1958: A tricky Château d’Yquem vintage and the year of Miles Davis’s Milestones…

The quality of Château d’Yquem’s wine during the 1950s was – shall we say? – irregular.

The 1958 vintage was one of the better-balanced wines made by Yquem in the 1950s, a decade in which two years (1951 and 1952) were so poor that no wine was made.

(Just imagine having a business for which no goods can be made and sold for two consecutive years!)

Spring 1958 was fresh and rainy, which slowed down the grapes’ growth in Yquem’s vineyards, about 1.5 miles from the River Ciron.

A bit of late summer rain got the “noble rot” working – the grapes turn brown, the juice evaporates, and the sugar levels become extremely concentrated.

Great Yquem vintages tend to be early (picked no later than October) and fast. This vintage was late and slow.

There were four goes at picking the grapes – in dry weather 😎 – from 6th to 24th October 1958.

But then it rained again, this time diluting the grapes rather than causing noble rot.

The resulting wine was not as sweet or rich as Yquem can be in other years.

Still, it was a better year in Bordeaux for the sweet white Sauternes wines than for the red wines.

In the context of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Château d’Yquem 1958 was not as good as 1945, 1947, 1949, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1961, or 1962.

But it’s not as bad as 1963 or 1968!