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Tasting Notes
The 2011 d'Yquem offers up a spicy, powerful bouquet with aromas of nuts, sweet spices, saffron, exotic fruit, baked pineapple and a touch of oak with aeration. Moderately weighted, with a tense, elegant mid-palate, it’s a gourmand and satiny wine with ripe acids and a saline finish. The inaugural "trie," or initial grape selection, began on September 6, rendering it the fourth-earliest in a span of 125 years, with only 1893, 1960 and 1997 preceding it. The harvest concluded with notable promptness on the October 5.
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jane Anson, Decanter
More reviews and scores
Extremely early season, similar to 1947, three weeks earlier than average. Right from the start, you feel this wine is completely in control, playing with its balance of succulent exotic fruits, smoked saffron, wheatgrass and truffle, with a lime slice of acidity through the core. I get a physical sensation of things closing in through the palate, it's intense and concentrated, with lots of life ahead again. The season overall saw almost six weeks without rain, with a small amount at the end of August that kicked off the botrytis and ushered in the start of harvest (that carried through until October 5). 114g/l sugar.
Tasted blind at the Sauternes 2011 horizontal tasting. The Chateau Yquem 2011 has a complex bouquet, one that is very well defined with hints of petrol infusing the rich honeyed fruit, later melted wax and fresh peach coming through. The palate is well balanced with a strong viscous entry. There is plenty of residual sugar here and I would have preferred a little more acidic bite to offset that rich, decadent finish (this is despite their correct policy of blending non-botrytized berries in order to increase acidity.) Powerful, burly even, I would give this several years in the cellar to allow this Yquem to mellow and enter its stride.
Crazy minerality to this, with lots of dried mango, pineapple and papaya on the nose. Botrytis-spice and nutmeg undertones. Full body, very sweet, with superb depth of fruit and richness. It goes on for minutes. Turns dense and concentrated on the palate. Speechless. Better in 2019.
About the producer
The undisputed finest sweet wine in the world, Château d'Yquem is the only Premier Cru Supérieur estate in Sauternes, classified in 1855. With a long history stretching back to the Middle Ages, the château is entwined with that of the Lur-Saluces family – who remain involved today.