Talk:Château d'Yquem

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Noble Rot[edit]

Having the generic (Latin) term is perhaps good but having the French one is even better. IIRC it's pourriture noble. You might also link in WP's own article.

Discussion header[edit]

Can one glass per vine really be correct - their vineyard would have to be huge. Rmhermen 16:19, Jul 16, 2004 (UTC)

According to their site, they harvest approximately 9 hectolitres per hectare, so 900 litres. If you define a glass as 150ml (a fifth of a bottle) then you need a density of 6000 vines/ha. I couldn't find numbers for d'Yquem, but La Tour has a density of 6200 vines/ha. A glass per vine is entirely possible, but I certainly agree that I was surprised. Also, the d'Yquem vineyard has approximately 100ha of producing vines, so 90,000 litres per year is their capacity, so 120,000 bottles. Walter Moar 21:28, 11 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Botyrization?[edit]

However, at that time the technique of botyrization of Sauternes had not yet been discovered, so the wine Jefferson was drinking was a different, though still fine, sweet wine.

What is "botyrization"? A Google search of the word turns up nothing, and it appears nowhere else in Wikipedia. --TreyHarris 22:44, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Good catch. The word is clearly derived from Botrytis, and I at first just linked it to noble rot. (This is a fungus which rots the grapes in a beneficial way). I looked for some spellings:

botyrization - no hits in Google (not even this page, oddly)
botrytization - 23 hits in Google
botrytisation - 197 hits in Google, but most in the French language
botrytisization, botrytisisation - no hits in Google

So while the first is clearly wrong, none of the others are much better. I'll reword it somehow. Notinasnaid 08:43, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Well, there is no such thing as botrytization. It happens naturally, it's not a technique. Now, maybe the contributor meant the process of waiting for botrytis to infect the grapes. Yquem does make a non-botrytized dry wine called Ygrec, which might be worth mentioning in this context. Wnissen 06:21, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It's botrytisation. Botrytis, botrytised, botrytis-ation. As in "highly botrytised" and so on. Philip Howard 16:58, 10 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Recent Publicity[edit]

The BBC had an item on D'Yquem recently, about an C18 bottle which sold for £58,000. It might be worth mentioning to show the sort of prices the Chateau can command.

The Château d'Yquem 1811 "Comet Vintage" is the most expensive bottle of wine. In fact, the two highest-priced bottles were auctioned at £78,105 and £75,000, respectively: www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/drinking-and-dining/chteau-dyquem-1811-sells-for-75000/ www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2018895/Worlds-expensive-white-wine-sold-75-000-1811-Ch-teau-dYquem.html

Robert Parker, Jr. of The Wine Advocate has given it a perfect rating of 100 points, so this vintage should be the first entry in "Great Vintage" table.

rating[edit]

the statement 'Château d'Yquem was the only Sauternes given this rating' but weren't they the only Château of any region/red/white to get the Supérieur rating? This would be much better in the article as they are 'unique'. Link: Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 Ctbolt 03:57, 21 July 2007 (UTC) As best as I can remember, the 1855 classification had vineyards for some red wines listed as Grand Cru, and further separated them into 1st through 5th growths. The best desert wines of Sauternes and Barsac were designated Grand Cru, and further separated into 1st and 2nd growths. Chateau d'Yquem was the exception, as it was the only vineyard to get the Superieur label. There are many books that talk about this, and even more on-line articles exist, e.g., <www.winegeeks.com/articles/2>.[reply]

Pronunciation?[edit]

I was surprised to find no pronunciation guidance—can someone with knowledge of both the pronunciation and IPA add it? Thanks! ~~209.6.154.66 (talk) 15:04, 24 December 2007 (UTC)~~ —johndburger 15:10, 24 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I am not a native French speaker and I am not an authority on the subject, with that in mind, I believe it is "Sha-toe-dee-kem". Artificial Silence (talk) 23:21, 23 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Removed pop culture stuff[edit]

Just want to stuff this someplace so that it's easier to find if someone wants to figure out the citations and wikifying and stuffs

References in literature and popular culture[edit]

Literature

Proust's hero in À la recherche du temps perdu "...sips Yquems which lay concealed in the Guermantes cellars."

Fyodor Dostoevsky mentions Château d'Yquem in part II of The Possessed (also known as The Devils or Demons) as the last wine drunk by a young man in a hotel who commits suicide after having squandered 400 roubles given to him by his family to make purchases for his sister's wedding.

In her autobiography, My Life in France, Julia Child mentions celebrating Christmas Eve in 1949 and 1950 with a bottle of 1929 Château d'Yquem with Peter and Mari Bicknell in Cambridge, England.

Château d'Yquem is a favorite of Hannibal Lecter. In the novel Hannibal, he tracked down and purchased a bottle of Château d'Yquem that was bottled in the year of Clarice Starling's birth as a 33rd birthday gift for her.

Château d'Yquem is referenced in Vladimir Nabokov's novel Pnin, as Pnin prepares his heady 'Pnin's Punch' for his home-warming party. The mixture contains chilled Château d'Yquem, grapefruit juice, and maraschino.

Château d'Yquem is the wine used to poison Mikhail Skobelev in Boris Akunin's novel The Death of Achilles.

Château d'Yquem is mentioned in Harold Q. Masur's 1949 novel, Suddenly a Corpse.

Château d'Yquem is the favourite of Darcy Dancer, in works by J. P. Donleavy.

Château d'Yquem is mentioned by the narrator in the novel Una familia lejana [Distant Relations] by Carlos Fuentes.

In Suite française by Irène Némirovsky, the character Madame Angellier was given Château d'Yquem by her husband to pass on to her son, Gaston.

In Roald Dahl's "My Uncle Oswald" Château d'Yquem is served by the British Ambassador at a lavish dinner party.

Television

In the sixth episode of the Japanese TV series My Little Chef, Château d'Yquem plays a vital role.

A bottle of Château d'Yquem appears in the end of episode Body and Soul from TV series Star Trek: Voyager. It is mentioned by character 'Seven of Nine' (citing the Culinary Database) as the ideal accompaniment to a Foie Gras with Truffle meal.

A bottle of infamous "Thomas Jefferson" Château d'Yquem is mentioned in Season 3 Episode 6 of the Showtime series Dexter, when describing the greatness of a Miami-based restaurant's wine cellar.

Film

There is a mention of Château d'Yquem in Ocean's 13, in a scene when Matt Damon tells a joke with a 1973 Yquem.
Humphrey Bogart mentions Château d'Yquem in the film We're No Angels.

Other

Château d'Yquem is said to be the favourite wine of Old Etonian Denys Finch Hatton (1887-1931), the Kenya-based white hunter, aviator, bon vivant, and lover of novelist Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen).

In Marvel comics Weapon X; Dark Reign #3, the Chief executive of Blackguard enjoys a bottle of Yquem, as he speculates that the price paid for the vintage wine could easily have fed most of America for an entire year. This is no doubt an exaggeration.

Premier Cru Supérieur=Grand Cru?[edit]

In terms of definition, does it equate to Grand Cru?156.62.3.26 (talk) 21:24, 17 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Haut Charmes[edit]

Yquem does not have a second wine but there are rumours all over the internet that the "Haut Charmes" Sauternes is "declassified Yquem". E.g. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Seems very unlikely. Anyone have any reliable info? cagliost (talk) 09:49, 20 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]