Our Provenance Guarantee
Purchase with confidence. All of our wines are selectively sourced and thoroughly inspected for authenticity and signs of poor storage. Accepted bottles are preserved in our climate-controlled cellar until they reach your doorstep. We have no storefront and no walk-in traffic, so nothing is moved or handled between inspection and shipping.
The bottle you see photographed is the bottle you receive (or fundamentally identical when multiple bottles are listed), and our commitment to you is that it arrives as represented. If it doesn’t, we want to hear from you.
Ratings & Tasting Notes:
96 points — Wine Spectator
Leans to the tropical side, with mango and guava up front, then maple, date, blood orange and citrus oil, and a finish of honeysuckle, orange blossom and frangipane. Powerful yet well structured, a standout from an overlooked vintage.
95 points — Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Reserved, with a tight but promising nose of roasted hazelnut, crème brûlée, vanilla, honey, orange marmalade and peach. Medium to full-bodied, powerful and pure, with good acidity, and built for a very long life.
95 points — Neal Martin
A tightly coiled nose opens to wild honey, honeysuckle, lemon curd and barley sugar. Tense acidity carries mandarin, Seville orange, apricot and honey to a finish with a hint of almond; a great Sauternes for long aging.
Cult Wines International Notes:
Château d’Yquem stands alone as the only wine ranked Premier Cru Supérieur in the 1855 Classification, a distinction no other estate holds. Owned by the Lur-Saluces family from 1785 to 1999 and now part of LVMH, Yquem harvests its botrytised Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc berry by berry over several passes through the vineyard, and declines to release a wine at all in years that fall short, as in 1992 and 2012. Few wines anywhere age as long or as gracefully.
The 1996 was made under Comte Alexandre de Lur-Saluces, the last of his family to run Yquem, and it is often called an overlooked vintage. Critics have found it powerful yet beautifully structured, with mango, guava, honey, crème brûlée, roasted hazelnut, orange marmalade and blood orange framed by tense acidity. Wine Spectator awarded 96 points, with 95 from both Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and Neal Martin. With a drinking window that critics extend well past 2050, it is entering a beautiful stage of maturity with decades still ahead.
Bottle Size:
750 mL
Storage History:
Always stored on its side in a climate-controlled cellar.
Condition:
Outstanding condition.
Please note: The condition of the bottle you will receive is accurately reflected by the one shown in the images.
