Tropically ripe, with dense yet creamy layers of guava, mango, lychee and papaya, all stitched with racy lemon cream and candied grapefruit peel notes. Frangipane-framed finish pumps out wave after wave of unctuous fruit. Starting to hits its second gear, and with old-school Yquem power and muscle. Drink now through 2032. 5,000 cases made.

– James Molesworth (WineSpectator.com, Web only 2012)

The 2004 d’Yquem is almost identical to the bottle that I tasted at the château four years ago. It has a generous bouquet; the oak a tad more subsumed since my last encounter, with generous lemon curd, dried honey, mango and Mirabelle aromas billowing from the glass. It is a well balanced and quite weighty d’Yquem with slightly lower acidity than its peers; viscous in texture with a tropical tinged finish that I maintain just lacks the tension and energy of a d’Yquem from the top-drawer.

Mid orange-gold to look at; fine, scented, persistent nose, dominated by its new wood at present; rich, elegant, fairly concentrated wine with an excellent, vigorously defining acidity. Intensely sweet, pristine, clear cut flavour - discreet, refined, subtly racy, continuously complex and with great tenacity across the palate and a powerfully aromatic and honeyed finish. Understated by comparison with many, but an effortlessly persistent combination of viscosity allied to delicacy and finesse. Reminiscent for me, at present, of the very fine, but more restrained style of Yquem vintages such as 96, 88, 71, 62 ……