2012 Ygrec, Château d'Yquem, Bordeaux
- White
- Dry
- Full Bodied
- Sauvignon Blanc (80%),Sémillon (20%)
Ready - mature
- Robert Parker
- 91-93/100
Product: 20128004790
Description
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.
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.
Colour White
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2012
Maturity Ready - mature
Grape List Sauvignon Blanc (80%),Sémillon (20%)
Body Full Bodied
Producer Château d'Yquem
Critics reviews
Robert Parker 91-93/100
A dry white wine made from two-thirds Semillon and one-third Sauvignon from the vineyards of Yquem, Ygrec was first introduced in 1959, and around 1,000 cases are produced each year. An exquisite white Bordeaux, while it does possess a high level of residual sugar (8%-9%), 90% of the people who taste it would say it is completely dry because of its high acids and low pH. A brilliant effort, the 2012 was harvested between September 25 and October 25. It should drink well for 8-12 years.Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 28/08/2014
About this wine
Sauvignon Blanc
An important white grape in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley that has now found fame in New Zealand and now Chile. It thrives on the gravelly soils of Bordeaux and is blended with Sémillon to produce fresh, dry, crisp Bordeaux Blancs, as well as more prestigious Cru Classé White Graves. It is also blended with Sémillon, though in lower proportions, to produce the great sweet wines of Sauternes. It performs well in the Loire Valley and particularly on the well-drained chalky soils found in Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, where it produces bone dry, highly aromatic, racy wines, with grassy and sometimes smoky, gunflint-like nuances.
Find out more
Château d’Yquem
Château d’Yquem is the leading estate in the Sauternes appellation on the Left Bank of Bordeaux. It has long been reputed for making one of the world’s great sweet wines. In the 1855 classification of Bordeaux wines, Yquem was given the lofty title of Premier Cru Supérieur – the sole property at that level. It sits comfortably among the First Growths of the Médoc and their equivalents on the Right Bank regarding its quality and prestige among wine collectors.
Find out more
Need help?
Delivery and Quality Guarantee
Registered company 05492886. BB&R Limited, trading as Berry Bros. & Rudd, 3 St James's Street, London, SW1A 1EG. All rights reserved. You must be 18 or over to order. Calls may be recorded.
