France
The vast and diverse wine regions of France, each with its own unique terroirs, grape varieties, and winemaking techniques, are a treasure trove.
In Bordeaux, the birthplace of some of the world's most iconic wines, esteemed vineyards such as Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Margaux, Château Latour, and Château Haut-Brion produce exceptional red wines, showcasing the art of blending Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. The region is also renowned for its exquisite white wines, with vineyards like Château d'Yquem and Domaine de Chevalier producing legendary sweet wines.
Moving to Burgundy, the vineyards of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leroy, and Domaine Armand Rousseau capture the essence of the region's revered terroir, crafting exquisite red wines from the Pinot Noir grape. Meanwhile, Domaine Leflaive and Domaine Coche-Dury are celebrated for their world-class white wines, predominantly made from Chardonnay.
The Champagne region, known for its sparkling wines, boasts illustrious houses such as Krug, Dom Pérignon, and Moët & Chandon, as well as grower-producers like Pierre Péters and Jacques Selosse. These vineyards create exceptional sparkling wines using the traditional method, offering a symphony of delicate bubbles, elegant flavors, and vibrant acidity.
In the Rhône Valley, iconic vineyards like Chapoutier, E. Guigal, and Château de Beaucastel produce remarkable red wines in the northern appellations of Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie, and Cornas, showcasing the elegance and power of Syrah. Further south, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is celebrated for its rich and full-bodied red blends, with Château Rayas and Clos des Papes leading the way.
In Alsace, vineyards such as Domaine Zind-Humbrecht and omaine Trimbach craft exquisite white wines, including Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Gris, expressing the region's unique terroir and varietal character.
These are just a few highlights among the diverse array of wines that France offers. From the Loire Valley's crisp whites and elegant reds to the Languedoc-Roussillon's bold and robust wines, each region presents its own vinous treasures.
France
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Wine Advocate (99)
Deep gold in color, the 1975 d'Yquem gives up initial notes of cashew butter, manuka honey, dried apricots, musk perfume and fallen leaves over a core of spice cake, applesauce, fungi and lemongrass. The palate is laden with bright, vibrant stone fruit and preserved citrus fruit flavors, laced with honey-nut accents and finishing provocatively earthy. While intense and hedonically satisfying, this beguiling vintage has so many nuances emerging as it unfurls, it stops you in your tracks. Make sure it is the very last wine of the evening, because once you taste this, everything else will pale into insignificance. Although this wine is currently well within its ideal drinking window, there's certainly no rush to drink well-preserved bottles.HK$16,565.00 -
Vinous - Neal Martin (90)
The 1981 Yquem is a wine that I first tasted around 2004, when it amazed an entire crowd with its definition and focus. It was a tricky picking apart from a straightforward first trie between 5 and 10 October. Now at 40-years, it had lost some of its energy and verve, quite resinous at first though it improves with aeration. The palate still has the finesse and poise that maybe the 1980 Yquem lacks, surprisingly concentrated on the finish given the growing season. Drink bottles in the near future.HK$9,415.00 -
Wine Spectator (98)
Super-intense and full-throttled, elegant and stylish. Dark amber in color and rich in complexity, this '83 coats your mouth with butterscotch, dried apricot, fig and spice flavors. Made to age for decades. -HK$61,795.00 -
(12x75cl) 1986HK$39,725.00 -
HK$24,265.00 -
(1x75cl) 1988LaRVF (100)
L'équilibre parfait entre sucre et acidité, l'expression de la plus haute civilisation. Jugez plutôt : 121 g de sucres résiduels par litre, 80 % de sémillon et 20 % de sauvignon, 9 hl/ha de rendement et 36 mois en barriques neuves. Ces chiffres traduisent la suprématie d'Yquem en 1988. À ce stade, on est séduit par les notes d'écorces d'orange, d'abricots confits et de miel. Le safran s'impose en finale avec une touche de muscade. Il possède encore un immense potentiel.HK$4,750.00 -
Wine Advocate (98)
A warm to hot vintage ideal for producing outstanding reds does not necessarily make for a great Sauternes vintage, but in the case of 1990 it did. Dry, warm winds in the autumn contributed to the level of concentration that this wine exhibits. Fortunately, a little rain in late September and early October ensured that botrytis flourished well in the end, the final factor necessary to achieve this extraordinary expression.HK$58,190.00 -
(24x37.5cl) 1990Wine Advocate (98)
A warm to hot vintage ideal for producing outstanding reds does not necessarily make for a great Sauternes vintage, but in the case of 1990 it did. Dry, warm winds in the autumn contributed to the level of concentration that this wine exhibits. Fortunately, a little rain in late September and early October ensured that botrytis flourished well in the end, the final factor necessary to achieve this extraordinary expression.HK$34,975.00 -
(6x75cl) 1995Vinous - Neal Martin (96)
This might be the best bottle of 1995 Yquem that I have encountered. This bottle is perhaps slightly less deep in colour than the one tasted three years earlier. The bouquet is divine: marmalade, orane pith, tangerine, saffron and here, the lightest of adhesive notes. Wonderful delineation. The palate is very complex and exquisitely defined, still a precocious Yquem, though less reserved on the back end with mandarin, quince and dried honey. This is drinking beautifully right now. Tasted at the château.HK$11,570.00 -
HK$19,225.00 -
HK$19,435.00 -
Jancis Robinson (18)
Lift and richness and electrified raisins! There's a lot of energy here. Medicine? Sinewy. Not the sweetest.HK$16,420.00 -
(6x75cl) 1999LaRVF (95)
S'il n'a pas la carrure du magnifique 1997, le 1999 est un vin d'une grande élégance, très racé, à la moitié du prix de son aîné. Env. 120 eHK$13,415.00 -
The Wine Independent (100)
The 2001 Yquem has a pale to medium gold color. The nose is a little closed to begin, slowly emerging with a complex array of notes of mango preserves, baked peaches, saffron, salted almonds, and candied ginger, followed by wafts of jasmine, honeycomb, and crème caramel. The palate is super-sweet, concentrated, and multi-layered, delivering wave after wave of opulent stone and tropical fruit flavors, supported by amazing tension and a satiny texture, finishing with epic length and lingering mineral notes. This is a wine I've tasted many times and it has never been less than the epitome of a Sauternes experience that is as cerebral as it is hedonic. The residual sugar is 150 grams per liter, which is on the high side, yet, incredibly, it wears this richness with such energy.HK$29,400.00 -
(12x75cl) 2001The Wine Independent (100)
The 2001 Yquem has a pale to medium gold color. The nose is a little closed to begin, slowly emerging with a complex array of notes of mango preserves, baked peaches, saffron, salted almonds, and candied ginger, followed by wafts of jasmine, honeycomb, and crème caramel. The palate is super-sweet, concentrated, and multi-layered, delivering wave after wave of opulent stone and tropical fruit flavors, supported by amazing tension and a satiny texture, finishing with epic length and lingering mineral notes. This is a wine I've tasted many times and it has never been less than the epitome of a Sauternes experience that is as cerebral as it is hedonic. The residual sugar is 150 grams per liter, which is on the high side, yet, incredibly, it wears this richness with such energy.HK$51,850.00 -
The Wine Independent (100)
The 2001 Yquem has a pale to medium gold color. The nose is a little closed to begin, slowly emerging with a complex array of notes of mango preserves, baked peaches, saffron, salted almonds, and candied ginger, followed by wafts of jasmine, honeycomb, and crème caramel. The palate is super-sweet, concentrated, and multi-layered, delivering wave after wave of opulent stone and tropical fruit flavors, supported by amazing tension and a satiny texture, finishing with epic length and lingering mineral notes. This is a wine I've tasted many times and it has never been less than the epitome of a Sauternes experience that is as cerebral as it is hedonic. The residual sugar is 150 grams per liter, which is on the high side, yet, incredibly, it wears this richness with such energy.HK$29,710.00 -
James Suckling (98)
A massive Yquem, this has a dense palate that is almost chewy like a red. Full and very sweet, with notes of dried apricot, pineapple, and papaya on the palate. Long, with a vanilla-coconut tart finish. What a wine, voluptuous, sexy, and luscious. 147 grams of RS. Pull the cork after 2015.HK$14,530.00 -
(12x37.5cl) 2005HK$12,800.00 -
(1x1500cl) 2005HK$79,495.00 -
HK$14,150.00 -
Chateau Yquem is the highest and finest winemaker in the Sauternes appellation. The 2005 is pleasingly rich and luxuriously textured. It has a impressively defined bouquet and a well balanced palate of honeyed apricot, pepper and nectarine ending on spicy kick.HK$3,485.00 -
HK$19,225.00 -
(12x75cl) 2006Wine Spectator (100)
This is very long and intense. Really impressive. Full and very sweet, yet racy and fresh, with spicy botrytis character. Fantastic. Score range: 95-100 -JSHK$27,485.00 -
(6x150cl) 2006Wine Spectator (100)
This is very long and intense. Really impressive. Full and very sweet, yet racy and fresh, with spicy botrytis character. Fantastic. Score range: 95-100 -JSHK$27,630.00 -
Wine Spectator (100)
This is very long and intense. Really impressive. Full and very sweet, yet racy and fresh, with spicy botrytis character. Fantastic. Score range: 95-100 -JSHK$17,410.00 -
The Wine Independent (98)
A blend of 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc, with 137 grams per liter of residual sugar, the 2007 Yquem has a pale to medium gold color. It slips sensuously from the glass with open-knit scents of apricot preserves, persimmon butter, and Golden Delicious apples, followed by hints of baking bread, aniseed, and wood smoke. The palate is concentrated, with alluring stone fruit and spiced apple layers, supported by just enough freshness, finishing long and opulently spicy.HK$30,850.00 -
(1x1500cl) 2007The Wine Independent (98)
A blend of 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc, with 137 grams per liter of residual sugar, the 2007 Yquem has a pale to medium gold color. It slips sensuously from the glass with open-knit scents of apricot preserves, persimmon butter, and Golden Delicious apples, followed by hints of baking bread, aniseed, and wood smoke. The palate is concentrated, with alluring stone fruit and spiced apple layers, supported by just enough freshness, finishing long and opulently spicy.HK$107,420.00 -
(6x150cl) 2007The Wine Independent (98)
A blend of 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc, with 137 grams per liter of residual sugar, the 2007 Yquem has a pale to medium gold color. It slips sensuously from the glass with open-knit scents of apricot preserves, persimmon butter, and Golden Delicious apples, followed by hints of baking bread, aniseed, and wood smoke. The palate is concentrated, with alluring stone fruit and spiced apple layers, supported by just enough freshness, finishing long and opulently spicy.HK$49,635.00 -
The Wine Independent (98)
A blend of 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc, with 137 grams per liter of residual sugar, the 2007 Yquem has a pale to medium gold color. It slips sensuously from the glass with open-knit scents of apricot preserves, persimmon butter, and Golden Delicious apples, followed by hints of baking bread, aniseed, and wood smoke. The palate is concentrated, with alluring stone fruit and spiced apple layers, supported by just enough freshness, finishing long and opulently spicy.HK$16,885.00 -
Wine Enthusiast (97)
96-98 Barrel sample. Impressively balanced, with the fruit rich, intense with a golden glow. The acidity is as important as the freshness, giving a delicious lift to the core of dry, concentrated botrytis. Obviously a great wine for long-term aging in a great Sauternes year.HK$16,600.00

