The History Behind the Legendary Wines of Chateau d'Yquem

While traveling in Bordeaux in 2012, I had the opportunity to visit Chateau d'Yquem for the first time. Its history dates back to 1593, when Jacques de Sauvage acquired the property from the French monarchy. It has been a winery since 1711, when the estate was owned by his descendant, Léon de Sauvage d'Yquem. In 1785, Françoise Joséphine de Sauvage, also known as "The Lady of Y'Quem," married Louis Amédée de Lur Saluces. She devoted much of her life to the development of Chateau d'Yquem as we know it today. She built a wine cellar in 1826, which was a novel idea at the time, and made the bold decision to focus on late harvest wines in the Bordeaux region. She also focused on harvesting in several passes, which was more costly and resulted in lower yields, in order to produce the highest quality wine.

While in France, Thomas Jefferson visited the Chateau and wrote, "Sauterne. This is the best white wine of France and the best of it is made by Monsieur de Lur-Saluces." As the story goes, he bought 250 of the 1874 vintage and bought additional bottles for George Washington. At this time, the technique of infecting the grapes with botrytis cinerea (noble rot) had not yet been developed, so it was largely left to the chance of nature and these earlier wines were likely not as sweet as D'Yquem's wines today. 

Generations of Lur-Saluces continued to run the winery until the late 1990s. In 1999, after years of conflict, Bernard Arnault of LVMH finally bought a 55% controlling stake in Chateau d'Yquem. The conflict runs deep, however, and the family was divided on the decision. Count Alexandre de Lur Saluces, who had controlled D'Yquem's wine production since his uncle's death in 1968, had strongly opposed to the acquisition. His nephew Bertrand felt differently, stating that Alexandre had, "stolen money over a number of years from Eugene [Alexandre's brother] by not paying his dividends and he has made life hell for all shareholders. That is why we finally decided to sell to LVMH.''

Although the ownership has changed, Chateau d'Yquem continues to uphold its reputation as one of the most illustrious wineries in the world. And it seems that they continue to hold high standards in the vineyards and in the production process. For example, in 2012, rain during harvest prevented the grapes from reaching the concentration deemed adequate for the D'Yquem label. Thus, they declassified the entire harvest, for the tenth time in D'Yquem's history. The most expensive white wine ever purchased was an 1811 Chateau d'Yquem, purchased for $117,000 by a French sommelier and private collector in 2011. If Robert Parker is any indication, D'Yquem continues to do well with 100-point vintages in recent years. Although the initial signs are promising, whether d'Yquem will continue to uphold its standards - and to produce vintages which have the potential to age for centuries - remains to be seen.