1988 Guiraud, Sauternes

Medium-gold color, with aromas of lemon tart, curd, piecrust and honey. Full-bodied, medium sweet, with bright acidity and a long, exciting finish. Balanced and refined. (JS, Web-2009)

Tasted as part of a vertical held at the chateau. The Guiraud 1988 offers the most pleasurable aromatics of the 1980s with a lifted perfumed nose of lanolin, beeswax, brown sugar and quince that all vie for attention. There is a pleasant adhesive scent and fine delineation. The palate is fresh in the mouth with crisp honeyed fruit mixed with a brown sugar and a touch of quince. Demonstrating fine precision on the finish, this is a respectable 1988 that is drinking well. Drink now-2023+ Tasted April 2013. (NM) (6/2013)

Clive Coates: "In 1981, a new and, moreover, foreign 'enfant terrible' arrived on the Sauternes scene, the Canadian Hamilton Narby. Narby was determined to seize the sleepy Sauternais by the scruff of their collective neck, restore some of the glory to the reputation of this superlative sweet wine, and reintroduce a fashion for drinking it regularly. The world, we felt when we first met him, would hear of Sauternes whether it liked it or not, and if, in the process of shaking up the apathy for promoting Sauternes, a few local toes get trodden on, well perhaps, 'tant pis'....Two years later the provident arrival of a superb 1983 vintage enabled prices to rise to more realistic economic levels. Nineteen eighty five was not bad at all, and this was followed by excellent vintages in 1986,1988 and 1990. All of which were rapidly taken up. Sauternes has become news."