1999 Chateau Gilette Sauternes 750Ml Bottle

This mystical estate is only 4.5ha and often makes just a few hundred cases with a ludicrously low yield of 9 hl/ha which equates to about 40 cases per acre! 
"Gilette is one of the finest wines in Sauternes despite the fact that it was not classified. The vineyard, situated several miles north of Yquem, is planted on sandy soil with a subsoil of rock and clay. However, what is bizarre and unbelievable in today’s harsh world of commercial realities is that Gilette’s proprietor, Christian Médeville, holds his sweet wines for over 20 years in concrete vats prior to bottling them. For example, he bottled the 1955 in 1984, 29 years after the vintage. The fact that his wines are excellent and have a honeyed maturity has caused some of France’s leading restauranteurs (like Pierre Troisgros) to beat a path to his door to purchase his old vintages of Sauternes." Robert Parker

This is one of the great cult wines of Sauternes, with aged bottles reaching astronomical prices on the secondary market. Robert Parker has frequently ranked Gilette only a hairs breadth behind d'Yquem and regrets that he has never tasted them side-by-side. The 1999 is the current release, after being kept in concrete vats (pictured below) for 20 years. Strikingly perfumed, after slightly reticent aromas are coaxed from the glass, the youth of this wine is immediately apparent. Fresh honeysuckle and white flowers are followed by a cornucopia of tropical and orchard fruits that cross the senses faster than be classified, hints of honey lurk in the background, waiting for time to bring them to the fore. The palate, for all its vibrancy, possesses a breathtaking creaminess which backgrounds the endless parade of ripe yellow fruits, exotic spice notes such as anise, and further unfurling honey and blossom characters. Light barley-sugar and orange rind follow along the close of the palate which lingers into eternity.

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"Christian Medeville, Julie’s father, rejects modern marketing methods, preferring instead to keep his precious nectar made from Semillon, Sauvignon & Muscadelle in vats under anaerobic conditions for an amazing 20 years before bottling and selling it. The Crème de Tête is First Growth quality with a powerful bouquet and intense flavour of liquorice and peaches and cream, following by a long barley-sugar aftertaste." Tom Stevenson, The New Sotheby’s Wine