Back label slightly faded Type: Sweet Country: France Region: Bordeaux Grapes: Semillon (75%), Sauvignon Blanc (25%) Aging: 20 months in barrique Alcohol content: 14% Service temperature: 10/12 °C Pairing: Blue Cheese, Formaggi stagionati, Pastries History, bottled. Talking about Château d’Yquem and its homonymous, iconic wine – the backbone of French and world oenology – is always difficult. Words cannot do justice to the sensations this nectar elicits – in the bottle, while pouring it, slowly swirling it in the glass, and finally tasting it. There is an almost reverential awe involved in approaching it, in touching a story that began centuries ago, when the Bordeaux region did not even belong to France but to the Crown of England. The oenological procedure for this wine focuses on a late harvest of grapes with noble rot. The technique has certainly been refined over time but had already been studied and put on paper in the sixteenth century as a result of other studies on the Gironde region, in which autumn generates particular conditions that favour noble rot. The native Semillon grapes and of the monolithic Sauvignon Blanc are allowed to be attacked by Botrytis and left to dry, leaving an exceptional sugar content inside the withered grapes that is key to the preparation of the final cuvée. Several harvests were used to produce this nectar, the product of what was considered an excellent year: 4 tries [passes] were necessary to complete the harvest between 27 September and 4 November 2006, before beginning a long fermentation process that ended naturally after about 6 weeks when the ageing period start in first pass barriques. An important vintage, with a great future ahead of it but which already indulges the senses with an intense golden color that turns to amber, great complexity and olfactory harmony made up of nuances ranging from dried, candied and even exotic fruit to spices, honey and caramel, while maintaining a splendid freshness and sweetness that – once tasted – you will not be able to do without. Young, but already deserving of the utmost respect, as per the Yquem tradition.