2011 Château d'Yquem Ex-Château
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Tasting notes
Dried apricot, preserved peaches, thick and glutinous on the palate. Heavy-set and mouth-coating in style, still with lots of fruit dominating the palate. There's not quite so much botrytic influence showing as you might expect, while the alcohol leaves a little warmth on the finish. Still great, but not the greatest Yquem. (RH)
Critic scores
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The 2011 d'Yquem offers up a spicy, powerful bouquet with aromas of nuts, sweet spices, saffron, exotic fruit, baked pineapple and a touch of oak with aeration. Moderately weighted, with a tense, elegant mid-palate, it’s a gourmand and satiny wine with ripe acids and a saline finish. The inaugural "trie," or initial grape selection, began on September 6, rendering it the fourth-earliest in a span of 125 years, with only 1893, 1960 and 1997 preceding it. The harvest concluded with notable promptness on the October 5.
The 2011 Château d'Yquem has a powerful and well defined bouquet, very pure with honey, barley sugar and quince. The palate is well balanced with a fine bead of acidity that cuts through the concentrated botrytised fruit. Very persistent and quite rich on the finish, this is decadent and rather gorgeous. Long-term. Tasted blind at the annual 10-Year-On tasting.
About the producer
The undisputed finest sweet wine in the world, Château d'Yquem is the only Premier Cru Supérieur estate in Sauternes, classified in 1855. With a long history stretching back to the Middle Ages, the château is entwined with that of the Lur-Saluces family – who remain involved today.