Cellar Favorite: 1948 La Tour Blanche

BY NEAL MARTIN | MARCH 31, 2025

Some bottles are more poignant than others, inextricable from the occasion, the place and above all, the person associated with the wine. The 1948 La Tour Blanche was donated by Bill Blatch during January’s Southwold tastings, his botrytised contribution to our annual dinner. Blatch was feeling too fatigued to attend after the day’s intense tasting, and even though 1948 was his birthyear vintage, he insisted that we take it to the restaurant to enjoy. I cannot help feeling that somehow he knew that had the 1948 gone unopened, it would never be shared with his friends. It was, for all intents and purposes, his parting gift. This is not an auspicious vintage for Sauternes. The autumn was too dry to really incite botrytis infection. Nevertheless, this bottle was further proof that it takes a really deplorable growing season to produce a distasteful sweet wine.

Deep amber in hue, the bouquet does not explode from the glass, rather, it gradually unfolds with scents of marmalade, quince and fig, hints of mandarin and adhesive. Fine delineation. The palate is fresh with exquisite poise. Plenty of marmalade notes emerge once again, while noticeable acidity lends this Sauternes tension. The 1948 does not possess a sustained finish, so it scarpers out of the exit door a little hastily. Nevertheless, this Sauternes continues to give pleasure. 93/100 Drink: 2025-2040.

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