Legendary Château D'Yquem Tasting * 1893 - 1983 *

Old Swiss House, Lucerne, Switzerland
Tasted Wednesday, June 26, 2013 by Wine_lvr with 1,757 views

Introduction

Tasting took place on December 23, 2012 in the Old Swiss House in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The wines were tasted opened and prepared around one hour before the tasting started. The line-up of mature and maturing D'Yquems was just amazing...

Château d’Yquem. 1893, 1928, 1929, 1937, 1945, 1947, 1955, 1959, 1962, 1967, 1971, 1970, 1975, 1976 and 1983

To start there was a series of "Y" and as a food companion a wonderful double magnum of Domaine de Chevalier blanc 1984.

Flight 1 - Aperitif with Bollinger Grand Annee 1999 (1 Note)

Flight 2 - Flight 1: "Y" from 4 decades (5 Notes)

  • 1964 Lur-Saluces "Y" 85 Points

    France, Bordeaux

    Amber colour. Malty, raisin and Vermouthy nose. Quite a bit of acidity with hints of sweetness. All a bit short. Other people liked the wine much more and scored in the low 90s. So defenitely I wine that does not fit everyones taste. For me this wine was past its prime for quite a few years and should be drunk.

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  • 1979 Lur-Saluces "Y" 89 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur

    Golden color. Flavor of Limes and Grapefruit. Taste of Bitteralmonds and hints of saffron. The wine has a nice balance. Drink now - 2020

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  • 1980 Lur-Saluces "Y" Flawed

    France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur

    Golden color. Cardboard. Bitter, old barrel and leather tastes. This was likely a poor bottle hence no objective rating. This bottle here did not make 75 points...

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  • 1985 Lur-Saluces "Y" 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur

    Golden color. Barrique notes with hints of honey and grapfruit. Wine is quite dry with a hint of pleasant bitterness. Drink to 2020

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  • 2000 Lur-Saluces "Y" 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur

    Golden color. Nose of caramel, vanilla and wood. Quite a bit of sweetness (Honey), chalk. A bit short. For me this is a mix of Sauternes and a dry white Bordeaux...

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Flight 3 - Flight 2: Yquems out of the 70's and 80's (5 Notes)

  • 1983 Château d'Yquem 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Clear golden colour with hints of light amber. Malty apricot nose. Acidity is quite present. Chestnut honey and apricots. Quite a rich but very balanced d'Yquem. Still on the young side.

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  • 1976 Château d'Yquem 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    I am always happy to drink good wines out of my "vintage (YOB)"...unfortunately there are besides D'Yquem, Penfolds Grange, and a few US Cabs not too many of them. So caveat emptor...I may be a little bit biased towards the 1976 ;-)

    As for the wine, clear golden/amber color. Nose of ripe apricot, peach and bitter almonds. Quite a "fresh" wine with some chalkyness to it. Very long and a wonderful balance between acidity and sweetness. Still young.

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  • 1975 Château d'Yquem 98 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    The legend of tomrrow and only a matter of time until it reaches the triple digits!

    Clear light copper in color. Nose of apricots, saffron and malt. In the finish it showed an enormous length and complexity. Bitter almonds, orange peel, acacia honey and hints of molasses. All very elegant and balanced. What a beauty!

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  • 1971 Château d'Yquem 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Amber color. Nose a dried banana, malt, peach and raisins. Nice balance in the wine. A bit short in the finish but very pleasant to drink.

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  • 1970 Château d'Yquem 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Bright amber in color. Nose of plums and hints of malt. Quite a bit richer as the 1970. Flavors of bitter almond and dark honey. All a bit simple and thick. No hurry to drink this wine.

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Flight 4 - Flight 3: Yquems out of the 50's and 60's (5 Notes)

  • 1967 Château d'Yquem 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Light amber in color but still quite youthful looking. Nose of apple tarte tatin and raisins. Very rich, black tea notes, Acacia honey. All very balanced but still quite rich. This specific bottle seemed almost too young. Drink - 2075

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  • 1962 Château d'Yquem 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Clear amber. Nose of bitter orange (peels) and apricot. Elegant wine that showed quinches, apricots and honey. All in all I was missing the length and it was too sweet. Drink now

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  • 1959 Château d'Yquem Flawed

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Unfortunately this bottle had a slight hint of TCA. Any rating would not do this wine justice. Behind the TCA there were signs of an outstanding d'Yquem

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  • 1955 Château d'Yquem 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Clear intensive amber. A hint darker as the 1947 in the glass next to it. The nose is a bit gluey. Still a nice sweetness is present and shows flavors of almonds and honey. Nice wine

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  • 1947 Château d'Yquem 99 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    If I have to rate the top three d'Yquems of this outstaning tasting. The 1947 d'Yqeum would have taken 2nd place. This was an absolutely perfect bottle out of a cold celler where it rested undisturbed for many decades. The color was a clear light amber. Nose of Quenches, apricot and raisins. There was some richness to the wine but then after a few seconds it turned so elegant. Amazing! Flavors of malt, creme brulee and honey. All so well balanced...Drink now - 2030

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Flight 5 - Flight 4: Yquem Legends (5 Notes)

  • 1945 Château d'Yquem 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Dark amber, surprisingly as the "youngest" in the flight much darker than the 37/29/28 and 1893. Nose was very ripe, Madeira and Brandy. Flavors of old cask, overripe notes of prunes and raisins. I suspect a bottle that was exposed to too warm cellaring. This was a very mature bottle.

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  • 1937 Château d'Yquem Flawed

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Wow! Finally I had the legendary D'Yquem 1937 in my glass! The wine was very young looking one would never think it is a 75 year old wine.

    At the tasting there were a few people very familiar with this wine and they suspected this to be a questionable bottle as the color and the flavors of the wine just did not match. The cork was branded '1937' but this bottle was purchased at an auction, so the provenance is not fully known. The wine was still great at 94pts but unlikely a 1937 D'Yquem.

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  • 1929 Château d'Yquem 100 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    This is a monumental d'Yquem, never did I have such a complexity in a Sauternes. It is IMHO the interaction of elegance and power that makes this wine the absolute Uber-Yquem. While the 37 was also a superb d'Yquem this had one notch more of everything. The color was a deep amber with bright edges. Nose showed Apricot yelly, caramel and orange peel. The sweetness (residual sugar 160gr/l) and the acidity (6gr./l) makes this wine so balanced. Flavors of Chestnut honey, malty flavors and apples. It reminds of a old Tokaj Essencia. Monumental wine! No hurry to drink.

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  • 1928 Château d'Yquem 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Clear dark amber. Nose of caramel and cooked apricots. Lots of sweetness, dark honey. This wine is very elegant and still has lots of potential. I was just missing the complexity and harmony the 1929 showed. Truly a great d'Yquem but for me behind the younger siblings 1929 and 1937.

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  • 1893 Château d'Yquem 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    There is something magical about drinking such old wines. One can just imagine what it took some 120 years ago to produce such a wine with the simple tools the vinters had at hand.
    Also it always raises the question of how the world has looked at in 1893 and where such a bottle has been traveling in the last century. Such bottles are a very special witness of time. Imagine this bottle has survived two World Wars, the Great Depression, and many more memorable events in the 20th centruy, and then over 110 years later it is one of the "Stars of the show" in this memorable d'Yquems tasting.

    Here to the actual notes. Color was a clear dark amber (Coke). Nose of Malt and California raisins. There was still some sweetness left, hints of malt. Not a monumental D'Yquem but just very elegant and very much at 120 years of age. Drink with no hurry.

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Flight 6 - After Tasting D'Yquem (1 Note)

  • 1999 Château d'Yquem 96 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Clear golden color. Nose of saffron and peach. Acacia honey with hints of saltiness. Superb wine!

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Flight 7 - Food Companion (1 Note)

  • 1984 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    Out of Double Magnum.
    "Milky" looking golden color. A bit of a soapy nose. Very nice acidity and quite a bit of dry/calky minerality to it. Ends in a nice Semillion-Sweetness. This is the Double Magnum rating, I expect the 0.75 to be quite a bit more evolved.

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Closing

For 2013 Rene Gabriel (www.bxtotal.com and www.weingabriel.ch) calls for a Pre-Christmas Latour Best Bottle and for 2014 a Haut Brion Best Bottle ... Same Place ... same time ...

Thanks to Rene for making events such as this possible and to have the privilege to join this legendary D'Yquem event. This was such a memorable event and I am very grateful that I was part of it...

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