Chateau D'Yquem dinner

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Comte Flaneur
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Chateau D'Yquem dinner

Post by Comte Flaneur »

Another magnificent dinner, this time at La Trompette in Chiswick, West London.

Roederer, Brut, 2008 

Commendably good, if a little on the young side. 

With pork croquettes

'Y' de Château Yquem, 2014

I bought this from Crush in New York City two weeks ago. 

This is blend of 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Semillon with seven grams per liter of residual sugar, according to Neal Martin. Reading his tasting note it perfectly describes the wine we enjoyed last night. 

"It has an attractive nose with scents of nettle, dandelion, gooseberry and grass clippings, the Semillon taking a back seat to the Sauvignon Blanc at the moment. The palate is very well balanced with the 20% new oak nicely integrated (the remainder is matured in two-year-old Yquem barrels). It is very refined with lovely passion fruit and kumquat notes towards the second half where finally the Semillon makes its presence felt, with touches of brioche and lemongrass developing in the glass. What a gorgeous Ygrec." NM 

If it was $80 rather than $136 a bottle I would own a lot of this. I would give it 94 points. 

Flight one:

Orkney Scallops, crushed pumpkin, miyagawa, clementine confit ginger, pine nuts, and parsley root

Château Yquem, 2003 

Served from two halves this is Alexandre Lur-Saluces's last vintage and is full-bore, full-bodied rumbustious Yquem from a hot vintage. The colour is already showing quite a lot of evolution. On the palate there is a cacophony of apricot and honeyed flavours. I liked this more than anyone else on the table and I was the only person to prefer it to the 2004. 96 

Château Yquem, 2004 

Served from bottle this is Pierre Lurton's first vintage and is notably paler, more restrained and 'correct' than the 2003. It doesn't have its shirt hanging out. It has a more subdued and nuanced nose and palate with all sorts of spicey notes overlaid. This is a wine with a perfect equilibrium which will evolve very nicely. 95

Flight two:

Roast foie gras, pain d’epice and turnip

Château Yquem, 1988

Served from two half bottles this sample was not as good as the one we enjoyed on Monday with the 1982s and had a sherry note on the nose. Once you get past that, analytically it is a brilliant wine with a perfect line and an extraordinary finish which lasts for more than 90 seconds. 96

Château Yquem, 1989

Served from a pristine bottle this has waves of concentrated and unctuous honey and apricot fruits. It was my wine of the flight. 97

Château Yquem, 1990

Quite a different creature to the 1989, this Yquem is not giving very much right now and seems to be ideally structured for long term ageing. Although it has enormous potential it gave the least pleasure of any Yquem we had last night. 95

Flight three: 

Fallow deer, elder and sloes berries, barley and smoked marrow

Château Pichon Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, 1989

Rich burnt raspberry cream on the nose and palate , with a bit of lead pencil thrown, this is a powerful, rich and exuberant Pichon Lalande, which is of first growth quality. 96

Château Le Gay Pomerol, 1989 

An riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Giving nothing away. It wasn't flawed but was mute on the nose and palate. NR

As an important aside, it was difficult to acclimatise to these red wines after drinking the Yquem. The lingering mouth-coating sweetness initially impaired the enjoyment of the Pichon in particular. I half expected this dinner to change my sceptical attitude towards serving Sauternes before claret. But in fact it reinforced my opinion. There was no problem - of course - going back to the Yquems after the clarets. 

Flight four:

Tart tatin

Château Yquem 1980 

Resplendent copper-toned, the least sweet Yquem here, this was a pure delight as it glided across the plate like a ballerina. Beautiful wine. 96

Château Yquem 1976

Just a dream come true. It has ripeness of the 1989 and the ballerina like lightness on its feet of the 1980 and the length on the palate of the 1988. As the wine lingered on the back of my palate coating the back of my mouth and top of my throat I was mesmerised. 99

Château Yquem 1971

Similar to the 1976 in many respects this has a little bit more power but couldn't quite match the supreme elegance of the 1976 but we really are splitting hairs here. This was glorious burnt apricots, orange zest and herbs. Fabulous! 98 

As another aside back around Christmas of 2009 - I think it was that year - one David Wainwright organised a 'best of cellar' dinner at The Ledbury in Notting Hill. He bought Rousseau CSJ 1978, and the other attendees from memory were Chris Smith (who brought the 76 Yquem last night, Haut-Brion 1947), Richard Katz (Rayas 1978), Jono (Lafite 1962), Yours Truly (Petrus 1978 and Lafite 1989), Ken Reich (Lafite 1978 mag) and John Och (D'Yquem 1976). 

There were some great wines on that table, but the 76 Yquem simply waltzed away with it. Perhaps a wine to drink whilst listening to the Blue Danube Waltz. 

In the wine of the night awards we restricted the voting to D'Yquem but we chose our five, rather than three, top wines.
Once again it was a close call:

2003 - one vote
1988 - 4
1980 - 7 
2004 - 11
1990 - 14
1989 - 18
1976 - 29
1971 - 33

It was a unique night. And I don't mean unique in the ubiquitous sense. In Sauternes/Barsac, Yquem has no peer. 
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AKR
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Re: Chateau D'Yquem dinner

Post by AKR »

Bummer about that 89 Le Gay. Never had it but it has quite the reputation.

One of my coworkers at a prior firm named his daughter after Yquem.
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Comte Flaneur
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Re: Chateau D'Yquem dinner

Post by Comte Flaneur »

AKR wrote:Bummer about that 89 Le Gay. Never had it but it has quite the reputation.

One of my coworkers at a prior firm named his daughter after Yquem.
So did I Arv.
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AlohaArtakaHoundsong
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Re: Chateau D'Yquem dinner

Post by AlohaArtakaHoundsong »

Quite a show.

I'm amused by the drift though. Winemakers tend to name wines after their children.
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