 Chateau d'Yquem is one of the truly iconic names in the wine world. Referred to by many names -- liquid gold might be our favorite -- this nectar of the gods (hey, there's another one) really is the standard that all sweet wines are measured against.
For those of you wondering whether it's really that good and worth the money, we want to point you to something we read recently that really seems to sum it up better than we ever could. Written by MIT Professor Thomas Levenson, "Because It's There" is a wonderful essay describing Mr. Levenson's first experience with Chateau d'Yquem.
Written several years ago, Mr. Levenson says, "Even though I, now past forty, have long since relinquished my dream of crushing a seventh-game winning home run, I have just had my own personal experience of the best there is. I have now drunk my first glass of Chateau d'Yquem - and that, my friends, is a taste of the sublime that no one can take away from me."
He goes on to write, "Chateau d'Yquem is a Sauternes, and with remarkable near-unanimity, most competent authorities write that the chateau produces the very best sweet wine (some say the best white wine) in the world. That's the best, mind you - not very good, not consistently great, but the best, the top, the ultimate. I have been pursuing this one wine since the first time I was given a glass of decent dessert wine, only to be told that what I was drinking couldn't hold a candle to the mythical, incredibly costly nectar of Yquem."
We really enjoyed reading this essay and we hope you will too. Click here to view the entire essay.
So, does Mr. Levenson feel it was worth it? "Was my glass of Yquem eight or ten times better than some other well made, lesser wine? I can't tell you yes, for a certainty - but I don't think the question matters. There is no way to justify any glass of wine as being "worth" thirty or fifty bucks or whatever - and I am not so wealthy that I can ignore such numbers altogether. But once, to have the experience of encountering something that is as good as human skill and passion can make it? I have no doubts. I don't have to climb Mt. Everest. Yquem has come to me."
Not being able to write like an MIT Professor, we'll just leave it at that. | 
