2005 Chateau Climens Premier Cru Barsac Grand Vin de Sauternes 750 ml

Château Climens is one of the legends of Sauternes, making wines that combine decadent golden fruit with a acidity and minerality for breathtaking experiences. Their 2005 is one of the highlights of a great year—a 97-point landmark that outscored the legendary Yquem to become the Wine Advocate’s Sauternes of the vintage.

Thanks to our deep connections in Bordeaux, we’re able to offer a rare library release of the 2005 with perfect provenance—and at less than half the price of its luxury-brand competition. This is a cellar essential: A top vintage from a château that Robert Parker called “consistently one of the most profound wines of Barsac/Sauternes.” It will age effortlessly for the next 40 years, but delivers a fantastically complex experience today.

We never miss an opportunity to pull out a bottle of Sauternes when we entertain. Wines like Climens are absolute showstoppers, with a combination of sheer deliciousness and intellectual intrigue that makes them the perfect way to end a meal. They’re also wildly undervalued, with First-Growth-like age-worthiness and complexity available at exceptionally reasonable prices.

More than 15 years after the vintage, the color of this wine is starting to darken to a beautifully deep golden hue, and the aromatics have bloomed. Scents of roasted peaches drizzled with linden honey, vanilla-scented pears, and garam masala are accented with notes of saffron and woodsy truffle. On the palate, Climens’ signature brightness and candied lemons reinforce a lush palate that echoes the nose. There’s enough complexity to keep you smelling the wine for hours, and a finish that lasts minutes.

Climens is one of the undisputed stars of Barsac, the subzone of Sauternes known for elegance and finesse. Its limestone-heavy soils give Climens’ laser-like acidity, a hallmark of the estate that perfectly balances the sweetness and rich fruit of the wine. It’s what Robert Parker loves about the wines, declaring that “what makes Climens so stunning is its penetrating acidity, combined with the fabulous richness and complexity this estate seems to routinely obtain.”

Climens is planted solely to Sémillon, the hardest to grow of Sauternes’ flagship grapes, and its thin skin makes it especially susceptible to botrytis, the noble rot that defines Sauternes’ wines. Botrytis is essential to the character of Climens wines because it concentrates the grape sugars thus providing hauntingly exotic spice notes. Letting this noble rot thrive on the vines lends complexity to the wines—so much so that the 2005 was harvested over five separate passes in the vineyard, as pickers selected only the most affected berries.

Climens managed the exquisite vintage perfectly, and now we get to reap the rewards. Unfortunately, this wine is only getting scarcer every year—they aren’t making any more 2005. Stock your cellar while you can.