2006 Château d'Yquem, Sauternes, Bordeaux

2006 Château d'Yquem, Sauternes, Bordeaux

Product: 20068004787
 
2006 Château d'Yquem, Sauternes, Bordeaux

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Description

Ch. d'Yquem is often described as the greatest sweet white wine in the world; quite a reputation to live up to in a difficult vintage for sweet wines.The 2006 was luscious and rich with lovely tarte aux pommes flavours, sweet pineapple and citrus fruit of great purity. It was well-balanced with beautiful freshness and incredible concentration but perhaps lacking the depth and complexity of better vintages.

This will be an early-drinking Yquem with its beautifully pure fruit overriding the botrytis characteristics. It is still the Sauternes of the vintage, but this says more about the quality of 2006 Sauternes than it does about d'Yquem.

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate95/100
The 2006 Yquem, which I last tasted in 2014, continues to be a great Yquem, not quite among the top tier but let's slot it in one level below. It possesses virtually the same aromatics as the last bottle that I tasted at the chteau: beeswax and lanolin merging with honeyed fruit, dried quince and marzipan. The palate is medium-bodied, viscous, a dash of spice on the entry with very good weight in the mouth. There is still that lovely saltiness on the finish that leaves you begging for another sip - completing a long-term Yquem that is only just finishing its first couple of chapters. Tasted April 2016.
Neal Martin - 30/05/2016 Read more
Robert Parker96-98+/100
While no surprise here, this wine, which will be bottled in 2009, is certainly this estate’s greatest effort since their 2001. It completely outclasses everything from the appellation, but even when you’re number one, that’s often hard to do. This light gold wine offers up a sensational smorgasbord of aromas including huge honeyed pineapple and other caramelized tropical fruit flavors, massive richness, and a viscous, unctuous texture with the oak beautifully integrated.

The wine has enough acidity to buttress its full-bodied mouthfeel, but this is not by any means the sweetest or most alcoholic of the d’Yquems I have tasted. In fact, in the range of d’Yquems, this is a powerful wine, but it is one built more on finesse and elegance, a la the 1988. Nevertheless, this wine will prove to have 50+ years of longevity. The finish, the mid-palate, the sensation of looking at a skyscraper of Semillon with a small dosage of Sauvignon, is impressive.

Like all of the sweet wines of Barsac and Sauternes, one can drink this young, but the nuances and complexities really don’t emerge for at least a decade, especially in the case of a wine such as this. Bravo!
Robert Parker- Wine Advocate # 181 - Feb 2009 Read more

About this WINE

Château d’Yquem

Château d’Yquem

Château d’Yquem is the leading estate in the Sauternes appellation on the Left Bank of Bordeaux. It has long been reputed for making one of the world’s great sweet wines. In the 1855 classification of Bordeaux wines, Yquem was given the lofty title of Premier Cru Supérieur – the sole property at that level. It sits comfortably among the First Growths of the Médoc and their equivalents on the Right Bank regarding its quality and prestige among wine collectors.

The estate has a noble history dating back to the 1590s. By 1711, it was owned by the Sauvage family, French aristocrats whose descendants would remain at the helm for almost three centuries. Yquem is now part of the Louis Vuitton Moët-Hennessy (LVMH) group, owned by Bernard Arnault, one of France’s wealthiest people.

Yquem is located in the heart of Sauternes, at the commune’s highest point and surrounded by many of the appellation’s other leading estates. The vineyard is planted to a majority of Sémillon, supported by Sauvignon Blanc. There are 113 hectares of vines, though only 100 hectares are used in any one vintage.

To make a bottle of Yquem depends on developing botrytis cinerea, the so-called “noble rot”, in the vineyard. Harvest involves up to 200 workers, passing through the vineyard up to 10 times to pick only those berries that have been infected with noble rot. This doesn’t happen uniformly, and it doesn’t happen every year. In some years, no Yquem is produced at all – as in 1964 or, most recently, 2012. Of this approach, President Pierre Lurton says: “It’s important to take a lot of risk. If you don’t take a risk, you don’t make Yquem.”

Today, Yquem is led by Pierre Lurton, its longtime President, along with Estate Manager Lorenzo Pasquini. The Cellar Master is Toni El Khawand, following the departure of Sandrine Garbay in 2022.

In addition to the sweet Sauternes produced here, there is also a dry white wine, Y (pronounced “ee-greck”).

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Sauternes

Sauternes

Sauternes is where arguably the world's finest sweet white wines are produced. The Sauternes appellation actually consists of five communes: Barsac, Preignac, Bommes, Fargues and Sauternes itself. Barsac is also an appellation in its own right.

Sauternes literally has an atmosphere different from any of the other major communes. At the southern tip of the Graves,close to the Garonne, not only is the land hillier and decidedly more bucolic but it also enjoys a specific mesoclimate of evening autumn mists which linger until well into the following day, unless burnt off by warm sunshine.

The mists are caused by the cool, spring-fed waters of the Ciron River meeting the warmer tidal Garonne, and the result is an ideal environment for the growth of the mould botrytis cinerea. When its arrival is felicitous, it feeds on the water in the ripe grapes, dehydrating them and leaving sweet, shriveled fruit.

Other regions in Bordeaux (ie Cadillac, Loupiac) produce wines in a similar style from the same method, but none achieve the profundity and complexity of Sauternes.

Recommended Châteaux : Ch. D'Yquem, Ch. Climens (Barsac), Ch. Suduiraut, Ch. Rieussec,  Sigalas- Rabaud, Ch. Coutet (Barsac), Ch. de Fargues, Ch. Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Ch. Doisy-Védrines (Barsac), Chateau Partarrieu, La Tour Blanche

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Sauvignon Blanc & Sémillon

Sauvignon Blanc & Sémillon

The blend used for White Graves and Sauternes and rarely encountered outside France. In the great dry whites of Graves, Sauvignon Blanc tends to predominate in the blend, although properties such as Smith Haut Lafite use 100% Sauvignon Blanc while others such as Laville Haut Brion have as much as 60% Sémillon in their final blends. Sauvignon Blanc wines can lose their freshness and fruit after a couple of years in bottle - if blended with Sémillon, then the latter bolsters the wine when the initial fruit from the Sauvignon fades. Ultimately Sauvignon Blanc gives the wine its aroma and raciness while Sémillon gives it backbone and longevity.

In Sauternes, Sémillon is dominant, with Sauvignon Blanc playing a supporting role - it is generally harvested about 10 days before Sémillon and the botrytis concentrates its sweetness and dampens Sauvignon Blanc`s naturally pungent aroma. It contributes acidity, zip and freshness to Sauternes and is an important component of the blend.

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