Surprisingly dry, this has richness rather than sweetness, and intense, powerful botrytis. The honey is intensely perfumed, along with baked apples and spice. Certainly a long-aging wine.

Tasted blind at the 10-Year On Tasting in Sauternes. The 2005 Château Coutet has a slightly muffled bouquet at the moment: honeysuckle, dried quince and a dab of kerosene in the background. The palate is fresh and vibrant on the entry with plenty of botrytized fruit, tensile and linear in the mouth with fine mineralité, though missing the sheer ambition and dimension of the Climens '05. Nonetheless, one can appreciate the tensile nature of this Barsac that should give 20 to 30 years of pleasure.

Bright golden yellow. Cool, pungent nose offers hints of orange, marzipan, sexy brown spices, parsley, grass and eucalpytus. Sweet, thick and powerful but with its fat fruit flavors cut by strong acidity. At once densely packed and vibrant, finishing with superb lingering sweetness and a mineral element. This needs patience and should evolve slowly.

Spice, dried pineapple, honey and light apricot aromas, like freshly crushed grapes. Full-bodied and very sweet, with masses of crushed fruit character and a long finish. Best after 2010.