Chateau D’Yquem

Wine has been made here since at least 1711 and the estate was in the hands of the Lur-Saluces family from 1785 until a bitter family dispute led to its sale to LVMH in 1996. The only Sauternes to be ranked Premier Cru Supérieur in 1855, it has long been recognised as one of the finest wines made anywhere in the world. Located on the highest hill in the appellation, there are 126 hectares of vines, with around 100 used for the grand vin, that in a good year produce around 100,000 bottles. Under Chief Executive Pierre Lurton, the cellarmaster Sandrine Garbay, who joined Yquem in 1994 and took over making the wine in 1998, Yquem has enjoyed a string of great wines in recent years, perhaps none finer than the 2009.