100-pt d’Yquem 2023 — the Final Chapter of a PERFECT Trinity: 2021-2022-2023

Over here we never say, ho hum, yet another perfect vintage of Château d'Yquem.

 

We thank the gods.

 

Our recent tasting of the 2023 vintage — which comes bearing not one, not two, but three different 100-point scores — took us from exclamations of wonder and joy to the brink of tears.

 

Yes, tears — that something so divine still exists in this crazy world.

 

And as great as this bottling is, it gains in greatness when you place it next to the 2021 and 2022 vintages: a trinity of perfection that rivals that of 1988-1989-1990 and an equally legendary run in the 1940s (1945-1947-1949) that some collectors still wax poetical about.

 

When we met with the team at d’Yquem not long ago, we talked about the relatively recent change in winemaking, which now emphasizes freshness, energy, and, above all, being ready to drink right away. The director of operations, Lorenzo Pasquini, told us a story about d’Yquem’s longtime cellar master, a man who had devoted four decades of his life to producing this exalted elixir. The best expression of d’Yquem, the old cellar master held, was the  d’Yquem he sampled from barrel. 

 

It is in homage to him, Pasquini told us, that they began to prioritize out-of-the-gate readiness.

 

The great news is that, for all that energy and lightness, the wine loses nothing at all of its tannins, structure, and ageability.

 

This is a supernally sensual experience.

 

Jane Anson was absolutely knocked out by its phenomenal concentration and intensity. "Power, freshness, depth," she wrote. "[E]xceptional ... opulent ..."

 

The Wine Advocate called it a wine of “formidable depth with perfectly judged control, built around a fleshy core of fruit, framed by lively acidity and a crystalline texture and culminating in an endless, refined and ethereal finish."

 

But the key line of their review is this: "an aesthetic of precision and vibrancy encountered only in the estate’s greatest years ... "

 

So true, and perhaps never more apt than in this particular vintage.

 

Connoisseurs know that what separates truly great Sauternes is its faint note of bitterness and perhaps even fainter note of salinity, elements that must be judiciously handled by the winemaker.

 

As they are here.

 

Those notes are the difference between a Sauternes of appeal and even pull and a wine that has attained the status of noble rot ... the difference between a wine of mere pleasure and a wine of true profundity.

 

As always, to produce this golden elixir, every grape was hand-selected at harvest, ensuring that only perfect specimens touched by noble rot were allowed into the barrel. This meticulous selection results in such drastically reduced yields that a single vine typically produces only enough juice for one glass of Sauternes each year.

 

Crazy, no?

 

But that's the price of perfection.

 

That's how you create a wine that moves the critics to poetry and us to tears.

 

We can't wait for you to get your hands on this and experience it for yourself.

 

Secure your taste of perfection and profundity today!