Sauternes · vintage 2016
Why this vintage
- 99/100 from James Sucklingand 6 other scores above 90/100.
- The 2016 vintage in SauternesLate botrytis in a dry autumn gave balanced wines, on candied citrus more than on roasted notes.
Critic scores
- James Suckling99
- Jeb Dunnuck99
- Wine Advocate96
- Wine Enthusiast96
- Vinous95
- Decanter95
- Wine Spectator94
The 2016 vintage in Sauternes
Vintage benchmark: 92/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)
Vintage character: Late botrytis in a dry autumn gave balanced wines, on candied citrus more than on roasted notes.
Overall reading of the year’s season across Sauternes. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.
Blend of the 2016 vintage
- 75 % Sémillon
- 25 % Sauvignon blanc
Shares for this vintage, as recorded on the 2016 technical sheet. The vineyard itself is planted with sémillon, sauvignon blanc — a vintage blend departs from the area under vine as the year dictates.
Figures from the 2016 sheet
- 100,000 bottlesProduction
Winemaking
Fermentation takes place in barrels in order to promote the perfect conduct of this phase, the most delicate and mysterious of wine production.
Ageing
30 months in barrels
Terroir
Here, in a rare alchemy, all the favourable elements of the Sauternais come together. The soils, warm and quick-drying at the surface, benefit from the heat stored by the large gravel stones. They also hold good water reserves owing to the clay nature of their lower layers. Many springs indeed come to the surface, and the control of the soil's water regime long ago prompted the installation of drainage. The great extent of Yquem has made it possible to plant the vineyard across a very wide range of the geological mosaic of the Sauternais. The extraordinary variety of soils that results is a fundamental element in the final complexity of the wine of Yquem.
An offer on Château d'Yquem 2016
Availability, allocations and terms: the Compagnie Médocaine will reply promptly. The estate and vintage are already filled in in the message.
Texts and documents 2016
The texts below copy in one click for your product sheets, catalogues and social channels. The printable sheet condenses the whole page onto a single A4 page.
Visuals
For this vintage, the media library contains: packshots, labels. High-definition packshots, labels, back labels and lifestyle photos are reserved for clients and partners, on the Compagnie Médocaine’s VinCod media library.
Sheet checked on September 21, 2026. Technical data: the estate’s VinCod sheets. Critic scores: sources cited above, with their date. Vintage benchmarks and character: Compagnie Médocaine’s own editorial read. Soils and relief, where shown: the Compagnie Médocaine’s parcel survey and the Mapbox/IGN terrain model.