CHÂTEAU DOISY DAËNE
2020 2ème Cru Classé Barsac
Mangoes, peaches, lemon pie and honey on the nose. Hint of mushrooms. It’s medium-bodied with excellent balance and a savory element to the sweet tropical fruit. Gorgeous length. Drink or hold. Rating: 94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (May 2023)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
Stands out in the vintage, with clear breadth and weight through the mid palate, delivering up marmalade, bitter orange and mandarin zest, well balanced sweetness and acidity, with cut glass precision and slate texture. 16hl/ha yield, with almost equal amounts of time in barrel and stainless steel vat for ageing. Drinking range: 2023 - 2045 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, Decanter (Feb 2023)
The 2020 Doisy-Daëne has a wonderful bouquet with wild honey, saffron, white chocolate and quince, very focused and has one of the most intense noses you will find in this vintage. The palate is exquisite in terms of balance; a razor-sharp line of acidity effortlessly slices through the layered botrytized fruit. This is a magnificent Barsac. Drinking range: 2025 - 2060 Rating: 96 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)
This is a very juicy and tropical style with a plush, forward palate and a slightly shorter finish than expected. Nice energy, but not that complex, this is another joyous, early-drinking wine. Rating: 16.5 Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Jun 2021)
The 2020 Doisy-Daëne is rich, creamy and wonderfully expressive. Lemon confit, marzipan, coconut, dried flowers, apricot and tangerine are some of the notes that build in the glass. All the elements meld together gracefully. Beautifully layered and sensual from to start to finish. Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 94-96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Jun 2021)
The 2020 Doisy-Daëne, pure Sémillon this year picked at 16hl/ha over three to six tries through the vineyard, presents a well-defined nose that, compared side-by-side with Doisy-Védrines, is actually quite similar in terms of the dried honey, honeysuckle, candle wax and quince aromas that unfurl from the glass. The palate is beautifully balanced with a fine bead of acidity, and such purity on the finish that it endows this Barsac with wonderful weightlessness. Magnificent. Drinking range: 2025 - 2060 Rating: 95-97 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2021)
Rich and powerful, this is a seductive Barsac that has a great balance of acidity and sweetness, nothing too over the top, full of lime zest and mandarin, with tongue-licking slate on the finish. Great stuff, extremely well balanced. A yield of 16hl/ha. 10 months in barrel for ageing followed by nine months in stainless steel. Drinking range: 2022 - 2045 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, Decanter (May 2021)
100% Sémillon (although there is Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle planted in the vineyard). 16 hl/ha. Picked in three to six passes through the vineyard by experienced pickers. Cask sample. Aged for 10 months in barrel followed by nine months in tank. Coppery gold colour. Very exuberant on the nose and with dramatic, expressive botrytised fruit on the palate. Very rich but edgy and energetic too. Firm and fresh with a floral note. A modern Barsac! Impressive to have managed this quality and this (relatively) generous yield. 13.5% Drinking range: 2025 - 2045 Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2021)
Château Doisy Daëne
Barsac Deuxième cru 1855 As one might expect, there was originally one Doisy estate. Sometime in the earlier 19th Century, it was divided into three parts - the larger part became Doisy-Vedrines, and two smaller parts became the rarely encountered Doisy-Dubroca and, the part purchased by Jean-Jacques Emmanuel Daëne, Doisy-Daëne. Jean-Jacques' sons later sold another portion of Doisy-Daëne to Doisy-Dubroca. Georges Dubourdieu bought Doisy-Daëne in 1924, and his family still own it to this day. The little over 16ha of vineyard sit sandwiched between Châteaus Coutet and Climens, and are planted with 87% Semillon, 12% Sauvignon Blanc and 1% Muscadelle. The Grand Vin is fermented in stainless-steel, but aged in wood, producing a style that is finer and cleaner than many other wines of the region. It would sit easily alongside the Premier Crus from the area, making Doisy-Daëne a sort of Barsac "super-second". In better vintages, a super-cuvée - L'Extravagant de Doisy Daëne - that rivals Yquem is produced from very late-picked grapes. Pierre Dubourdieu (Georges' son) was not so much interested in the classic dessert wines of the region as dry wines and under his stewardship, in 1949, Doisy-Daëne became the first Sauternes/Barsac producer to make a dry white. This 100% barrel-fermented Sauvignon Blanc is still produced in small quantities, although the modern generation place more appropriate emphasis on the sweeter end of the spectrum.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those on the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do contact our private client team via email or on 020 7018 0187.
Ordering
Prices are all in bond by the case size stated.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment to buy wines on release, as long as the release price is within the upper and lower price bands set by you on the pre-order form. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability but providing this firm commitment to buy effectively gives you priority and is a good idea for the most desirable wines.
Wines listed on the website can be ordered in the usual way via the website wishlist order form. You can also send orders directly to our private client team via email. Please note that, for the most sought-after wines, priority will be given to those who ordered the same wines last year and to those that have pre-ordered.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of email confirmation. Pre-orders are not binding if the release price is above your upper price band.
Invoices are all raised at the in bond price (excluding any duty and VAT) which will become payable at the prevailing rates when the wines arrive in the UK, should you wish to take duty paid delivery.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We regret we cannot accept credit cards for en primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (at LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £500. Orders below this total will be charged an administration and handling fee of £16.50+ VAT when invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery of 2023 Bordeaux bought en primeur is expected during 2026. Delivery dates may vary as wines are shipped from Bordeaux at different times.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes). Immediate payment of invoices is then required by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option but please note that confirmed orders are still binding even if the final invoice has not yet been issued.
Please specify on your wishlist order form where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. If this is to a third-party bonded warehouse, please specify the relevant account details. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue a second invoice for duty and VAT at the prevailing rate when the wines are available for delivery.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the format you want. While most of our listings are for 75cl bottles, we can source wines in any format that is offered by the Château. Please note that format requests cannot be changed once wines have been invoiced. Additional charges for special formats do apply and are as follows:-
- +£18.00 per case of 12 half-bottles
- +£30.00 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£7.50 per case of 3 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£11.00 per case of 6 Magnums
- +£45.00 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£60.00 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.
Storage Options:
Wines bought en primeur won't arrive in the UK until 2026. If you do not wish to take home delivery at that point, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our private client team for more information.