Chateau d'Yquem 2001

Four centuries on one hilltop

Chateau d'Yquem sits on a hilltop in the commune of Sauternes, in the southern Graves corner of Bordeaux. Jacques de Sauvage acquired the 'House of Yquem' from the French crown in December 1593 by trading other lands for it, and the site has carried vines since at least 1711, when Leon de Sauvage d'Yquem became its sole owner.

In 1785 the estate passed to the Lur-Saluces family when Francoise-Josephine de Sauvage d'Yquem married Count Louis-Amedee de Lur-Saluces. That same decade Thomas Jefferson, then the American minister in Paris, visited and later called Sauternes 'the best white wine of France,' adding that 'the best of it is made by Monsieur de Lur-Saluces.' He ordered 250 bottles of the 1784 vintage. When Bordeaux was classified in 1855, Yquem was given a rank of its own, Premier Cru Superieur, above every other wine in the classification.

The vineyard covers 126 hectares, about 310 acres, of which roughly 100 are in production at any time; a separate estate profile gives 103 hectares of clay and gravel over limestone. Plantings are about 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc. Pickers make an average of six passes, or 'tries,' through the vines each harvest to take only grapes shriveled by botrytis, the 'noble rot.' Yields average about nine hectoliters per hectare, against twelve to twenty for Sauternes generally, and the wine spends about three years in oak.

Yquem also refuses to bottle bad years. In a poor vintage the whole crop is sold off anonymously. That happened nine times in the 20th century, including 1951, 1952, 1964, 1972, 1974 and 1992, and once so far in the 21st, in 2012.

The last great Lur-Saluces vintage

After the Marquis Bernard de Lur-Saluces died in 1968, the estate was run by Count Alexandre de Lur-Saluces, who owned only a 7% stake. He inherited a typical output of 66,000 bottles a year and, after the 1973 oil crisis, a collapsing market. He modernized the estate, and in good years production reached 100,000 bottles. He was known for rejecting an entire batch if a random sample did not satisfy him.

A family feud ended his independence. On November 28, 1996, the luxury group LVMH announced it was buying 55% of Yquem from the family for about $100 million. The Count fought the sale in court for more than two years but stayed on as manager. On May 17, 2004, he retired and was replaced by Pierre Lurton, already managing director of Chateau Cheval Blanc in St.-Emilion.

That timing puts the 2001 at a hinge. It was grown, picked and made under the Count, whose policy was neither to show Yquem before bottling nor to sell it as futures. It was presented to the world, from barrel and then bottle, by Lurton. Cellar master Francis Mayeur said he selected out about a third of the production to make the final wine, and he and Lurton told reporters they placed the 2001 alongside the estate's legendary 1921, 1947, 1959 and 1967.

2001: rain for the reds, rot for the sweet wines

Bordeaux's 2001 red vintage was overshadowed by the much-hyped 2000. But the same rain that hurt the reds set up something rare in Sauternes. One vintage guide sums it up: the rain that spoiled the reds encouraged botrytis to such an extent that 2001 became 'perhaps the greatest Sauternes vintage in modern times.' A U.S. magazine's vintage chart rates Sauternes and Barsac 2001 at 97 points, 'magnificently rich and structured, yet balanced,' against 87 for 2000, when most of the crop was rained on.

'It was nature that made the wine,' Mayeur said. 'The botrytis developed perfectly, very quickly. This gave us great concentration but also good acidity to keep the wine fresh.' He put the residual sugar at more than 150 grams per liter, 20 to 30 grams more than in Yquem's other great modern vintages, 1997, 1990, 1989 and 1988. He compared it to the 1949 and 1929.

The whole appellation shone. In the same tasting cycle, a U.S. critic gave 100 points to the 2001 Rieussec, which became that magazine's Wine of the Year in 2004, and to Doisy-Daene's L'Extravagant. Tasted blind against the 2001 Climens and Suduiraut, Yquem 'left them standing still,' he wrote.

A wine that keeps getting 100

In December 2004 James Suckling tasted the wine from barrel and rated it 95-100, calling it possibly 'the new benchmark for sweet wines.' In September 2005, tasting the bottled wine blind, he gave it a perfect 100, calling it 'the greatest young Yquem I have ever tasted from bottle,' and gave it 100 again in 2013: 'One of the greatest Yquems ever.'

Robert Parker scored it 100 in The Wine Advocate in April 2005, predicting it would 'age effortlessly for 75+ years' and giving an anticipated maturity of 2010 to 2100 and beyond. In August 2019 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, having tasted it perhaps a dozen times, scored it 100 again and wrote that it is 'among a very small clutch of incredible wines that crash through the 100-point ceiling.' Her review records 13.6% alcohol, 150 grams per liter of residual sugar and 4.5 grams per liter of acidity, with a drinking window of 2019 to 2100.

Not every taster went to the top. Neal Martin, tasting it blind in March 2011 at a ten-year-on horizontal, scored it 97+ and found it very tight, saying it 'needs years in bottle.'

Release and the market since

Because the Count had refused to sell en primeur, the 2001 was not offered as futures. It reached the global market in the autumn of 2005, with a magazine report that week estimating the price at around $400 a bottle. On release, Jancis Robinson called the price 'extremely high' but said it was 'difficult to see such an exceptional wine losing value.' For comparison, the 2003 Yquem, sold as futures in June 2004 under Lurton, had cost about $235 a bottle in U.S. shops.

Quantities are reported inconsistently. Parker and one 2005 report give about 10,000 cases, which would be roughly 120,000 bottles; an earlier 2005 report gave about 130,000 bottles and said top years like 1988, 1989 and 1990 each made at least 150,000. Those figures are far above the 65,000-bottle annual average that a general reference gives for the estate. This page reports them as stated and does not reconcile them.

In October 2026 a major price aggregator lists the average retail asking price for a 750ml bottle at $804 before tax. Older Yquem has fetched far more: in July 2011 a bottle of the 1811 sold privately in London for 75,000 pounds, about $117,000, then a record for a white wine.

The numbers

Vineyard

126 ha in the appellation, about 100 ha in production (one profile gives 103 ha)

Plantings

About 80% Semillon, 20% Sauvignon Blanc

Yield

Averages about 9 hl/ha, versus 12 to 20 for Sauternes generally

2001 production

About 10,000 cases reported; one early report said about 130,000 bottles

2001 analysis

13.6% alcohol; 150 g/l residual sugar; 4.5 g/l total acidity

Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

100 (April 2005)

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate

100 (August 2019)

James Suckling

100 (September 2005; again September 2013)

Neal Martin

97+ (March 2011)

Timeline

1. Dec 1593

   Jacques de Sauvage acquires the 'House of Yquem' from the French crown.

2. 1711

   Leon de Sauvage d'Yquem becomes sole owner; vines are recorded on the site.

3. 1785

   The estate passes to the Lur-Saluces family by marriage.

4. 1855

   Yquem is ranked Premier Cru Superieur, the only wine so classified.

5. 1968

   Count Alexandre de Lur-Saluces takes over running the estate.

6. Nov 28, 1996

   LVMH announces it will buy 55% of Yquem for about $100 million.

7. 2001

   A rapid, even spread of botrytis gives Yquem one of its richest crops in decades.

8. May 17, 2004

   Count Alexandre retires; Pierre Lurton takes charge.

9. Dec 2004

   The 2001 is tasted from barrel and rated 95-100 by a U.S. critic.

10. Apr 2005

    Robert Parker scores the 2001 Yquem 100 points in The Wine Advocate.

11. Sep 22, 2005

    Tasted blind in bottle, the 2001 receives a perfect 100 from James Suckling.

12. Oct 2005

    The 2001 is released to the global market at an expected price of about $400 a bottle.

13. Mar 2011

    Neal Martin rates the 2001 97+ at a blind ten-year-on tasting.

14. Sep 9, 2013

    James Suckling scores it 100 again: 'One of the greatest Yquems ever.'

15. Aug 30, 2019

    Lisa Perrotti-Brown of The Wine Advocate gives it 100 points, drink 2019 to 2100.

16. Oct 2026

    Average retail asking price for a bottle is $804 before tax.

The world in 2001

• Jan 15, 2001

  Wikipedia launches.

• Mar 23, 2001

  Russia deorbits the Mir space station over the South Pacific.

• Sep 11, 2001

  The September 11 attacks kill nearly 3,000 people in the United States.

• Oct 7, 2001

  A U.S.-led coalition invades Afghanistan.

• Oct 23, 2001

  Apple introduces the iPod.

• Dec 11, 2001

  China joins the World Trade Organization.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Chateau d'Yquem 2001 is number 54 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (42 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Yquem's owner when the 2001 was made, Count Alexandre de Lur-Saluces, refused to sell the wine as futures or show it before bottling.
• Pickers go through Yquem's vines about six times each harvest, taking only grapes affected by noble rot.
• In poor years Yquem sells its whole crop anonymously rather than bottle it; it last did so in 2012.
• Thomas Jefferson ordered 250 bottles of Yquem's 1784 vintage.
• Cellar master Francis Mayeur said he discarded about a third of the 2001 production to make the final blend.
• A bottle of 1811 Yquem sold for about $117,000 in 2011, then a record for any white wine.