Château Rieussec 2013

The 2013 Rieussec is a blend of 96% Semillon and 4% Sauvignon Blanc picked between 26 September and 31 October. It has a simple, slightly resinous bouquet, a little more malic than usual. The palate is better than the nose, well balanced and harmonious with brioche and honeycomb-tinged fruit. It is so pleasant that you wish the aromatics would pull up their socks. Drink over the next 15 years or so. I wager that this is a vintage destined to be outshone by the 2012. Tasted April 2016.

This has an unctuous texture and remains a touch rambunctious, with crystallized ginger, peach, apricot and quince flavors that have yet to fully meld. Should come together given ample time. Really solid. Best from 2018 through 2038. 6,000 cases made.

Harmonious, well-integrated sweetness with lovely floral and dried mango notes. Linear profile and purity without any heaviness.

This is really mind-blowing with super concentration of botrytis showing dried mushrooms, dried apricots, and lemon. Lemon curd and sorbet. Full-bodied, medium sweet, dense and layered. Goes on for minutes. A triumph. Drink or hold.

The 2013 Rieussec has a light nose of orchard fruit, tangerine and barley sugar, showing fine delineation. It gains intensity in the glass. The palate is well balanced with a lightly spiced entry, fine depth and vigor, taut and fresh, with a touch of white pepper on the finish. This is a classy Rieussec, quite complex and nuanced, with satisfying persistence on the finish. Excellent.

Filled with nutty and fruity notes of orange, pineapple, honey, and citrus, this rich, dense wine is lively and long with the right balance of freshness, sugar and acidity. 94-96 Pts

Candied yellow fruit notes on the nose. Rich and ample palate, unctuous and long finish, well balanced and promising.

Medium yellow, linden-green nuances, bright. Delicately sweet, subtly tropical bouquet, fresh pineapple, citrus, linden blossom. Juicy palate with rather soft acidity, mineral extract, medium-weight body, little tension, cannot keep up with the best.

Medium yellow with linden-green nuances, bright. Delicately sweet, subtly tropical bouquet, fresh pineapple, citrus, linden blossoms. Juicy palate with rather soft acidity, mineral extract, medium-weight body, little tension, cannot keep up with the best.

(95.5% Sémillon, 4.5% Sauvignon Blanc) Powerful, fresh, finely opulent bouquet, grapefruit, chalk, kumquats, vanilla. Plush, opulent palate with a creamy texture, pronounced sweetness, concealed acidity, intense aromatics, broad finish. Can improve further. 17/20 2022 - 2045

The 2013 Rieussec is pale to medium straw-gold in color. It offers delicate, understated scents of lemon curd, lime blossoms, and mandarin peel with wafts of chalk dust, beeswax, and marzipan. The palate is rich and viscous, with plenty of vibrant citrus flavors and a racy backbone, finishing chalky.

Great liqueur richness, a grand bouquet, more sumptuous than refined, but time will further diversify its long finish.

The colour is golden straw and the nose is slightly resinous for now. The palate is dense, tight, fairly compact, very resinous as well, with a fine finish. A fine success.

Over the years, Rieussec 2013 is finally showing what it’s capable of. Highly subtle, the bouquet stands out for its finesse, with classic notes of saffron and toasted almonds, along with nuances of mandarin and linden blossom. On the palate, everything has fallen into place. The wine is dense, creamy and powerful. The razor-sharp acidity counters this with lively, incisive tension, resulting in an exceptional symbiosis. A brilliant wine that needed nearly 10 years to find its stride… and it’s not over yet!

Yellow-green color. Fruity, fresh, minty nose, more precise than usual. The attack is a bit weighty, then the wine melts, but it passes rather quickly. Peppery finish. Gives the impression of not being fully settled yet.

A smooth wine, yet with truly remarkable power. There is magnificent elegance in this Rieussec 2013, whose bitters add to its complexity.

94–96. Barrel Sample. Here is a powerful, full-bodied wine that brings out the rich botrytis flavors of the year while also presenting bright, crisp acidity. The wine is concentrated, tight and fresh at the end.