Wine Advisor
d'Yquem 2009
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2009 Yquem has an almost ethereal nose, beautifully defined with scents of honey, honeysuckle, pear, fresh apricot and a hint of quince. It blossoms in the glass, gaining intensity and expanding across the ether. The immediate impression is not of a powerful, rich, botrytis-laden Yquem, but one that has semblances with the 2007 in terms of poise and precision, the acidity defining the wine in its youth and around that, subtle notes of honey, fig, pear, apricot and just a hint of ginger adding vibrancy and edginess towards the pure and tensile finish. As expected, there is extraordinary persistency, lingering in the mouth long after the wine has disappeared, yet it will remain long in the memory.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Pale to medium gold colored, the 2009 d'Yquem bursts from the glass with gregarious crème caramel, allspice, dried apricots, mandarin peel and pineapple upside down cake scents plus a fragrant undercurrent of fungi, acacia honey, candied ginger, musk perfume and frangipani. Full-bodied and full-on hedonic in the mouth, the rich, tightly wound layers are still amazingly youthful with bags of citrus sparks and an incredibly long, perfumed finish. Possessing a residual sugar of 157 grams per liter and 13.6% alcohol as well as a laser-focused line of freshness, the rock-solid structure and through-the-roof opulence here is simply mind blowing. Pure perfection.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasting a legend under blind conditions is always the ultimate test of pedigree with everything to lose. And yet for the second year running, the brilliance of Chateau d’Yquem stood out. The 2009 has a glorious bouquet with luscious honey, lemon curd, white peach and quince that is crystalline and utterly refined. It demonstrates wonderful delineation and pinpoint focus. The palate is brilliantly balanced with life-affirming acidity. There are notes of quince and white peach once again, marrying with hints of light honey and crushed stone, finishing with convincing confidence on the composed, refined finish. This is not quite as ethereal as the 2001 – but it comes damn close. Drink 2014-2050.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Served from an ex-chateau bottle. The 2009 Chateau d’Yquem is one showstopper of a wine and perhaps it is only in a vertical that you realize this is up there among the legendary wines of the past – the 2001 included. It has a wonderful nose that expresses the Semillon component majestically: heady aromas of lemon curd, nectarine, jasmine and honeysuckle that all gain momentum in the glass. The oak is supremely well-integrated. The palate is extremely well-balanced with an unctuous entry. You are immediately knocked sideways by the palpable weight and volume in the mouth, which is almost “bulbous,” with layer upon layer of heavily botrytized fruit. It builds to a spicy finish with hints of marzipan and pralines in the background that lend it an untrammeled sense of exoticism. The 2009 is utterly fabulous and decadent, a star that will blaze brightly and undimmed for many years. Drink now-2060+. Tasted March 2014.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
In comparison to the 2010 vintage, the 2009 d'Yquem is more concentrated with a stunning "rôti," the consequence of noble rot in French. Developing a powerful, complex bouquet with aromas of pineapple, apricot, saffron, flowers, spices and orchard fruits, it’s dense and concentrated, full-bodied and layered with a crystalline texture complicated by notes of white truffles that reveal a racy, endless and a superb finish concluding with a pristine harmony. Readers with bottles in their cellars will have to be patient before opening this masterpiece with 155 grams of residual sugar.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2009 d'Yquem is a vintage that I have awarded perfect scores to in the past however, neither bottles merit that on this occasion. The first bottle feels scalped, so much so that a second bottle is checked. This has a very refined and sophisticated bouquet with wild honey, brioche, vanilla pod and light orange blossom aromas, beautifully refined. The palate is very well defined with fine acidity, very elegant in style with pure botrytised fruit and superb acidity on the finish. Ah...that is more like it. However, on this occasion it does not quite hit the high notes. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.
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)1989(4)1990(11)1993(1)1995(7)1996(7)1997(6)1998(11)1999(9)2000(3)2001(16)2002(7)2003(12)2004(6)2005(10)2006(7)2007(6)2008(7)
Package Size
1 x 6L
