Had a 2001 YChem before and then with superb caviar on buttered toast. It was a moment I will never forget. I'm actually happy that I can't afford to do this all the time because I cannot tell you what an experience it was.
Hard as I tried I could not put a name to some of the flavors I was getting from this wine (some evocative of exotic fruits I have had only a few times), which is why I'm buying another bottle or two or three. I have already ordered a 1986 (a minimum of 20yrs of oxydization actually adds to this wine and I've never had a 20yr. old YChem) and a 1989 as well. Anyway, apricot was unmistakeable in the '01, and white raisins (botrytis, or noble rot, as well) are a given but were so present one has to mention them. I detected a flavor I thought was quince but for some reason I could not be certain. Pear, a little grapefruit & touch of honey. I also tasted butter, a creamy, saltless butter. All this aside, I have never had a wine this good in all my life. One of the reasons it was hard to pull the wine apart is that it was so well integrated and refined that nothing jumped out from the perfectly harmonious nectar. The intense sweetness was not even remotely cloying due to a seamless balance. With each wine that I have loved there is something outstanding and other worldly. With the 2001 YChem it was the texture. I can't describe the color of a German wine I love called 303, and so it is that the texture of this YChem defies description as well. I actually don't feel comfortable saying what the almost oil based silkiness reminded me of. Anyway, the wine was so elegant one might have to call it understated. Nothing showy, nothing out of proportion, NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT! This is the real deal. This is elegance. And the finish was long so you really could sip it over a long period. A wine like this is an experience one takes to the grave. And here is what those in the know have to say about it (I intentionally read nothing about the wine before having it and did not taste some of things he did, which is why I HAVE to try it again):
CHÂTEAU D’YQUEM botrytised sweet white2001, Superior First Classified Growth in 1855, Sauternes AOC, Bordeaux
Simply Marvellous ! 100/100 Parker
100/100 Parker
The greatest white wine in the world, the most prestigious, in the best vintage tasted in the last decade: Yquem 2001 is the greatest wine in the world.
The one and only Superior First Classified Growth of 1855, in its bright golden robe is overwhelmingly complex and aromatic, elegant and refined . It dominates the whole vintage brilliantly .
Intense aromas of ripe fruit (mirabelle plums, apricots, mangoes), of dried fruit (figs, raisins, quinces) and white fruit (pears, peaches) come through one after the other, before hints of safran, curry, mint and eucalyptus take over.
The attack is somptuous, full and ample.
The structure is smooth and absolutely heavenly, harmonious and beautifully refined.
The aromatic length seems to last forever !
« Never has Yquem reached such perfection » Yquem 2001 will be available from the 15th of October 2005
