Old Yquem Help

WINE TALK
1

Can anyone help me understand the differences between the labels on these two bottles of 1929 Yquem? I recognize the one on the left as similar to that of modern day Yquem, but have never seen the label on the right. Was this possibly bottled and labeled by a third party other than the Chateau?

Also, what is an acceptable fill level for a bottle of this age? CT shows a “drink by” window of 2494, so I have almost another 500 years before this stuff will go bad [wow.gif]

2

I won’t be able to help you, but I can’t see your image.

3

Wow. Anxious to hear folks weigh in.

(Although I have to say…neither of them looking like my case of '29 Yquem magnums) [diablo.gif]

4

David , the left one seems legitimate . Good level but I am a bit afraid of the color … it looks almost black . Is it the picture or is it the wine ?
The right bottle looks like a negotiant bottle , shipped to the UK . Never seen that here in Belgium . But I’ve seen many Belgian negotiant bottles , so it is possible that this is correct .
1929 is a very good vintage ( I recently had the 1928 , stunning ) . Only one way to find out if it is still good…
Regarding window of drinking : this is not Madeira , most Yquem should be drunk by year 50 . Only the top vintages of Yquem go 100 years or more , but then provenance is extremely important .
I have a lot of experience : one of the members of my tasting group has Yquem from almost every single vintage , starting in the 19th century . He is not allowed to bring anything else than Yquem ( except 2 dinners ago , when he brought De Fargues 1945 … best Sauternes I ever had ) .

5

And here I thought you were looking for help drinking old Yquem :frowning:

6

I had a 1921 that looked like the bottle on the left. Fill was top shoulder. Colour was a touch lighter than the bottle pictured above, but still quite dark, maybe similar to root beer.

7

At what fill level (for a 29’) is acceptable? At what point is it just simply too low?

8

It’s not a science . Below shoulder I would never buy … but if you own it , there could be nice surprises . I once had a Petrus 1945 with frightfully low levels ( way below shoulder ) , but the wine was still excellent . I think this was an exception though .
A high fil level for an old wine ( say 1945 ) is highly suspect , unless the wine was refilled , a common practise .

9

David,

it has been mentioned already but indeed the lieft bottle is a chateau bottling while the right one is a negociant bottling. Price for the negociant bottling should be around 50% of the chateau bottling.

29 is the darkest Yquem of this century, followed closely by the 21. The left bottle looks dark but not unusually dark. If you take a look at the area at the very bottom you can see the mahagony shine which is typical for the vintage. The fill level is absolutely ok for a 29 and the 29 is also a quite robust wine, much like the 21.

Despite the fact that I would not buy a 29 negociant bottling I cannot say much about this specific bottle as the color and fill level cannot be identified at all.

I had the 29 at least 8-10 times, maybe more and it was always a great experience. I slightly prefer 21 and 37 over 29 but those 3 vintages can been seen as equally good.

Hope this helps

10

…and only buy Yquems with original cork with no or only little air gaps between cork and glass. Avoid recorked bottles…and there are lot of recorked Yquems around…

11

Thanks all. I was able to find another photo depicting the fill level and it appears to be far lower than it should be

12

I have no experience with this sort of old yquem so please disregard my comment and listen to many other knowledgeable posters:

But that looks VERY low… i would never buy a wine with that fill level, regardless of how old it was

13

It’s been Coravined! [snort.gif]

14

This could help re: color. I took this photo during a tasting at Yquem in July 2006 - one can see the darkness of the 1929 (3rd from left).

15

Is that 1833 on the far left?

16

Looks like 1893.

17

Looks like 1893, 1921, 1929, 1937, 1945

Edit: I’m too slow.

18



I confirm that the leftmost bottle is vintage 1893.

Best,

N

19

Even with the sugar to protect it, this fill level is way too low for it to be any good. This isn’t normal ullage. This had to be some kind of seepage.

The fill on the chateau bottling is absolutely fine. I wouldn’t be concerned at all.

20

Sorry for the drift, but I’m thinking of bidding on this as a present for my brother, he is a 67. Any concerns that would make a person pass?

Thanks