- Château d’Yquem 2016 has been re-released for £165 per half bottle (375ml).
- On the secondary market, the 2016 vintage currently costs £3,100 per 12×75.
- The wine boasts 98+ points from The Wine Advocate.
As part of this autumn’s La Place de Bordeaux campaign, Château d’Yquem has re-released its 2016 vintage at €160 per half bottle ex-négociant.
It is being offered by the international trade for £165 per half a bottle, with larger formats available on request. The 2016 is currently available in the market for £3,100 per 12×75, which makes the new release (offered at £990 per 6×37.5) 23.9% more expensive.
However, due to their provenance, ex-château releases tend to command a premium. Similarly, smaller bottles come at higher prices. Half bottles of previously released 2016 stock last traded at a 12.9% premium.
Critical response
When reviewing the wine for the Wine Advocate in 2019, Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW originally scored it 98+ points. She said that ‘the pale lemon-gold colored 2016 d’Yquem leaps from the glass with honeyed apricots, pineapple, green mango, crushed rocks, candied ginger, coriander seed and citrus peel with hints of orange blossom’.
When tasting En Primeur in 2017, Antonio Galloni (Vinous) called it ‘a magical wine,’ awarding it a barrel range of 94-97 points. More recently this year, Neal Martin gave it 95-points, describing it as ‘very well defined and focussed’, adding that he felt that ‘this has gained a bit more complexity in recent years’.
The wine also boasts 99-points from James Suckling and Jeb Dunnuck, who claimed that ‘dessert wines don’t get much better’.
Fair value
All of Château d’Yquem’s recent vintages are currently available in the market for less than today’s offering when considering cases with 75cl bottles.
Buyers might find value in the 100-point 2015 vintage, which has a current Market Price of £2,807 per 12×75.
The evolution of La Place de Bordeaux and the changing nature of the secondary fine wine market were covered in our recent report.
Liv-ex analysis is drawn from the world’s most comprehensive database of fine wine prices. The data reflects the real time activity of Liv-ex’s 600 merchant members from across the globe. Together they represent the largest pool of liquidity in the world – currently £80m of bids and offers across 16,000 wines. Independent data, direct from the market.
