1975 Château d'Yquem Sauternes Bordeaux France Wine Tasting Note
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Deep gold in color, the attention seeking nose pops with roasted pineapple, ginger, butter, butterscotch, white pepper, flowers, cashews, caramel, vanilla, apricots, honey and cinnamon sugar. Intense, concentrated, weighty and yet fresh, vibrant and spicy, the mid-palate and finish resonates with seared pineapple, white pepper, orange, mango and a beguiling hint of cocoa powder that shines in the end of the finish. Drink from 2023-2075. 3,469 Views Tasted Aug 11, 2023Taking on a copper, orange hue, the incredible perfume with all its flowers, almonds, creme brulee, candied orange rind, apricot, overripe pineapple molasses and spice all coated with honey is a serious turn on. But it is on the palate, with its incredible match of concentration, sweetness, and blazing acidity that helps it all make sense. This is so good, it could run out of points on the best bottles, especially with more time. 4,176 Views Tasted Dec 5, 2021It has been a few years since I last tasted this wine, and baby, "I've missed you!" With blazing, racy acidity, the wine roars with its waves of ripe, sweet, juicy, fresh, pure, honeyed apricot, orange peel, pineapple, creme brulee, spice, flowers and vanilla. The wine is rich and sweet, but never cloying or out of balance. It has length, purity and complexity and its only reached its teen years. I am sure future generations of wine lovers will be loving this wine in 2075! 4,489 Views Tasted May 31, 2018I cannot think of many wines that have displayed this level of consistency. This stunning wine has been perfect on more occasions than I can count. After a night of great wines, time and time again this has been scored as the wine of the night on numerous occasions. With its flashy display of decadent tropical fruits slathered in honey, vanilla, flowers, spice and candied citrus peel, it’s easy to see why. On the palate, the more than :60 finish has the perfect balance of acidity, giving it lift and freshness coupled with dense, ripe, over ripe and extremely ripe tropical fruits. This is the wine to buy, if you can afford it. 9,359 Views Tasted Mar 22, 2013Fathers day does not come around enough. As Chateau d'Yquem is my dad's favorite wine, I popped a 1975! With a beautiful golden hue, pineapple upside down cake, caramel, honeysuckle, cinnamon, coffee, orange rind, apricot, smoke, creme brulee and smoke create the complex aromatics. Liquid silk and velvet drenched in honey textures in the mouth lead to a long, fresh, bright, pineapple, apricot, vanilla, cocoa, orangesicle and spice filled finish. While this was a great bottle of 1975 d'Yquem, I've had fresher examples showing more yellow fruit, sweetness and less creme brulee. 9,880 Views Tasted Jun 18, 20121975 Chateau d’Yquem is a contender for the most consistent 100 Pt wine I have ever tasted. Bottle after bottle has been stunning and this 5 Yquem was no exception. With a copper, orange color, honey covered apricots, floral aromas, pineapples, creme brulee, coconut and tropical aromas explode in front of your nose. Viscous, opulent, packed and stacked with endless waves of deep, juicy, spicy, honey drenched fruit, your mouth, teeth and gums are coated with pleasure .Everything is on balance. The perfect amount of acidity keeps the wine, fresh and lively. The seamless finish lasts well over a minute. If you have the money and want to experience Yquem at its best, Kenny Loggins had it right, "This is it!" 16,728 Views Tasted Mar 10, 2011With the color of pure, honey, the aromatics can seemingly be experienced from across the room! Apricots, oranges, flowers, roasted pineapples, caramel, grilled nuts all drenched in Acacia honey. Thick, concentrated, rich, lush and opulent fruit coats your mouth, teeth and gums. But its the perfect balance that becomes evident with the lift of acidity that makes this one of the best dessert wines ever produced. The long, honey coated, tropical fruit filled, seamless finish lasts over 60 seconds! This stunning wine is flawless. Perhaps the 2001 will be better. And in 25 years, when that wine begins to enter maturity, we'll find out, But for today, I cannot think of a vintage of Chateau d'Yquem that offers better drinking. 17,122 Views Tasted Sep 5, 2010This is the real deal. Incredible levels of sweet, ripe, decadent, complex, rich, honeyed fruit with ample acidity to give it lift. This wine offers intense purity, ripeness and sweetness. 15,195 Views Tasted Jun 27, 2009 |
When to Drink Chateau d'Yquem, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time
Chateau d'Yquem can be enjoyed on the young side with no decanting. Of course, the wine is sweet, but there is so much, incredible, racy acidity, the wine always feels fresh, and never cloying, which makes it quite fun to enjoy young. With Chateau d'Yquem and frankly, all Sauternes, the temperature is more important than decanting.
Chateau d'Yquem is delicious on release. But d'Yquem does not reach full maturity for 35-50 years, or even longer in the best vintages! That is when the magic happens! But that is unrealistic for 99% of the world's wine drinkers. So, enjoy it on any special occasion that calls for it.
Serving Chateau d'Yquem with Wine and Food Pairings
Chateau d'Yquem is best served at 14 degrees Celsius, 57 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift. The wine will naturally, slowly warm in the glass, while it develops more aromatic complexities and fleshes out.
Chateau d'Yquem can be served with seafood dishes, especially shellfish, lobster, crab, and oysters on the half shell. Foie gras is a perfect pairing with its natural sweet, salty and savory characteristics. Chateau d'Yquem can also be paired with roasted chicken, veal, and pork dishes that are either spicy or prepared with a touch of sweetness.
Spicy Asian cuisine, raw fish, like sushi or sashimi, and cheese, both hard and soft also make great pairings with Chateau d'Yquem.
Chateau d'Yquem Dry White Wine
Chateau d'Yquem also produces a dry, white Bordeaux wine called "Y," which is pronounced (Ygrec). The wine is only made in select vintages. The first vintage for the production of dry, white wine at Chateau d'Yquem took place in 1959.
To make the dry white Bordeaux wine of d'Yquem, the fruit the estate uses does not only come from declassified grapes. Most of the berries are picked before the harvesting of the grapes for the production of Chateau d'Yquem has started.
When harvesting for Ygrec, the vines and grapes are chosen prior to harvest. However, while one bunch of Sauvignon Blanc on the vine is designated for Ygrec, the remaining bunch can be used for d'Yquem, if the necessary amount of noble rot develops.
For the Semillon used in Ygrec, the grapes are harvested just prior to the full development of noble rot.
Close to 80% of the parcels used to produce their dry white wine can change from vintage to vintage.
The blend of "Y" is normally close to 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon. Interestingly, this is almost the complete opposite of the grape blend that is placed in Chateau d'Yquem! Since 2000, it has become more common to see vintages of "Y," than in previous years.
This is due to an increase in production. However starting with 2005, Ygrec has been made in every vintage. Today, slightly less than 1,000 cases are produced of "Y" each year.
To produce the dry white Bordeaux wine from d'Yquem, the wine is vinified in stainless steel vats. In fact, in 2012, the estate added several new, gleaming, stainless steel for the vinification. There is no malolactic fermentation. The wine is aged in 50% new, French oak barrels for an average of 10 months.
During its aging time, the wine is aged on its lees. This marks a major change in the wine, as previously, the wine was aged for up to 18 months in barrel before bottling.
Starting with the 2011 vintage, the chateau completely redesigned the label for "Y". The dry white wine of Yquem, "Y" is sold as a Bordeaux Superieur Blanc. Chateau d'Yquem does not produce a second wine. Instead, they declassify unwanted grapes or wine.
While the estate strives to make vintages of Chateau d'Yquem every year, that is not always possible. Chateau d'Yquem ended up declassifying the entire harvest and did not make wine in the following vintages, 1910, 1915, 1930, 1951, 1952, 1964, 1972, 1974, 1992, and 2012.
Even with as many as thirteen separate passes in the vineyards, as the grapes were not up to their high standard to produce a wine worthy of Chateau d'Yquem, they did not produce any wine in those years.
So, what does Chateau d'Yquem do with the declassified wine? In the past, declassified grapes that were not used in the production of their dry, white wine "Y", were sold off in bulk and used to produce a generic, Sauternes wine.
Today, declassified grapes are also used to produce a special blend of declassified d'Yquem that is only available to employees through internal sales at the property. The wine is not meant to be sold as a commercial product. The wine is classed as a generic AOC Sauternes wine.