Dom de Montesquiou Vendanges Tardives 2019 Jurançon

This is made from the estate's oldest Petit Manseng vines, with grapes harvested during a succession of "tries" (passes) through the vineyard, during late November and early December. Several more notches up the ripeness scale, this really is a wonderfully concentrated wine, pure 24 carat gold in colour, with a nose that possesses everything that Grappe d'Or has, along with candied fruits of all descriptions and colours and notes of toasted almonds, diesel and woodsmoke, basil and oregano. A hint of honey even suggests a touch of botrytis (on both the nose and palate) whilst the acidity is definitely more tangerine and seville orange than the lemon/lime of its sibling - still wonderfully bracing and tangy, but richer and fuller, and with all sorts of apple crumble, honeycomb, raisin and mixed spice things going on. At this price - a full 75cl bottle, for the same price as a half-bottle of middling Sauternes - this really does provide amazing value for money. Plus of course it will keep for weeks, or even months in the fridge, once opened - if you can resist, that is! A quite extraordinarily lovely wine.