Home › Wine Notes › Château d'Yquem (LVMH)
Château d'Yquem 2008
White (botrytized, Sauternes)France2008
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2019-12-01 · Published 2026-09-14 · Updated 2026-09-14
At a glance
In one line
4.0/5 — lower than Vivino's 4.7 average · world avg price US$595 · The pinnacle of Sauternes — Parker 96, Vivino 4.7.
Robert Parker (Wine Advocate) 96 · Lisa Perrotti-Brown (Wine Advocate) 95 · critics listed on Vivino: 94 ×3, plus 95 and 97 (re-tastings, 2009–2019)
Market note: As the only Sauternes château rated Premier Cru Supérieur in 1855, the Yquem name carries a built-in premium — its Vivino community average barely moves outside 4.6–4.8 regardless of vintage. The truly great years (2001, 1989, 1976, 1967, 1949, 1948, 1945) climb to 4.8–5.0.
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“Honey, cedar, apricot, balanced”
What I learned today: one glass of wine per vine.
Today at Bar Suda I had Château d'Yquem 2008 in a small glass, gold under the light. One breath, and a whole evening came back: the first of December when I was twenty-one, a dry wind rattling the window frame, the kitchen table. Honey, ripe apricot, orange marmalade, caramel at the end. Every aroma is clear; what I don't know is which bottle Father poured that evening with the label covered. What I remember is that all he said was, drink it slowly.
Master Seo told me what the aromas say: this sweetness comes from noble rot, Botrytis cinerea. In Sauternes, where morning mist gives way to afternoon sun, the fungus pierces the grape skins and draws out the water, concentrating sugar, acid and aroma. Each berry is touched differently, so pickers pass through the vineyard as many as six or seven times by hand. The yield falls to around 9 hectolitres per hectare, hence 'one glass of wine per vine'. In the 1855 classification it is the only estate in all of Sauternes and Barsac ranked Premier Cru Supérieur, a tier above the First Growths.
Father left four words: "Honey, cedar, apricot, balanced." Honey and apricot I found too; the cedar didn't reach my nose today. Seo explained the last word: the wine is very sweet, but its acidity holds that sweetness exactly in place. Probably, to Father, a good wine was one that didn't lean to either side.
What I learned today: one glass of wine per vine.
What this wine is
In the 1855 Bordeaux classification, Yquem is the only château across all of Sauternes and Barsac ranked Premier Cru Supérieur — a tier above the First Growths. Jacques de Sauvage acquired the property in 1593; it passed to the Lur-Saluces family by marriage in 1785. In 1996, LVMH announced it would buy a 55% stake from the Lur-Saluces family for roughly $100 million. After a legal fight from Comte Alexandre de Lur-Saluces, the Bordeaux Court of Appeals confirmed LVMH's 38% acquisition in 1998, and LVMH has since taken full control and owns the estate to this day.
The heart of Yquem is Botrytis cinerea — noble rot. In Sauternes' particular microclimate, where humid morning mist gives way to afternoon sun, the fungus pierces the grape skins and evaporates their water, concentrating sugar, acid and aroma to an extreme. Because infection varies berry by berry, pickers make as many as six or seven passes through the vineyard by hand, selecting only the properly botrytized grapes — which drives the yield down to around 9 hectolitres per hectare, the basis for the phrase 'one glass of wine per vine.' A Sémillon-led blend with Sauvignon Blanc is aged roughly 20 months in new oak. In years that don't meet the estate's standard, no wine is bottled under the Château d'Yquem name at all — nine times in the 20th century (1910, 1915, 1930, 1951, 1952, 1964, 1972, 1974, 1992) and once in the 21st, in 2012.
What the world says
Robert Parker (Wine Advocate) gave the 2008 a 96 — "The palate is beautifully poised, tense and tightly coiled on the entry and then it just explodes in the mouth with pure, unbridled, joyous botrytized fruit." Lisa Perrotti-Brown followed with a 95 — "Rich, spicy and decadent in the mouth, with a racy backbone lifting the fruit, it finishes long and multilayered." Critic scores logged on Vivino, re-tasted several times between 2009 and 2019, range from 94 (three times) up to 95 and a high of 97.
Among the Vivino community's 1,608 ratings of the 2008, the average is 4.7, with 96.6% at 4 stars or above. The Yquem label is so consistently strong that the community average barely wavers outside 4.6–4.8 across vintages — the truly great years (2001, 1989, 1976, 1967, 1949, 1948, 1945) climb to 4.8–5.0. Honey dominates the keywords by far (1,977 mentions), followed by apricot (1,199), orange marmalade, pineapple, caramel and almond. Structure: sweetness 4.9, intensity 4.7, acidity 4.3 — an extreme sweetness held precisely in check by acid.
"80% Sémillon, 20% Sauvignon Blanc, botrytis. 20 months in new barrique. Wonderful on the nose: apricot, saffron, honey, wax, ash, caramel, vanilla, sweet spices. Excellent in the mouth too — soft and round, perfectly balanced with acidity." — Vivino review, Jan 2019, 5 stars
"Unctuous in the glass, liquid gold. The nose is simply fantastic — bright apricot coated in honey, freshly opened orange marmalade, luscious pressed peach." — Vivino review, Mar 2021, 4.8 stars
How I drank it
December 1, 2019, 4 stars. The note: "Honey, cedar, apricot, balanced."
That same night, I gave the Magnotta icewine an identical 4, and Duboeuf's Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau a 3. A year later, on November 11, 2020, I gave the 1988 vintage of Yquem a 5 — no note this time, but that was the evening I also drank Bollinger R.D. 2004, Kongsgaard's The Judge Chardonnay, and a Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux Vosne-Romanée, among others. Same château, a year apart, 4 and then 5: where the 2008 read as young and balanced — apricot, honey, cedar — the 1988, twelve years further along, earned a near-perfect score.
My 4 for the 2008 sits 0.7 below the Vivino community's 4.7 average for that vintage, and is more conservative than either Parker's 96 or Perrotti-Brown's 95. My 5 for the 1988, on the other hand, stood alongside the other high scores that same evening (Kongsgaard 4.5, Jadot's Corton-Charlemagne 4.5, Arnoux-Lachaux 5) as one of the top marks I gave that night.
Where this wine shows up
From Sauternes botrytis wines to a Canadian icewine and a Hungarian Tokaji, six dessert wines noted on this magazine compared by my score, Vivino average and Wine-Searcher world average — plus a plain look at what makes botrytis wine, icewine and Moscato sweet in different ways.
Vivino community data
2008 vintage rating distribution (1608 ratings, average 4.7)
| 5★ | 854 (53%) | |
| 4★ | 701 (44%) | |
| 3★ | 38 (2%) | |
| 2★ | 9 (1%) | |
| 1★ | 6 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Earth | 2765 | honey 1977 · minerals 130 · stone 130 · ginger 100 · honeycomb 84 |
| Stone fruit | 2501 | apricot 1199 · peach 595 · pear 206 · apple 154 · stone fruit 61 |
| Oak | 1833 | caramel 662 · vanilla 397 · oak 157 · toffee 116 · butter 111 |
| Citrus | 1521 | marmalade 383 · orange 376 · citrus 201 · orange peel 186 · lemon 142 |
| Tropical fruit | 1001 | pineapple 439 · tropical 274 · mango 159 · lychee 39 · passion fruit 36 |
| Non-oak | 650 | almond 183 · nutty 76 · marzipan 70 · hazelnut 62 · toast 49 |
| Dried fruit | 583 | dried apricot 274 · raisin 163 · dried fruit 53 · fig 39 · prune 25 |
Structure: Acidity 4.3/5 · Intensity 4.7/5 · Sweetness 4.9/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 57720 ratings, average 4.7)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 4.7 | 516 |
| 2018 | 4.7 | 468 |
| 2017 | 4.7 | 597 |
| 2016 | 4.7 | 1599 |
| 2015 | 4.7 | 1059 |
| 2014 | 4.7 | 806 |
| 2013 | 4.7 | 1040 |
| 2011 | 4.7 | 1182 |
| 2010 | 4.7 | 926 |
| 2009 | 4.7 | 931 |
| 2008 | 4.7 | 1608 |
| 2007 | 4.7 | 1354 |
| 2006 | 4.7 | 1469 |
| 2005 | 4.7 | 2537 |
| 2004 | 4.7 | 1207 |
| 2003 | 4.7 | 1844 |
| 2002 | 4.7 | 1321 |
| 2001 | 4.8 | 1765 |
| 1989 | 4.8 | 1352 |
| 1988 | 4.7 | 1284 |
Other wines Father scored 4.0 →
Read next
Swipe for more →
Tasted the same dayChâteau Rieussec, Sauternes 2010
France · Bordeaux★★★★½
Tasted the same dayGeorges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2019
France · Burgundy★★★☆☆
Tasted the same dayMagnotta Limited Edition Cabernet Franc Icewine 2016
Canada · Niagara★★★★☆
Highly rated by FatherJacques Selosse Lieux-dits Le Bout du Clos Ambonnay Grand Cru Extra Brut
France · Champagne★★★★★
Highly rated by FatherLouis Roederer Cristal Rosé Vinothèque 2008
France · Champagne★★★★★
Highly rated by FatherMaison Leroy Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Le Charmois Blanc 2002
France · Burgundy★★★★★
Highly rated by FatherClos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 (Napa Valley)
United States · Napa★★★★★
Highly rated by FatherChâteau La Nerthe Cuvée des Cadettes Châteauneuf-du-Pape 1996
France · Rhône★★★★★
Highly rated by FatherChâteau La Lagune Haut-Médoc 1970
France · Bordeaux★★★★★
Highly rated by FatherEgly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru 'Les Crayères' Ambonnay
France · Champagne★★★★★
Highly rated by FatherLucien Le Moine Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Hauts Doix 2016
France · Burgundy★★★★★
Highly rated by FatherDomaine Coche-Dury Meursault 2013
France · Burgundy★★★★★StorySix dessert wines compared — from d'Yquem to Tokaji
More from Bordeaux, France
Swipe for more →
BordeauxChâteau La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc 2018
★★★★☆BordeauxChâteau La Lagune Haut-Médoc 1970
★★★★★
BordeauxChâteau Coutet, Barsac Premier Grand Cru Classé 2015
★★★★★
BordeauxChâteau Dassault Saint-Émilion Grand Cru (Grand Cru Classé) 1995
★★★★☆
BordeauxChâteau Olivier, Pessac-Léognan Blanc 2016 (Grand Cru Classé de Graves)
★★★½☆
BordeauxVieux Château Gaubert, Graves Rouge 1999
★★½☆☆
BordeauxChâteau Cheval Blanc, Le Petit Cheval 2004
★★★★★
BordeauxChâteau Mont-Pérat, Bordeaux Rouge 2016
★★★☆☆
BordeauxChâteau La Pierrière, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux 2016
★★★☆☆BordeauxChâteau Rieussec, Sauternes 2010
★★★★½Explore
Bottles Father gave five stars
Only the wines Father scored a perfect 5
→
Wines in manga, film and history
Bottles that show up in manga, film and history
→
Wines you can buy at the supermarket
Wines actually bought at the supermarket
→Frequently asked questions
What kind of wine is Château d'Yquem?
A noble-rot wine from the only Sauternes château rated Premier Cru Supérieur in the 1855 classification. Hand-picked, botrytis-affected Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc are aged roughly 20 months in new oak, famous for an extremely low yield of about 9 hectolitres per hectare. The 2008 vintage scored 96 from Parker and averages 4.7 on Vivino.
How much does it cost?
We haven't confirmed a world average price for this entry, so it's marked US$595 per 750ml ex-tax (Wine-Searcher, Sept 2026). As the pinnacle of Sauternes it's known to trade at a high price point in general, but no specific overseas retail figure was found.
What food pairs well with it?
Per Vivino data, it's a classic match with fruity desserts and blue cheese. It's also widely known as a pairing for foie gras.
Are there vintages where no wine was produced at all?
Yes. In years when the botrytis didn't develop properly or the harvest didn't meet the estate's standard, nothing was bottled under the Château d'Yquem name — nine times in the 20th century (1910, 1915, 1930, 1951, 1952, 1964, 1972, 1974, 1992) and once in the 21st, in 2012. Given how low the yield already is (one glass per vine), the estate has consistently chosen to skip a mediocre year rather than release it.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Wine Investment (Cult Wines) — 2008 Yquem critic scores (Parker 96, Perrotti-Brown 95)
- Wikipedia — Château d'Yquem (1855 classification, LVMH acquisition, skipped vintages)
Read next
Swipe for more →
Tasted the same dayChâteau Rieussec, Sauternes 2010
France · Bordeaux★★★★½Tasted the same dayGeorges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2019
France · Burgundy★★★☆☆Tasted the same dayMagnotta Limited Edition Cabernet Franc Icewine 2016
Canada · Niagara★★★★☆Highly rated by FatherJacques Selosse Lieux-dits Le Bout du Clos Ambonnay Grand Cru Extra Brut
France · Champagne★★★★★Highly rated by FatherLouis Roederer Cristal Rosé Vinothèque 2008
France · Champagne★★★★★Highly rated by FatherMaison Leroy Saint-Aubin Premier Cru Le Charmois Blanc 2002
France · Burgundy★★★★★Story