Château d'Yquem 1984

This is a surprisingly good wine made under very trying conditions. Yquem began to harvest on October 15 and made the last pass through the vineyards on November 13. Seventy-five percent of the crop was retained for Yquem. The wine at present exhibits a great deal of toasty oak in the bouquet, which is also filled with scents of smoked almonds, glazed pineapples, and honey and caramel. In the mouth, the wine is less flamboyant, with less glycerin and power than usual, but it is still a rich, full-bodied Yquem with a great deal of personality and character. It will not have the great aging potential of the top vintages, but I fully expect it to last at least another 20 years. Anticipated maturity: Now-2008. Last tasted, 3/90.

This wine was produced with the help of cryoextraction. It's well made, quite dense on the palate, with good sweetness. Lacks the botrytis aromas and flavors that normally give length to Yquems made in years with abundant noble rot.--Yquem vertical. Drink now.

The 1984 Yquem is one of the weakest wines of the decade from the estate. As I found from the solitary half-bottle that I drank some years back, the nose is very simple with dried honey and resinous scents, but there's little to really satiate the senses. The palate is bitter on the entry with orange rind and smoke, but you can feel some rot on the finish, which means you're not racing back for more. Frankly, there are alternative off-vintages of Yquem that I prefer. Tasted at the château as part of an Yquem vertical.

Medium gold with orange notes. Lovely bouquet. Caramel, honey, fresh bread. Pleasant attack on the palate. Light, charming body. Not a great Yquem, but a good one. Thanks to its structure, it should still keep well.

Back in 1992, a minor sensation! Powerful, explosive bouquet; lush, exotic, with a toasted new-oak note alongside a delicate hint of botrytis—tempting, ripe. Compact on the palate; mouth-filling richness of marzipan, almonds and hazelnut fat, with very intense retronasal aromatics. A majestic wine, especially considering its price. Drunk a year later with Christian Moueix at the Hostellerie de Plaisance in St. Emilion: strong icewine note, not surrounded by fruit as ripe as in other great vintages, but with a glorious interplay of acidity and sweetness; a kind of “Mosel-Yquem.” An unparalleled discovery. 97: What is Huzlenbrot? It’s a kind of pear bread, but quite different. A family recipe that Maria Manser absolutely refused to reveal that evening. Yet this bread paired superbly with the 84 Yquem, which her son Ernst Manser served alongside it. Hardly anything written down—but plenty of Huzlenbrot eaten! 98: Medium, straw-yellow color. Fresh bouquet with bergamot running through it; decidedly peppery. On the palate: molasses, mirabelles, good balance, juicy flow. Enormously enjoyable now, though perhaps with rather limited aging potential (18/20). 01: To round off an unforgettable evening of wine, Robi Infanger of Hotel Engelberg in Engelberg opened this dreamlike sweet wine: golden-yellow color. Open, sweet, straw-tinged bouquet with an extreme amount of dried apricots, a touch of saffron, overripe nectarines and a wide-ranging botrytis that was not yet accompanied by citrus notes. On the palate too, a broad interplay between high ripeness and remaining freshness. Let no one claim that the 1984 vintage in Sauternes was a fiasco! 09: Medium gold with mustard-yellow reflections. Notes of Pertinax, saffron and dried chamomile, virtually no botrytis. On the palate: stewed mirabelles, soft acidity, finely perceptible bitter notes. More of a cheese wine than a dessert wine. Very well done for this difficult vintage. (18/20). 13: Impériale bottle. Orange-gold, not particularly brilliant. Bread drink, soaked gelatin, caramel, brioche, yeasty nuances, dried unsulfured apricots, Izmir figs, molasses, a touch of Pertinax. On the palate: light molasses, soft contours, lots of gelatin again, a lovely, harmonious sweetness, but the expected interplay isn’t there. Despite the name Yquem on the label, it’s simply not a truly great Sauternes. But you don’t expect that from an ’84 either. So it’s fair to assume it is still the best sweet Bordeaux from this difficult vintage. 17/20 drink, with no hurry.

A dense, complex, powerful bouquet with dried apricots, saffron, cinnamon and vanilla. The palate is dense, finely creamy and nicely opulent, with layered aromatics, a creamy texture, good sweetness, and a long, powerful finish. 18/20 drink until 2030.

The 1984 d'Yquem is medium gold-amber in color. The nose reveals a challenging vintage, with mushroomy/gray rot characters and hints of tree bark, wet slate, and stewed tea in the background. The sweetness redeems it slightly, with a crisp backbone, finishing earthy. Not Yquem's finest moment. The residual sugar is 109.6 g/l.

Coppery color. Lovely fruity nose, delicately oaked and vanilla-scented. Very fruity, flavorsome palate with a pronounced saffron note. Slightly astringent finish.