An impressive 15th-century manor house – more a fortified farm more than a château – overlooks the Sauternes countryside around forty kilometers south-east of the city of Bordeaux. 

This building became famous as long ago as the Enlightenment. Its name: Château d’Yquem.

Château d’Yquem is the result of mysterious alchemy that transmutes the terroirs, expertise, and a microscopic fungus, Botrytis cinerea (found in the region, and more precisely, in this estate) into a sublime golden-coloured wine. 

In the autumn, if morning mists are followed by sunny afternoons with a slight easterly wind, it is not long before pickers spread out over the hundred hectares of vines to pick only those Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes attacked by noble rot. 

Pickers pass through each plot an average of six times during the harvest in keeping with the Sauternes tradition, dating back to the 19th century.

The grapes are pressed as soon as they arrive at the cellar and the juice immediately put into new oak barrels for fermentation. 

The LVMH (Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton) group have been majority shareholders of this Premier Cru Classé  Supérieur in the 1855 classification since 1999, and Pierre Lurton has been the manager since 2004.

Yquem’s philosophy has remained the same for years: cooperating with nature to produce an average of just one glass of this famous wine per vine!

In certain years, the entire crop is rejected, and not sold under the château name. Nine vintages were not marketed by Y’quem in the 20th century. 2012 is the first such year in the 21st century.

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