Château d’Yquem: A Class of Its Own

It sits alone in the top category of the 1855 Classification of Sauternes and Barsac, Premier Cru Supérieur.

Thomas Jefferson considered it the greatest white wine of France.

The château is one of the crown jewels of the LVMH Group.

Château d’Yquem is a class of its own.

My visit to Château d’Yquem was the first wine appointment I booked when I confirmed my trip to Bordeaux for the Marathon du Médoc. In previous years, Château d’Yquem was closed to the public and was only open to industry or VIP visitors, but as of September 2022, you can book private appointments at the estate under the following three categories:

“Discovery” tour with a tasting of the 2017 vintage
“Anthology” tour with a tasting of the 2005 and 2015 vintages
“Trilogy” tour with a tasting of the 2005, 2009 and 2017 vintages

I booked an appointment for myself for the “Anthology” tour for 150 EUR as my post-marathon celebration, and it was one of the best wine tour experiences I have ever had.

My guide was well-versed in the history and viticultural and winemaking practices of the esteemed château, and since I was by myself on the tour, I was able to ask all the questions I always wanted to know about the historic château!

Here are 7 things I learned about Château d’Yquem During My Visit:

#1: The single most important figure in the history of Château d’Yquem is a woman, Françoise-Joséphine de Lur Saluces.

Her family had owned the property since 1593. In 1785, she married the Count de Lur Saluces, a member of an important royal family and a godson of the King, and she brought the estate into the Lur Saluces family. However, her husband died in 1788 and she ended up widowed at the age of 20 just when the French Revolution was starting to gain momentum. She survived the French Revolution, was able to keep her estate and her head and began the first of the innovations that make Château d’Yquem the estate it is today, including the construction of a cellar on the estate in 1826. Today, we take for granted that the best wines tend to be produced and finished on the producer’s premises - what we now consider “estate wine”. However, Bordeaux has a long history and tradition of negociants (merchants) buying wine from producers to age on their premises before selling the wine to customers, so having a cellar to control the ageing process on one’s own property was actually a very forward-thinking innovation during this time!

#2: In addition to their “noble rot” sweet wines, since 1959, Château d’Yquem has made “dry” white wines under the label “Y”.

I haven’t tried any of the “Y” wines before, but apparently, they’re not fully dry. Whereas truly dry white wines having no noticeable perception of residual sugar generally have 2-3 g/l sugar in them, I was told that the “Y” dry wines have approximately 5 g/l sugar in them, making them off-dry.

#3: Château d’Yquem sweet wines are generally a blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.

They do not use the third white grape of Bordeaux, Muscadelle, in their wines. The proportion of Sauvignon Blanc in the blend has been creeping up lately for greater acidity and balance.

#4: Château d’Yquem is expensive to buy, but it is also expensive to produce.

For their sweet wines, their yields are incredibly low at 8 hl/ha, which comes out to one small glass of wine per vine for their 113 hectares under production. Harvest is conducted solely by hand-picking in a number of “tries” (selections) through the vineyard by specialized pickers who are trained to identify noble rot (as opposed to grey rot). In 1972, the château went through the vineyards 11 times, but the production was ultimately deemed unworthy for the château, and no Château d’Yquem was released in 1972. For their sweet wines, they use only indigenous yeast and mature their wines in 100% new French oak for 10-12 months, and the entire production process takes 2.5 years per vintage.

#5: “Perfection” is the ultimate goal of d’Yquem.

If there is a “bad vintage”, the château does not release a vintage wine for that particular year. The grapes that they do not use are either declassified and put into wines that do not bear the d’Yquem name or put into their non-vintage wines. In recent memory, there is no 2012 vintage of Château d’Yquem due to the challenging weather conditions of that year.

#6: As of August 2022, Château d’Yquem is officially organically certified.

The 2022 vintage is the first year it will be able to use the certification on its label, and the estate is in the process of converting to biodynamic viticulture.

#7: Château d’Yquem has a robust anti-fraud program.

Their sweet wines are some of the most iconic and expensive wines in the world. On the website, www.winesearcher.com, the 2015 vintage that I tasted has an average price of $412 per standard 750 ml bottle, and eBay.com is littered with offerings of empty d’Yquem bottles. In order to tamp down on counterfeiting and fraud, the estate tracks all orders of d’Yquem in-house, and they have a special code that they put on the bottle inside the glass. For those considering buying a a bottle of Château d’Yquem online for $100 thinking that it’s a “great deal,” buyer beware.