March 8, 2024 - DRC Montrachet Vertical: Very good, and enjoyable birth year wine, but not quite one of the greatest vintages.
September 2, 2023 - Deep gold and caramel color. The nose is explosive, with aromas of apricots, caramel, lychee and honey. Full body, seductive yet with great acidity and mouth drying lingering finish. This is a beautiful wine.
June 17, 2023 - Mørk ravgul. Lukter av karamell og appelsin; lite hint av kaffe. I munnen dominerer appelsin først; intens frukt og tyngde, men ikke veldig påtrengende sødme. Karamell og sjokolade; lett bitter smak av mørk sjokolade mot slutten.
December 31, 2022 - NYE 2022/23 (Gohlis Foodies): From 37,5cl, shrunken cork fell into bottle on first approach with my ah-so. Hasty but successful decant. Dark golden, recognisably noble, botyitis, some saffron, ground almonds, fairly rich. 88-89P(?) in this condition, well preserved bottles with better closures, and especially larger formats will surely show much better than this.
October 12, 2022 - A nice d'Yquem, but short of thrilling, the wine is on the orange, tropical side of the style range with caramel, molasses, and brown sugar nuances that ride along with the candied orange rind, molasses, tangerine and candied orange rind, topped with an array of spices and butterscotch. Drink from 2022-2037.
August 15, 2022 - Pronounced nose intensity with honey, apricot, pineapple. Sweet and high acidity.
April 23, 2022 - 1982 (A vintage dream); 4/21/2022-4/23/2022 (Hotel Jean Jacques Rousseau, La Neuveville, lake Biel, Restaurant des Bains, Avenches, Switzerland): Another perfect bottle,
Creme Brulee in the nose,
dancing the waltz on the palate,
concentration, delicious orange peel, intensive, very long finish,
perfect finish of two impressive days at Switzerland!
August 9, 2020 - (From ½ bottle). Deep golden amber, almost like an old tawny. Large bq w botrytis, sevilla oranges, black tea, caramel. Well balanced, body w dry orange fruit. Aftertaste w sevilla marmalade, touch of alcohol. Medium length, some complexity. Very good Yquem , if perhaps not great. Not much sign of aging (except colour).
December 23, 2017 - Holiday lunch with many magnums (Black Salt): Of course 1982 is not a great vintage for Sauternes, with rains coming at the wrong time, but as the French adage goes: Petite année? Grand vin! And here we have a grand vin shining with lovely botrytis induced black tea notes, along with white apricot and white flower, exuding subtle opulence and elegance that charms the palate and follows through to a long finish. Not the most concentrated vintage to be sure, but as Robert Parker noted in his earlier review of this vintage, Yquem brought in much of the crop before rains had done too much damage, and then waited until the vineyards dried out, bringing in their last grapes in early November.
December 22, 2017 - A lost Friday afternoon gathering – 96 Krug mag, 99 Fourrier CSJ, blind CDB flight and etc. (Blacksalt, Washington DC): Beautifully mature nose displaying apricot preserve, dry peach, Lipton lemon ice tea, clear saffron note, candied ginger/botrytis, burnt sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and copper. Fully integrated palate, simply layered but reasonably generous dry yellow fruit, medium acidity, copper like mineral and a harmonious medium finish with a strong note of saffron at the end. Neither opulent nor polished Yquem but still drinking beautifully.