Yquem

Vinos Jerez, Sauternes, Rhin, burdeos blancos Chateau d'Yquem, Chateau Marcaux, Chateau Lafite, Chateau Gavier (vino nacional blanco y tinto), Haut Bourcoche, Oporto, Champan Cristal, Id.

The Phoenicia Hotel in Downtown Beirut hosted the winemaker this week for an exclusive wine tasting event that highlighted five vintages from Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau d'Yquem and is now offering the high-end wines as part of the a la carte menu at the hotel's rooftop restaurant Eau du Vie.

I can't believe that the average French housewife splashes out on Yquem as part of her weekly shop.

Your bottle of Chateau d' Yquem 1962 Sauternes is considered an outstanding vintage and reportedly scores 90/100 on the trade's Parker scale.

Seagrams VO; Dewars White Label; Smirnoff Vodka; Peach Schnapps; Molson Golden; 1961 Chateau Yquem available for after dinner wine.

A customer at a typical wine shop would have to take Wine Spectator's word for it that Chateau Yquem is worth $300 per bottle.

But the New Wave in Bordeaux isn't quite enough to carry the narrative, so Echikson has interspersed his saga of the garagistes versus the Old Guard with an engaging, if slightly dated, story about the battle for Chateau d'Yquem, the legendary producer of Bordeaux's other collectible wine, sweet Sauternes.

o"We would start with a fois gras and a bottle of Chateau Yquem. I'd follow that with a Dover sole served with a Haut-Brion, which is a lovely dry white wine from Bordeaux.

Just a few chateaus of high quality to look for: Climens, Laufaurie-Peyraguey, Raymond Lafon, Rieussec and, of course, Yquem.

Pinault's recent moves into "le luxe" would add several billion dollars more, and they also raise the question of whether he is now planning to challenge Bernard Arnault of LVMH--who owns or controls Dior, Lacroix, Givenchy, Dom Perignon, Chateau Yquem, Hennessy and Louis Vuitton, among many other top names--for leadership of the world's entire luxury goods business.

This year the 2008 vintage was unveiled: 99 top red wines and nine of the very best sweet whites were on show, including a generous helping of the famous names: Chateaux Haut-Brion, Lafite-Rothschild, Margaux, Mouton-Rothschild, Cheval Blanc and d'Yquem. It was a tricky year for the growers.

It is true that French wine exporters have smartened up their marketing recently, but it might be a while before the American public is invited to "Come Alive with Chateau Yquem."

An anonymous seller, who has spent 20 years collecting a bottle of each vintage from the famous Chateau d'Yquem from 1854 to 2000, is selling his prized cellar for almost pounds 265,000.

Due to the nature of some of the material, its launch in Europe was halted by an acrimonious lawsuit between factions of the Lur-Saluces family of Chateau d' Yquem. It's more than illuminating, it's a cracking good read.