d yquem ch teau d yquem logo wine region sauternes gironde appellation sauternes known for ch teau d yquem prestige ygrec dry white since 1959 varietals s millon sauvignon blanc website www.chateau yquem.fr a bottle of yquem of 1973 ch teau d yquem french to d ik m is a premier cru sup rieur fr superior first growth wine from the sauternes gironde region in the southern part of the bordeaux vineyards known as graves . in the bordeaux wine official classification of 1855 ch teau d yquem was the only sauternes given this rating indicating its perceived superiority and higher prices over all other wines of its type . yquem s success stems largely from the site s susceptibility to attack by noble rot botrytis cinerea . wines from ch teau d yquem are characterised by their complexity concentration and sweetness . a relatively high acidity helps to balance the wine s sweetness . another characteristic for which ch teau d yquem wines are known is their longevity . 1 with proper care a bottle will keep for a century or more . during this time the fruity overtones will gradually fade and integrate with more complex secondary and tertiary flavours . 2 since 1959 though not every year ch teau d yquem has also produced a dry white wine called ygrec fr the letter y made from an equal blend of s millon and sauvignon blanc . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 since 1968 2 production 3 vintages 4 references 5 external links history edit ramon felipe eyquem had made a fortune as a herring and wine merchant and had bought the estate in 1477 from guilhem duboys seigneur de juillac . 3 pierre eyquem seigneur of montaigne had been the mayor of bordeaux . his son michel eyquem de montaigne died in 1592 . ch teau d yquem was acquired by jacques de sauvage in december 1593 . de sauvage acquired the property from the french monarchy by exchanging other lands that he owned for what was then referred to as the house of yquem . the site has been home to a vineyard since at least 1711 when the estate became fully owned by l on de sauvage d yquem . in 1785 it passed to the lur saluces family when fran oise jos phine de sauvage d yquem married count louis am d e de lur saluces a godson of louis xv and lady victoire de france . monsieur lur saluces died three years later and his wife subsequently focused her energy on sustaining 4 and improving the estate . 2 while minister plenipotentiary to france thomas jefferson visited the ch teau and later wrote sauterne . sic this is the best white wine of france and the best of it is made by monsieur de lur saluces . 2 jefferson ordered 250 bottles of the 1784 vintage for himself and additional bottles for george washington . however at that time the technique of allowing noble rot to infect grapes had not yet been discovered so the wine jefferson was drinking was a different sweet wine . citation needed the 1811 ch teau d yquem a comet vintage has exhibited what wine experts like robert parker have described as exceptional longevity with parker scoring the wine a perfect 100 points when tasted in 1996 . 5 since 1968 edit a half bottle of yquem 1999 . after the 1968 death of the marquis bernard de lur saluces the ch teau was run by comte alexandre de lur saluces a minority 7 % owner . 6 the comte inherited a typical annual production of 66 000 bottles a year . 6 after the 1973 oil crisis demand fell and prices plummeted . the price of a bottle of d yquem dropped to 35 francs ; prices began to rise only in the 1980s . 6 vineyards of ch teau d yquem in sauternes . under the comte s leadership tractors replaced horses collapsing cellars were renovated and unused acreage was planted with production in good years reaching 100 000 bottles and sales about 10 million . 6 following a bitter family feud and the decision of eugene de lur saluces alexandre s other brother to sell part of his 47 % share of the business on 28 november 1996 the french luxury goods giant lvmh mo t hennessy louis vuitton bought 55 % of ch teau d yquem from the family of the comte alexandre de lur saluces for about 100 million . 6 the comte after first challenging the sale in court for over two years 6 was kept as the manager of the estate . on 17 may 2004 the comte retired and was replaced by the current managing director of ch teau cheval blanc pierre lurton . the comte had been known for being particularly dedicated towards maintaining quality going so far as to reject an entire batch of the wine if he did not like the results of a randomised testing . 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 . 7 also that year dior and ch teau d yquem together created a skin care product made from the sap of the yquem vines . 8 in july 2011 an 1811 bottle of ch teau d yquem sold for 75 000 117 000 at the ritz in london to a private collector christian vanneque to become the most expensive bottle of white wine ever sold . 9 10 production edit a bottle of 1945 d yquem showing the color change that this white wines goes through as it ages . the vineyard has 126 hectares 310 acres in the sauternes appellation though only 100 hectares 250 acres are in production at any time . each year vines from two to three hectares are grubbed up and left fallow for a year . since grapes from newly planted vines are not worthy of the chateau name for five to seven years about 20 hectares are held in reserve each year . the vines consist of 80 % s millon and 20 % sauvignon blanc though the latter s vigour implies the proportions are more nearly equal in the final wine . harvesting is carefully timed and on average six tries through the vineyard are undertaken each year to ensure that only the botrytized grapes are selected . the yield averages nine hectolitres per hectare 2.5 acres compared to the usual twelve to twenty hectolitres per hectare in sauternes . the grapes are pressed three times and transferred to oak barrels for maturation over a period of about three years . on average 65 000 bottles are produced each year . in a poor vintage the entire crop is deemed unworthy of bearing the ch teau s name and sold anonymously ; this happened nine times in the 20th century 1910 1915 1930 1951 1952 1964 1972 1974 and 1992 and in the 21st century one time 2012 . 11 12 vintages edit chateau d yquem vintages 13 great vintages 1825 1847 1865 1870 1893 1904 1921 1937 1947 1959 1967 1983 1986 1988 1990 1995 1997 2001 2003 years without vintages 1910 1915 1930 1951 1952 1964 1972 1974 1992 2012 references edit echikson william 2004 . noble rot a bordeaux wine revolution . new york w.w. norton . chapters 7 11 . amon michael . yquem oder schlafende konten edition vortschritt wien 2011 roman novel german language berarbeitete neuauflage . michael amon footnotes a b coates clive 1995 . grands vins the finest ch teaux of bordeaux and their wines . university of california press . pp. 525 531 . isbn 978 0 520 20220 7 . a b c lichine alexis 1967 . alexis lichine s encyclopedia of wines and spirits . london cassell & company ltd. pp. 562 563 . renaud camus demeures de l esprit ii la france du sud ouest . fayard paris 2008 isbn 978 2 213 64554 4 chapter 3 . chateau d yquem . retrieved 07 11 2010 . check date values in access date help harding graham 2005 . a wine miscellany . new york clarkson potter publishing . pp. 45 47 . isbn 0 307 34635 8 a b c d e f a vineyard s bitter fruit . businessweek . 13 november 2000 . retrieved 24 april 2010 . vinfolio.com the wine collector 1860 2003 vertical of yquem sells for 1.5 million sybarites.org dior and ch teau d yquem create l or de vie anti aging cream together bottle bank world s most expensive white wine sold for 75 000 . the guardian . london . 26 july 2011 . chow jason 26 july 2011 . bottle of white sells for record 117 000 . the wall street journal . chateau d yquem information booklet from the chateau 30 june 2010 . sauternes lvmh . may 2010 . p. 10 . chateau d yquem will not make 2012 vintage . decanter.com . 18 december 2012 . retrieved 26 december 2012 . yquem grand cru retrieved 15 10 2012 external links edit ch teau d yquem official site french english v t e bordeaux wine official classification of 1855 classed growths of m doc premiers crus lafite rothschild latour margaux haut brion graves mouton rothschild 1973 deuxi mes crus rauzan s gla rauzan gassies l oville las cases l oville poyferr l oville barton durfort vivens gruaud larose lascombes brane cantenac pichon longueville baron pichon longueville comtesse de lalande ducru beaucaillou cos d estournel montrose troisi mes crus kirwan d issan lagrange langoa barton giscours malescot st. exup ry boyd cantenac cantenac brown palmer la lagune desmirail calon s gur ferri re marquis d alesme becker quatri mes crus saint pierre talbot branaire ducru duhart milon pouget la tour carnet lafon rochet beychevelle prieur lichine marquis de terme cinqui mes crus pontet canet batailley haut batailley grand puy lacoste grand puy ducasse lynch bages lynch moussas dauzac d armailhac du tertre haut bages lib ral p desclaux belgrave de camensac cos labory clerc milon croizet bages cantemerle 1856 classed growths of sauternes and barsac premier cru sup rieur d yquem premiers crus la tour blanche lafaurie peyraguey clos haut peyraguey rayne vigneau suduiraut coutet climens guiraud rieussec rabaud promis sigalas rabaud deuxi mes crus de myrat doisy da ne doisy dubroca doisy v drines d arche filhot broustet nairac caillou suau de malle romer du hayot romer lamothe lamothe guignard v t e lvmh board of directors albert fr re antoine arnault bernadette chirac bernard arnault charles powell charles de croisset delphine arnault diego della valle felix rohatyn gilles hennessy hubert v drine yves thibault de silguy fashion and leather goods berluti c line donna karan international eluxury emilio pucci fendi givenchy kenzo loewe louis vuitton marc jacobs stefanobi thomas pink perfumes and cosmetics acqua di parma benefit cosmetics fresh guerlain kenzo parfums labrosse et dupont make up for ever parfums christian dior parfums givenchy perfumes loewe retailing le bon march dfs galleria la samaritaine sephora miami cruiseline starboard cruise services watches and jewellery bulgari chaumet dior watches fred joaillier hublot tag heuer zenith wines and spirits 10 cane rum ardbeg distillery belvedere cape mentelle vineyards dom p rignon domaine chandon california ch teau d yquem cloudy bay vineyards hennessy champagne krug champagne mercier mo t et chandon newton vineyard ruinart veuve clicquot glenmorangie 66 % wenjun other connaissance des arts investir les chos radio classique royal van lent retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ch teau d % 27yquem & oldid 716836753 categories bordeaux wine producerslvmh brandshidden categories cs1 errors datesuse dmy dates from june 2011all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from april 2010articles with french language external links navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in