Chateau Yquem

September pre harvest and I find myself in Ch Cheval Blanc, not with the WOW girls but with the WOW " old boys"! aka Tom and Tommy ,fathers of Ruth/Clare and Julie respectively, and let me assure you that they are just as good fun as their daughters.

When you are in the wine business it can`t get any better than this can it? Yes it can! Dinner with Pierre Lurton  at Cheval Blanc and the invitation to visit Chateau Yquem the next day, extracted from him post dinner as we sipped on the Yquem 1995.This was a sublime wine(and I never use that word) and there was discussions of robbery when the boys observed that the Japanese girl who was with us was not drinking hers.They got all Catholic and words like mortal sin were used but they did not commit the crime .

To talk about botrytis with Yquem just does not explain it and the next day when I was  tasting the 2006 I knew for sure it was more than that that.It is a word the  French use ..botrytizine...or something like that(!) and to my understanding and put most simply, is a chemical reaction between  the yeasts and the botrytis creating a unique texture, likened to glycerine and a  flavour that has so many component parts yet merges together to form something also unique .
I am not for a minute suggesting that Yequem is value,as it costs an arm and a leg.I would not even recommend it for tasting as I have come across it a few times at tastings over the years.It is a wine that has to be drank,enjoyed,consumed ..it does not bear reverence but the word" raveged "springs to mind, in a slow way!
I started this post to talk about Cheval Blanc but I got side tracked ..so much wine, so little time so will follow up in a further post on that.
Evelyn 
THE VINTRY ,RATHGAR

  CONSUME AND ENJOY IN MODERATION

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 CELLARS,NAAS ROAD:DEVENEYS DUNDRUM:JUS DE VINE PORTMARNOCK:THE VINTRY RATHGAR
Evelyn