Chateau d’Yquem

The Chateau d’Yquem extends over 113 hectares, but only hundred are used for the production. Indeed, 2 or 3 hectares are uprooted then replanted every year so as to replace the vineyard which contains only 2 grape varieties: Sémillon (80%) and Sauvignon (20%).

The wine from Chateau d’Yquem has very complex flavours thanks to the variety of its soils. The Sauternes region produces a sweet white wine. Chateau d’Yquem is classified Premier Grand Cru Superieur in Sauternes.

The yield is only around 6 hectolitres by hectare. Moreover, the wine is not put on sale when the year of harvest is mediocre.

During the autumn, the morning mists and the sunny afternoons permit the development of the noble rot. The grape-pickers have to pass in the ranks of vine until 5 times in order to pick the grapes which are rot due to a microscopic mushroom (the botrytis cinerea). The wines of Chateau d’Yquem are very complex thanks to special climatic condition, which permit to the mushroom to feed himself with water and some components from the grapes.

A bottle of Chateau d’Yquem will present its wonderful qualities only after 1 or 2 decades, and it considered as the best sweet white in the world for many people.

Chateau d’Yquem was the property of the Aquitaine Duke in 1711, who was also the King of England. In 1785, it belonged to Francoise Josephine de Sauvage d’Yquem who married the Count Louis Amedee de Lur Saluces. In 1855, it was the property of Romain-Bertrand de Lur Saluces, and this year Chateau d’Yquem was classified Premier Grand Cru Superieur. In 1999, LVMH company (Bernard Arnaud and Moet Hennessy) became stockholder, and nowadays it is Pierre Lurton who is at the head of the Chateau.

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