Nose
Its complexity is echoed on the nose: candied tropical fruit, white flowers, gingerbread, and gunflint give together a rich yet lively overall result.
Palate
The palate is very powerful, with aromas of roast pineapple, candied apricot and barley sugar. Its smoothness is always underpinned by wonderful freshness, giving it great elegance. The long, full-bodied finish reveals spices, candied fruit and vanilla.
This legendary Suduiraut is still coming into its own and requires a little more patience..
Growing Conditions
The 2009 vintage started with a rainier winter than in the previous year. The spring also saw several rainy spells, forcing us to keep a watchful eye to make sure the grapes were protected against disease. Flowering enjoyed sunny conditions, however, and the summer that followed, with periods of great heat interspersed with some storms (welcome because they brought no hailstones in our area), helped us to catch up the ten-day delay in the vine cycle. The particularly hot, sunny month of August speeded up the ripening process, producing ripe healthy grapes with a lovely golden tint before the arrival of Botrytis. The first grapes began to shrivel as early as September, in hot, sunny conditions, and these were picked in the first 'trie'.
Harvest
Harvesting started on 17 September and came a few days of rain (19 and 20 September) allowing Botrytis to settle in, which it did slowly and very regularly. With the arrival of an east wind in early October, concentration started and the harvest of very concentrated grapes was brought in very quickly and in large quantities, which is rather unusual.
Harvesting ended on 20 October, with a total of three 'tries'.
Bottling
Bottling date: August 5th 2011
Aging
50% in new barrels,
50% from barrels of one vintage, for 18 months.
Appearance
Château Suduiraut 2009 has a very appealing, bright golden yellow colour.
