2001 Château d'Yquem, Sauternes, Bordeaux

A brilliant sweet wine that tops out on my scale, the 2001 Château D'Yquem is now fully mature yet still vibrant and pure, with an incredible nose of honeyed marmalade, caramelized tropical fruits, rising bread, marzipan, and lavender. Incredibly complex, full-bodied, and unctuous on the palate, it's one of those rare wines that can deliver incredible richness and decadence while staying pure, light on its feet, and perfectly balanced. A wine that every wine lover should taste once in their life, it should be just about immortal.

Drink 2023 - 2076

Just weeks after tasting the 2001 Château d’Yquem at the estate, another bottle was served at a lunch in London and it was perfection. The aromatics are practically identical and likewise the palate, but this bottle, which had been decanted, displays a scintilla with more tension, perhaps more "vibrancy" that so effortlessly counterbalances the richness. Irrespective of points, it is simply one of the most magnificent wines of any kind that can pass your lips.

Drink 2021 - 2100

This has taken on a golden amber colour, with fantastic intensity and complexity of aromas. Mushroom, candle wax, white truffle, chamomile, honey, vanilla bean, marmalade, smoke, toast, apricot and pineapple. Powerful, rich and intense, yet sharp and almost savoury, demanding attention. Goes on and on. 

Drink or hold

I have had the very good fortune to taste the 2001 d'Yquem perhaps a dozen times since its release and have never been less than absolutely floored by its combination of poise, purity, precision and layer upon intricate, jaw-dropping layer of flavour nuances. It is among a very small clutch of incredible wines that crash through the 100-point ceiling and rocket beyond the stratosphere! A testament to that magic that can be created when an uncommonly great vintage for Sauternes brings out the best of an extraordinary vineyard and is skillfully, sensitively crafted, the 2001 is a true wine rarity that must be tried to be believed.

Drink 2019 - 2100

What a marvel this wine is! Enjoyed with the successful bidders for a boardroom lunch generously provided by Berry Bros & Rudd for an auction lot at the Tokyo Room to Read wine gala. On the nose there is a sort of gingery spice though nothing whatever like bacterial spoilage). Such intensity and tension. Great richness and creaminess combined with extreme liquid excitement. Stunning. Berrys apparently sold 2,200 dozen bottles of this very special wine. Unusually approachable. 

Drink 2010 - 2050