Chateau d'Yquem

Château d'Yquem has 113 hectares of vines, of which only one hundred produce grapes in a given vintage.

Two to three hectares of vines that are too old are uprooted annually, and the soil left fallow for a year. Furthermore, it takes at least five years before new vines produce grapes that are up to Yquem's very strict standards.

Twelve hectares of vines are thus non-productive every year. Yquem is planted with two grape varieties: Sémillon (75%), which produces a rich wine with body and structure, and Sauvignon Blanc (25%), an early-ripening but less reliable producer, which contributes aromas and finesse.

The vines are tended with the greatest of care. Workers perpetuate a long tradition of painstaking work under the watchful eye of the vineyard manager.