Spotlight On: Château d'Yquem

John Siudut
Posted: November 21, 2007

Château d'Yquem is an iconic dessert wine that ages extremely well. At auctions, older vintages command top prices that rival those of the best red wines. When older and rarer wines come on the block, collectors take notice, and this can spike the average price of a bottle. This was the case recently, when Dr. Nils Stormby sold a large cache of his collection at Zachys. Château d'Yquem registered the highest prices at the sale of this single-cellar collection. Two cases of the 1945 (95, NA release, $13,299 current) sold for $178,500 each, or $14,875 a bottle, an extraordinary 797 percent above the previous auction average of $1,659. Prices like these may shake some collectors from pursuing the wine, but younger vintages may provide a good buying opportunity.

An index of older vintages (including 1921, 1928, 1929, 1937, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1967, 1975 and 1976), has risen steadily, from 100 in the fourth quarter of 1995 to 317 by the second quarter of 2007. After the Stormby sale, that index doubled in value and now stands at 776.

Meanwhile, an index of younger vintages (including 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2003) has risen slightly over the same time period and now stands at 125 points. This index of modern vintages includes the much-lauded trio of vintages 1988 (96, $150 release, $426 current), 1989 (97, $150, $380) and 1990 (95, $160, $563).

As these three vintages become rarer they will most likely escalate in value, especially with prices for the 2001 (100, $400 release, $527 current) beginning to edge over the $500 level in the first quarter of 2007. Another wine in the index of similar quality to the 1990, the 1997 d'Yquem (95, $200, $216), is perhaps the best bargain now. The 1997 has sold at or just slightly above its release price since it first appeared at auction in the second quarter of 2003. Sotheby's Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 2007, sale features one lot of the 1997 which includes six bottles and one magnum with a high estimate at $2,250.

This data comes from the Wine Spectator Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions. This chart plots the index value of an average of the younger vintages (*including 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2003) of d'Yquem against that of the older vintages (**including 1921, 1928, 1929, 1937, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1967, 1975 and 1976). The values were indexed to 100 in the fourth quarter of 1995.