Wine Advisor
d'Yquem 1989
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
A limpid orange/amber colour, deeper than the 1990. An awesome nose of honey, apricot and nuts. Very complex and rich. The palate is much more opulent than the Yquem 1990 with a heavenly cocktail of clementine, honey and citrus fruits. Good acidity and wonderful definition. Real hedonistic stuff. A delectable marmalade finish lingers for a minute in the mouth. Almost a perfect wine. Perhaps less classy than the 1990 but utterly irresistible. Tasted November 2003.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Notable for being a very hot Bordeaux vintage, 1989 is also the year that the vines were hit by a violent hailstorm in July, which damaged the western half of the vineyard. Since the berries were still quite small and hard at that stage, the impact was minimized to about 20% crop loss overall. Thereafter, the vines soldiered on to produce a stunningly concentrated crop this year. Medium to deep gold colored, the 1989 d'Yquem is little closed to begin, slowly unfurling to give gorgeous dried mango, pineapple paste and candied peel scents with hints of praline, nutmeg, lemon butter and crème caramel plus a waft of crushed stones. The palate delivers powerful, wonderfully concentrated notes of dried stone fruits with provocative nutty nuances and a seamless acid backbone, packaged within a satiny texture and finishing on a lingering lemon tea and minerals note. The alcohol came in at 13.2% this year with a residual sugar of 126.5 grams per liter, and total acidity is 3.9 grams per liter H2SO4.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The favorite sweet wine of millionaires, Chateau d'Yquem has, not unexpectedly, turned in a brilliant effort with their newly released 1989. It is a large-scaled, massively rich, unctuously-textured wine that should evolve effortlessly for a half century or more. It does not reveal the compelling finesse and complexity of the 1988 or 1986, but it is a far heavier, richer wine than either of those vintages. It is reminiscent of the 1976, with additional fat and glycerin. The wine is extremely alcoholic and rich, with a huge nose of smoky, honey-covered coconuts and overripe pineapples and apricots. As with most young vintages of Yquem, the wine's structure is barely noticeable. These wines are so highly extracted and rich yet approachable young, it is difficult to believe they will last for 50 or more years. The 1989 is the richest Yquem made in the eighties, and it has an edge in complexity over the powerhouse 1983. It remains to be seen whether this wine will develop the extraordinary aromatic complexity possessed by the promising 1988 and 1986 Yquems. Last tasted 11/97
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The favorite sweet wine of millionaires, Chateau d'Yquem has, not unexpectedly, turned in a brilliant effort with their newly released 1989. It is a large-scaled, massively rich, unctuously-textured wine that should evolve effortlessly for a half century or more. It does not reveal the compelling finesse and complexity of the 1988 or 1986, but it is a far heavier, richer wine than either of those vintages. It is reminiscent of the 1976, with additional fat and glycerin. The wine is extremely alcoholic and rich, with a huge nose of smoky, honey-covered coconuts and overripe pineapples and apricots. As with most young vintages of Yquem, the wine's structure is barely noticeable. These wines are so highly extracted and rich yet approachable young, it is difficult to believe they will last for 50 or more years. The 1989 is the richest Yquem made in the eighties, and it has an edge in complexity over the powerhouse 1983. It remains to be seen whether this wine will develop the extraordinary aromatic complexity possessed by the promising 1988 and 1986 Yquems.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at the “First Growth” lunch in London. One the outstanding Yquem’s of the modern age, this ’89 rarely disappoints. It has a limpid amber/golden colour. The nose is exuberant, just soaring from the glass with acacia honey, orange-blossom, apricots, quince and a touch of wild heather. Brilliant definition. The palate is perhaps more introspective than I anticipated but beautifully balanced with viscous honeyed fruit, tangerine, peach and just a hint of Seville orange marmalade. Lacquers the mouth in heavenly Sauternes with an extraordinarily long finish. Stunning! Drink now-2050+
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
One of the high points of this vertical tasting, the 1989 d'Yquem is a magical wine offering up a complex, refined bouquet with aromas of quince, apricot, pineapple, menthol, flowers and white truffles, followed by a full-bodied, concentrated and seamless palate, pure and vibrant structure and lively acids, concluding with a long, perfumed, ethereal finish.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 1989 Yquem is my favourite of the triumvirate and this bottle was stellar. It explodes from the glass with scents of quince, acacia, honeysuckle, saffron and wild heather (a trait that I have observed previously). What marks this out is the stunning delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with tangerine, fig, marmalade and quince. A livewire Yquem with enormous depth and intensity, a bit more swagger than the 1988, a bit more precision-tooled than the 1990. Fabulous. Tasted blind at a private dinner in Bordeaux.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 1989 Yquem is one of my favourite vintages ever and certainly my pick of the famous trio at the end of the decade. This is even more spectacular than the bottle poured at Hide restaurant three years ago. Still limpid gold in color, it has an entrancing bouquet of orange blossom, quince and freshly sliced apricot, all delivered with stunning delineation. Ineffably pure and full of tension, this Yquem has an effortless nature that leaves the taster almost hypnotized in its presence. Delicate touches of fig and Seville orange marmalade furnishes the finish. Brilliant. Tasted at the Amos Bursary charity dinner at 67 Pall Mall.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 1989 Yquem is probably the best and most consistent of the triumvirate at the end of the decade. Two bottles tasted at 30 years of age give me no reason to alter that opinion. Limpid gold in color, slightly lighter than the 1988, it has a vivacious bouquet of gorgeous orange blossom, tinned apricot, quince jelly and wild heather, all delivered with impressive clarity. The palate is cohesive, pure and exquisitely balanced, sporting just the right amount of viscosity (less than the 1990). It bursts with tangerine, white peach, saffron and fresh fig, flecks of Seville orange marmalade appearing on the finish. This is Yquem flirting with its very best, and you never know – it could get even better with age. Tasted at Hide restaurant in London.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Laid-back, extremely young aromas of honey, creme caramel, smoke and earth; essence of semillon. Rich, large-scaled and powerful; really expands in the mouth. Lovely harmonious acidity and bright notes of orange peel and minerals give this very youthful wine great clarity of flavor. Classy and impeccably balanced. The subtle, oak-spicy, nutty finish goes on and on. Conveys an almost saline impression of extract. This should approach peak drinkability within the next eight to ten years and last for decades.
About the Producer
Chateau d'Yquem is located in the north-eastern part of the Sauternes wine producing village in the Bordeaux region of France and is one of the most prestigious chateaux in the Graves Sauternes appellation. It was named a Premier Cru Superieur in the 1855 Sauternes and Barsac Classification, the only Bordeaux chateau to be awarded this distinction. At the end of the 19th century, a barrel of wine was bought by the Grand Duke Constantine for 20,000 gold francs, a news story that grabbed the headlines and made Château Djinn famous at home and abroad. At the end of the 20th century, the French luxury goods giant Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton (LVMH) bought a majority stake in Château Djinn for a large sum of money and became the majority shareholder, thus opening a new chapter in the development of Château Djinn. Château Djinn has 113 hectares of vineyards, of which only 100 are in constant production. Every year, 2-3 hectares of old vines are pulled out of the vineyard and the land is left fallow for a year, while the newly planted vines do not produce any grapes for the first 5 years of the vintage. The vineyard has a top soil of pebbles and coarse gravel, which absorbs heat very well, and a subsoil of clay, which has good water storage capacity. The vineyard is planted with 75% Semillon and 25% Sauvignon Blanc. The vineyard is pruned to reduce yields by pruning and controlling the size of the canopy to increase the flavour concentration of the fruit. During the harvest season, the winery employs a large number of people to hand-pick the ripest grapes and those that have been properly infested with noble rot. The harvest is usually carried out in 5 or 6 rounds and is very rigorous. The picked grapes are sent to the winery within an hour, after which the grapes are pressed for 3-4 rounds, increasing the sugar content and quality of the juice with each pressing. The fermentation takes place in oak barrels, only new barrels made of good quality oak, during which the wine is closely monitored and its condition is regularly analysed. The finished wine is aged separately for 6-8 months, after which the winemaker blends the wine in the following spring and discards those wines that do not meet the requirements. The blended wine is then matured in the cellars for 20 months, during which time the barrels are refilled twice a week and the wine is decanted 15 times to remove the coarse sludge, while the fine sludge is removed by a clarification process. At the end of the maturation, the winemaker conducts a blind tasting to re-qualify the wine and determine the final percentage of the blend for the Grand Cru. Château d'Yquem, Sauternes, France, the main wine of Château d'Yquem, is known for its complex, concentrated and rather sweet taste, with crisp acidity and a well-balanced sweetness, and its excellent ageing potential. The wine has excellent potential to age for a century or more in some vintages, and with time the aromas and flavours become more complex and attractive, with the wine gradually changing colour from bright straw yellow to golden brown, amber and caramel. The wine has received full 100 points from Robert Parker and his team for the 1811, 1847, 1945, 2001, 2009 and 2015. The estate also produces a secondary wine, Chateau d'Yquem "Y", Bordeaux, France, which is a powerful dry It is a powerful dry white wine, usually made from Sauvignon Blanc and a small amount of Semillon, with an average annual production of around 10,000 bottles, usually with an alcohol content of 14% and a very rich and balanced nose and flavour, with a subtle sweetness.
1928(1)1947(1)1955(1)1962(1)1966(1)1970(1)1975(1)1978(1)1980(1)1981(2)1982(1)1983(4)1985(2)1986(6)1987(1)1988(8)
Package Size
1 x 6L1 x 75cl
