet-wine appellation, where autumn mists breed noble rot on Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc.
Overview
About Sauternes
Sauternes lies south of Graves and takes in five villages: Sauternes, Barsac, Bommes, Fargues and Preignac. Its sweet wines are made from grapes shrivelled by Botrytis cinerea, or noble rot, and picked over several passes through the vineyard, so that only the ripest, most affected berries are used. Yields are tiny — a vine may produce a single glass.
Sémillon dominates the blend, with Sauvignon Blanc and a little Muscadelle. Château d'Yquem, alone at the head of the 1855 classification of Sauternes, is one of the most famous and expensive white wines in the world.
Sauternes is marked on the map.
France
Shaded: Gironde. Map units are states, provinces or départements, so a smaller place appears as the larger area that contains it.
The land
Climate & terroir
Climate
Maritime
The cold Ciron river meets the warmer Garonne here and sends mists across the vineyards on autumn mornings, which the afternoon sun burns off. That alternation of damp and warmth is what lets noble rot spread.
Terroir & soils
What the vines grow in
Gravel, sand and clay, with limestone in the subsoil. Sémillon thrives on the gravelly slopes.
Go deeper
Rules, years & producers
Sauternes was classified in 1855, alongside the Médoc, with its own unique top rank for Château d'Yquem.
Premier Cru Supérieur
Château d'Yquem alone.
Premiers Crus
Eleven châteaux, including Climens, Coutet, Rieussec, Suduiraut and Guiraud.
Deuxièmes Crus
Fifteen châteaux.
AOC Sauternes
Botrytis-affected white wine; Barsac may be labelled as either Barsac or Sauternes.
What's grown here
Grapes
Each grape's page links back here.