Yquem 2002

Beautiful apple, vanilla and honey aromas, with just the right amount of new wood. Full-bodied, medium-sweet, with lots of pretty pineapple and honey. Long and refined. A beautifully silky and balanced Sauternes. Lots of intensity, and well-knit. Unrivaled in this vintage. Best after 2009

Young Sauternes often reminds me of pear juice and this wine, tasted from a half bottle just couriered from Bordeaux, was like nothing more than the healthiest, cleanest pear juice. Pale gold with a slightly greener tinge than most young Yquem. Very fresh, long and deep-flavoured this wine has that ingredient X that Yquem always seems to manage, but this is certainly not one of the sweetest or most intense Yquems. It is certainly greater than any other 2002 sweet white bordeaux I remember tasting, with the strongly possible exception of Climens, but is almost spookily open for a recently-bottled Yquem. There's the merest hint of astringency on the finish still but this wine could be enjoyed in its relatively simple youth. Drink 2007 to 2025. Date tasted 11th March 06.

Served from an ex-chateau bottle. The 2002 Chateau d’Yquem has a delightful bouquet with scents of dried honey, marzipan and melted candle wax. It is not the most complex, but it has very good definition. The palate has a controlled, linear opening with fine acidity and a tightly wound spicy core. This 2002 has a slight bitter edge which lends it race and tension. However, there is a touch of austerity here, as if it is holding something back. You might describe this as a serviceable Yquem: everything in its right place, but refusing to let go. This is aYquem sans the ambition of other vintages and yet delicious all the same. Drink now-2035.