The old ones are always the best and so it turned out to be with this elegant bottle of 1984 Chateau de Rayne-Vigneau Sauternes that I could no longer resist opening. One Christmas, some fifteen years ago, my cousin, who is also partial to glass of something good, put this bottle into my safe keeping. As a wine guard I would not be a first choice or, some would say, not a choice. The label, which still hangs around the neck of the bottle, reads “Roger/ This is a NON Christmas present. It needs a good home and I’m sure it will find one with you. Cheers, David” ..which is comparable to entrusting the NHS Blood Bank to Count Dracula or the Bank of Scotland to whoever it was entrusted. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? As rhetorical a question as ever there was, being that the answer is invariably “No bugger, they do what they like”.
And so it will come as no surprise to you to learn that this guard, who is quite good at doing what he likes, decided that it was time to set the contents of this bottle free. On a sunny Sunday in France, not too far from its birth place, the cork that in 1984 sealed in the genie of maturation was gently pulled from the bottle allowing the golden miracle within to take it’s first breath of the poisonous air that will kill it …..unless we drink it. Which we will, if only out of kindness.
Ha ha – you’ve looked after it long enough, I’m sure it would have been reclaimed by now if it wasn’t meant to be drunk. It does look lovely, backlit like that 😉
It tasted quite as good as it looked….I have a penchant for dessert wines, but find I am often alone in this…which works out quite well:)
I like them too, though not every day. I’ve had a Tokay gathering dust for over 10 years which I’ll have to drink soon. One can’t let these things go off 😉
Great stuff, Tokay. Wines like these are wonderful when drunk in the shade of a sunny garden…or anywhere:)
I’ve only enjoyed a bottle like this one once in my life. A 1959 vintage.
That sounds quite a serious bottle of wine 🙂
Great writing as usual. I am sure the contents of the bottle were just as good. And your patience has been rewarded.
Events like that are wonderful when they happen without any pre planning…
Nice. I don’t care for dessert wines but this sounds and looks wonderful.
We finished the bottle with old friends at dinner last night….they didn’t like dessert wines either:)
Viva el vino. I’m sure that wine was happy to sacrifice itself for you and your enjoyment.
It gave itself up, fully, to our enjoyment 🙂
!15 YEARS! Good Lord…you’re a better man than me Gunga Din 😉
I think it relied on forgetfulness rather than will power:)
So very compassionate of you. 🙂
I’m all heart:)
No way I’d last 15 years, well done. A very good friend of mine gave us a bottle when we got married and said we should wait to open it after 5 years. We have one more year to go!
🙂
15 years! Now that’s control! And was it worth wait?
It surely was:)
I have a bottle of vintage port for at least that long. I must do something about that…
It’s finding the right person to enjoy it with and the right moment that’s the problem…
What a wonderful bottle! Cheers!
It really is a wonderful glass – thanks for visiting
Cheers and thanks for visiting:)
Nice. With a title like that, how could I resist? 🙂
I had a feeling the title might draw you in:)
I think it was more than a feeling. Knowledge of fact possibly 🙂
I’m impressed you had restraint for 15 years!
Many people have mentioned that I should be restrained 🙂
I don’t often drink dessert wines, something I should remedy because I enjoy them. But it pleases me that you have done this bottle justice.
I’m the same. For me it needs the right company and enough people to finish a bottle…4 people at least, as I’ll only drink a couple of glasses at most…it’s the perfume of these wines that is gobsmackingly good:)
Roger, this story leaves me gasping for details. What did you have it with? Do you enjoy dessert wines as dessert or rather as an apéro?
We had it with a very simple dessert of raspberries nestling under a bed of yellow cream from the Vallee d’Auge…perfect. As to the other point, I think they work wonderfully as an apero in summer…I used to collect German Auslese and Eisweins which are low alcohol and delicious.
I also like the Canadian take on those – icewines.. Funnily enough the French always seem to drink port (‘porto’) as an apéritif but never at the end of a meal.
I’d never heard of the Canadian icewines..I must do some research. The port thing is so popular here, as is whisky….cognac seems to be unheard of in France:)
Oh wow. What an incredible treat. So jealous. Gorgeous photo. You’ve done it justice and immortalized the moment.
I’m just recovering from the immortalising process:)
You are too kind, my friend. 😀
🙂
Love a good dessert wine. Monbazilliac is my favourite. Partial to a nice Riesling too!
I’m with you on both of those:)
You are a man of great pateince (or was that a bad memory?!) and even greater compassion!
One thing I’m sure of: no will power was involved:)