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:
97 points — James Suckling
Lightly cooked peach and mango, with vanilla, cream, lemon meringue and orange peel. Creamy and fine in texture, with a very long finish; “extremely polished and refined.”
97 points — Decanter
Intense and glossy, with apricot, white peach, pineapple and mango kept fresh by lime zest and citrus. Closed for now, but there is “power and balance here, an excellent Yquem.”
96 points — Wine Spectator
Fresh, racy honeysuckle, quinine and mirabelle plum, followed by quince, creamed pear and white nectarine, with macadamia and brioche on the finish. “A beauty from start to finish.”
95 points — Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Peach, pear, menthol and orchard fruit with floral lift; balanced, fresh and medium to full-bodied, with penetrating energy, “a great effort in a challenging vintage in Sauternes.”
93 points — Vinous
Dried honey and saffron aromas; well balanced and luscious, with apricot and lemon curd lingering on the aftertaste.
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 2018 is the work of Pierre Lurton, who has directed Yquem since 2004. Mildew sharply reduced yields that year, with the crop reported down by around 40%, but the wine is extremely polished and refined: 85% Sémillon and 15% Sauvignon Blanc, with apricot, white peach, mango, honeysuckle and lemon meringue kept fresh by citrus zest. James Suckling and Decanter both awarded 97 points and Wine Spectator 96. A youthful Yquem with decades of development ahead.
Bottle Size:
750 mL
Storage History:
Always stored on its side in a climate-controlled cellar.
Condition:
Please note: The bottle shown is the exact bottle being sold.
Outstanding condition.
