2019 Chateau Laville Sauternes 750 ml

If you had to put your money on one guy to take home the FIRST Best-in-Show trophy for Sauternes in the 18-year history of Decanter’s World Wine Awards, it would be Jean-Christophe Barbe. 

Barbe is the proprietor of Château Laville, whose 2019 Sauternes is absolutely thrilling. Bordeaux expert Jane Anson calls Laville “a brilliant sweet wine from a fascinating man who is also professor of enology at Bordeaux University.”

There may be no bigger expert on noble rot in the world than Docteur Barbe, who wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the phenomenon back in 2000 and has had over 20 vintages to learn about it on the job at Château Laville. The excellent 2019 vintage played right into his hands, and he harvested perfectly botrytised fruit from 45-year old vines in four passes.

Barbe has been teaching enology for over 20 years now, while also holding down his job as grapegrower and winemaker here at his family estate in Preignac, just south of Barsac. The soils here are very gravelly and sandy, and the vineyards’ proximity to the Ciron creek ensures the mists that foster botrytis arrive reliably.

Made up of 85% Sémillon, 13% Sauvignon Blanc, and 2% Muscadelle, his 2019 wine is a parade of enticing flavors, beginning with aromas of baked apple, then cinnamon, caramel, cooked pear, marmalade, butterscotch, and vanilla ice cream. The professor’s mastery is evident in every aspect of this wine, and like all high-quality Sauternes, this will age for decades, steadily gaining in complexity.