Summary
Located in southern Graves. Climatic conditions from the meeting of the warm Garonne river, and its cool tributary Ciron, ensure regular humid conditions for botrytis development. More than any other wine, this style is created in the vineyard with exceptionally small yields (max 25hL/ha), harvested by hand in multiple passes over the course of months. These wines are blends, and often barrel fermented and barrel aged for up to three years. Underpriced in relation to production costs and coupled with a lack of demand, many producers now also make dry wine styles with the same grapes to appeal to consumer preferences. Sweet wines can improve and evolve with bottle age (50+ years). Home to Châteaux YQuem, which was awarded a special designation from the 1855 classification, Premier cru Supérieur.