Description:
More than a wine, a legend: Château d’Yquem is the only Sauternes AOC to have received the recognition of Premier Cru Supérieur.
Located in the center of the Graves area, home of the most famous sweet wines in the world, this property has founded and grown its fame on the great quality of each vintage, achieved thanks to a perfect care and selection in the vineyard and with the choice to decide the blending of the different parcels of land, according to each single vintage. The draining soils of rough gravel and pebbles smoothed by water, combined with a subsoil composed of clay rich in water, are perfect for a good balance between drainage and water availability, very important for the growth of the vines. The 113 hectares of vineyards of the property allow for the winery to explore soils and exposures and the harvest is carried out in several different phases, allowing to check and evaluate the effect of Botrytis Cinerea, in order to create wach harvest a product of inimitable quality.
The Château, with over 400 years of history, is today entrusted by the majority shareholders, the LVMH group, to manager Pierre Luton.
If Château d’Yquem therefore has the reputation of not knowing a “bad year”, 2001 certainly breaks every standard, even for this excellence, and has received 100 points out of 100 from almost all the major Anglo-Saxon critics. The vintage was temperate, constant and dry all perfectly at the right time, allowing for a perfect development of Botrytis Cinerea. The super-high acidity perfectly balances the equally high sugar content and, if Yquem is undoubtedly a wine for long aging, this vintage represents a real investment even for future generations.
Tasting Notes and Pairing:
Extremely intense nose. To the mouth, it opens sweet, with acacia honey, peaches and dried apricots.
The body is broad, opulent and deep, but the acidity keeps the wine in tension with a long and refreshing finish.
Perfect with lobster, classic with dry and salty aged cheeses.
Suggested serving temperature:
12 °C
in the vineyard:
Use of organic fertilizers only, sparingly used, earthing up, unerathing. Green harvest.
Production method and aging:
Multiple pressing. Fermentation in new French oak barriques. Aging in separate barrels, according to the different phases/timing of the harvest, for 6-8 months, followed by a first blending and a further oak aging of 20 months. Consequent racking and removal of the lees and then clarification.
The final blending is established with a final blind tasting.