Château d’Yquem – Liquid Gold
-
4th October 2011
By Tom Turner (Senior Portfolio Manager) - Cult Wines Ltd -
http://www.cultwinesltd.com
Back in April of this year, we looked at one of
Bordeaux’s most prestigious estates – Château
d’Yquem. Following the lifting of a sulphites
restriction on wines imported through Hong Kong
around 12-months ago, the sweet white wines of
Sauternes and Barsac became eligible for import into
China and given the discernible demand for Bordeaux
there, the promise held by a new offering could be
huge. Whilst Yquem was present in the Far East
previously, Hong Kong is the main import hub for
fine wines in the region and the vast majority of
China’s fine wines are sourced through Hong Kong
based merchants.
Yquem's
holding company LVMH – the world’s largest luxury
goods conglomerate and owners of St. Emilion
producer Château Cheval Blanc – are masters of
marketing luxury goods, with a particularly good
track record in the Far East where Louis Vuitton has
been the most popular luxury brand for several
years.
Looking more specifically at the appeal of Yquem to
the Asian market, it seems this wine has all the
natural components for success.
Ice wine is extremely popular in China already;
China itself is home to the largest ice wine estate
in the world at Liaoning as well as being a top
importer of ice wine from Canada.
The wine
already has an interesting translation in Chinese,
often cited as a pre-requisite for popularity in the
Chinese populace (as with Lafite and Lynch Bages):
characteristic of the Chinese language is that it
will try to make the proper nouns correspond with
meanings – with Yquem being the perfect example,
translating as 'drop' and 'gold'. The pronunciation
of in Chinese is "dict gum" which is similar to
d'Yquem in French.
Considering the golden hue of the wine itself, the
name lends itself very well to the burgeoning wine
enthusiasts from the Far East and could well see
Yquem emerge as the Lafite of white wines.
In the
6-months following the lifting of the sulphites ban,
the Far East secondary market appeared to be none
the wiser as to Bordeaux’ sweeter option. However,
the last 2 quarters have seen a strong uptake in
Sauternes’ only 1er Grand Cru Superior, with prices
rising 5-10% across the board and a large increase
in trade frequency on the London Exchange (Liv-ex).
What’s been particularly interesting are the recent
auctions, with a huge surge in Hong Kong based
activity, which has been impressive by the volume of
lots, the range of vintages and consistency of
estimates being achieved (and in numerous instances
exceeded). Most recently, a case of 2001 sold for
£6,338 at one of Acker’s Hong Kong auctions – over
26% above recent Liv-ex trades. But topping
estimates at auction is not a new phenomenon for
Yquem. Headlines were made in 2006 when a 135-year
vertical was sold by The Antique Wine Company at a
London auction for $1.5 Million, the record for a
single lot of wine at the time. In July this year,
Stephen Williams, Managing Director at AWC, sold a
single bottle of 1811 Château d’Yquem at a private
auction in London’s Ritz Hotel, making it the most
expensive bottle of white wine ever sold.
Looking more specifically at the vintages of Yquem
offering the best value and growth potential, it’s
notable that certain vintages have not been scored
by Parker – 2002 and 2004 – with the 2004 being of
particular interest considering Jancis Robinson MW
and other critics' high scores.
There is no doubting the quality of this vintage,
but without the Parker score it has been able to fly
very much under the radar. There could be fantastic
growth potential, even in the top vintages, as – in
comparison to the hugely popular Left Bank 1st
Growths – they’re still available at a considerable
relative discount. Another consideration must be the
average annual production of 60,000 bottles, which
is a quarter of Lafite’s annual yield, resulting in
sufficient liquidity to create a presence, but
limited enough to put a serious strain on supply for
older vintages.
The
scrolling trades below are brought to you in association with the
London International Vintners Exchange
RSS
Feed - Subscribe to the WineInvestment.org Blogs
