
By Guy Collins
The 2008 vintage of top Sauternes dessert wine producer Chateau d’Yquem traded at 1,862 pounds ($2,552) per 12-bottle case in bond on the London-based Liv-ex online wine exchange, a gain of more than 40% since 2016, according to Liv-ex’s “Talking Trade” market report.
It was the second most traded Bordeaux wine on the exchange in the week ended Jan. 28, after Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2015, and the fourth most traded after Domaine Ponsot, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvee Vieilles Vignes 2018 and Realm Cellars, Napa Valley The Bard 2018, according to Liv-ex.
Yquem’s website describes 2008 as a “year of capricious weather, with alternating hot and cold, including frost in April that did no great harm, but reduced the potential crop.” It says a cold, dry period in September led to slow ripening of the Semillon graped, leading to “great aromatic purity.”
Chateau d’Yquem is owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton, the French luxury goods company, whose chief executive officer is Bernard Arnault, the third wealthiest person in the world, according to forbes.com.