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Chateau Tirecul La Graviere, Monbazillac Cuvee Madame, 1994 (500ml)

Dessert Wine from Southwest France, France
$139.99
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This 1994 Cuvée Madame comes from the run of early vintages that made Claudie and Bruno Bilancini's name. They made it while they were still renting the vines at Tirecul La Gravière, and those first wines were so well received that by 1997 the couple could afford to buy the domaine outright. They took over the lease at the start of 1992. The estate was in very poor condition, but it had old vines on the best hillside slope in the region and soil that had never seen chemical fertiliser, and the site is one of the old Premier Crus of Monbazillac. The wine is a sweet blend of Semillon and Muscadelle from this corner of Southwest France. The Bilancinis remember 1994 as a very sunny year that gave their sweet wines power and an unctuous texture, and this cuvée was singled out at the time for concentration "at its maximum." Three decades on, a 500ml bottle is a great way to taste an important early chapter of an estate the couple brought back from neglect. It's also proof that Monbazillac deserves a place next to the bigger names in sweet wine.

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Robert Parker

100 points

"The 1994 Cuvee Madame may be one of the two or three greatest sweet wines I have ever tasted. Only 20 cases of this wine, harvested grape by grape from five to six passes in the vineyard per day, were made from yields of 5 hectoliters per hectare (approximately one-fifth ton of fruit per acre). It tastes like the essence of orange marmalade infused with honey, and some flowery, fruit cocktail concoction. The wine boasts extraordinary purity, and exceptional sweetness, all buttressed by refreshing acidity. Aged in 100% new oak, the wine reveals no evidence of wood, no doubt because of its phenomenal extract. These wines will be nearly impossible to find, but I hope those few lucky enough to latch onto a few 500 ml bottles will lay some away and taste them against the greatest vintages of Chateau d'Yquem or Climens. An astonishing discovery!" —Robert M. Parker, Jr.

More about Chateau Tirecul La Graviere

Monbazillac has spent much of its history in Sauternes' shadow, and Château Tirecul La Gravière is the estate that has done as much as any to show how great it can be. These are true botrytized sweet wines, made with a patience that borders on obsession.

Bruno and Claudie Bilancini arrived in 1992, leasing about nine hectares of an old estate on the slopes of Monbazillac, across the Dordogne from Bergerac, and bought it outright in 1997. Bruno is a trained oenologist who had worked at the local cooperative. The vines face north and east on clay-limestone, which favors slow ripening and noble rot, and the farming is certified organic.

Two things set Tirecul apart. First, Muscadelle: elsewhere it is a supporting grape, but here it makes up around half the vineyard alongside Sémillon and a little Sauvignon Blanc, giving the wines a floral, exotic lift. Second, the harvest: grapes are picked by successive tries, berry by berry as the rot sets in, sometimes in as many as eleven passes, and yields often fall below ten hectoliters per hectare.

Cuvée Madame is the estate's top wine. It is made only in the best vintages from the most concentrated botrytized fruit, then fermented and aged for about two years in French oak. It ages for decades.

Wine Details

  • Grape Variety

    Muscadelle , Semillon

  • Vintage

    1994

  • Size

    500ml

  • Farming Practice

    Traditional

  • Style

    Elegant

  • Sweetness

    Sweet

  • Body

    Full Bodied

Flatiron's Take

From the Importer

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Tasting Notes & Food Pairings

Perfect Pairings

Seared foie gras or a terrine of foie gras on brioche; Roquefort or other blue cheeses with walnuts; apricot tart or tarte Tatin; orange and cinnamon desserts such as crêpes Suzette or spiced poached pears.

Tasting Profile

Sweet and full-bodied with a gold colour. Aromas include dried apricot, orange, vanilla and cinnamon, plus spicy, toasty notes. The texture is powerful and unctuous, with a lot of concentration.

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