Coutet Cuvée Madame
BY NEAL MARTIN |
An unexpected message pops up on my Smartphone. It is from Aline Baly, daughter of co-proprietor Dominique Baly, enquiring whether I can meet for an impromptu tasting of eight vintages of Coutet’s Cuvée Madame. The odds are slim. I am flying back to Blighty at some ungodly hour the following morning and I am midway through a marathon tasting. Then again, this is not just any Sauternes, but an elusive and fascinating bottling. Thankfully we find time to rendezvous even though both Aline and “Madame” must slum it in the lobby of the Ibis Budget in all its pastel glory. I have only tasted the Cuvée Madame a handful of times, my first when Robert Parker poured the 1986 blind at dinner. Rarity notwithstanding, there is timeliness to this article, since it coincides with the release of the 2009 Cuvée Madame and you will have to wait another eight years for the next one.
An unexpected message pops up on my Smartphone. It is from Aline Baly, daughter of co-proprietor Dominique Baly, enquiring whether I can meet for an impromptu tasting of eight vintages of Coutet’s Cuvée Madame. The odds are slim. I am flying back to Blighty at some ungodly hour the following morning and I am midway through a marathon tasting. Then again, this is not just any Sauternes, but an elusive and fascinating bottling.
