Chateau Guiraud Reviews
Learn More About Chateau Guiraud Through its Reviews.
2019 Chateau Guiraud Reviews
96 Pointz Jeb Dunnuck
“Pretty notes of quince, honeyed orange, white flowers, and apricot-like notes all emerge from the 2019 Château Guiraud, which is medium to full-bodied and has a terrific sense of purity, a focused, elegant texture, and a great finish. Developing more and more complexity with time in the glass, it delivers an incredibly precise, elegant texture that keeps you coming back.”
94 Pointz James Suckling
“Acacia honey, apricots, peaches, white tea, lemons, and bergamot on the nose. This is sweet, agile, and bright with a succulent, tangy citrus character. A nimble, zestier expression of Sauternes. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.”
94 Pointtz Vinous
“The 2019 Chateau Guiraud is a very pretty, understated wine. In 2019, this Sauternes has a feeling of transparency that is utterly beguiling. Citrus, ginger, spice, mint, and dried flowers open nicely. There is a bit of tightness on the finish, so I would cellar the 2019 for at least a few years.”
93 Pointz Wine Spectator
“Distinctive, with the forward apricot, peach, and quince profile of the vintage but with extra acacia, honeysuckle, and heather notes, which add lift and length through the nicely defined finish. Although unctuous, this has some drive to carry it along nicely. Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc. Best from 2023 through 2035. 3,750 cases made.”
94 Pointz Robert Parker’s
Wine Advocate
“Pale lemon-gold in color, the 2019 Chateau Guiraud springs from the glass with vivacious scents of lemon marmalade, orange blossoms, pink grapefruit, and fresh pineapple with hints of candied ginger and musk perfume plus a waft of beeswax. The palate delivers concentrated citrus and dried pineapple flavors with apricot and spicy sparks, lifted by a lively line of freshness, finishing satisfyingly sweet and perfumed.”
Bonus Reviews
United Kingdom
96 Pointz Decanter
“Fully expressive on the nose, burnt lemon, candied peel, and dried fruits - apricots, oranges, and spices - lots going on. Lovely combination here of bright, quite acidic lemony freshness with this honey, caramel buttery softness, and also so many notes of dried fruit, raisins, apricots, pineapple, and also pot pourri. Great potential here, lots of complexity and I really love the interplay between bright lemon acid and sweet toffee richness. Confident and showy in the best way. Drinking Window 2026 - 2045”
2018 Chateau Guiraud Reviews
No Wine Produced
2017 Chateau Guiraud Reviews
96 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
Ripe, botrytized fruit currently dominates this wine with its rich concentration. It is a full and liquorous wine that will age for many years.”
95 Pointz James Suckling
“This is very fruity and layered with botrytis spice and dried apricot and pear flavors. Full body. Very sweet with tangy acidity. There an almost sweet-and-sour undertone to this. From organically grown grapes.”
95 Pointz Vinous
“The 2017 Chateau Guiraud is brimming with pineapple, passion fruit, spice, and vanillin. Rich, structured, and racy, it shows tremendous character as well as personality. Readers should expect a bold, extroverted Sauternes. I loved it.”
95 Pointz Jeb Dunnuck
“Another rockstar Sauternes is the 2017 Château Guiraud, which has the freshness and purity of the vintage, yet ample depth and richness. Caramelized limes, citrus, and ample minerality all emerge from this full-bodied, impeccably balanced dessert wine. Its acidity is present yet integrated, and it has a great mid-palate and a big finish, all pointing to this being a beautiful Sauternes with a long life.”
94 Pointz Robert Parker’s
Wine Advocate
“The 2017 Chateau Guiraud opens with subtle notions of crushed rocks, wild fungi, and fragrant earth leading to a profound core of orange marmalade, crystalized lemon peel, dried pineapple, and paraffin wax. The rich, opulent, wonderfully exotic palate delivers soft acidity and loads of spicy sparks, finishing with great length and depth.”
93 Pointz Wine Spectator
“Mango, peach melba, gingerbread, and hazelnut notes are laced with a racy streak of orange peel, giving this unctuous, forward Sauternes good energy through the finish.”
Bonus Reviews
United Kingdom
94 Pointz Decanter
“Silky and concentrated, this is one of the successes of the appellation for me. It has lovely zest and zip, with touches of candied ginger and a fresh lift on the finish. It manages to give shade and light more than most in the vintage, but is just a little shorter than in some previous years. Very good quality, reminiscent of the 2009.”
2016 Chateau Guiraud Reviews
96 Pointz Jeb Dunnuck
“One of the top Sauternes in this report is the 2016 Château Guiraud, a brilliant wine from a more challenging vintage for the Sauternes region. Beautiful, powerful notes of sugared peach, blood orange, caramelized pineapple, and honey all give way to a full-bodied Sauternes that has loads of sweetness and richness, yet good acidity as well. It does everything right and will offer up incredible pleasure over the coming 25-30 years.”
96 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“This wine is hugely rich while having wonderful acidity at its end. Dense botrytis and a powerful structure go along with the honey and marmalade flavors. It will certainly age well and long.”
95 Pointz Robert Parker’s
Wine Advocate
“The 2016 Chateau Guiraud has a pale lemon color and opens with musk perfume, paraffin, cedar, and spice box notes with a core of lemon tart, honey-drizzled white peaches, and kumquat plus a waft of quince paste. The palate has beautiful vibrancy and loads of lively tropical and spicy layers, finishing very long.”
93 Pointz James Suckling
“Masses of candied citrus and marzipan, plus a touch of mango chutney, make this full-bodied Sauternes easy to enjoy. Generous and succulent finish. Moderately sweet for this appellation. Drink or hold.”
91 Pointz Wine Spectator
“This delivers a rather solid punch of glazed peach and mango flavors, with notes of white ginger and pear chutney on the juicy finish. Approachable, but no real rush. Best from 2021 through 2032.”
2015 Chateau Guiraud Reviews
96 Pointz Robert Parker’s
Wine Advocate
“The 2015 Guiraud, tasted in two occasions, has a sumptuous bouquet with scents of wild honey, apricot, and a faint smear of marmalade. The palate is fresh and tensile on the entry, brimming with energy with impressive energy towards the blood orange and quince-tinged finish. This is a stylish, suave Guiraud that should age beautifully in bottle.”
96 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“This wine is packed with dry botrytis flavor, but also a bright freshness. Together they give an obviously sweet wine good structure as well as ripeness. The tension between the fruit and the mineral texture will allow this wine to age for many years.”
95 Pointz Wine Spectator
“Intense, with candied lemon peel, glazed yellow apple, and honey notes streaming through, picking up mirabelle plum and papaya accents through the finish, which is carried by a buried racy streak. This has a good bright feel overall. Best from 2020 through 2040.”
94 Pointz James Suckling
“This is really something. I have never tasted a Guiraud like this. This is full-bodied yet so fresh and incredibly crisp and lively. Spicy and energetic. Fantastic acidity! ”
93 Pointz Jeb Dunnuck
“One of the few Sauternes I was able to taste, the 2015 Château Guiraud is well worth spending money on. Boasting tons of tangerine, caramelized citrus, honeyed peach, and white flowers, this full-bodied beauty has good acidity, ample concentration, and a clean, balanced style on the palate that’s going to allow it to age gracefully.”
93 Pointz Vinous
“The 2015 Guiraud appears to have acquired quite a bit of body during its aging. Rich and deep in the glass, but with lovely nuance, it offers tons of immediacy. Orange peel, pineapple, mint, honey, chamomile, and sweet French oak notes are nicely pushed forward. Best of all, the 2015 is ready to provide pleasure with minimal cellaring.”
Bonus Reviews
United Kingdom
93 Pointz Decanter
“The relatively high level of Sauvignon Blanc is doing its bit to give precision and poise to the flavours here. Caramel runs through the mid-palate, lending richness and intensity, but it remains a restrained wine at all times.”
17+/20 Pointz Jancis Robinson, Master of Wine
“Brownish tinge to the deep gold. Complex nose - many layers of intrigue. Big and very sweet. But with a certain majesty about it. Really quite a king in terms of structure. Lots of acidity on the finish but only after massive weight.”
2014 Chateau Guiraud Reviews
This wine is a blend of 65% Semillon and 35% Sauvignon Blanc.
95 Pointz James Suckling
“The lush mango and papaya nose leads into a wonderfully rich and concentrated palate, which also has bright acidity that really lights the whole thing up and pulls your hand back to the glass for more! Drink or hold.”
95 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“Already beautifully balanced, this wine is intense, rich, and full of layered acidity and concentrated honey flavors. It's ripe, opulent, and dense, with spice notes and acidity highlighting its rich core. Drink from 2024.”
95 Pointz Wine Spectator
“Not shy, with unctuous dried apricot, peach, and tangerine fruit flavors, augmented with ginger, bitter orange, and bitter almond notes that add tension. Expressive, with a floral twinge on the finish imparting lift. Best from 2020 through 2040. 2,500 cases made.”
93 Pointz Vinous
“The 2014 Chateau Guiraud has a very attractive bouquet, not unlike a Mosel Auslese in some ways, very well defined and minerally with honey, apricot blossom, and a light petrolly scent. The palate is very detailed with a killer line of acidity, a touch of ginger and rhubarb on the entry, segueing into some vibrant orange zest and honeyed notes towards the viscous finish. Not as weighty or as concentrated as some Sauternes but this is very pure and feels very long in the mouth. Excellent. Tasted in Bordeaux.”
93 Pointz Robert Parker’s
Wine Advocate
Composed of 65% Semillon and 35% Sauvignon Blanc, the pale lemon-gold colored 2014 Guiraud opens with notes of honeyed apricots, lemon marmalade, and beeswax followed by touches of musk perfume and lightly browned toast. The palate is wonderfully refreshing with plenty of zippy citrus fruit and a long perfumed finish.
Bonus Reviews
United Kingdom
93 Pointz Decanter
“Tropical and orchard fruits are lifted by spicy botrytis notes, crystallised ginger, and lemon verbena. Balanced and refined, yet bigger than usual but remarkably fresh thanks to vibrant acidity. Drinking Window 2020 - 2040.”
2013 Chateau Guiraud Reviews
This wine is a blend of 65% Semillon and 35% Sauvignon Blanc.
96 Pointz Wine Spectator
“This is still really tight, with racy floral and green plum edges along the core flavors of white peach, mirabelle plum, melon, and green fig, but this has stunning length, with a rapier of minerality that matches the sweetness step for step on the long, quinine-infused finish. Gorgeous, and built for the long haul. Best from 2018 through 2038.”
95 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“This rich wine is still developing its spice, ginger, and complex fruits. The acidity is pronounced, with a fresh character that balances the full botrytis flavors.”
94 Pointz Vinous
“Intensely perfumed and aromatic, the 2013 Chateau Guiraud is strikingly beautiful. Orange blossoms, mint, honey, crème brulee are some of the many notes that that take shape in the glass. The 2013 is exotic, perfumed, and tropical, but not at all heavy. What a beautiful wine this is.”
93 Pointz James Suckling
“This is tight and linear with dried pineapple, honey, and powdered mushroom character. Medium to full body, medium sweet, and a light finish. Showing class for the vintage.”
92 Pointz Robert Parker’s
Wine Advocate
“The 2013 Chateau Guiraud has a generous bouquet of rich honeyed fruit interlaced with quince and hints of marmalade, though I would like to see more mineralite and tension by the time of bottling. The palate is well-balanced with a spice-tinged entry, touches of Seville orange and mandarin emerging with time. There is good depth here, fine density with plenty of sinew toward the saline-tinged finish.”
92 Pointz Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar
“(65% semillon and 35% sauvignon blanc): Medium yellow-gold. Exotic aromas of honeyed apricot, pineapple, and crystallized ginger are complicated by marmalade-y botrytis, a rarity in 2013, in which the noble rot is usually fresher and more lemony. Very sweet and suave on entry, then intensely flavored in the middle, with an almost bitter botrytis character to the rich tropical fruit flavors. This has terrific concentration of fruit but is not hugely acidic and comes across as a little foursquare presently. It's certainly impressively dense and long on the back. This is Guiraud's third vintage to be organic-certified; a total of five passages were undertaken, beginning on September 26 and finishing on October 24.”
Bonus Reviews
United Kingdom
94 Pointz Decanter
“A huge success in this vintage, with lovely aromas of dried jasmine flower and sweet spices. Pure, balanced sweetness, lean body, and great precision for 2013.”
18/20 Pointz Jancis Robinson, Master of Wine
“Rich, exotic fruit character. Apricot, starfruit, peach. Reminds me a bit of those rare botrytised Viogniers -- in a good way. Lovely, lovely acidity. Super length and concentration. Admirable! Drink 2015-2025.”
2012 Chateau Guiraud Reviews
92 Pointz Robert Parker’s
Wine Advocate
“Although there were three tries in 2012, Xavier Planty told me that all the botrytis-affected grapes were harvested in the three days period of October 29, 30, and 31, after the north-easterly wind. Nevertheless, his Guiraud has a sense of “confidence” on the nose that bodes well for the future – crisp, honeyed fruit with white peach and quince developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with a viscous, effervescent entry. It has good depth and freshness, although like others it dips at the finish where it is missing a little viscosity and persistency. There are only 600 cases produced in this year – a tiny crop.”
92 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“A rich and smooth wine with delicious sweetness, great acidity, and good balance. The wine has weight, orange marmalade and spice, and bright acidity on the finish.”
91 Pointz James Suckling
“This is the wine of this very difficult vintage for Sauternes with slice pear, honey, and citrus undertones. Medium body, a dense center palate, and a sweet and pretty aftertaste. Very fine. Drink now or hold.”
2011 Chateau Guiraud Reviews
99 Pointz James Suckling
“This wine has exceptional clarity, balance, and freshness, with lots of spicy botrytis character. Full body, medium-sweet, and a crisp finish. It’s racy and refined. What’s impressive is the intensity of noble rot that makes the wine feel almost dry. This is the greatest wine ever made here. Made from organic grapes.”
97 Pointz Wine Spectator
Highly Recommended
Ranked #12 Top 100 Wines of 2014
“A large-scale version, with seamlessly layered notes of almond cream, apricot, ginger, mango, piecrust, papaya, and toasted hazelnut. The long, spice-infused finish shows ample depth, echoing with an enticing tarte Tatin note. Best from 2016 through 2035.”
95 Pointz Vinous
“(5.8 total acidity; 140 g/l residual sugar): Bright golden yellow. Brooding nose of lemon, quince, pineapple, minerals, and saffron complicated by tangy botrytis. Rich and dense in the mouth, with racy acidity lifting and extending the mineral and ripe citrus flavors. Finishes rich, dense, and very long, with lingering floral and ripe citrus nuances. This Guiraud is still very much an infant and is likely to develop more slowly than most other 2011s, but it's destined to be a great wine for this estate.”
95 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
Cellar Selection
“The first impression is of the dry botrytis that has infused the wine. Then comes the acidity and crisp lemon flavor. Gradually, ripe marmalade and fragrant honey come out along with acidity. It’s a fascinating, complex wine worthy of a wait.”
93 Pointz Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar
“Bright yellow-gold. Deep aromas of lime, peach, quince, minerals, menthol, and saffron are complicated by tangy botrytis tones. Ripe, creamy flavors of peach, lime, and lemon verbena show noteworthy sweetness and power, with harmonious acidity providing lift. This very rich, textured wine coats the palate with tropical fruit and mineral flavors that linger impressively on the back end, enlivened by a brisk citrus element. This stellar Guiraud, which strikes me as being richer and deeper than the 2010, is still very young and will improve further in a good, cold cellar.”
92 Pointz Robert Parker’s
Wine Advocate
“Tasted blind at the Sauternes 2011 horizontal tasting. After Yquem and Doisy-Védrines, the Château Guiraud 2011 seems a little muted on the nose, but that is not fair because it is well-defined and very focused, gradually unfurling to reveal scents of honey, orange blossom, and quince. The palate is well balanced with a fine line of acidity. This is a more understated Sauternes, harmonious and nonchalant in style, but don’t be fooled because there is great tension, delineation, and poise on the finish, the fruit seamlessly bound with the new oak. This appears to have gained elegance and complexity in bottle, ergo my higher score.”
Bonus Reviews
United Kingdom
99 Pointz Decanter
“This wine has exceptional clarity, balance, and freshness, with lots of spicy botrytis character. Full body, medium-sweet, and a crisp finish. It’s racy and refined. What’s impressive is the intensity of noble rot that makes the wine feel almost dry. This is the greatest wine ever made here. Made from organic grapes. Try in 2017, but already delicious to drink.”
2010 Chateau Guiraud Reviews
96 Pointz James Suckling
“Ripe lemon peel and orange. Some honey and vanilla with loads of new wood. Dense and very sweet on the palate with nice pure fruit and firm tannins from the oak that still needs time to soften. This Sauternes shows a wonderful fruit and excellent potential, but needs time. Try in 2018.”
95 Pointz Vinous
“The 2010 Chateau Guiraud is a little closed on the nose like the 2010 Climens and demands a lot of coaxing from the glass. Eventually it reveals scents of dried honey, fig, and ginger but they feel muted at the moment. The palate is much better and more expressive with tangy marmalade and quince notes, good depth, and fine tension. It is just a case of waiting for the nose to open because the palate really shows the potential here. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.”
94 Pointz Wine Spectator
“This is developing some real power, with glazed peach and pear fruit pushed by graham and honey notes. There's lots of viscosity on the finish, but with good underlying acidity.”
93 Pointz Robert Parker’s
Wine Advocate
“Tasted as part of a vertical held at the chateau. The 2010 is more Zen-like on the nose compared to the 2009 – more minerality coming through, tense and citric. The palate offers surprising viscosity on the entry with a fine bead of acidity. There is plenty of apricot and dried honey. It has a lovely caressing texture, although there is still some new oak to absorb on the vanilla-scented finish. This has great potential. Drink 2019-2035. Tasted April 2013.”
93 Pointz Wine Enthusiast
“There is a wonderful balance to this wine. It has ripe tropical fruit flavors that are spiced with ginger and lemon zest. At the same time, there is a fine structure with a botrytis core and freshness from pineapple acidity. Drink from 2017.”
91 Pointz Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar
“Yellow-gold. Initially inexpressive nose opens slowly with air to hint at peach nectar and pear, along with hints of guava, mango, and caramel. Bright, dense, and juicy, with strongly oak-influenced flavors similar to the aromas. Finishes pure and long, with bright pepper and honey nuances. The harvest began on September 20 and ran through November 2; the third and fourth tries out of six were the main ones. The high presence of sauvignon is typical of Guiraud, as 35% of its vineyard is planted with this variety; the average in Sauternes is closer to 15%.”
Bonus Reviews
United Kingdom
95 Pointz Decanter
“Lively and expressive, with floral and citrus notes – there’s even a touch of lemon sherbet. Round, full, and textured with bitter orange freshness and persistence. Pure and complete. Grown organically. Drinking Window 2019 - 2040.”