Château Sigalas Rabaud Sauternes 2012 - 1er Cru Classé (37,5cl)

Bettane & Desseauve

About the wine:

One of the region’s most successful wines in this very challenging year, offering freshness, yet with a lovely richness on the palate and no hints of iodine or mushroom. This terroir drains beautifully. Best enjoyed by 2032.

About the estate:

Located right next to Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Sigalas-Rabaud is a small, 14-hectare vineyard in a single block (the smallest classified growth in Sauternes), ideally situated and capable of producing a very sweet wine of transcendent finesse. Due to its early ripening, the grapes develop noble rot in a particularly refined manner, as evidenced by the great vintages of the past twenty years. Laure Compeyrot de Lambert is steering the estate toward more sustainable viticulture and producing dry wines with character.

Decanter

About the wine:

Intense sweetness (131 g/L residual sugar) with excellent balance and wonderful precision. This wine lacks the density of the best vintages, but it offers balance, harmony, and freshness in a challenging vintage. Eric Boissenot serves as the estate’s consultant. 2019–2027

Guide Hachette des vins

About the estate:

Founded in the 17th century by a family of magistrates at the Parliament of Bordeaux, Château Rabaud was acquired by Henri Sigalas and became Sigalas-Rabaud in 1863. In 1903, his son Pierre sold 30 hectares to the Promis family, retaining only “the jewel of the terroir”—the current 14 hectares, planted on a gravelly hilltop over clay. The estate’s history was subsequently turbulent (leasing, mergers, divisions), until the family lands were reclaimed in 1951 by Marie-Antoinette de Lambert des Granges, née Sigalas, whose granddaughter, Laure de Lambert Compeyrot, now manages the estate.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the estate:

The Lambert family cultivates this magnificent, homogeneous terroir, which provides ideal conditions for the development of noble rot. The wine’s style is unparalleled: while it rivals the Haut-Sauternais premiers crus in terms of richness and power, with a similar bouquet, it reveals a more pronounced, immediate finesse that only intensifies with age. Ultimately, these are small miracles that a core group of loyal connoisseurs places at the pinnacle of Sauternes. Laure de Lambert-Compeyrot took over the management of Sigalas Rabaud in 2013 and is energetically developing the production of dry whites (La Sémillante de Sigalas and La Demoiselle). She is also fighting for the recognition of a new dry Sauternes appellation.

Wine Spectator

About the wine:

This wine offers notes of toasted coconut, warm brioche, pear, and peach cream. It has a lovely length, with a hint of candied lemon peel that adds depth to the finish. A fine effort for the vintage.

Jancis Robinson

Vinous

About the wine:

The 2012 Sigalas Rabaud offers a beautiful, very pure bouquet with aromas of white peach, quince, and saffron. On the palate, it is well-balanced, with a syrupy attack, good body, density, and fine acidity, and significantly more botrytis toward the finish than the 2012 Château de Malle. While not a wine meant for long-term aging, it is definitely worth trying. Tasted blind during the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting.

Le Figaro vins

About the wine:

Sigalas is a wine crafted with integrity and great elegance; while it lacks the usual intensity, it is medium-bodied yet beautifully balanced.