LeDomduVin - Yquem Collection - Revisiting some old vintages 

Thank you, much appreciated 🙏

Thank you for your comments, much appreciated. I changed jobs, after 9 years of taking care of these old ladies, and do not have any more access to them. However, I will do more videos with other bottles of similar pedigree, maybe not as old though.

Indeed

Merci, c'est gentil 🙏🙏🙏

Thank you, I'm glad if you found my video interesting. Much appreciated.

Yes, of course. In my 30 years of career as a Sommelier, I have always had a few vintages of Yquem on all the lists I have created. When you work in top restaurants and hotels, you must have Yquem on the list, or, if not Yquem, at least a few Sauternes. In my previous job, where the bottles on the video belong, we put most of our collection of Yquem (on consignment) in the display cellar of our French Restaurant, boasting about 150 different vintages from 1825 to 2007. We kept them there for a while, then I removed all the vintages prior to 1960 (from 1825 -1960) as they were too old, too fragile, and too exposed to the lights to be left there, and put them back to rest in the cellar where I did the video.

@@ledomduvin nice! Whats the French restaurant called?

@@TheDankDK "Le Pan" Restaurant , located at Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong (www.lepan.com.hk/)

Believe it or not, it is just an A4 format transparent PVC rigid plastic sheet put around the bottle and attached with transparent tape. You can buy it in most stationery shops. No specific brand.

@@ledomduvin interesting! . thank you for sharing.

@@B.H90 my pleasure

Yes, of course, usually the bottle is sent to the Chateau, where it is carefully examined first to verify its authenticity (yes, there are some fakes in the market, it happens), then the bottle is opened, topped up with a more recent wine (for example, if it is a bottle of 1825, I don't think they will open another bottle of 1825 from the Chateau private cellar to top up the bottle, which is fully understandable). To preserve the wine during the opening and top up, inert gas or even a small amount of sulfur dioxide can be used to avoid/prevent oxidation. Then a new cork indicating (in most case) the date or at least the year of when the bottle has been reconditioned, is used to close the bottle. A new capsule is also used to replace the old one. Even the label can be changed if damaged or in bad conditions, with a new label (which may also indicate that the bottle has been reconditioned, it is not always written on it, case by case basis).

@@ledomduvin Thank you for the detailed reply. I was wondering whether inert gas was used, since whisky enthusiasts use it to reduce oxidation so open bottles will last longer.

@@anthonyodonnell6105 yes, indeed, it is used

Yes, for old vintages, when they recondition a bottle at the Chateau, they do not necessarily use the same vintage to top it up. More especially if it is a bottle with a vintage in the late 1800s or early 1900s, which is costing a lot of money and has a historical and sentimental value. They will not open a full bottle from their reserve library to top up another one, otherwise, they will lose the better bottle from their library, and thus lose money and a historical bottle that was in perfect condition, to top up a bottle that was in lesser conditions, which would not make much sense. I understand your point that you want a bottle with wine 100% from that vintage inside, but in that case, you will have to find a bottle that has never been reconditioned (topped up, re-corked and re-labelled). Which is nearly impossible as a lot of these bottles have been reconditioned in the 50s, 60s and 70s and at the latest in the 90s and early 2000s. My guess is that only the Chateau may such untouched and never reconditioned bottles, and/or maybe a collector who bought these bottles early enough last century, put them in a cellar with the most ideal condition and never touched/moved the bottles in the last 70-80 years.... A very hard to find such a bottle in my opinion. Hope it answered your questions and clarified the situation. Let me know if you need info. Dom

@@ledomduvin is recondition the bottle a must for an old vintage bottles ? the color of the wine , I guess no one will know how dark will it be till 15, 20 , 30 years ....?