Château D'Yquem, 2005 - Half-bottle
Château D'Yquem, 2005 - Half-bottle
- 37.5cl
- 13.5%
- Dessert
- Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon
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Optimal drinking window: Now - 2060
Romain-Bertrand de Lur-Saluces, grandson of the legendary Françoise-Joséphine, didn’t just inherit Château d’Yquem - he dedicated himself to its legacy. By 1855, Yquem was named the sole Premier Cru Supérieur in the famous classification ordered by Napoleon III.
Neal Martin certainly does not hold back on the effusive positivity and lengthy reasoning as to why the estate "consistently trumps contenders to the throne", ultimately concluding that "Yquem is unbeatable" within Sauternes, and is to sweet wine what Shakespeare is to literature, Houdini to magic or Pelé to football.
What the critics say:
"A blend of 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc, with 141 grams per liter of residual sugar, the 2005 Yquem is pale to medium gold in color. It starts off reticent and slightly broody before spilling out of the glass with notes of applesauce, peach cobbler, and musk melon, giving way to powerful scents of candied ginger, jasmine tea, chamomile, and saffron, together with a touch of chalk. The palate is an atomic bomb of flavors, coating the palate with spicy apple and peach preserves, with beautiful tension, finishing very long with loads of mineral sparks. It's gone into a closed stage for now – you should cellar it a good 7-10 years longer."
"The 2005 Yquem is limpid golden in hue. The bouquet is gorgeous, finely-tuned and precise with clear honey, vanilla pod and saffron, less of the almond that I have noticed previously. The palate is built around its exquisite poise, the acidity keeping this Yquem on its tip-toes. As I have noted before, it appears to be gaining in concentration and viscosity with age, lovely fig and tangerine notes combining with a slight nuttiness on the finish. Tasted at 67 Pall Mall in London."
Yquem's 113 hectares sit on a high point of the Sauternes plateau, which matters enormously: the elevation encourages cold morning mists rolling off the Ciron river to meet warm afternoon sun, the precise conditions that coax Botrytis cinerea — noble rot — across the grapes. The soils are a layered complexity of gravel, clay, and sand over a limestone and clay subsoil, with an elaborate network of drainage ditches dug over centuries to regulate water stress. That combination of hydrology, elevation, and aspect means Yquem experiences botrytis more reliably and more completely than almost anywhere else in Sauternes. It is not luck; it is geography working at its absolute best.
Sauternes is a small appellation south of Bordeaux, producing sweet wines from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and occasionally Muscadelle, all affected to varying degrees by noble rot. The 1855 classification ranked Yquem alone in a category above all others — Premier Cru Supérieur — a distinction that has never been revised and remains unchallenged. Neighbouring appellations Barsac and Cérons produce wines in a similar style, though Barsac's flatter, more limestone-dominant soils tend to yield wines with a lighter, more elegant profile. Sauternes at its finest requires both the river Ciron and the Garonne in proximity, and no estate sits more perfectly within that geography than Yquem.
The 2005 vintage gave Bordeaux everything it wanted: a perfect storm of ideal conditions that produced wines of extraordinary concentration and power. A warm, dry summer followed by crucial September rains allowed the grapes to ripen fully whilst retaining their natural acidity. The Left Bank Cabernet Sauvignon thrived in the heat, developing thick skins and intense colour, whilst Merlot on the Right Bank benefited from the later moisture to avoid over-concentration.
What emerged was a vintage of remarkable depth and structure that immediately announced itself as something special. These wines possess a density and mineral backbone that sets them apart from the more opulent styles of recent warm years, with tannins that are firm but never harsh. The greatest estates produced wines that rank among their finest ever bottlings, and even lesser-known châteaux exceeded expectations. Most 2005s are drinking superbly now but will continue to reward patience until 2035 or beyond.
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