Chateau d'Yquem ‘Y’ Ygrec Bordeaux 1968 versus Doamine de Chevalier Graves 1975

Chateau d'Yquem ‘Y’ Ygrec Bordeaux 1968 versus Doamine de Chevalier Graves 1975

Both wines served blind. I was given a choice of whether it’s Chenin Blanc or Sauternes for both bottles. A whiff and I was almost certain this was from Sauternes, and a sip confirmed it, as the botrytis generated the aged taste was obvious. At my age (I was born in 1968), this wine was drinking perfectly, probably due to the high residual sugar, thus the content is really fresh, one can’t really tell the age of the wine at all. The Domaine de Chevalier tasted totally opposite, and it tasted more like a Chenin Blanc wine to me. For it’s age, it’s really drinking perfectly well. The difficulty is to vote whether it’s Chenin Blanc or Sauternes, and I went for Sauternes, as I have not come across any Chenin Blanc with botrytis even though I knew it existed, but not commonly available. Thus drinking experience is as important as knowledge during a blind tasting test.