SB | Deep straw-gold in color, reflecting the age of the wine rather than any noble rot. The nose is sturdy, with robust peach and apricot aromas, and there is no oxidation. Soft and plump, this is fully mature, but has sufficient acidity to keep it alive. Certainly ready to drink, yet not flagging. It's not a complex wine but it has gone the distance and still gives considerable pleasure. It's enhanced by a light mineral character on the finish. 90
AJ | A deep gold but not dangerously so; as you'd expect for a 2012. Attractive, open, serene aromas, very harmonious now: soft fruits, with a light honey dressing and trickle of truffle oil. Some moist tobacco leaf and (for UK readers) a freshly opened jar of mincemeat (dried fruit). Very attractive, articulate, scrutable older sweet wine from these rare, ultra-remote clay-soiled hills and fascinating indigenous varieties. Lovely in the mouth ... and a remarkable wine, too. Very Pacherenc, with that soft, burnished, honeycomb-and-malt-biscuit richness. Mouthfilling and exotic, truffle-perfumed, mango-rich, caramel-napped, sun-roasted. Frankincense, too. Turmeric! especially in the aftertaste. Actually, the acidity is relatively soft here, but it doesn't matter at all, because the sugars are so flavor-saturated, packed with a lava-flow of glycerol (which surely would never attain these levels in Jurançon) and dry extract. A genuinely remarkable wine, which I feel privileged to have tasted. I don't think it has a long life ahead (and other wines in this tasting may overtake it) but I also don't think you could taste many finer dessert wines from France than this in 2023. 96
SR | Golden-yellow in color and with a greenish hue, this almost 11-year-old wine displays an intense and savory, slightly oaky nose. Sweet but also rich and intense on the elegant palate, this is not just a dense and very sweet, but also a savory, vital Pacherenc, with a long and stimulating bitter finish. This is a gastronomic sweet wine that should be kept for at least 5 to 7 years in the cellar. Lots of stewed-apricot aromas on the finish. 92