Producer Profile
Château d'Yquem
Château d'Yquem is a Premier Cru Supérieur wine from the Sauternes, in the Gironde region in the southern part of the Bordeaux vineyards known as Graves. In the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, Château d'Yquem was the only Sauternes given this rating, indicating its perceived superiority and higher prices over all other wines of its type. Chateau d'Yquem was acquired by Jacques de Sauvage in December 1593. De Sauvage acquired the property from the French monarchy by exchanging other lands that he owned for what was then referred to as the 'House of Yquem'. The site has been home to a vineyard since at least 1711 when the estate became under ownership of Léon de Sauvage d'Yquem.
In 1785 it passed to the Lur-Saluces family when Françoise-Joséphine de Sauvage d'Yquem married Count Louis-Amédée de Lur-Saluces, a godson of Louis XV and Lady Victoire de France. Monsieur Lur- Saluces died three years later, and his wife subsequently focused her energy on sustaining and improving the estate. While Minister Plenipotentiary to France, Thomas Jefferson visited the château and later wrote, "Sauterne, this is the best white wine of France and the best of it is made by Monsieur de Lur-Saluces." Jefferson ordered 250 bottles of the 1784 vintage for himself, and additional bottles for George Washington. Wines from Château d'Yquem are characterised by their complexity, concentration and sweetness, which is balanced by relatively high acidity. With proper care, a bottle will keep for a century or more, and the fruity overtones will gradually fade and integrate with more complex secondary and tertiary flavours.
The vineyard has 126 hectares (310 acres) in the Sauternes appellation, the vines consist of 80% Sémillon and 20% Sauvignon blanc. Harvests are carefully timed, to ensure that only grapes affected by botrytis (noble rot) are selected.
The grapes are then pressed 3 times, before being transferred to oak barrels for maturation over roughly 3 years. On average, 65,000 bottles are produced each year. In a poor vintage, the entire crop is deemed unworthy of bearing the Château's name and sold anonymously; this happened nine times in the 20th century: 1910, 1915, 1930, 1951, 1952, 1964, 1972, 1974, and 1992 and in the 21st century one time: 2012.
