2012 Ygrec, Château d'Yquem, Bordeaux

A quiet nose at the start is misleading, as in the glass this opens up magnificently for a wine so young: a dense wave of white flowers, citrus, fine smoke and lanolin. The palate shows the unique terroir of Sauternes, often so shrouded by sugar, this is quite unlike any white Bordeaux I’ve tasted before, with sweet musk, white fruits and flowers, with a dense flavour of honeysuckle, supported by very well integrated acidity, which sweeps into a vivid and lively finish. Excellent now and given the age-ability of Sauvignon, will only get better over the next 10-15 years. 
Fine Wine Team

A dry and zippy white Bordeaux full of pure pineapple freshness on the nose with layers upon layers of lemon and chamomile scents. As soon as you take a sip, there is a lively attack and lots of fleshy Sauvignon character, gently supported by sweet spice from the oak. The acidity keeps this wine beautifully balanced and although it is deliciously fresh now, it will get better and better until 2028 or so. 
Laura Atkinson, Fine Wine Team Dry white Bordeaux is one of the greatest food-matching wines in the world. When produced by a chateau as great as D’Yquem, it has to be tried. In the 1855 Classification, Ch. d’Yquem was the only chateau to be given the top ranking of Premier Cru Supérieur. Its unsurpassed concentration, complexity and longevity has meant that it has always commanded high prices and huge demand.

The estate traces its history to the early 18th century, when Thomas Jefferson notably visited the estate in 1787 and ordered 250 bottles of the 1784 vintage for himself. It is unlikely that the wines at the time were as lusciously sweet as the method for creating sweet wines through botrytis infected grapes had not been developed. In time it became famous for producing probably the greatest sweet wine in the world, however the estate has produced a limited number of dry wines since 1959.

A powerful wine, with an inverse blend to the sweet wine, the dry ‘Y’ or ‘Ygrec’ is made with 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon. A tiny amount of botrytis is allowed on the Semillon giving an extraordinary depth to the wines. Ygrec is made with the same uncompromising quest for quality as their sweet and is one of the most impressive dry whites to come out of Bordeaux in years.