Who needs dessert when you have dessert wine?
What is Manbazzilac?
One of our friends shared with us a bottle 1995 Chateau Tirecul La Graviere, Monbazillac that he cellared almost two decades ago.
As we poured the wine, the deep amber color of the wine was showing off its age. Hard to believe but when it was bottled almost quarter of a century ago, it was as pale as Sauvignon Blanc.
If you are into wine, you probably heard of Sauternes – France’s best-known late-harvest dessert wine made in Bordeaux. Did you know that Monbazillacs are grown only 60 miles to the east of the Sauternes region and made from the same grapes — Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle?
Monbazillac (pronounced moh-bah-zee-YAK) is a wine the French have mainly kept to themselves, with less than 5 percent going to the United States. Yet Monbazillac is France’s largest dessert wine district by size and production.
While both Sauternes and Monbazillacs made from same grapes, the soils are different, and the latter has substantially higher percentage of Muscadelle in a blend. The difference is quite apparent on the nose and the palate.
1995 Chateau Tirecul La Graviere Monbazillac Tasting Notes
1995 Chateau Tirecul La Graviere greeted us with complex and rather tropical fruit aromas. Initially, we found it to be less floral and sophisticated in comparison to equivalent Sauternes. And then it opened up with a complex bouquet of sweet mango, maple syrup, fried banana, smoke, and alpine honey aromas.
On the palate, Chateau Tirecul La Graviere is voluptuous with flavors of apricot jam, dried mango, tangerine, and dark honey with nutty and earthy flavors.
As we enjoyed Monbazillac, we paired it with five kinds of cheese from France carefully chosen by our host. It was a quintessential wine swinging experience. While each one of us picked favorite combination, most agreed on one we all liked. Valençay had a refreshing impact thanks to goat cheese acidity and was bringing forward tangerine and apricot flavors.
While some Monbazillacs might be quite expensive, typically you can get a terrific bottle of Monbazillac for what you’d pay for the ordinary Sauternes.
Have you ever had Monbazillac before? What’s your favorite?