I’ve worked in the wine trade for over 45 years and have tasted well over 100,000 wines. But last year I drove to the train station, took the hour ride into San Francisco from Redwood City, and grabbed an Uber to our store, and then back home—all to taste just two wines. That’s a lot of travel and a long day, but Mr. Lorenzo Pasquini was in San Francisco, and for the chance to taste the young wines of Château d'Yquem with its director, I would have walked!

K&L Wine Merchants’ co-owner Clyde Beffa successfully built the foundation of the company on California and Bordeaux wine, and our good friend Mr. Bill Blatch from Bordeaux has been an invaluable tutor on so many levels. Bill’s deep love, knowledge and passion for the wines of Sauternes is legendary and has been deeply ingrained in us since the middle 1980s. Bill always spoke with great reverence about Château d'Yquem—the huge, iconic estate on the hill with a unique exposure and legendary wines. He also spoke with the same passion for dozens of great Sauternes and Barsac producers. Clyde and I both inherited a deep passion for its wines and the region.

But I am a working guy, and the wines of Château d'Yquem have not always on my shopping list of wines. Back in the day, especially, I made my buying choices all by price—I could buy a nice selection of Sauternes and red wines for one bottle of Yquem. Now, at 68, the good news is that I am happy to own over 10-15 cases of great Sauternes/Barsac estates and many different vintages of red wine from my career; the bad news is that I only own two bottles of Château d'Yquem! One is a signed magnum of 1981 given to me as a gift from my 2005 tour clients; the other a 1998, a gift from the previous cellarmaster. I once had a great bottle of 1976 that was a gift from a girlfriend that I needed to completely erase from my memory, so I sold it. No one hits 1000%, correct?

In the early years of K&L I was so busy that I did not have the time to know what I was missing out on by not tasting young Yquem; but in the later years I’ve been blessed to be invited to lunch and taste young Yquem along with some older vintages alongside Mr. Blatch and Lorenzo.

If you are a wine lover, tasting any vintage of Yquem is an alluringly mind-blowing experience, so don’t miss it. But being able to taste the young wines is a real blessing— you don’t have to be an expert to appreciate this phenomenal wine in its youth. The wine always attacks with layers of great-tasting sweet fruit, freshness, viscosity, acid, and a textbook hint of bitterness and persistence that insures longevity.

Tasting the young Yquem is a delicious experience that you just cannot get from the great red Classified Growths of Bordeaux because Yquem tastes great from day one, and I see the excitement in the faces of my customers who get to try it!

With time we all change, and I sure have—for years now I tell clients to buy two bottles half bottles (375ml) to drink one young with your very best wine friends right away and buy a 750ml bottle to cellar for a very special occasion years down the road. (It’s very important to note that d’Yquem sells all the half bottles (375s) on Pre-Arrival and do not hold any back at the estate, so the time to buy them is now!)

The delicious 2021 d'Yquem, Sauternes (Pre-Arrival) $349.99 97TWI 96VN 95WA has just been released, and it is a more elegant expression of Yquem, reflecting the tough weather conditions of a cool summer—with visits from frost, hail, and mildew! Of course, Mother Nature is in full control—and you do not taste any of this in the wine as it's delicious—but the results are a low-yielding crop. I believe 2021 will turn out to be like a few of my other favorite vintages that highlight great elegance, acidity, and freshness: 1988, 2011, and 2013.

I hope you never ignore the opportunity to taste the greatest of them all!

Last night I made my first purchase of Yquem on Pre-Arrival.

Other formats available:
2021 d'Yquem, Sauternes (375ml) (Pre-Arrival) $179.99
2021 d'Yquem, Sauternes 3-Pack in OWC (Pre-Arrival) $1050.00
2021 d'Yquem, Sauternes (375ml) 6-Pack in OWC (Pre-Arrival) $1050.00

Cheers and Go Giants!

- Ralph Sands, K&L Bordeaux Specialist