Château des Eyssards Saussignac 2002, A.C. Saussignac

Colour: light golden yellow with green reflexes.
Nose: quite expressive, fresh, clean, clear, with caramel, raisins, honey, cream, minerals, some mushrooms, hazelnuts, rich and ripe, sweet,  quite complex and some refinement.
Taste: round, soft velvety, sweet, fresh, unctuous, rich, impressively well balanced, beautifully restrained and totally absorbed wood, again honey, raisins, minerals, some mushrooms, hazelnuts, stunning refreshing acidity, all knitted together into a really perfect wine. Mouth-wateringly delicious. Really, stunning balance. Pure, refreshing, sweet velvet.
Finish: sweet, long, intense, very clean and clear, unctuous, fresh, rich, with impressions of caramel, honey, mushrooms and a touch of vanilla.

* Perfection in balance is the key feature in this wine. Rich and sweet, fresh, elegant and nuanced, impressions of honey, mushrooms, caramel, cream, raisins, hazelnuts and vanilla. Seldom you encounter such an extremely well balanced wine. At this price a real bargain!

- This wine is already delicious, but will continue to improve over the next years (- ca. 2009), I expect this wine to become more earthy and spicy with age, if you prefer immediate, creamy fruit, do not keep this wine too long.

- If this wine was produced on a great terroir, a great wine would have been the result.  This producer has managed to cope with all the limitations in the vineyard and wine making on one hand while exploiting all the qualities of the grapes, vineyard and vintage. Extremely well done.  A perfect wine for a very reasonable price, especially if you compare it with the great, more reputed wines from e.g. Sauternes or even Monbazillac. Made from 80% SÈmillon and 20% Chenin-Blanc (officially not permitted but apparently an excellent choice hence the freshness and elegance), harvested from old vines with very low yields: 12 - 15 hl/ha,  matured during one year on 1 and 2 year old barriques (just the right proportion and age of the barrels, so well integrated: you do not notice where the wood starts and the spicy fruit ends).
 

- second label: Château Billot (exactly the same wine)

- lotnr.: L SC 02

- tasted: 23-02-’04 (still in excellent condition after 2 weeks in open bottle)

- estimated retail price ca. 11,00 euro per 0,5 litre bottle

- average production: ca. 16.000 bottles (0,5 litre)

- Château des Eyssards "L'Esprit Latin" Mr. Pascal Cuisset, 24240 Monestier, tel.: + 33-553 24 36 36; fax.: + 33-553 58 63 74; e-mail: eyssards@wanadoo.fr