2005 Chateau d'Yquem 1er Grand Cru Classé en 1855 Magnum 1500ml

97 POINTS

Wine Spectator

This has a deliciously pure feel, with juicy, inviting green plum, ginger, heather, creamed pineapple and Jonagold apple flavors all melded together and gliding through the lengthy finish, which echoes with lilting flowers and dried citrus notes. Best from 2015 through 2045. 12,000 cases made.

97 POINTS

Roger Voss - Wine Enthusiast

This isn't sweet, but just so wonderfully rich. It's the concentration of botrytis that makes the wine. The texture is velvet, but with a spicy bite to it. Apricot, honey and marzipan all contribute to a wine that will age over decades.

97 POINTS

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW - Wine Advocate

The pale to medium lemon-gold colored 2005 d'Yquem opens with a provocative, mineral and earth-tinged nose of chalk dust, wet pebbles and dried wild mushrooms over a core of warm apricots, green mango, honeyed toast, ginger and pink grapefruit plus wafts of honeycomb, orange blossoms and saffron. The palate confirms the wine is still a little closed and shut down, offering achingly gorgeous glimpses at the tightly wound, intricate layers structured with a racy acid line and wonderfully creamy texture, finishing incredibly long and perfumed. This decadent flavor bomb still needs a good five to seven years in bottle before it is set to go off, but oh what a spectacle it will give then!

96 POINTS

Neal Martin - Wine Advocate

Tasted at the property 12 months on from my last visit, my note for the Château d'Yquem 2005 is almost exactly the same. I feel that there is still just a little new oak to be resolved on the nose. But the palate is extremely well balanced, perhaps just a little nuttier than I remember from 12 months ago, with hints of white chocolate and crème brûlée just appearing on the finish. This needs another decade, but it is a very serious Yquem in the making. Tasted April 2015.

96 POINTS

Neal Martin - Vinous

The 2005 Yquem is limpid golden in hue. The bouquet is gorgeous, finely-tuned and precise with clear honey, vanilla pod and saffron, less of the almond that I have noticed previously. The palate is built around its exquisite poise, the acidity keeping this Yquem on its tip-toes. As I have noted before, it appears to be gaining in concentration and viscosity with age, lovely fig and tangerine notes combining with a slight nuttiness on the finish. Tasted at 67 Pall Mall in London.

96 POINTS

Mike Bennie - The Wine Front

Fermentation for Chateau d’Yquem’s famous sweet wine is natural, using ambient yeasts in the cellar. The wine is sulphured then sent to barrel to hang out for a couple of years. Oak is 100% new. Since 2007, d’Yquem has been protecting their wines against oxygen in the winemaking process, so they don’t move the wine around much from barrels and get them to bottle with minimal movement. This is one of the last releases produced in the ‘older way’ of winemaking. Price is for 750ml bottle. Smoky notes, honeycomb, candle wax, pretty-floral-characters, ripe apples, bruised apples, ginger, biscuit, lanolin. Very complex perfume. Mellowing. Supple flow across the palate, has a gingery spice character notable, slick honey texture, lick of bergamot with a flash of chewiness in cold tea tannin, finishes with light, lacy acidity and a drizzle of golden syrup sweetness. Even, lovely, refined wine.

95 POINTS

James Suckling

What an incredible nose of flowers, honey, spices such as clove, and sandalwood. With time, decadent aromas of apple tart and crumble develop. Full and very round on the palate, this is medium sweet with a velvety texture. Flavors of honey, apple and pear tart appear on the long finish. This is so beautiful, hard not to drink now but will greatly improve with more time. 140 grams of RS.

94 POINTS

Stephen Brook - Decanter

The summer heat that led to such outstanding wines from Bordeaux in 2005 was not ideal for Sauternes, as the onset of botrytis was fairly late and sporadic. Also the hot conditions kept acidity on the low side. Nonetheless d'Yquem made a finely balanced wine, with discreet apple and apricot aromas that are still reticent. It's suave, textured and very concentrated, with elegant oak and no overbearing viscosity or heaviness. Very long, it will keep well, but may not be among the very greatest Yquems.