Sauternes, France's most famous sweet wine, is made from grapes that undergo a peculiar process known as noble rot, or in Latin, Botrytis Cinerea. This is caused by a fungus attacking the grape which makes it lose water and shrivel up. It also makes it look disgusting. A Botrytis-infected grape looks like it should be thrown away but if you're feeling brave, have a little lick. It actually tastes wonderful. All the shrivelling has concentrated the sugars. So every year in the Sauternes region, they pray for mist to roll in off the river at harvest time, which makes ideal conditions for this rot to set in. The resulting grapes are so high in sugar that yeast cannot convert them all to alcohol leaving you with an intensely sweet wine, Sauternes. It's so intense that you only need a tiny glass hence why this half bottle size of Clos Le Comte Sauternes 2016 is so handy.
There a lovely scent of orange marmalade and pineapple. Take and sip and there's peaches, citrus fruit and honey, it's sweet but not at all cloying. The ideal accompaniment to Sauternes is Roquefort cheese but fruit tarts and pies work well as long as they're not too sweet.
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