Cape Heritage, Sweets & Fortifieds
Timed Online Auction, 5 - 17 June 2025
Sweets
About the SessionA rich offering of vintage wines that have stood the test of time.
ZAR 4 000
About this Item
A great year for Sauternes, regarded as being on par with the legendary vintages of the past, including 2001.
Provenance
Private Client
Critics Ratings
'In comparison to the 2010 vintage, the 2009 d'Yquem is more concentrated with a stunning "rôti," the consequence of noble rot in French. Developing a powerful, complex bouquet with aromas of pineapple, apricot, saffron, flowers, spices and orchard fruits, it's dense and concentrated, full-bodied and layered with a crystalline texture complicated by notes of white truffles that reveal a racy, endless and a superb finish concluding with a pristine harmony. Readers with bottles in their cellars will have to be patient before opening this masterpiece with 155 grams of residual sugar.' - Yohan Castaing, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, 100/100 (Oct 2023)
'From a dry, hot year, this Yquem has retained all the freshness of a great Sauternes combined with massive intensity of ultra-ripe grapes. It lacks the additional complexity of more botrytised vintages but makes up for this with the wonderful balance of sweetness, orange zest notes and tingling acidity. Not a fat style of Yquem, the acidity makes this very refreshing. Can be enjoyed now but has the concentration to last at least another two decades.' - Andy Howard MW - Decanter, 97/100 (June 2021)
'More grassy than the 2015 just tasted, with honey and golden syrup and plenty of volatile-acidity character. Fatter and richer than the 2015, and a burnt-sugar flavour dominates. An embarrassment of riches.' - Richard Hemming MW, JancisRobinson.com, 18/20 (Feb 2020)
'Pale to medium gold colored, the 2009 d'Yquem bursts from the glass with gregarious crème caramel, allspice, dried apricots, mandarin peel and pineapple upside down cake scents plus a fragrant undercurrent of fungi, acacia honey, candied ginger, musk perfume and frangipani. Full-bodied and full-on hedonic in the mouth, the rich, tightly wound layers are still amazingly youthful with bags of citrus sparks and an incredibly long, perfumed finish. Possessing a residual sugar of 157 grams per liter and 13.6% alcohol as well as a laser-focused line of freshness, the rock-solid structure and through-the-roof opulence here is simply mind blowing. Pure perfection. Drink 2022 - 2069.' - Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, 100/100 (March 2019)
'The 2009 Chateau d'Yquem is one showstopper of a wine and perhaps it is only in a vertical that you realize this is up there among the legendary wines of the past - the 2001 included… The 2009 is utterly fabulous and decadent, a star that will blaze brightly and undimmed for many years. Drink now-2060+.' - Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, 100/100 (March 2014)
'Set to be one of the great vintages of Yquem, this wine is a class act. Grapefruit, barley sugar and subtle botrytis nose, with oak adding a touch of vanilla. Intense and fresh on the palate with clarity, length and concentration and a citrus fruit tang. Carries its 155 grams of residual sugar lightly. In a great year for Sauternes, this is a stand out wine. 20+ years.' - Tim Atkin MW, 99/100 (April 2010)