Château d`Yquem, often described as the greatest sweet wine in the world and the only Sauternes First Growth of Bordeaux. Few wines in the world have produced consistently noble quality for more than 4 centuries.

Established in 1593, the property consists of a 110-hectare vineyard planted with 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc. The wines are created from botrytized fruit that is picked by hand in several passes ‘tiers’ by up to 150 harvesters. Château d'Yquem is the product of meticulous work in the vineyard, along with the estate’s exceptional terroir, and centuries of inherited knowledge since 1593, it has gained the reputation of the world’s finest sweet wine.

In the Bordeaux Classification of 1855, Château d'Yquem was given the unique and unsurpassable rank of Premier Cru Supérieur, ahead of all other Sauternes, indicating its perceived superiority and ability to command by far the highest prices. The wines of Château d'Yquem are characterised by their complexity, concentration and longevity. In a good year, a bottle will only begin to show its qualities after a decade or two of cellaring and with proper care, will keep for a century or more, gradually adding layers of complexity.

The extraordinary NFT lot consists of 184 bottles of the much acclaimed, rare vintages 1892 through to 2010:
36 x 375ml
146 x 750ml
2 x 1500ml
45 of the bottles have been re-conditioned/recorked.

Click here to view the NFT list for this lot.

Click HERE to view the NFT list for this lot.

• The wines are currently stored in the professional cellars of Wine Cellar, in Cape Town, Africa’s largest fine wine cellar. Free storage to October 2023.
• Professional world-wide shipping can also be arranged, at negligible costs considering the high value of the wines.
• Each bottle within the NFT is also minted as an NFT on the polygon blockchain. This allows for the withdrawal or trading of single bottles, or the entire NFT at any time. Strauss & Co will coordinate the ‘burning’ NFTs when stock is withdrawn.
• Insurance to be undertaken by new owner.
• All Web3 development is undertaken by partner Fanfire. Prof Gert-Jan van Rooyen is Director at Fanfire, and also an Associate Professor Extra-Ordinary in Industrial Engineering at Stellenbosch University.
• Payment can be made in ZAR, USD, GBP and using any of the methods Strauss & Co accepts (cash, credit card, EFT) or optionally with cryptocurrency.
  Fanfire will facilitate payments made in ETH or BTC and stable coins.
• SASA (South African Sommeliers Association is a non-profit organization and aims to offer its services to service industry professionals in South Africa. SASA will receive 1% of the hammer price from Strauss proceeds.

Why NFTs?

Non-fungible tokens are a highly efficient way to package a collection of wines for long term aging or trading. The digital contract is stored on the Polygon blockchain and the NFT includes the critical information of the transaction in provenance, barcode, pictures, pricing, along with sensorial and aging information. NFT transactions are cheap and fast, and don’t add any marginal energy cost. The NFTs can be traded by the owner on any platform, currently also onOpeansea.

The NFTs include perfect complimentary cellaring of the wines in professional storage with Wine Cellar until October 2023, with the option to extend at commercial rates thereafter. Contracts are held in a custodial wallet or sent to a cold wallet such as the Venox Vault.