CHÂTEAU YQUEM

2002 1er Cru Classé Sauternes

Grapes Muscadelle, Sauv Blanc, Sémillon
Origin France, Bordeaux
Village Sauternes
Classification 1er Cru Classé
ABV 12%

The 2002 Yquem has a very seductive nose, fresh almonds, Gâteau Basque, saffron and candle wax, not the most complex compared to other vintages yet nicely focused. The palate keeps it tight and linear on the entry, plenty of concentration though with a counterbalancing bitter edge that keeps this Yquem on its toes. Probably reaching its peak now after almost 20 years, it will surely give two-three more decades of drinking pleasure. Drinking range: 2021 - 2035 Rating: 90 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2022)


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Pale to medium gold colored, the 2002 d'Yquem strides confidently out of the glass with forthright notions of spiced pears, baked pineapple, apricot preserves and orange blossoms with touches of graham crackers, praline, ginger nut and lemon curd. The palate lends an understated earthy/savory character with seamless freshness and a satiny texture paving the long, perfumed finish. Open-knit, expressive and yet still packing some primary fruit flavors, this vintage has entered its drinking window for those who love Yquem while it still possesses bags of vivacity. Five to seven more years in bottle should begin to yield more of the toffee, toasted nuts and savory elements for those who love that more evolved phase. The alcohol this vintage is 14%, while the residual sugar is 129.4 grams per liter, and the total acidity is 4.5 grams per liter of H2SO4. Drinking range: 2019 - 2040 Rating: 93 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, RobertParker.com (Aug 2019)

Young Sauternes often reminds me of pear juice and this wine, tasted from a half bottle just couriered from Bordeaux, was like nothing more than the healthiest, cleanest pear juice. Pale gold with a slightly greener tinge than most young Yquem. Very fresh, long and deep-flavoured this wine has that ingredient X that Yquem always seems to manage, but this is certainly not one of the sweetest or most intense Yquems. It is certainly greater than any other 2002 sweet white bordeaux I remember tasting, with the strongly possible exception of Climens, but is almost spookily open for a recently-bottled Yquem. There's the merest hint of astringency on the finish still but this wine could be enjoyed in its relatively simple youth. 2007-25 Rating: 18 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com

A finely delineated nose if such a thing is possible, demonstrating a sweet and grainy acacia honey aroma. On the palate it has a ripe, rounded, expansive texture and a lovely depth, but with a precise, impeccable balance. This carries the wine across the palate, rather than enveloping it in a bath of luscious, honeyed texture, remaining poised, slightly detached, but fabulously elegant. This has a very fine style. Compared to the 2001, a lesser wine, but it still demonstrates the marvellous poise and structure that says this will last for decades in the cellar. Excellent. Rating: 18.5+/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com

Château Yquem

Sauternes Premier Cru Supérieur 1855

A wine estate so special that it sits alone in it own category of the 1855 classification. Even before the widespread use and understanding of the role of "noble rot", the wines of Château d'Yquem were regarded as superior to the rest of Sauternes.

Jacques de Sauvage was given the feudal tenure of Château d'Yquem in 1593 (full ownership of the property had to wait until 1711). In 1785, Françoise Joséphine de Sauvage d'Yquem married Comte Louis Amédée de Lur-Saluces (those must have been impressively big wedding invitations!) and the Lur-Saluces family began their long association with Château d'Yquem. Françoise was widowed just three years later, but she took the reins at the great estate and guided it through the worst ravages of the French Revolution, and along the way entertained Thomas Jefferson who was so impressed that ordered a couple of hundred bottles of the 1784 vintage. The Lur-Saluces family were finally ousted, amid much acrimony, when LVMH managed to secure a majority shareholding in 1999, although Comte Alexandre continued at the helm until 2004, being replaced then by Pierre Lurton.

Previously Yquem was only released once bottled, but under Pierre Lurton it has joined the rest of Bordeaux in making wines available for purchase en primeur for a short while. Recent vintages are again being released when bottled.

There are 113ha of vineyard, although only around 100ha are in production at any one time. Every year, 2 or 3ha are grubbed up and allowed to lie fallow for a year before replanting; and the fruit of vines less than 5 years old is not used for the estate's wines. The vineyards are planted with 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc. The harvest at Château d'Yquem is long and laborious, with pickers working through the vineyards selecting only the best and most "rotten" grapes, leaving those not ready for another day. Typically, the pickers go thought the vineyards at least six times selecting grapes, often more often, and it's not unheard of for the harvest to run on until December. Yields are extremely low - around 9hl/ha compared with as much as 20hl/ha in the rest of Sauternes. The wine is fermented and aged (for three years) in oak which is 100% new.

The intensity and acidity of d'Yquem gives it legendary ageing ability - a wine two decades old would still be seen as young, wines at 50 years old are deemed more worthy of opening.

Since 1959, the Château has also made 'Y' or Ygrec, a very original, nearly dry wine which is released in very small volumes, (and not in every vintage).

This wine isn't currently part of a mixed case, but you can always browse our full selection of mixed cases here.
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