2004 Chateau Nairac Barsac Sauternes 750 ml

It started in the Harry Waugh Dessert Room.

The baronial second floor at Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa is legendary, and not just for desserts. From marc to century-old Madeira, it’s a shrine to every hedonistic post-dinner libation you might desire—and you can bet they’ve got some serious Sauternes on offer. 

Enter Grand Cru Classé Sauternes Château Nairac, which Robert Parker has called “one of the most meticulously and passionately operated Barsac estates.” We’ve loved Nairac for its quality and value for years, but we never see it on a list—let alone with some decent age. Seeing the six-vintage vertical at Bern’s, we jumped at a twenty-year-old half-bottle. 

That bottle lit our fuse, and on our next trip to Bordeaux, we secured a perfectly cellared tranche of the 2004.

Nestled in the heart of Barsac, Château Nairac—classified as a Sauternes-Barsac Second Growth in 1855—has been making wine for centuries. But the estate’s true renaissance began in 1971, when an American named Tom Heeter acquired the venerable property, infusing it with new life. Heeter had apprenticed at Château Giscours in Margaux, and in the 1980s, he brought in Bordeaux’s larger-than-life Émile Peynaud to provide advice. 

Perched on a gravelly rise, Nairac's vineyards benefit from a unique microclimate that encourages the development of noble rot, the magical fungus responsible for Sauternes' signature complexity. The estate's commitment to quality is evident in their painstaking harvest process, with pickers making up to a dozen passes through the vines to select only perfectly botrytized grapes.

Parker characterized Nairac as “big-styled, oaky, ripe, concentrated,” but what struck us is how beautifully balanced this 2004 is. For perfectly cellared Sauternes value, you can’t beat it.