Fortified, Dessert and Port Wines
from The Wine Doctor:
Chateau d'Yquem dominates the Sauternais. It dominates the local landscape; situated near the peak at the centre of the southern half of the appellation it is visible for miles, with a fine view of near neighbours Lafaurie Peyraguey, Guiraud and Rieussec, just a few of the other chateaux which surround the estate. It dominates the 1855 classification of Sauternes and Barsac, sitting pretty in its own private ranking of Premier Cru Supérieur. And it dominates in terms of price; the wines of Chateau d'Yquem are several times as expensive as those of its neighbours.
Chateau d'YquemYquem once belonged to Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, the property being just part of her extensive holdings. It was brought under the dominion of the French crown in 1137 by her marriage to Prince Louis Capet, soon to be King Louis VII of France. This marriage lasted fifteen years, ending with an annulment by Pope Eugène III on the grounds of adultery. This left Eleanor free to marry Henri Plantagenet, who became King Henry II of England in 1154. And so Chateau d'Yquem was, until the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453, a most royal and British estate.
Back under French control, Chateau d'Yquem came into the hands of the Sauvage d'Yquem family in 1593, who had sole ownership until the 18th Century. During their tenure they oversaw extensive modifications to the Medieval structure, adding suitable fortifications and a chapel wing in the 16th Century, and a north wing containing the main reception rooms in the 17th Century. It was also during this time that the reputation of the wine of Chateau d'Yquem was established. In 1785 they teamed up with the Lur-Saluces family of Chateau de Fargues, the two clans brought together by the marriage of Françoise-Josephine Sauvage d'Yquem with Comte Louis Amédée de Lur-Saluces. As with all such grand families the French Revolution in the late 18th Century saw them lose everything, although in this case not their heads. And so Françoise-Josephine was later able to regain control of what had been taken away; she continued to build up the estate, and was responsible for the construction of a new wine cellar in 1826. When she died in 1851 her son, Marquis Antoine-Marie de Lur-Saluces, inherited the estate. He married Marie-Geneviève, the daughter of Gabriel-Barthélémy-Romain de Filhot and owner of Chateaux Filhot & Coutet. The estate continued to be passed down through the generations of the Lur-Saluces family, coming next to their son, Romain Bertrand. Bertrand continued the development of Yquem, installing an impressive network of terracotta field drains in the 19th Century. With his death Chateau d'Yquem passed to his son, Amédée, and thence to the latter's nephew, Bertrand de Lur-Saluces.
Bertrand de Lur-Saluces steered Chateau d'Yquem through difficult times with great skill. He is an important figure not just in the history of Yquem, but also in the history of all Bordeaux. With colleagues he founded not only the Bordeaux Académie du Vin but also the Conseil Interprofessionel du Vin de Bordeaux, today the region's official promotional body, and was president of the Union des Syndicats de Sauternes. After the Great War, when the buildings at Chateau d'Yquem had served as a field hospital, he was responsible for instituting chateau-bottling, and he was also responsible for the introduction of Y (pronounced ygrec in French), Chateau d'Yquem's dry white wine, a natural path to follow when the popularity of sweet wines faded in the mid-20th Century. For many years it seemed, as Marquis Bertrand provided no heir to inherit the estate, that his nephew Baron Louis Hainguerlot would take control with Bertrand's inevitable passing. Baron Louis moved to Bordeaux in 1957 and initially lived with Bertrand at his house in Bordeaux, and thereafter in the chateau at Yquem; having studied oenology it seemed he would be a natural successor. But in 1963 it seems that some dispute between the two came to a head, although the exact details of the disagreement are not clear. Baron Louis left Yquem and Sauternes, and Bertrand turned to another nephew, Alexandre de Lur-Saluces.
In 1968, within a year of Alexandre moving to Bordeaux, Bertrand died, and from that point on Alexandre was in charge of the greatest estate in Sauternes. Largely his tenure was a success; the business prospered and became profitable. There were conflicts and troubles along the way, however, and these came to a head at the end of the 20th Century, when Alexandre de Lur-Saluces finally lost control of the estate. The method was not overtly feudal as in ancient times, but it was hostile. Numerous family members, including Alexandre's older brother Eugène and many of the Hainguerlots sold all or at least a portion of their shares, leaving Alexandre in a minority position; the result was that Bernard Arnault, as head of the luxury goods group LVMH, gained a majority among the shareholders. All did not seem lost, however, as Comte Alexandre was allowed to stay on, so a Lur-Saluces still held the reins at d'Yquem. But this was not for long; in 2004 Alexandre was put out to pasture and Pierre Lurton, MD at Chateau Cheval-Blanc (another LVMH property) took the reins. And so ended an impressive tenure for the Lur-Saluces family, as sole caretakers of this great family-owned Bordeaux estate. Lurton obviously wasn't going to take a back seat; one of his first actions was to command the release of the 1999 vintage at what might be considered a bargain price, an action that preceded the release of the much heralded 2001 vintage, dripping with points, at over £2000 per case, the most expensive Yquem ever (having tasted it, I can understand the fuss). And he has also brought the release of Chateau d'Yquem into line with much of the rest of Bordeaux, putting subsequent vintages onto the market with the rest of the Sauternes properties during the en primeur scramble.
Harvest at Chateau d'YquemThe vineyards at d'Yquem total 113 ha in all, although only 100 ha are in production at any one time. This allows for grubbing up of elderly vines and replanting following a year when the plot is left fallow. The mix in the vineyard is 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc, with none of the permitted Muscadelle. The soils are variable, unsurprising for such a large estate, but there is much clay which necessitated the installation of the aforementioned field drains. Harvest is by hand in several tries, obviously, with yields typically 9 hl/ha. Fermentation is in oak, followed by typically three years in barrel, with a racking every three months. As mentioned above, in addition to the grand vin there is the a dry white Y; this now has an increasing proportion of Sauvignon, although it was once a 50/50 blend. It spends a year in oak with regular batonnage. It is quite a distinctive wine, being powerful and bone dry, but with botrytis character to be found on nose and palate.
Chateau d'Yquem is certainly a special estate, ranking among the top white vineyards of France, as documented by Curnonsky (1872 - 1956), along with Le Montrachet (Burgundy), Chateau Chalon (Jura), Chateau Grillet (Rhône) and Clos de la Coulee de Serrant (Loire). But Yquem's fame rests not just on this one observer; it has long attracted famous names, notably American ambassador Thomas Jefferson - a well known lover of France's wines - who ordered several hundred bottles of the 1784, as well as securing some 1787 for George Washington. And suitable homage is paid in written word, from Alexandre Dumas, Marcel Proust and Jules Verne among others. Yquem is, it seems, history, poetry, perhaps life itself rolled into a wine and bottled. Yet I confess on my first significant exposure to Chateau d'Yquem I failed to comprehend this wine's exalted reputation; it seemed to me that I had experienced many other more characterful, more voluptuous, more thrilling wines, and I was left in a state of bemusement. But more recently I have seen the light. Like many great wines, Yquem's reputation rests not on a flashy style, but rather a fabulous elegance and poise; these are Sauternes that can dance lightfoot across the palate when young, and in doing so display the structure that will enable long ageing in the cellar. Quite simply, these are - in some vintages at least - fabulous wines. (5/1/05, last updated 26/9/06)
Contact details:
Address: Chateau d'Yquem, 33210 Sauternes
Telephone: +33 (0) 5 57 98 07 07
Fax +33 (0) 5 57 98 07 08
Internet: www.chateau-yquem.fr
