Interview Primeurs 2009
Interview of Bérénice Lurton
Chairwoman of “Crus Classés 1855
Sauternes & Barsac”
“We are lucky we have a very great 2009, complex and very charming... it is already splendid with an explosion of aromas even if the wine shapes step by step.
The decade we are going through, vintage after vintage, offers magnificent Sauternes and Barsac wines, unfortunately the consumers miss great moments of pleasure, as if our wines were difficult and complicated, whereas they are sensual, of good quality/price ratio. Our wines are not present enough in the media. The “ODG Sauternes-Barsac”, that groups two appellations, has selected an agency (see box) to think and find the means to stop the gap between our wines and the image they promote. We have a historical image and we must preserve our connoisseurs and conquer new ones.
People are convinced they know the Sauternes but they hardly or do not know them and often have a wrong idea of the quality and the prices. When they taste our wines, they approve, and have real pleasure but do not buy any during the year: we have to change this.
The “Crus Classés de Sauternes & Barsac” communicate a lot on the food and wine matches, particularly for the attention of the sommeliers, to help and make them discover that our wines can play with the trends and modernity. In March, we collaborated with the SAQ (Canada) to create the first contest called “Créations des Jeunes Chefs Sauternes & Barsac” (Sauternes&Barsac Young Chefs creations). This first edition took place in Canada, with the idea to organize another in Asia and elsewhere. In May, some owners were present at Vinexpo Hong Kong to present our wines through tastings and peculiarly in Alain Ducasse's restaurant. Within the framework of the Symposium of the Masters of Wine, in June, in Bordeaux, we organize an exclusively Chinese lunch accompanied by our Crus Classés set to ‘music’ by five Chefs: one Chef, one dish.
All this requires a lot of organization and time, but it enables us to show the modernity of our wines that accompany a multitude of dishes, cuisines and not only foie gras and desserts... To show that our wines are a springboard to access the world of great wines as they have the dimension of great wines while being approachable and sensual.”
Florence VARAINE
Interview of Michel Garat –Château Bastor Lamontagne- and Chairman of the commission of promotion of the ODG Sauternes-Barsac:
«2010 will be marked by our new strategy of communication and of redifining the way our sweet wines are perceived. We first aim to mobilize the field around a new Sauternes&Barsac image, reconquer the actors who help us promote our wines with this notion of pleasure, of accessibility of the sweet wines, their diversity. We have to explain our wines differently. The message and its declension will be operated through posters, leaflets, tastings, particularly in this region, open days and then a larger range of targetted actions.»
