SAUTERNES are white wines made in the vineyards of Sauternes and of the adjoining parishes of Bommes, Barsac, Preignac and Fargues in France. In all these parishes, which form the Sauternes district, the soil and subsoil are entirely different from the soil and subsoil of the Graves district, which it adjoins. Entirely different species of grapes are grown in the Sauternes dis trict, species particularly well suited to the soil which produces a naturally sweet wine of unsurpassed excellence. The sweetness of Sauternes is the sweetness of the grape which is retained without the fermentation having been checked by added brandy, as is the case with sweet "fortified" wines.
The finest estate of the Sauternes district, the one which pro duces by far the finest Sauternes wine and usually also a far greater quantity than any other, is Château Yquem. The wines of Yquem possess both freshness and richness, a combination which is as admirable in a wine as it is rare ; they have body, bouquet, breed, and, when of a good vintage, they will not only last but improve for a considerable time. The other Sauternes vineyards which
produce the finest wines are those of the following châteaux : La Tour Blanche, Peyraguey, Vigneau, Rabaut, in the parish of Bom mes; Suduiraut and Rieussec in the parish of Preignac ; Coutet and Climens in the parish of Barsac ; Guiraud and Filhot, in the parish of Sauternes.
Although part of the Sauternes district, the parish of Barsac produces wines which are quite distinctive, possessing a character istic bouquet, and not being quite so sweet as the majority of Sauternes wines, but distinctly richer than Graves. (See WINE.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Andre L. Simon: Wine and Spirits (1919) ; The Blood of the Grape (1920 ; Wine and the Wine Trade (1921) ; The Supply, the Care, and the Sale of Wine (1923). Ed. Feret: Bordeaux et ses vins classes par ordre de merite (Bordeaux, 1908). F. Malvezin: Bordeaux: histoire de la vigne et du yin en Aquitaine depuis les origines jusqu'd nos fours (1919). "Wine Trade Record"; Clarets and Sauternes (192o). H. Warner Allen: The Wines of France (1924).
(A. L. S.)