1995 Chateau D Yquem – Sauternes

Okay so we have been slacker’s and posted nothing for months. It certainly isn’t because we are not drinking some really special wines. Recently we enjoyed a bottle of the 1995 Chateau D Y’quem for a dear friends special birthday, and man was it ever special.

Y’quem is the dessert wine that all others are judged by, and some experts say the best white wine in the entire world.

At Y’quem they proudly boast that only one glass of wine per vine is produced. The grapes are picked one by one at perfect maturity. In 2006 a 135-year “vertical” (containing every vintage from 1860 to 2003) was sold by The Antique Wine Company in London for $1.5 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a single lot of wine. Yquem’s success stems largely from the site’s susceptibility to attack by Botrytis Cinera, the “noble rot”. Y’quem is a  wine with an extremely long life, bottles of 100 years and older may be found in excellent condition if properly kept.

Tasting: The nose is like a complex beautiful perfume of honey suckle, dried figs, dried apricot, peaches, pear, pineapple, lemon zest, litchi nuts, vanilla, soft leather, and earthy mineral notes. A very seductive sumptuous, mouth coating pallet with impeccable balance.  The finish goes on for several wonderful minutes. The 1995 is intense, unctuous, and  still showed youth, and could be aged and enjoyed for many years to come.

Rating: 95 PC, 96 JH