Tasting Note: Château La Rame 1997

Had a lovely bottle of Château La Rame 1997, a Sainte-Croix-du-Mont (a “minor” appellation near Sauternes and Barsac) to celebrate my sister-in-law’s 10th wedding anniversary. It was a perfect bottle for such an occasion. Straw-colored, clear and bright, it was very festive, with no trace of heaviness, and charming aromas and flavours of honey, beeswax and peach. Very fresh and balanced (not much botritys, if any, but wonderful ripeness ), it could have gone on for years and years. And it went great with a bit of excellent foie gras.

It should be pointed out that the bottle was bought in Quebec, kept there for two-three years, transported to Switzerland to be offered as a gift, carried from there to Sweden by car, and kept in yet another cellar there. Both cellars used to keep this dessert wine show considerable variations in temperature (seasonal, mostly, but still). Many experts would suppose that the wine would be adversely affected by such handling and storage, but really, having tasted several bottles kept in these conditions over the years, I’ve come to conclude that wine is not such an awfully sensitive liquid.

Mind you, the fact that 1997 was, according to Decanter, one of the best vintages of the last twenty years for Bordeaux-region dessert-wines surely didn’t hurt.

When you think that bottles of Château La Rame sells for 25$ US/30$ CDN, it was a great value and lots of fun.