Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes (375ML half-bottle) 2013
-
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Wong
Wilfred - Decanter
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
Lightly toasted marshmallow and macadamia nut aromas lead the way, followed by incredibly juicy mirabelle plum, green fig, and glazed pear and peach flavors. As big as this is, there are still plenty of honeysuckle, quinine and chamomile notes kicking the finish into yet another gear. This has purity and length to burn, with decades more to go. Best from 2020 through 2050.
-
James Suckling
Bright aromas of sliced mango, papaya, botrytis, and lemon follow through to a full body, medium sweet and phenolic palate that gives the wine structure and beauty. Electric acidity and freshness yet an impressive energy and length. A severe selection was made. 40% of the production was destined to the grand vin. About 80,000 bottles made. This is 70% semillion and 30% sauvignon. Better in 2018.
-
Wine Enthusiast
The beautifully aromatic, honeyed scent leads into flavors of bitter orange and honey, along with extreme freshness. Notes of white peach and Rocha pear give richness to a wine that is not huge, but wonderfully balanced. Barrel Sample: 96-98 Points
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Firstly, you notice the color, which is a touch deeper than recent vintages at this stage. The bouquet is quite honeyed and rich for Yquem at this early juncture, with subtle scents of peach skin, white flowers, and a puff of chalk and frangipane. The palate is viscous on the entry, all about the texture at first, coating the mouth with luscious botrytized fruit. There are touches of Seville orange marmalade, fresh apricot, a hint of spice and passion fruit. This is imbued with impressive depth and weight, perhaps an Yquem that is determined to make an impression after last year's absence. It might not possess the finesse of a top flight Yquem, but it has immense power and persistency. Barrel Sample: 95-97 Points
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
If only I could have been patient, I always dislike opening a d'Yquem before its time, and this was way before its ultimate moment of glory. The bottle was opened at The Institute of Masters of Wine Annual Bordeaux Tasting, and like everyone else in the room, I could not refrain myself. Of course, it is my job to taste wines. The 2013 Château d'Yquem was spectacular, and it was young (sigh). The wine shows pineapples, almonds, apricots, oak, and tremendous persistence. The vintage will go down as one of the winery's best. (Tasted: January 30, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
-
Decanter
Excellent intensity and density for this vintage, with pineapple and mango flavours. High residual sugar at 140 grams per litre balanced by fresh, crisp acidity.
Other Vintages
2020- Decanter
-
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
- Vinous
- Decanter
-
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spectator
Wine
-
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine -
Enthusiast
Wine - Decanter
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert - Decanter
-
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Dunnuck
Jeb
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine
-
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Spectator
Wine - Decanter
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James
-
Spectator
Wine -
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Suckling
James
-
Spectator
Wine -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Parker
Robert
- Decanter
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert -
Spectator
Wine
-
Spectator
Wine -
Parker
Robert
Château d’Yquem is an extraordinary place, at the very heart of Sauternes, with a hundred hectares of vineyards are planted on a mosaic of different soils. All the conditions are there to grow exceptional grapes and achieve the finest noble rot, the famous botrytis cinerea.
Through a sublimation process, the grapes reach a level a richness in taste and aromas that is simply unique in the world. Yquem preciously protects its selective harvesting secret, carried out by a team of devoted highly experienced local pickers, who have received their ancestral knowledge from the generations that came before them. Therefore, only the best grapes sublimated by botrytis cinerea are picked, because this is the golden rule at Yquem: never look for simplification, or shortcuts, and accept the risk of losing everything.
This is the price to pay to achieve excellence.
Apart from the classics, we find many regional gems of different styles.
Late harvest wines are probably the easiest to understand. Grapes are picked so late that the sugars build up and residual sugar remains after the fermentation process. Ice wine, a style founded in Germany and there referred to as eiswein, is an extreme late harvest wine, produced from grapes frozen on the vine, and pressed while still frozen, resulting in a higher concentration of sugar. It is becoming a specialty of Canada as well, where it takes on the English name of ice wine.
Vin Santo, literally “holy wine,” is a Tuscan sweet wine made from drying the local white grapes Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia in the winery and not pressing until somewhere between November and March.
Rutherglen is an historic wine region in northeast Victoria, Australia, famous for its fortified Topaque and Muscat with complex tawny characteristics.
Sweet and unctuous but delightfully charming, the finest Sauternes typically express flavors of exotic dried tropical fruit, candied apricot, dried citrus peel, honey or ginger and a zesty beam of acidity.
Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Muscadelle are the grapes of Sauternes. But Sémillon's susceptibility to the requisite noble rot makes it the main variety and contributor to what makes Sauternes so unique. As a result, most Sauternes estates are planted to about 80% Sémillon. Sauvignon is prized for its balancing acidity and Muscadelle adds aromatic complexity to the blend with Sémillon.
Botrytis cinerea or “noble rot” is a fungus that grows on grapes only in specific conditions and its onset is crucial to the development of the most stunning of sweet wines.
In the fall, evening mists develop along the Garonne River, and settle into the small Sauternes district, creeping into the vineyards and sitting low until late morning. The next day, the sun has a chance to burn the moisture away, drying the grapes and concentrating their sugars and phenolic qualities. What distinguishes a fine Sauternes from a normal one is the producer’s willingness to wait and tend to the delicate botrytis-infected grapes through the end of the season.