Château d’Yquem

In Peck’s wine cellar you can find unique wines that tell the history of winemaking. The Château d' Yquem Lur Saluces boasts four centuries of history that reminisce an epic saga, but the most interesting events for wine enthusiasts begin in 1785, when Françoise Joséphine de Sauvage d' Yquem married Count de Lur Saluces, and soon became a widow. The Countess d' Yquem Lur Saluces took over the estate and modernized the wine cellar transforming it into a thriving business. It was under her management, in fact, that the technique of harvesting the grapes at different times, in order to pick them only when the noble mould had adequately set in, was fine-tuned. Upon her death, Françoise Joséphine left the estate to her nephew Romain Bertrand and achieved further recognition when the Château d' Yquem was classified as a "premier grand cru supérieur" in 1855.

The Château d' Yquem is a unique wine thanks to the unbelievable alchemy between the "Botrytis Cinerea" (that adds aromatic complexity) and the terroir, one of the few cases in the wine world where noble mould transforms wine into gold.
Only two types of white grapes are used to produce Château d' Yquem: Sémillon (80%) that produces a wine which is rich in body and structure, and Sauvignon Blanc (20%) which are grapes that mature early, despite e less reliable progress, and provide the wine with refined aromas.
Harvesting is performed following the same procedures used for centuries: the pickers are divided into 4 groups, and they search for the botrytized bunches that have already reached maximum concentration. The pickers return to the vines several times, according to the year' s characteristics: there are 5 or 6 harvests for each year, over a period of 6 weeks, but this can rise to 10 harvests in some years in order to select the grapes at their perfection.

Château d' Yquem is a longevity wine, and can be aged for various decades. As all great wines, it transforms over time, developing different aromas and fragrances. Its colour changes from bright yellow to dark gold with amber and caramel reflections, and then finally to a glowing mahogany colour.
It may occur, around every ten years, that the Estate decides not to bottle a single drop of wine for a specific year, if the harvest is not up to standard. In the XX century, only 9 years were lost: 1910 1915, 1930, 1951, 1952, 1964, 1972, 1974, 1992.

Tasting Château d' Yquem is a moment of sheer pleasure. In order to appreciate it to the full, Peck recommends storing it at a temperature that never drops below 12 C° and never rises above 25 C°. Château d' Yquem is a marvellous wine, to be treated with respect in order not to alter its precious qualities. If you store Château d' Yquem at a temperature of 12 C°, when you pour it, it will quickly reach a level of 14 C°, the ideal temperature when drinking this wine. In some cases you may note some crystalline sediments in the bottle: these are tartrate salts and do not compromise the quality of the Château d' Yquem in any manner.

This extraordinary wine is traditionally matched with foie gras, but it can be served with an infinite number of dishes, from starters through to dessert. Alexandre Dumas, for instance, favoured this wine with oysters, and many wine connoisseurs serve Château d' Yquem with fish.
With regards to the order in which to serve it, Château d' Yquem presents no particular difficulty as its alcohol content generally exceeds that of average red wines.