Chateau d'Yquem, 1982

Sauternes 1er Grand Cru Classe
Sweet White Wine
Individual Yquem Wooden Case

Description and Reviews:
Yquem is indisputedly the best wine in Sauternes and may well be the finest sweet wine in the world.

92 Points, Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate, 26th Jun 2014

Served from an ex-chateau bottle. Sauternes only produced two exceptional wines in 1982: Suduiraut and Yquem. Although I have encountered the 1982 Chateau d’Yquem on three occasions, this is the finest bottle. It was an early vintage, physiological ripeness reached on September 16. Rainfall interrupted the harvest that really could not start in earnest until November 2, for just four days. It has a lucid amber color, and a fully mature bouquet with mandarin and marmalade aromas that are pure and well-delineated. Yes, there is a sense of conservatism here, yet you cannot but help be seduced by its exquisite balance and linearity. It gently builds to a lovely apricot and orange zest finish, with just a hint of rosewater lingering on the aftertaste. Drink now-2025.

Château d'Yquem is considered by many to be Bordeaux’s single greatest wine and it is the only wine in France to hold the Premier Cru Superieur (Great First Growth) designation. The uncompromising pursuit of quality is what sets this sweet white wine apart – a standard meticulously maintained throughout the estate’s history.

The château was built in the 16th and partly in the 17th centuries by the Sauvage d’Yquem family who came into possession of the estate in 1592. Nearly 200 years later, the Lur-Saluces family acquired the Château by marriage when, in 1785, Joséphine d'Yquem married Comte Louis Amédée de Lur Saluces.

It was under this new ownership that the vineyard flourished. Widowed only three years later at a young age, Joséphine d'Yquem transformed the estate into a highly efficient business with an international reputation. To accommodate the subsequent increase in demand that occurred with an increasing number of high-profile consumers, including the likes of Thomas Jefferson and the Tsars of Russia, a new cellar was built in 1826. This expansion was followed by a long period of prosperity for the Lur-Saluces family and Château d’Yquem.