Chateau Yquem

The wines of Château Yquem

Yquem is the most famous and the greatest sweet wine in the world! 

Property of LVMH since 1997 (previously the Lur de Saluces family), Château d'Yquem is the only Premier Cru Supérieur classified in Sauternes and Barsac in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux wines, and did not produce any wine in 1910, 1915, 1930, 1951, 1952, 1964, 1972, 1974, 1992 and 2012. Located 45km from Bordeaux (left bank), next to the châteaux Guiraud, Rieussec, Clos Haut Peyraguey, Lafaurie Peyraguey and Raymond Lafon, the 100 hectares of the Yquem vineyard are nestled at the top of the sandy-clay terrace, composed of a thin layer of sand over a clay dome.

Château Yquem is legendary and has had, since the 19th century, 100 km of buried pipelines to drain rainwater. Approximately 35 years old, the vines cultivated using reasoned farming methods are composed of 75% Sémillon and 25% Sauvignon, planted at 7,000 vines per hectare.

The prestigious Château d'Yquem vinifies two white Bordeaux wines: the Grand Vin of Château d'Yquem and the second wine "Y d'Yquem".

History of Château Yquem 

It all begins in the Middle Ages, when the estate belonged to the King of England, who was then Duke of Aquitaine. In 1453, Charles VII, having attached the region to the French Crown, conferred upon the estate its current nationality. A century and a half later, in 1593, Jacques Sauvage, a local notable, became the tenant of Yquem and undertook the construction of the château. He gradually built up the current vineyard by acquiring it plot by plot. In 1711, ennobled under the reign of Louis XIV, the Sauvage family became the outright owner of the Yquem estate. In 1785, the last heiress of the Sauvage d'Yquem family, Françoise Joséphine, married Louis Amédée de Lur-Saluces (colonel of a cavalry regiment). Following the accidental death of the latter, the estate passed to his widow, who developed the reputation of Yquem's wines, already highly appreciated by the great connoisseurs of the time. Despite a difficult period during the Revolution, she succeeded in preserving the family legacy and in making the property prosper. In 1826, she had the wine cellar built, a bold innovation for the time, which transformed the estate into a true viticultural enterprise and developed its international renown.

What had been merely a family estate gained international recognition thanks to Romain-Bertrand de Lur-Saluces, grandson of Françoise Joséphine, who succeeded her after her death in 1851. The estate was subsequently elevated to the rank of Premier Cru Supérieur at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855. During the second half of the 19th century, the estate enjoyed a long period of prosperity. In 1859, Grand Duke Constantin, brother of the Tsar, purchased a barrel of Yquem for 20,000 gold francs, an extraordinary price for the time. Furthermore, Japan, during the Meiji era, discovered the pleasures of Yquem wine. After the death of Romain-Bertrand, the estate was taken over by his son Amédée de Lur-Saluces, and then by his younger brother Eugène. This phase of Yquem's history came to an end with the great phylloxera crisis and the First World War.

In 1914, Château d'Yquem was converted into a military hospital while Bertrand de Lur-Saluces, son of Eugène, fought in the trenches. At the end of the conflict, he took back the management of the estate for half a century. True to the philosophy of Yquem, he opposed the chaptalization of wine and defended family estates even during the crisis of the 1930s. As president of the Union des Crus Classés de la Gironde, he played a central role in defending the grands crus and contributed to the determination of the Sauternes AOC. He was also one of the main advocates of "château bottling", thereby guaranteeing authenticity. Once again enlisted during the Second World War, he returned to find his estate preserved after having been a prisoner of war for two years, and continued to ensure its development until his death.

In 1966, Bertrand de Lur-Saluces designated Alexandre de Lur-Saluces, one of his brother Amédée's sons, as his successor at the head of the estate. Despite a difficult start marked by a series of poor years, a severe trade crisis and significant inheritance taxes weakening Yquem, the estate was saved by better management and an excellent 1975 vintage. During the 1980s, improved harvests allowed for new investments, reaching an even higher level of exigency and technical expertise than in the past.

Château d'Yquem was acquired in 1996 by the LVMH Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton group. In 2004, management was entrusted to Pierre Lurton, who has since continuously promoted its modernity, its authenticity, and its expertise while remaining open to the present day.

Château Yquem, its vineyard and botrytis cinerea

Here, then, is a paragraph explaining the success of Yquem, the most famous sweet wine in the world! 

It has been, for 100 years, the sole Premier Cru Classé of Sauternes: it stands apart through its extreme quality and exemplary consistency, even in more difficult vintages. It produces only prodigies, which accentuates its status as a mythical wine. Indeed, in order not to compromise the exceptional quality of this cru, the estate allows itself not to always produce its wines depending on the quality of the vintage.

This is a wine to be tasted at least once in one's lifetime! 

Under the direction of Pierre Lurton (also director of Cheval Blanc), this wonderful Sauternes draws its excellence from its terroir and all the expertise that surrounds it. 

Thanks to a terroir where botrytis develops under the best conditions, the wines produced are thus powerful, concentrated, with an ageing potential unmatched compared to their neighbours. 

Botrytis cinerea is a fungus that develops and pierces holes in the skins of the berries. It is often considered a parasite responsible for grey rot, but when its development occurs under very specific conditions, the rot it produces is referred to as noble rot. 

For this to occur, the berries must have already reached a certain level of ripeness, the morning mists that facilitate the development and growth of botrytis must spread in the morning and dissipate in the afternoon in order to limit the infection rate and prolong the ripening of the berries until harvest. Furthermore, the vineyard soils are composed of large gravel stones, promoting heat accumulation and drainage of rainfall, all with the aim of achieving berry ripeness. 

Thus, the holes pierced under such conditions allow the water present in the grape berries to evaporate: this process concentrates the flavours and sugars.

Such conditions are both precise and complex: the terroir of Yquem is fortunate to benefit from this microclimate thanks to the Ciron river, which generates morning mists, with afternoons that are often sunny. 

A myth unto itself, with high prices, but something to delight in and leave a lasting impression. 

The expertise of Château Yquem: how are these exceptional wines vinified? 

The farming method at Yquem remains traditional. The soil is enriched with farmyard manure, on only 20 hectares per year, which helps maintain the natural balance of the soil. The vines are never chemically weeded, but are constantly tended by winegrowers in keeping with traditional farming methods, such as hilling up and de-hilling. In winter, severe pruning promotes maximum ripeness. The Sémillon is pruned "à cots" while the Sauvignon is pruned "à cots" for 90% and in "guyot simple" for the remainder. The female winegrowers, meanwhile, look after the plots and carry out "green" operations such as desuckering, shoot positioning and spur removal. Before the harvest, the teams carry out leaf-stripping so that the bunches dry more quickly in the morning while protecting the western side.

The next step is the harvest, a method unchanged at Château d'Yquem. Botrytis contaminates the berries, turning them brown and making the skin permeable, which allows water to evaporate and sugar to concentrate inside. The must thus reaches levels well beyond normal ripeness, with a potential of 18 to 30° of alcohol, equivalent to 300 to 600 grams of sugar per litre. The aim is to obtain a must at 20° of potential alcohol, which requires a long wait and a significant risk of crop loss as winter approaches. Yquem's low yield (9 hectolitres per hectare on average) is explained by the reduction in volume due to this concentration. Then, 200 pickers, organised into 4 teams, walk through the vineyard in search of "botrytised" grapes that have reached their optimal concentration. The picking requires several successive sortings to harvest only the "roasted" grains transformed by noble rot. Spread over 6 weeks, this harvest requires an average of five to six sortings, and sometimes more than ten in certain years.

From vine to cellar, everything begins with pressing, adapted to the texture of the berries. Unlike other white wines, three to four pressings are carried out at Yquem to increase the sugar content and the quality of the juices. The first pressing, carried out in a pneumatic press, yields 75% of the juice with approximately 19° of potential alcohol. The second pressing represents 15% of the juice at approximately 21°, and the third can reach 25°. The juice is then returned to a vertical press for a final drying. Fermentation takes place in barrels, with new barrels traditionally made from oak staves. Each barrel is identified and the batches are monitored daily by the château's laboratory. Fermentation can last from two to six weeks depending on the activity of the musts. Each day of harvest is vinified separately for 6 to 8 months. A pre-blend is carried out among the batches the following spring after the harvest, then the wine spends 20 months in the ageing cellar, with 15 rackings to eliminate deposits. Fine suspensions are removed by a light "fining". The final selection is made through blind tastings to decide on the final blend of Château d'Yquem.

The final step is bottling. During the third winter, the wine is bottled under the best technical conditions, with a 54mm cork to ensure its great ageing capacity. Yquem offers different bottle formats, from the half-bottle to the nebuchadnezzar. Once bottled, the finishing is meticulous: label, capsule, the bottle is wrapped in white tissue paper and placed in a wooden case, in crates marked with the château's coat of arms.

The characteristics of Château Yquem wines 

The wine produced thus has a golden-yellow robe and is adorned with a magnificent aromatic palette. 

In great vintages, the grand Yquem wine is very opulent, rich, powerful, unctuous and full-bodied, with nuances of orange marmalade, pineapple, apricot, peach, crème brûlée, spices and coconut. A silky texture and an enveloping sensation that coats the palate, this nectar offers a magnificent balance between sweetness, opulence, freshness and acidity, all with a pronounced intensity of flavours! 

With its exceptional length, one must wait a minimum of 15 years before approaching it, but it can age for up to 100 years depending on the vintage. The grand wine is luxuriously aged in new barrels for 42 months.

The best vintages of Château Yquem

The greatest vintages of Yquem, with scores above 96/100, are: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2003, 2001, 1997, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1986, 1983, 1976, 1975, 1967, 1959, 1955, 1949, 1947, 1945 and 1937. Yquem has received a perfect score of 100/100 from Parker 8 times, in: 1811, 1847, 1921, 1945, 1975, 1976, 2001 and 2009. The critics' reviews of Château d'Yquem are fabulous, with 3 stars in the RVF Green Guide, and the prices reflect the calibre of this great cult wine with its incredible ageing potential.

The price of Yquem: why is it a safe investment?

The prices of Château d'Yquem bottles from the previous century are very high for several reasons, which contribute to the reputation and value of this exceptional wine:

History and Prestige: Château d'Yquem is one of the most prestigious and ancient wine estates in the world. Its history dates back to the Middle Ages, and it was classified as Premier Cru Supérieur at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855, a unique distinction in the classification of Sauternes wines. This historical recognition and its prestige contribute to its value.

Quality and Singularity: Yquem is renowned for its exceptional quality. The production of this wine is marked by unparalleled rigour and attention to detail. The estate employs very precise vinification and ageing techniques, and the harvests are carried out by hand, selecting only grapes affected by noble rot (botrytis cinerea). This laborious and delicate process ensures a unique concentration of sugar and aromas.

Longevity: Château d'Yquem wines are known for their exceptional ageing potential. They can improve over several decades, or even more than a century, developing remarkable complexity and depth over time. This longevity makes Yquem wines highly prized collector's items.

Limited Production and Low Yields: The production of Yquem is deliberately limited to maintain quality. Yields are very low, approximately 9 hectolitres per hectare, which is well below the average of other vineyards. This rarity increases the value of the bottles.

International Reputation and Demand: Château d'Yquem enjoys an international reputation and is highly sought after by wine lovers and collectors from around the world. Demand for these wines is consistently high, which drives prices upward.

Exceptional Vintages: In certain years, climatic conditions and the terroir allow for the production of exceptional vintages. These vintages are particularly sought after and can reach very high prices. Wine lovers often seek out specific years known for their extraordinary quality.

Auction Success: Yquem wines frequently achieve record prices at auction, reinforcing their reputation as a safe investment and solid asset.

In summary, the high prices of Château d'Yquem bottles from the previous century are explained by its prestigious history, its exceptional quality, its ageing potential, its limited production, and its international demand. These factors make Yquem a safe investment for wine lovers and investors alike.

How to taste a Château Yquem?

When opening a bottle of Yquem, care must be taken to ensure it is an optimal experience. 

It will be necessary to open the bottle a little in advance to allow the wine to open up: 1 to 2 hours before tasting, to be enjoyed chilled at around 10°C. The taster should take their time to allow the wine to express its full aromatic range. It is also worthwhile spending time describing its colour, the aromas that emerge on the first and second nose, as well as fully appreciating its flavours and texture on the palate, either on its own or by varying the dishes served alongside it. 

Here are several tasting notes for various vintages of Château Yquem, prepared by our teams: 

Yquem 2008: This is a wine one can appreciate for hours from the nose alone. White fruits, peach, pineapple, honey, crème brûlée, orange marmalade… Magnificent aromas for a 16-year-old Yquem! On the palate, the opulence, power, richness and unctuousness are balanced by a beautiful freshness. The intensity of the flavours is of course pronounced, and the length is infinite. A pure delight. Even for those who do not particularly enjoy sweet wines or any form of sugar in wine, a small tasting alongside a dessert is sure to please everyone. 

Y d'Yquem 1985: Deep golden robe with some orange hues. A fairly unexpressive nose at first, but which opens up well after an hour of aeration. The aromas of a great sweet wine gradually emerge, followed by floral notes and dried fruits. The palate is unmistakably that of a dry wine, with a superb balance and a beautiful acidity on a substance that is still quite lively for a dry white of this age. One could even wait for it!

Yquem 1985: Orange-gold robe, the deepest in the sequence. Honeyed and candied nose, with stewed white fruits and toffee. The palate is ample with medium acidity. The wine is without doubt the most evolved of the three in this sequence. The fragile cork of this bottle may be the cause of this rather premature evolution.

Yquem 1995: Golden robe without notable orange hues. Nose of stewed orchard fruits, fruit paste, caramel and vanilla. The palate is of great power and the body is massive, with reasonable acidity. A vintage for long keeping.

Yquem 1961: Deep orange-gold robe with amber hues. A very expressive and elegant nose, with honey, dark rum, beeswax, dried fruits, mushrooms and medicinal herbs. The palate, however, is narrow, with low concentration. Even if the superb fill level and the solid cork of this bottle left one dreaming, this old wine seduces primarily through its aromatics.

Yquem 1982: Deep orange-gold robe. One of the most seductive noses, with quince, orchard fruits, honey, flowers, dried fruits and bitter orange. The palate is grandiose. Upright, balanced, with a beautiful concentration and a wonderfully refreshing acidity. The length is remarkable. A synthesis of the elegance and uniqueness of Yquem.

Yquem 1976: Deep orange-gold robe. Expressive nose of macerated fruits, honey, fruit paste and exotic fruits. A spherical, rich and massive palate that makes you want to wait many more years to enjoy it more fully.

Y d'Yquem 1979 : A robe of medium intensity and gold/old gold color. On the nose, one finds aromas of wax, cream, very ripe exotic fruits, orange peel, mushroom and soft spices. On the palate, the volume is substantial, the acidity sustained with notes of smoke, undergrowth and earth. A slight bitterness on the finish.

Yquem 2002: The robe is of medium intensity, gold/old gold but without orange hues. The nose is intense with notes of pineapple, apricot, orange, vanilla and honey. On the palate, one finds crème brûlée and orange peel, a beautiful acidity that leaves the palate clean with great length.

Yquem 1958: A distinctly amber robe. The very complex nose reveals notes of cognac, coffee, tobacco, prune, "Quinquina", quince paste, mushroom, honey and bitter orange. The fine and subtle substance is, however, less complex than the nose. A beautiful freshness with a lesser but reasonable length. Great finesse for a wine of nearly 60 years that is still very much alive!

Yquem 1987: A fairly deep intensity, golden/old gold, more orange-hued than Yquem 2002. The nose, with apricot, dried fruits, mushroom and quince, is of medium intensity. The harmony on the palate, the balance between acidity and alcohol are remarkable, even if a hint of bitterness is perceived on the finish and the length is hampered by a hollow mid-palate.

Yquem 1995: A fairly deep intensity, a golden/old gold robe with orange hues, reminiscent of Yquem 1987. Very intense notes of bitter orange (significant botrytis), exotic fruits, candied citrus and some mushroom notes envelop the nose. On the palate, it is great amplitude, sustained acidity and considerable length that dominate. A very significant reserve of life!

Yquem 1990: One of the most intense and orange-hued robes. The nose reveals aromas of quince paste, ripe apricot, date and dried fig, evoking "fruits of the sun". An immense volume with a very sharp acidity on the finish leaving the palate clean. Pronounced notes of orange peel and marmalade dominate throughout an interminable length. Perhaps the wine of the evening…

Food and wine pairings for the grands crus of Château Yquem

When it comes to food and wine pairing for Yquem, you have plenty of choices!

Simple dishes made with quality ingredients: Roquefort puff pastry, duck with honey and balsamic vinegar, roast chicken or another simple poultry-based dish, duck breast with peaches, lobster with mango sauce, a casserole of scallops or another delicate white fish… 

For desserts, you may opt for citrus notes that will perfectly complement the orange marmalade character of this nectar, while ensuring that the chosen recipe is not too sweet! Flambéed orange crêpe Suzette, chocolate-dipped orange peel, pineapple tart, tarte tatin… 

How to store Château Yquem wines

Endowed with a very high ageing potential, great care must be taken in storing Yquem so as not to... ruin everything. One should wait at least 15 years before tasting it and appreciating its tertiary aromas, linked to ageing in bottle under perfect conditions. Here they are. 

Wines must be stored on their side, away from light, temperature variations and vibrations, in a space with perfect humidity, outside their cardboard boxes and away from products with strong odours. Also avoid any location subject to vibrations or tremors. 

Pay close attention to this storage, so that on the day of tasting, everything is perfect! 

Y d'Yquem

The second wine of Yquem offers an aromatic palette composed of candied yellow fruits, quince, frangipane, gentle spices, and a hint of minerality. This wine comes from the same plots as Yquem, but was produced from 1959 to 1996 using non-botrytised grapes. Since 1997, the grapes are harvested fully ripe for the Sauvignon, and just before botrytisation for the Sémillon. This wine should be kept in the cellar for a minimum of 10 years to fully express itself.

Discover other great Sauternes wines such as Guiraud, Fargues, Sigalas Rabaud, Filhot, Rabaud Promis, Rieussec and Suduiraut! 

For over 10 years, Vins & Millésimes has offered you the opportunity to buy the finest bottles of aged wines and grands crus online, in stock and with fast delivery! Discover the bottles and magnums of Château d'Yquem available for purchase!