The sweet wonder of Château d’Yquem
Inarguably one of the finest wines of Bordeaux—and, indeed, the world—Château d’Yquem produces the world’s most famous sweet wine. Ned Goodwin MW takes a deep dive into the sweet wonder and fascinating story of Yquem.
I vividly recall wandering through the Nicolas wine emporium on Place de la Madeleine in Paris as a student. I would make my way down a spiral stairwell to the lower ground cellar, mouth agape, to stare at the arsenal of Château d’Yquem bottles aligned behind bullet-proof glass like a battalion marching against the ravages of time. The oldest bottles dated to the early 1800s, a resinous mahogany verging on molasses-opaque, belying their time on earth with a defiant stance of immutability, reminiscent of a liquid Dorian Grey. I could only wonder about the pleasure untapped. One of those wines, the historic 1811 Yquem, was subsequently sold for USD $117,000, making it the most expensive white wine ever sold, irrespective of style.
‘...a liquid Dorian Grey...’
Like all of the world’s greatest wines, Château d’Yquem’s fairytale appeal is not merely in the bottle, with its intoxicating allure of exotic spice and tropical fruits, segueing to beguiling truffle and burlesque with age. For, of all the world’s greatest wine regions, only Château d’Yquem is the undisputed finest wine of its appellation, sitting atop a hill to look over the rest of Sauternes, but across all of Bordeaux, such is the sweeping vista. Yquem is a wine that strikes a commanding pose, while evoking the mystique of a hallowed past.
Let’s go back in time.
Let’s go back in time.
Château d’Yquem’s exalted reputation dates back to the Middle Ages when the property was owned by the King of England, and later the Duke of Aquitaine. Thereafter, in 1593, a French aristocrat by the name of Jacques Sauvage took the reins and built the current day château. It was also the Sauvage family that shifted plantings in 1642 from more than 20 percent red varieties to 100 percent white. While it is difficult to discern if Yquem was producing mostly dry or sweet wines, archives dating to the 1500s suggest that late harvesting was already common practice. By 1666, botrytised fruit was prized for the production of sweet wine and later, Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States of America and the world’s first true wine ambassador, became an avid client.
‘For of all the world’s greatest wine regions, only Château d’Yquem is the undisputed finest wine of its appellation.’
Skipping forward, during both World Wars Château d’Yquem served as an army hospital. It was during the interlude of peace that Marquis Bertrand de Lur Saluces took over, while also serving as the President of the Union of Grands Crus Classés of the Gironde for 40 years. It was Lur Saluces who championed estate bottling to guarantee authenticity, while legislating many of the appellation requirements for Sauternes still in place today. His Yquem remained the beacon of light that others aspired to, before he passed ownership to one of his brother’s sons, Count Alexandre de Lur Saluces, upon his passing in 1966.
While the count implemented one of the first measures to fight fraud with a specially designed watermark incorporated into Yquem’s label, his tenure was one of defiance rather than prescience. His vociferous support for tradition meant that his leadership became a protectorate; a wall of resistance that defied critics who demanded ‘progress' as sales of the château’s wines fell. Falling sales, however, were never a reflection of Château d’Yquem's quality, for quality never wavered. It was—and remains—a reflection of changing times, as sweet wine consumption continues to decline in general.
‘Falling sales were never a reflection of Château d’Yquem's quality, for quality never wavered.’
The count’s staunch philosophy became a source of tempestuousness when behemoth LVMH bought half of Yquem’s shares for the equivalent of USD 100 million in 1996. His intransigence did not mix well with the designs of the corporate commandeers. After a litany of public disputes and lawsuits Lur Saluce, fatigued, sold the remaining shares in 2004. LVMH immediately named Pierre Lurton of Château Cheval Blanc as CEO.
The holdings of Château d’Yquem amount to 113 hectares, although only 100 hectares are planted at any given time, allowing leeway for new plantings to replace diseased or senescent ones without drastically affecting production or quality. Once co-planted, today the ratio is 80 percent Semillon to 20 percent Sauvignon Blanc, attesting to Semillon’s greater affinity for benevolent botrytis, or noble rot, the key to Sauterne’s greatest wines.
‘Average yields are minuscule, clocking in at an average of one glass of wine per vine.’
While not yet fully certified, Château d’Yquem began its drive toward biodynamic accreditation in 2020, with all practices abiding by the creed. Yquem’s undulated positioning and 80 metre elevation allows for ideal drainage, in addition to facilitating winds from the east to move through the vineyard. These assist in removing extraneous moisture and promoting optimal ripeness, especially later in the growing season. The noble rot is promoted by proximity to the Garonne river to the north and the humidity as a result of this proximity.
The soil is a polyglot of clay, gravel, limestone and sand, including the type of blue clay that is found at Pétrus. The average age of vines is 25 years, with the viticultural regime opting to remove any vine encroaching 50 years due to poor health, lack of productivity and a tendency toward over-concentration, a dialectic in polar contrast to the culture here in Australia. Two to three hectares of vines are replaced each year. After all, botrytis demands abstemious selection of not only single bunches, but single berries, across numerous passes through the vineyard to ensure concentration and ideal freshness. Sometimes the pickers make as many as a dozen forays into the vines to ensure optimal fruit quality. Average yields are minuscule, clocking in at eight to 10 hectolitres per hectare, an average of one glass of wine per vine! The last thing the style needs is more concentration.
‘...the 1921 was like witnessing Gandhi and Jesus shake hands while being told that the world will be OK.’
Indeed, the concentration of the must is such that three pressings are required to extract the elixir that becomes Château d’Yquem. By virtue of the viscosity of the must and its high sugars, natural fermentations tick over at a glacial pace, nourishing the wine with peptides and lees-driven complexities. Barrel ageing is 30 months, in 100 percent new French. Under the former regime it was as long as 36 months, and yet the style remains inimitable, with the notable more recent pursuit of greater sweetness to achieve higher levels of acidity, a natural provider of balance as much as a bulwark against a warming climate.
Château d’Yquem’s greatest vintages are too many to name, but recently they include 2021, 2020, 2017, 2016, 2013, 2011 and 2007. Given the wine’s prodigious capacity to age, however, the most legendary expressions are considered to be the 1945 and better, the 1921. Many rate the 1959 very highly too. I have tasted them all on several occasions while working in New York.
Put it this way, the 1921 was like witnessing Gandhi and Jesus shake hands while being told that the world will be OK. I shed tears, had goosebumps and felt so overwhelmed by the experience that I had to sit and recalibrate, such were the wine’s complexities.