SAUTERNES SEC, ANYONE?

The fabulous sweet wines of Sauternes have won fame for its leading estates but many of them are now producing top-quality dry whites, too, to meet changing tastes and secure their future

- GEORGIE HINDLE

When was the last time you opened a bottle of sweet Sauternes? Perhaps Christmas, or maybe with some cheese at a dinner party? Have you one in the fridge, ready to enjoy once the weather warms? I hope the answer's yes, but the likelihood is it's not.

As consumer tastes and preferences shift towards drier and lighter wines at lower alcohol levels and less sweetness, in recent years, bottles of Sauternes have unfortunately been relegated to the confines of dusty cellars or (wrongly, in my opinion) opened solely at the end of meals. But, as the saying goes, 'necessity is the mother of invention, and Sauternes producers are now finding opportunities for diversification and market demand for their growing number of terroir-influenced dry white styles.

While sweet wines will inevitably (and should) remain the focus in Sauternes, there's a strong case for dry whites, too: world-class winemaking know-how and facilities, heavy investment in top-quality grape production resulting in large quantities of beautiful old-vine Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, and terroirs that are perfect to show both freshness and power. They also have ageing potential, which puts them in the category of fine wines,' say Jean-Jacques Dubourdieu and David Bolzan, co-directors of the appellation's management body (sauternes-barsac.com).

'Other sweet wine-producing areas - Jurançon, Vouvray and Germany - all produce dry whites, so why shouldn't Sauternes?" asks ex-négociant and long-term proponent of Sauternes, Bill Blatch. Historically that was the case, and the beauty is that it's adaptable.'

Dry Sauternes whites are made using the same grapes allowed in the production of sweet wines but picked before, or in the absence of, the onset of botrytis (noble rot, the fungus that concentrates grape sugars and flavours in the fruit, resulting in the traditionally luscious, rich and complex sugary styles) and then fermented to dryness.