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THE TASTING OF
A LIFETIME
by John Salvi
There are boring
tastings, commercial tastings, fun
tastings, interesting tastings,
instructive tastings, useful
tastings and, just once or twice in
a lifetime, sublime, unrepeatable,
magnificent and truly heavenly
tastings. I was fortunate enough, on
7th November, in London, to be part
of one of those sublime ones.
A tasting of seven
vintages of old and rare Chateau
d’Yquem offered by Stephen Williams,
owner both of the Antique Wine
Company and a truly amazing Yquem
collection – “The Great Antique
Yquem Collection”.
The event was staged
in the magnificent showrooms of Lord
David Linley, the son of Princess
Margaret. Pierre Lurton, the CEO of
both Chateau d’Yquem and Chateau
Cheval Blanc, flew over specially to
attend the event, which started
after the fifty selected guests had
been welcomed with a little 1988 Dom
Perignon.
On the rostrum were
Pierre Lurton, Lord Linley, Stephen
Williams and myself. The purpose of
the tasting was to unveil the above
mentioned, unique, irreplaceable and
quite mind-boggling collection of no
less than 141 vintages of Chateau
d’Yquem. Every single vintage,
without a gap, since 1860.
Another unique
feature of this collection was that
Pierre Lurton had personally
supplied signed labels, affixed to
empty bottles, of the nine vintages
in which no Yquem was produced
(1992, 1974, 1972, 1964, 1952, 1951,
1930, 1915 and 1910). The labels
carried the text “this is to certify
that no Chateau d’Yquem was produced
in this vintage due to adverse
weather conditions”. These empty
bottles, being the only ones in
existence, must be highly valuable
in their own right and superb
collector’s pieces.
The bottles to be
tasted were stood up several days
beforehand and chilled to the
perfect temperature during the last
few hours. I, personally, uncorked,
nosed, decanted and tasted each and
every bottle with immense care and
concentration. I decanted them
through muslin and a silver funnel.
Every single wine
was crystal clear and glowing in the
decanters and then in the glasses.
Some bottles had been recorked at
the Chateau whilst other still had
their original corks. The oldest
one, the legendary 1893, the
earliest vintage ever on record,
still had splendid original corks
that came out in one piece and in
perfect condition after 111 years.
As each wine was
poured I gave details of the weather
and the vintage conditions of the
year being tasted. Pierre Lurton
then described the bouquet and taste
of each wine with love, passion, and
endearingly and charmingly phrased
French-English. Stephen Williams
then told us of some outstanding
events that had taken place that
year. For example, in 1893, The
Supreme Court of the Unites States
ruled that the tomato was a
vegetable and not a fruit!
Can you imagine the
joy, the splendour and the delight
of tasting such venerable wines
under ideal and perfect conditions?
The guests were transported. Chateau
d’Yquem 1976, 1962, 1958, 1934,
1924, 1900 and 1893. And this is
just a sample of the joys in store
for the final purchaser of this
quite amazing collection. He would
have all these and another 134
vintages to sample if he wished!
The collection is of
inestimable value, but of course,
like any great work of art, it is
worth whatever a passionate
collector is prepared to pay for it.
A figure of one million pounds was
being bandied about between the
guests! What, they were saying, is
that compared to some of the prices
paid recently for certain paintings?
To make the
collection even more unique,
valuable and desirable, Stephen
Williams had arranged for Lord
Linley’s craftsmen to design and
create two cabinets of unparalleled
beauty to house the collection.
David Linley founded his
cabinet-making and furniture design
business in 1985. Sir Roy Strong,
then Director of the Victoria and
Albert Museum, predicted at the time
that Linley’s furniture would become
antiques of the future.
Containing eighty
bottles each, the cabinets are
constructed in Walnut and the tops
are inlaid with burr walnut and
ebony stringing. On the side of each
cabinet is a secret drawer on a push
catch to house the key. They have
two glass doors featuring turned
brass hinges and walnut handles. The
eight drawers in each cabinet, which
slide silently in and out, are
fitted with suede lined racks and
the doors feature silk roller
curtains.
Lord Linley
presented these cabinets with
immense pride and stressed that they
were entirely unique, having been
designed and created especially for
Stephen Williams and the “Great
Antique Yquem Collection”.
Here are my tasting
notes. Rarely have I been closer to
paradise during my seventy years of
existence than I was for the ninety
minutes savouring Yquem’s nectar of
the Gods...
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John Salvi |
