Apologies for no tasting notes and this isn’t meant as bottle porn. Hopefully my cat photobombing saves the post.
I’m genuinely curious how people would approach this lot. Huge Sauternes fan and decided to finally splurge as this is a “100 point” benchmark vintage and was able to get a half case of 375 mL at retail price.
I have patience but how long and spread out would you all wait before popping? Thinking one each of “young”, “mid” and “old”, but what does that mean for Yquem???
TIA
by detters04
12 Comments
cat.
One right now and others decide later
Since you have 3 I’d save 2 and make an iced slushee with 1
The cat photobomb is what makes this post work honestly it’s the perfect foil for three bottles of liquid gold. The furry critic in the corner looks like they’re already judging your storage setup.
Half case of 375s is a great move for this kind of experiment, easier to justify opening one early without the ritual sacrifice of a full 750. I’ve got a similar plan with a few half bottles of a much lesser sauternes tucked away.
For Yquem your “young mid old” framework tracks but the timeline stretches farther than most wines. Young could be around year 8 or 10 when it’s still a bit boisterous but starting to knit together. Mid I’d push to 20 years and old is whenever you forget you own them, 35 or 40 plus. That 100 point vintage will outlive us both so you’ve got time to get weird with it.
I have had a very limited amount of sauternes in my time in the industry. That said , I was invited to taste D’yquem this spring.
Memory is a little fuzzy, I believe we had the 2023, 2016 , and either 2006 or 2009.
They were all very nice, with different complexities. While the older wines show more dry fruit quality and they can clearly age for long long time, I was blown away by the 2023. It was the best wine I tasted all year. Had all the classic, honey, apricot notes but it was quite literally electric. I’ve never been quite so pleasantly shocked to drink a wine young. The best wine I’ve had all year by a good stretch.
The team from D’yquem mentioned in France they drink young Sauternes in the Christmas time, and this has changed my mind in my approach.
Hope this helps.
The wine is gonna outlive you before it gets “old”. I’d say open one within the year, five, and then 10 years. If you want to get more that’s very doable
How much is retail for these?
I’d probably wait a few years before opening the first one. 2023 sounds like a vintage worth being patient with.
I consider 15 years from the vintage to be young. It really doesn’t evolve much before then and doesn’t stand out from other top producers available at much lower prices. Yquem really shows how special it is at 25+ years. So open the first in 2038, then 2048, and 2058.
You could die tomorrow, man. Open one ASAP. The other two can wait.
I see you also take advantage of K&Ls futures offerings…lol. Too hot to ship mine, I have to wait a month or so to get them. That was a crazy offering price though, glad I grabbed some.
Noice