To many, Sauternes is a sort of relic—a window into the great wines of the 19th century and a region whose style remains eternal. The bottles can, indeed, be time capsules, wines that can easily outlive most of their purchasers and gracefully age in the corners of cellars, with no rush to be uncorked.
But such thinking belies the real Sauternes of today: a region whose quiet dynamism deserves attention and renewed understanding. This is an appellation not in a state of stasis but one actively fighting various crises and pursuing diverse avenues to recapture public attention. While it is widely understood as one of the greatest sweet wine regions in the world, its wines still present almost shocking value, considering the low volumes and high labor required to make them. The average price for a hectare of Sauternes today is around €30,000; in Saint-Émilion, a hectare costs around €3,000,000.
Sauternes is a region that is evolving before our eyes. There are the obvious changes—the emergence of dry white wines, the contemporary (and polarizing) new branding for Rieussec—but many of the region’s changes are subtler yet significant. So, what defines a modern Sauternes winery in 2026?
I have already written extensively on the topic of dry wines produced in Sauternes, but the quality and importance of dry wines for many Sauternes producers have accelerated in recent years. While the category has diversified, winegrowers are also circling a unique identity for the dry whites coming from their soils, seeking to imbue their wines with a distinctive sauternais character. Largely, these wines are still driven by Sémillon, often more than one might expect in the typical white Bordeaux blend. The wines might also have a touch of botrytis, lending a dried honeycomb or marmalade quality that binds them to their sweet counterparts. In some cases, as with Château d’Yquem’s Ygrec, that botrytis amounts to a few grams of residual sugar, while, in most, the wine is fermented fully dry.
Château Climens now goes as far as producing three dry wines—Asphodèle, Lilium, and Petite Lily—an expansion initiated by Bérénice Lurton and spearheaded under new ownership since the winery’s sale in 2022. The CEO Jérôme Moitry explains, “In the current market context of lower sweet wine demand, it makes absolute sense to balance the production between sweet and dry wines.” He also points to the historic precedent of winemaking in the region that existed for centuries before producers’ mastery of noble rot, noting, “There is a perfect logic, as it is the same Sémillon that will produce dry wine when young and sweet wine when older.” Moitry’s family has eliminated Climens’s second sweet wine and purchased a second vineyard exclusively for dry wine production.
The dry wines of Sauternes are also separated from generic Bordeaux blanc by quality. As dry whites take up an increasing share of many estates’ portfolios, several producers seek to create a wine that strives for the pedigree of their grand vin and far surpasses that of the typical white Bordeaux. Naturally, that has shifted the conversation toward formalizing these dry wines of Sauternes into French wine law. At present, however, producers can label them only as Bordeaux blanc, not even permitted to attach the surrounding Graves appellation to their bottles. Some in favor of amending appellation guidelines imagine something along the lines of Vouvray or Jurançon, where, under one name, wines can come in both sweet and dry forms.
But the movement is not without its serious detractors. While the style continues to garner attention and is now made by many of the region’s most famous names, the total number of producers making dry wine remains small. Jean-Jacques Dubourdieu, the appellation copresident and general director of Château Doisy-Daëne (where his grandfather Georges pioneered the first recognized dry Sauternes wine in 1948), counts only 17 châteaux, of the region’s 140, making a dry wine. Those opposed to codifying Sauternes sec into law point to consumer confusion regarding regions whose wines span the sweetness spectrum and the difficulty of communicating that diversity of styles on a label. One producer points to Champagne, whose still wine cannot be called by the same name. Houses can, however, bottle such wines as Côteaux Champenois and have been able to for more than a half century. Perhaps a similar compromise might be reached in Sauternes.
To the untrained eye, the grands vins of Sauternes appear as classical and consistent as ever. Many of the more dramatic changes in the region are applied outside these flagship wines, leaving the marquee product seemingly untouched. Yet within the past two decades, there have been subtle movements at this highest tier, in both the vineyard and the cellar, that have significant consequences for the future of the category.
At the turn of the millennium, no vineyard in Sauternes had earned organic certification. The 2000s and 2010s ushered in an era of organic farming, starting at the very top. Château Guiraud was first to achieve organic certification, with its status confirmed in 2011. Château Climens followed suit in 2013, then fully converted to biodynamics, with Biodyvin approval in 2014 and Demeter approval in 2016. Outside the classified growths, the esteemed Château Bastor-Lamontagne also gained organic accreditation in 2016, a year after the small, quality producer Château La Clotte-Cazalis. Finally, Château d’Yquem began its three-year process toward organic conversion in 2019, harvesting its first certified organic vintage in 2022. The estate continues to experiment with biodynamic adoption.
Although these represent only a small fraction of Sauternes producers, such signals from the region’s top ranks suggest more properties will likely follow in their footsteps. Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey is in mid-conversion, and other châteaux may be adjusting their practices more quietly as well. And while the embrace of organic principles may simply appear aligned with the various viticultural sustainability movements of the 21st century, its significance feels slightly different in Sauternes—an appellation whose ability to meticulously control an unruly fungus is the chief determinant in the quality of its wines.
Moitry explains, “The fundamental change in adopting biodynamic cultivation is to move out from the sole curative approach when faced with new problems, to enter into a more prophylactic approach, using natural products to reinforce the natural defenses of the plant. This [has] turned out to be very good for the vineyard.” The estate’s analyses have reflected increased microbial activity and mycorrhizal networks in its soils. Importantly, none of Sauternes’s organic and biodynamic producers can cite any difference, either positive or negative, in noble rot development since conversion.
In addition to vineyard practices, changes are also afoot in vineyard composition. Muscadelle, the third member of the trio of Sauternes grapes and historically the smallest contributor to the appellation’s blends, is on the decline. Winegrowers cite challenges in the vineyard because of the variety’s susceptibility to powdery mildew and an assortment of viticultural ailments as leading factors in their abandonment of the cultivar. Others simply don’t like Muscadelle’s organoleptic qualities. Its more flamboyant floral, terpenic character delivers heady aromas to a Sauternes, but some find it disrupts a wine’s balance. This philosophy is diametrically opposite that of nearby Monbazillac, where winegrowers seem less challenged by the grape variety in the vineyard and whose wines are largely differentiated from Sauternes through increasing proportions of Muscadelle versus Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.
In Muscadelle’s stead, more producers are turning to Sauvignon Gris to fill their cuvées. The pink-skinned variant of Sauvignon Blanc has gained increasing traction in Sauternes for its comparative ease in the vineyard and its positive contributions to a Sauternes blend. (Technically, Sauvignon Gris is the same grape variety as and simply a clonal variant of Sauvignon Blanc—the same relationship of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir as well as Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, and Grenache Noir.) Sauvignon Gris delivers the same tropical fruit notes, perhaps in higher concentration, as Sauvignon Blanc, which are expected in many Sauternes wines, and it has lower levels of pyrazine. Structurally, its acidity brings important lift to counterbalance the wines’ residual sugar, while Sauvignon Gris’s darker skins provide some phenolic grip.
Finally, residual sugar levels for some Sauternes grands vins have been decreasing. For much of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Sauternes adopted a maximalist approach to winemaking, chasing greater botrytization that yielded wines of intense concentration and elevated sweetness. This philosophy measured quality by sugar, and the results could be impressive in their sheer viscosity and density of noble rot character. In more recent vintages, the pendulum has swung toward balance and freshness.
Some producers see this as a de-Parkerization of Sauternes. Whereas other regions are dialing back on alcohol or oak, the equivalent in Sauternes is more restrained residual sugar. This lands many of the grands vins in the range of 125 to 150 grams of residual sugar per liter—a healthy notch above Port, which sits around 100 grams per liter, but notably less sweet than many of the other great botrytized wines, such as typical Tokaji Aszú or German and Austrian Beerenauslesen and Trockenbeerenauslesen. Still, modern residual sugar levels do represent a notable increase from pre-1990s Sauternes, which commonly ran around or even well below 100 grams per liter.
In all, such adjustments to sweetness are part of a larger discussion of “drinkability” in Sauternes. While these wines are among the longest lived in the world, châteaux are fighting the notion that their grands vins need be aged to be enjoyed. A March visit to Château d’Yquem corresponded with the release day for the estate’s 2023 vintage. By lunchtime, 70% of its production had sold, and central to d’Yquem’s messaging was the vintage’s readiness to drink. That value proposition echoes similar sentiments among the crus classés at large across Bordeaux. Facing consumers’ decreased storage capacity for holding wines in the long term, along with dwindling en primeur sales to incentivize advance purchasing (Sauternes producers have long relied less on en primeur campaigns than their colleagues making red fine wines), winegrowers are increasingly both vinifying and positioning their wines for potential early consumption.
The immediate pleasures of a youthful Sauternes are not difficult to grasp; fruity, succulent, and candied in its sweetness, Sauternes does not have the same challenge of impenetrable tannin that one might find in Saint-Estèphe or Pauillac. Here, the issue is less barrier to entry than it is volume. Many producers mention a sort of second-glass test: can a Sauternes be enjoyed beyond a small pour, with its drinker going back for a refill? This is where reduced sugar levels come back into play: an overly opulent Sauternes that offers initial deliciousness can easily turn cloying with a larger serving. More recent grands vins aim to be not quite as quickly satiating. The ability to slowly nurse a bottle of Sauternes, one that can keep in the fridge over the course of weeks or months, with any decline imperceptible to most palates, has become a double-edged sword for the region. The more quickly consumers finish a glass, the quicker they will finish a bottle—and the more Sauternes they will ultimately need to purchase, or so is the hope.
Still, the shift in profile of the grands vins has been gradual, and most drinkers will not quickly discern it. More obvious transformation is apparent in the second wines, which have long been thought of as baby versions of the flagships, not dissimilar to the corresponding category for red wines throughout the region. For Sauternes, second wines have been made with grapes that were less consistently affected by botrytis, leading to slightly lower residual sugars; have been used to declassify fruit from younger vines or with less scrupulous selection; and have required fewer of the expensive new barriques needed for élevage. And, of course, these wines are also priced lower.
Many of those core tenets remain true for second wines of Sauternes today but have been taken to such extremes that the product has become virtually unrecognizable. Less botrytis might mean no botrytis. Less new oak might mean maturation entirely in stainless steel. Some deem this the modern style of Sauternes, an aesthetic meant to capture a youthful freshness distinct from the character of the flagship wines. These are wines that not only can be consumed young but largely should be to capture their boisterous primary fruit character. Cynthia Capelaere, the director of Château Bastor-Lamontagne, explains, “The goal is to favor the expression of fruit and the vibrancy of this lively wine.” Château Bastor-Lamontagne’s second wine, SO, is intended to be “accessible and easy-drinking,” made for a “wider audience looking for a versatile wine that can be enjoyed as an apéro Sauternes.”
Curiously, these are wines that several producers say are designed for the domestic Gen Z market. While a parallel is not yet obvious in the United States, the French are finding success reaching younger consumers with sweet but fresh fine wines. (The Germans are finding a similar revival for Kabinett Riesling among their national Gen Z consumers, with the added value of lower alcohol.) These so-called modern Sauternes lack the seriousness of their elder siblings, but they are still made by many of the world’s greatest sweet wineries. The liqueur-like intensity that defines so many Sauternes wines is replaced with a flamboyant ease and purity.
In 2015, Thomas Dejean, the general director of Château Rabaud-Promis, abandoned making dry wine, instead focusing the château’s energy toward a second sweet wine, Omega. He says, “I think the second wine should be a little less concentrated and is aimed at a young, dynamic clientele who want to discover sweet wines.” Rather than being lusciously sweet, Omega has around 45 grams of residual sugar per liter, with only about 10% noble rot infection, to produce a moelleux style. The wine is aged in amphora, lending a distinctive stoniness to the wine, and is less the second wine of the estate and more an entirely different expression—so much so that the wine is not even labeled as Sauternes but declassified to Vin de France.
Still, “modern” Sauternes is not the only way that producers are expanding their range of sweet products. At Château Sigalas Rabaud, Laure de Lambert Compeyrot has begun bottling a Sauternes without added sulfites. Such a practice is virtually unheard of in the world of dessert wines, which regularly rely on higher sulfur dioxide additions and filtration levels to preserve microbial stability. De Lambert Compeyrot’s explanation for how she makes this wine is quite simple: she seeks balance and stability in the grapes at harvest and expects that equilibrium to translate into the bottled wine. Vigilant tracking of oxidation in the cellar and thorough mechanical filtration are also necessary in the absence of added sulfites. That’s not to say that these wines do not have any funk—there is a distinctive musty, chalky character alongside the cloudy appearance. But that profile fits for a Sauternes breaking into the realm of the natural wine world.
Beyond changes in the wines, producers in Sauternes have also sought opportunities to build relationships with consumers and develop additional revenue streams. For many, this includes an increased focus on enotourism. Sauternes’s tourism industry is among the most developed in Bordeaux, even though obstacles are, in many ways, greater for Sauternes than other pockets of the region. In addition to the challenge of inconsistent interest in sweet wines, Sauternes is relatively far from the city of Bordeaux. Pessac-Léognan is basically right on the outskirts of the city center; Sauternes can be more than an hour’s drive away.
Many of the top châteaux of Sauternes are now not only open to the public but also offering unique experiences to draw visitors south. Château Guiraud operates two restaurants, one with Michelin Bib recognition, the other with a Michelin star. Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey has the two-starred restaurant Lalique, named after the famous glass company that was also acquired by its owner, Silvio Denz. The restaurant is decked out in luxurious glass furnishings, but those not dining on-site can also see the mesmerizing crystal barrel Lalique fashioned for the estate.
At Rabaud-Promis, Thomas Dejean recently installed a hexagonal shed that acts as a giant hive to 300,000 bees. Guests can (safely) enter and taste the château’s wines among the buzzing and find parallels in the honeyed notes of Sauternes. After nearly a decade at Château Guiraud, most recently as its director, Luc Planty left to acquire the lesser-known classified growth Château de Malle, a winery and historic home once held by the Lur Saluces family, which had begun to fall into disrepair. What was the draw? Says Planty, “The property’s potential. We took over a property that had been lying dormant but held great potential for both winemaking and tourism—a true dual-purpose venture. It’s also a property with incredible charm.”
Planty sees a whole segment of visitors coming specifically for the château, which has been a historic monument since 1943 and whose ornate architectural flourishes extend into the lush, manicured gardens. For Planty, such interest provides stability, as does the estate’s ability to make dry white and red wines from adjoining vineyards that lie outside Sauternes’s boundaries in Graves.
The story of Sauternes today is so much more than just the new dry whites or the same stoic consistency of its grands vins. While such wines certainly continue to add to the pedigree of the appellation, producers understand the need to modernize in this shifting wine landscape. Fortunately, none of the changes need impede the quality of its great wines; any sacrifices in volume for dry or second wines should only increase the quality of the flagships. Sauternes might adapt to survive, but adaptation is not abandonment of what the region knows it does best: pristine noble rot wines that set the precedent for the global sweet wine industry.
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Anson, Jane. “10 Minute Masterclass: Sauternes, Jane Anson.” Conversation with Sarah Kemp. The Wine Conversation. Accessed June 10, 2026. Audio, 11:21. https://www.wine-conversation.com/conversations/10minute-masterclass-sauternes.
Brook, Stephen. The Complete Bordeaux. 3rd ed. Mitchell Beazley, 2017.
Vins de Bordeaux (website). Accessed June 10, 2026. https://www.bordeaux.com/en.
Wiatrak, Bryce. “The Dessert Desert.” GuildSomm, January 3, 2019. https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/bryce-wiatrak/posts/dry-wines-from-sweet-regions.