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  • Country ranking ?

    254
  • Producer ranking ?

    14
  • Decanting time

    5h
  • When to drink

    from 2018

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

The pleasure derived from tasting Yquem is difficult to describe.

It offers a myriad of well-balanced, complex flavours that generate even more harmonies over time. The impression that remains is reminiscent of a quote from Frédéric Dard "the silence that follows a piece by Mozart, in which the listener remains suffused with the music". This reflects the fact that Château d'Yquem stays on the palate for a remarkable long time, providing a unique, prolonged pleasure. There is a lovely expression in French to describe Yquem's tremendously long aftertaste: il fait la queue du paon, which means that it spreads out like a peacock's tail.

 

It is always difficult to describe wine-tasting experiences with any precision. The senses of sight, smell, taste and touch are all stimulated virtually at the same time. While gifted tasters can identify some of the aromas and flavours in a glass of Yquem in an effort to define its complexity, they never really succeed in communicating its essence or explaining its mystery. Mere analysis, whether chemical or organoleptic, is not sufficient to account for Yquem's greatness. Yquem tells a unique story... It starts with the bouquet. Although not always very outgoing in young vintages, it is marked by fruit (apricot, mandarin, and occasionally tropical fruit) and oak (vanilla and toasty aromas). Older vintages, on the other hand, have an extraordinarily complex fragrance as soon as the bottle is opened, with hints of dried fruit (dried apricot, prune, stewed fruit, and marmalade), spice (cinnamon, saffron, and liquorice), and even flowers (lime blossom, etc.). The first impression of Château d'Yquem on the palate is always very silky, and often sumptuous. It then fills out, "coating the palate". This fine wine has a strong, but never overbearing character, with great elegance and poise. It always maintains a balance between sugar and acidity (sweetness and freshness). A touch of bitterness can also contribute to the overall harmony. Château d'Yquem's aftertaste is legendary, and it tells another story, which lasts and lasts…

Certain connoisseurs consider it outrageous to drink a young Yquem and believe that opening such a monumental wine before its thirtieth birthday is tantamount to a sacrilege. Others, on the contrary, think that Yquem can be enjoyed at all stages in its life.

 

Chateau d`Yquem is often described as the greatest sweet wine in the world. After centuries of family ownership, Yquem was was bought by Louis Vuitton-Moët-Hennessy in 1999. Its former owner and director Alexandre de Lur-Saluce remains in charge. Yquem is located on the highest hill in Sauternes and enjoys the best growing conditions in the whole appellation. The 110-hectare vineyard is planted with 80% Sémillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc. Only fully botrytized fruit is picked by the 150 highly skilled pickers and yields are so low that each vine produces only one glass of wine. Yquem is fermented in oak barrels (100% new) and is left in barriques to mature for up to 36 months. Intensely opulent when young, Yquem develops an extraordinary complexity and exotic richness when fully mature, with the best vintages lasting for over 50 years. Château d'Yquem is classified as a 1er Cru Classé supérieur.

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Wine Information

Everything about the 2005 growing season pointed towards a great vintage: moderate water stress, a temperate end to the summer season conducive to good acidity, alternating periods of rain and dry heat for optimum botrytisation, etc. The wine has a phenomenally complex bouquet, confirming the extraordinary quality of the vintage.

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Vintage 2005

Bordeaux Vintage Report 2005 is a truly fantastic vintage with great quality across the board on both the Left and Right Banks.

The 2005 vintage became the most expected since 2000. The en primeur market was heated, and prices skyrocketed. The cold winter delayed the bud break before the hot ans dunny spring broke up. Even vegetative growth and flowering gave a perfect start to the vintage. The summer turned out to be one of the driest ever which was avoiding disaster since the weather remained reasonably warm not excessively hot as in 2003. The soil is again becoming a decisive quality factor. Gravelly areas, such as Graves, were worst affected once more. In other words, top wines are to be expected.

For short term perspective, in the next couple of years, an excellent amount of mature red Bordeaux wines will be available in the market. The vintages 2004, 2002, 1999, 1994, 1992 and 1988 offer a wide selection of enjoyable wines to be consumed immediately or at most to be stored for a short period.

As investments, the best vintages from the past 35 years are 2003, 1996, 1989, 1986 and 1982. The most certain long-term investments are Latour, La Mission Haut-Brion, Haut-Brion, Le Pin and Pétrus.

In the last 35 years, Bordeaux has undergone a substantial change in winemaking. Modern equipment and developing know-how have guaranteed more even quality. It seems that the next challenge will be handling the extreme climates including slowly global warming, which has already given hints of its effects also in Bordeaux. It is impossible to say how the Bordeaux wines will change in the next 35 years. We can only hope that their most characteristic feature, elegant aristocratic nature highlighted by unique terroir, will never fade away.

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Average Bottle Price

2023 2020 2015
265€ +3.5% 256€ +21.9% 210€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Latest Pro-tasting notes

19 tasting notes

Tasting note

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Written Notes

What an incredible nose of flowers, honey, spices such as clove, and sandalwood. With time, decadent aromas of apple tart and crumble develop. Full and very round on the palate, this is medium sweet with a velvety texture. Flavors of honey, apple and pear tart appear on the long finish. This is so beautiful, hard not to drink now but will greatly improve with more time

  • 95p

Château d´Yquem 2005 / Yield of 12 hl/ha – almost record high levels! Quite deep gold. Wonderfully deep nose – never smelt anything as intense and glorious as this! Extraordinary!!! Deep yet lively. Exciting depth of pear juice and zest – tangerine peel too. Great astringency. 2001 was more concentrated. This is more transparent. Lovely dancing stuff, but already in the super-nuanced Yquem idiom. Lighter than some vintages but with great lacy complexity. Wonderful green, lively notes and some real explosiveness – 13.5 per cent. Energy drink! Coiled like a taut spring.

  • 100p

Towards golden. Lemon peel, some pineapples, apricots, peach note, detailed nose, nuanced, almost somewhat shy at the moment. Refined. Fresh acidity. Fruity, somewhat leaner after the 2009, detailed, refined, nuanced, ripe, quite intense, you wouldn't call it lean by itself, very refreshing and lovely, narrower finish, very long. 97

  • 97p

‘A very good vintage. A little bit different. Less fully botrytised grapes and more juice’.
Still just light straw coloured. Open and quite fruity nose, inviting and ripe. There’s quite a bit of citrus here, more marmalade or orange. The palate is bouncy, juicy, open, approachable. Maybe a fraction warm to finish? A very chunky wine. Again, more table wine pangs. Love how chunky and even slightly jammy. Less bot, clearly. This is very affable and even quite fun, but is it as complex? Lovely wine regardless. Might even have the nudge on the 09 at this point. Certainly feels more complete! 18.8/20, 95/100.

  • 95p

I am writing this review with some trepidation. Famous wine writers have of course reviewed this wine, and I am not very experienced with Sauternes. However, this is a blog of my personal experiences. So here come my impressions of the 2005 Chateau d'Yquem. 


2005 was a great vintage for red Bordeaux, but not so much for Sauternes in general due to the warmth of the vintage. However, this is a terrific wine. The flavours on the palate are complex: stonefruits, pineapple, honey and almonds. The wine is intense and rich, but has a lightness on the finish. The acidity is perfectly balanced. There is a long and balanced aftertaste. This wine has sheer class.


If you enjoy everyday dessert wines, I suggest you skip the next five or six and buy this wine once. It will change your view of what a dessert wine can be like.


Score: 98/+++

  • 98p
Consistent notes. 80% of the harvest into Grand Vin. Residual sugar 8%, alcohol 13.3%, acidity 3.6 g/l H2SO4. Extraordinary intensity of botrytised flavours – acacia flower, acacia honey, honey melon, pear, peach and apricot. Very sublime, subtle, sophisticated, extremely long, sticks to the tongue. Acidity supports fruit in beautiful way. The depth, structure and purity in this wine is simply awesome. One to keep for 50-60 years.
  • 98p
Château d´Yquem 2005 / Clear, goldish colour. The very intense nose is partly closed but still offers a peculiar complexity of aromas – apricot marmalade, coconuts, toastiness and vanilla. A semi sweet taste with s moderately high acidity and very concentrated, glycerol-like intensity. Lovely marriage of apricot marmalade and toasty oak. Very complex flavours with silky elegance and warming finish. By far the most exciting flavour palate of all 2005 Sauternes.
  • 96p
Yquem 2005 98 points - Medium deep colour. Remarkably extravagant wine with intense perfumed dried apricot/ nectarine/ lemon curd/ honey/ garrigue aromas and some savoury oak notes. Powerfully concentrated supple palate with incredibly deep set apricot/lemon curd/honey/ orange peel flavours balanced by savoury/bisquity oak and piercing acidity. A very rich profoundly exuberant wine compressed with fruit and energy. Will develop and last decades.
  • 98p
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Information

Origin

Sauternes, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Good

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

There is a possibility

Glass time

2h

Highlights

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