2005 Chateau d'Yquem

YIKES! And you thought the 2001 was expensive.

Futures at K&L:
$319 / 375
$649 / 750

What do I do now?

cripes. My daughter picked one hell of a year to be born.

CRIKEY. Davidn, you will buy some. That's one of the problems, gotta feed the horizontals and vertical collections.

Buy some & share with friends (i.e. LCC).

I think this marks a fine opportunity to end that vertical.

... or let the kids buy it for him as a gift!

I'd buy a bunch more 2001.

I'd tell them where to go by buying zip, nada, nothing.

Why would anyone dream of paying this much when great d'Yquems from the 80's and 90's aren''t nearly this expensive? This is just CRAZY pricing.

2001 Rieussec (99 Parker; 100 WS) can be had for around $140 for a 750ml. It would have to take one heck of an emotional attachment to d'Yquem to make me spend 5 times that for a bottle with one extra Parker point, assuming that the '05 d'Yquem comes in at 100. And the 2005 Rieussec can be had for under $70 right now. Based on the write-up, sounds like it will give the d'Yquem a run for the money in the points department. I'd rather have 10 Rieussec than one d'Yquem.

David,
I wouldn't even consider buying at this price. Lur Saluces is gone, the wine is part of an empire that will milk it for all its worth. It's truly a fools game now, they are just ripping you off and you're too smart for that. Sad.

Jimmy V., It is pretty well known around these parts that I do have "one heck of an emotional attachment to d'Yquem". An Yquem Sauternes and a Rieussec Sauternes are imo from different worlds. The Rieussec is imo over-sweet and syrupy; The Yquem is barely sweet and has some wonderful acid. IMO the Yquem is well worth 10x or more over pretty much any other Sauternes.

OK people... let's define "vertical". A selection of vintages of a particular wine.No where does it say they have to be consecutive vintages. If one had two bottles, one from the 80s and one from the 90s, it would be a vertical. Yes, I do have a vertical of Yquem but believe me there are more holes in it than swiss cheese. And skipping a year as I have done with several from the previous decade doesn't bother me in the least.

Me thinks I am sounding defensive here but I don't mean it to.

I'd love to buy some 2005 but I think it might border on foolishness for me to pay this high a price even though it is hyped as being the best Yquem EVER. And even if I am around in 2025 when the stuff should hit stride I will have some 83 year old tasters in my mouth that I'm sure will be slightly dulled (gee, maybe I should buy the Rieussec).

That all said I will, at least for now, not buy any at this kind of price. I'll wait and see what happens. Maybe CostCo will have it for $399; wouldn't that be a bargain .

davidn: I sure hope you didn't think my post was an attack on you personally. It was written in the first-person and wasn't intended to suggest that everyone should think like-mindedly. I said that "I'd" rather have 10 Rieussecs than 1 d'Yquem. But obviously if everyone in the world thought that, d'Yquem wouldn't sell a single bottle. We know that that won't happen. People who love it will but it. But this new pricing strategy will certainly test people's love.

JimmyV,
Don't worry 'bout it please. In my post above I said

Quote:

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Me thinks I am sounding defensive here but I don't mean it to.

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Emphasis on "I don't mean it to".

Me thinks you are injudicious buying 10 Rieussec .

Me also thinks that both us like to stir up the shjt alot .

I had an opportunity to taste the 2001 Yquem recently. It truly is an ***astounding*** wine. It is awfully close to perfect, if not absolutely perfect. Because of that, I'm looking for some half bottles. I've found some half bottles at $224 - everything lower than that on winesearcher seems a little dicey. Anyone seen it for less? Am I losing my mind?

You know what my answer to that question is Randy.

$224 for a 375ml is not that bad today. When it was first released I bought them as low as $175 but in today's market that's a pretty good deal.

Did you try K&L?

The 2002 is there. A 375ml is $95.

Quote:

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Me thinks you are injudicious buying 10 Rieussec

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Me too. So I only bought 6 halves!