Chateau Gilette Sauternes Bordeaux Wine
Chateau Gilette
Chateau Gilette Sauternes, Bordeaux wine producer profile, with wine tasting notes, wine ratings, a history of the property, information on wine making and terroir, along with wine tasting reviews. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles
Chateau Gilette dates back to 1710, when the two, well-known Sauternes familes got together through marriage. The Numa Médeville married family Marie Despujols, the daughter of another famous family in the region, Lamothe Despujols. The couple was given the estate as a wedding gift from Lamothe Despujols. vineyards, Gilette and Les Justices.
The estate has remained in the hands of the Médevile family for generations. Chateau Gilette is perhaps the most unique Bordeaux wine produced in the Sauternes appellation. The wines of Chateau Gilette are released on average, between 20 and 25 years after the vintage! The wine remains in tank for close for almost 20 years before it’s even bottled! At that point, Chateau Gilette ages the bottled Sauternes wine for an additional 3-5 years!
The 4.5 hectare Sauternes vineyard of Chateau Gilette is located in the commune of Preignac on gravel based soils. The vineyard is planted with 85% Semillon, 10% Sauvignon and 5% Muscadelle. The wine is fermented and stored in tanks and does not see any oak during its long aging. Chateau Gilette is only made in select vintages. In fact, Chateau Gilette has gone years without producing a wine. For example, no wine was made in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 or 1995. Currently, Chateau Gilette is managed by Julie Gonet-Médeville and her husband Xavier Gonet, who is known for Gonet Champagne. The family also own Chateau Les Justices in Sauternes as well as other Bordeaux properties.
Chateau Gilette at its best is filled with tropical, honey drenched fruit and spices. But it lacks vanilla, coconut or custard scents found in many Sauternes as it was not aged in oak. Depending on the vintage, this Bordeaux wine gains complexities with additional bottle age, which is amazing, considering it’s already close to 25 years old by the time it’s realeased! However, in some vintages, the fruit drops with age and it’s not as much fun to drink with time.
Wine Tasting Notes
Displaying 6 vintages | 9343 Views Sorted by vintage
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1983 Château Gilette Crème de Tête
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This light copper colored wine offered apricots, honeyed orange rind, sweet tropical and apricot flavors, soft, rich textures and a fully mature, pineapple, orange and citrus finish. There is ample sweetness and freshness. I did not know it at the time, but this was my last bottle. Gilette is an interesting Sauternes as it does not see ageing in oak. It's aged in cement vats for 20-25 years before bottling, so you do not find the typical, vanilla or custard sensations that are found in most sweet Bordeaux wines.
92 points - Tasted Sep 1, 2012
1320 Views -
Sweet, honeyed tropical fruits greet your nose, while ripe honey drenched. pineapple, pear, apricot and orange fruit grace your palate. For lovers of sweet wines, this was very nice. It's improved over the past year. I liked this bottle a lot more than the last bottle I opened. It's hard not to love a winery that their most recent releasewas the 1983, and that came out in 2006!
93 points - Tasted Nov 15, 2009
922 Views -
Light in color and light on the palate, this wine reminded me more of a Barsac than a Sauternes. Medium sweetness, but not enough concentration to be more than good. Good acidity with a nice lift. It reminded us of a good, but not great Climens.
91 points - Tasted Nov 12, 2007
892 Views
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1976 Château Gilette Crème de Tête
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1976 Château Gilette Crème de Tête opens with an orange, Christmas spice, nectarine, cinnamon, peach, honey and floral perfume. If that was all there was supposed to be the wine, that would have been fine. But wines need to offer pleasure on the palate too and this wine stopped short of that. Semi tart, lacking sweetness and freshness, while not great, this was average at best. Based on this bottle, the wine is slowly starting to dry out and drop its fruit. Perhaps it was the specific bottle. I'll try to open another in the moderate future. 86 Pts
86 points - Tasted Dec 9, 2010
1268 Views
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1975 Château Gilette Crème de Tête
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Light copper in color and filled with apricot, pineapple, orange blossom and honey accents. It had the weight of a Climens instead of Rieussec. This is ready to drink.
92 points - Tasted May 1, 2008
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The wine is all ripe fruit. As it sees no oak, there are none of the vanilla or honeyed tones you normally find in Sauternes. The deep, orange hued wine with its elegant, ripe, tropical fruit was very rich, had good concentration and complexity and made a perfect paring with the Foies Gras
95 points - Tasted Dec 18, 2005
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Thick, rich, concentrated, opulent flavors exploded from glass. This wine is best described as a boatload of dense, extremely ripe, honeyed fruit accompanied by a healthy dose of unique spices.
95 points - Tasted May 3, 2005
823 Views
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1971 Château Gilette Crème de Tête
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Getting tired and starting to become oxidized. The wine was dull and lacked a lot of fragrance or fruit showing. I hope this was an off bottle. However, I think it's just old age setting in.
83 points - Tasted Oct 6, 2011
1027 Views
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1967 Château Gilette Crème de Tête
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This deep orange, copperish colored wine was vibrant and alive. Full of ripe, sexy honeyed tropical fruit and the lift of acidity. Thick, rich and concentrated, this will deliver pleasure for years.
96 points - Tasted Mar 12, 2006
776 Views
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1950 Château Gilette Crème de Tête
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Dark as molasses. It had an interesting burnt caramel nose. Lots of depth, but lacking finesse. Some sweetnees and fruit remained, but the majority of sensations came from the burnt qualities. Still, it was quite an adventure to taste a Sauternes close to 60 years old.
90 points - Tasted Dec 1, 2007
774 Views
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