.jpg?w=1)
1 bottle per lot
Details
GREAT SAUTERNES VINTAGES
Sauternes, including the adjoining Barsac Commune, of good vintages and from most good chateaux have one thing in common. They not only keep, but unlike most dry white wines, actually develop extra dimensions with bottle age, gaining colour, ranging from pure yellow gold to amber gold, the bouquet becoming deeper and more honeyed, not unlike crème brülée, sometimes with diminished sweetness but often with great richness and complexity.
CHATEAU D'YQUEM
Yquem is virtually indestructible. Providing the provenance is immaculate, from a good cold cellar, they keep remarkably well. The corks give little trouble as they are naturally well lubricated; take care though when inserting the tip of a corkscrew as corks sometimes push in easily.
I have been privileged to taste most vintages of Yquem over the years, the most recent (September 1998) at a "Festival of Chateau d'Yquem" : 125 vintages from 1784 to 1991. All Lenoir Josey's vintages were represented at this, and at many previous tastings.
To repeat endless adulatory notes, here is a role call of the "finest of the fine" : " 1869, 1921, 1928 and 1929, 1937, 1945, 1947, 1949; 1953, 1955, 1959; 1962, 1967, 1971; 1975 and 1976; 1983." MB
Château d'Yquem--Vintage 1869
Sauternes, 1er grand cru classe. Chateau-bottled
Level: bottom neck; soiled Nicolas label
Provenance: ex Christie's London Sale 21 November 1972, lot #13
A great pre-phylloxera vintage, tasted half a dozen times, most memorably, at a luncheon in Paris, a century after the vintage.
Most recently, original cork, old and oily; lovely warm amber colour with orange gold highlights. Bouquet a creamy crème brûlée which evolved exotically in the glass; still sweet, assertive, fragrant.
Always decant old Sauternes. There is often a light powdery sediment, and the colour is at its richest and best in a decanter by candlelight. MB
1 bottle per lot
Sauternes, including the adjoining Barsac Commune, of good vintages and from most good chateaux have one thing in common. They not only keep, but unlike most dry white wines, actually develop extra dimensions with bottle age, gaining colour, ranging from pure yellow gold to amber gold, the bouquet becoming deeper and more honeyed, not unlike crème brülée, sometimes with diminished sweetness but often with great richness and complexity.
CHATEAU D'YQUEM
Yquem is virtually indestructible. Providing the provenance is immaculate, from a good cold cellar, they keep remarkably well. The corks give little trouble as they are naturally well lubricated; take care though when inserting the tip of a corkscrew as corks sometimes push in easily.
I have been privileged to taste most vintages of Yquem over the years, the most recent (September 1998) at a "Festival of Chateau d'Yquem" : 125 vintages from 1784 to 1991. All Lenoir Josey's vintages were represented at this, and at many previous tastings.
To repeat endless adulatory notes, here is a role call of the "finest of the fine" : " 1869, 1921, 1928 and 1929, 1937, 1945, 1947, 1949; 1953, 1955, 1959; 1962, 1967, 1971; 1975 and 1976; 1983." MB
Château d'Yquem--Vintage 1869
Sauternes, 1er grand cru classe. Chateau-bottled
Level: bottom neck; soiled Nicolas label
Provenance: ex Christie's London Sale 21 November 1972, lot #13
A great pre-phylloxera vintage, tasted half a dozen times, most memorably, at a luncheon in Paris, a century after the vintage.
Most recently, original cork, old and oily; lovely warm amber colour with orange gold highlights. Bouquet a creamy crème brûlée which evolved exotically in the glass; still sweet, assertive, fragrant.
Always decant old Sauternes. There is often a light powdery sediment, and the colour is at its richest and best in a decanter by candlelight. MB
1 bottle per lot