2011 d'Yquem, Sauternes (375ml) (Pre-Arrival)

A lovely, creamy, tropical style, with mango, papaya and guava notes lending a caressing feel, while singed almond and warm piecrust accents blossom through the lush finish. Just when you think that's all there is, toasted coconut, fig, orange blossom and persimmon details kick in, lending length and dimension. The finish is ridiculously long. *Collectibles* (JM) (3/2014)

Crazy minerality to this, with lots of dried mango, pineapple and papaya on the nose. Botrytis-spice and nutmeg undertones. Full body, very sweet, with superb depth of fruit and richness. It goes on for minutes. Turns dense and concentrated on the palate. Speechless. (10/2014)

Luminous golden yellow. Cool, pure aromas of white peach, honeyed mango, guava nectar, white flowers and saffron are complicated by elements of crushed stone and spicy lemony botrytis. Suave and intensely flavored, with mineral-spiced apple, mango, passion fruit and grapefruit flavors offering outstanding purity, precision, and depth. The brisk but harmonious acidity gives this great Sauternes a penetrating quality and provides a powerful spine to the very deep flavors, making it seem less opulent than it really is. This Yquem has the depth of the 2007 but boasts even greater purity and focus. Finishes bright and extremely long, with repeating suggestions of white flowers and lemony botrytis. Though it lacks the depth of the 2001 or the opulence of the 2009 at a similar stage of development, this is one of my favorite young Yquems ever: it will age spectacularly well. (ID) (8/2014)

The 2011 d'Yquem seems to be a close cousin of the 2001 and possibly the 1988. Light gold in color, restrained but pure and noble, it offers an intense bouquet of honeysuckle, caramelized apricot and white peach with a subtle hint of toasty oak. It builds slowly but beautifully to a full-bodied wine with a long finish. This vintage is about restraint and perfect balance despite the 144 grams of residual sugar. Some vintages are more exuberant or flamboyant, but 2011 is racy and compelling. Of course, these wines can be drunk young, but expect the 2011 to age for 50-75+ years in a good cellar. (RP) (10/2013)

Barrel sample. Rich, with intense flavors of botrytis, lemon and Seville orange peel. This wine has both freshness and sweetness, with a light touch. (RV) (5/2012)

Tasted from cask. Lush apricot nose. Fine attack thanks to high acidity. Very sweet and pungent, with intense apricot fruit. Not a fat style, with great elegance, and shows lots of energy and spice. Long. (SB) (7/2016)

The 2011 Château d’Yquem is a more restrained, elegant style of Yquem with beautiful, nuanced notes of caramelized citrus, apricot, white flowers, and a beautiful mineral-character that emerges more on the palate. Beautifully balanced, medium to full-bodied, with good acidity and plenty of complex, sweet, honeyed fruit, it’s all about complexity, nuance, and elegance. Feel free to drink this beauty any time over the coming 40-50 years. (6/2019)

The deep, beautifully glazed and quite youthful nose offers up scents of pink grapefruit, tangerine, chalky soil tones, orange peel, bee pollen and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and shows off a beautiful gloss of clean botrytis, with a nicely reserved personality, a quite unctuous core of fruit and superb length and grip on the fairly soft finish. I had expected a bit more bounce on the backend from the wine’s acidity, but this is a fairly gently structured d’Yquem that seems more likely to evolve along the lines of the quite honeyed and laid back 1976 than the more racy and orange zesty 1975. (4/2012)

Very tangy aroma: almond, spiced apricot, really zesty on the nose. The palate too has depth and spice and plenty of botrytis character. Rich but fresh. Great length. Power packed and so rich. 18/20 points (JH) (1/2015)

94 points Neal Martin for Wine Advocate: "Tasted blind at the Sauternes 2011 horizontal tasting. The Château Yquem 2011 has a complex bouquet, one that is very well defined with hints of petrol infusing the rich honeyed fruit, later melted wax and fresh peach coming through. The palate is well balanced with a strong viscous entry. There is plenty of residual sugar here and I would have preferred a little more acidic bite to offset that rich, decadent finish (this is despite their correct policy of blending non-botrytized berries in order to increase acidity.) Powerful, burly even, I would give this several years in the cellar to allow this Yquem to mellow and enter its stride." (02/2015)