Emotions on tasting 2011 Yquem

10 May 2012 Wine

 

2011 is a great Sauternes vintage. Weather conditions were ideal during the harvest and our winemaking team is proud to present an exciting new vintage. Feedback on the first reactions to 2011 Yquem during the “en primeur” tastings.

A lovely evening and perfectly matched food and wine, thanks to Yannick Alleno

Once again, we had the pleasure of enjoying a dinner prepared by Yannick Alleno, the three-star chef from the Meurice. A connoisseur of Yquem and friend of Pierre Lurton, he insisted that he was delighted to be with us: “Learning about wine with Pierre is like learning to drive with Schumacher.”

How did he design the menu? “Around ten days ago, we tasted barrel samples of the 2011 (with the château staff). I tried to understand what was happening in the glass and get as close as possible to what the winegrower was doing.”

Result, some succulent sweet/savoury food-wine matches : beef in aspic with caviar and watercress cream, lobster fricassee with black Aomori garlic, duck foie gras sugarloaf with turnips, scallop ravioli with Yuzu lemon, lobster with lemon meringue dome… to name but a few!

What about the 2011 vintage?

As the weather was unusual during the growing season and ideal during the harvest, the 2011 vintage has some extraordinary qualities. These are the team’s notes from their most recent tasting:

“A very fruity initial impression on the nose: grapefruit, apricot, peach, and lemon.

This follows through into fresh floral hints, reminiscent of lily-of-the-valley.

The overall impression on the nose is fresh and lively.

On the palate, its good acidity combined with softness is evocative of rhubarb.

Fruity flavours: peaches-Mirabelle plums-orange marmalade-apricots-pineapple

Lots of body and structure.”

These impressions were confirmed by the reactions on our Twitter feed. They were more concise, but revealed an enthusiastic reception of this new vintage:

• 2011 Yquem was tasting seriously good, freshly styled vintage but great complexity too! @SauternesSteve
• 2011 Yquem – I don’t care how much it costs, I’m buying this for my grandchildren. @Masterofwhine
• 2011 Yquem… As good as 2001? Not far off in my humble opinion. Absolutely stunning ! @MartinLea78
• Délicieux bonbon exotique en #primeur, #Yquem peut être le plus grand vin du millésime 2011 à #Bordeaux … @AGerbelle

For more inforations

• Sandrine Garbay, du château d’Yquem : “En 2011, j’ai joué avec les terroirs”, La Revue du Vin de France
  
• Primeur Tasting reviews Bordoverview
• (video – french) “Yquem 2011 vu par Pierre Lurton” – @marieroginska
• (video) “2011 Yquem tasting” with Sandrine Garbay, Pierre Lurton and Francis Mayeur – @BordeauxGold