Provenance

The Coats Family Cellar is arguably the most prestigious fine wine collection ever offered in South Africa. It contains an expansive collection of the worlds finest, most sought-after wines, spanning over 150 years. Collected over many decades, the cellar was imported from Ireland to South Africa via refrigerated container. Each bottle within the Coats Family Cellar was authenticated by Michael Egan in August 2022 and given an ID number for tracking.

Michael Egan is a world-expert in fine and rare wines with more than thirty five years of experience. He was the principal expert for the plaintiff in the two major wine counterfeiting trials in Koch v. Eric Greenberg and United States v. Rudy Kurniawan, both of which occurred in 2013.

Along with Michael Egan, the Strauss & Co Fine Wine team have tasted extensively through the cellar and are confident of the wine storage and hence quality. The entire collection is currently stored at Wine Cellar.

Critics Ratings

'Beautiful apple, vanilla and honey aromas, with just the right amount of new wood. Full-bodied, medium sweet, with lots of pretty pineapple and honey. Long and refined. A beautifully silky and balanced Sauternes. Lots of intensity and well-knit. Unrivaled in this vintage. Best after 2009.' - Wine Spectator, 100/100 (Jul 2006)

'Pale gold with a slightly greener tinge than most young Yquem. Very fresh, long and deep-flavoured this wine has that ingredient X that Yquem always seems to manage, but this is certainly not one of the sweetest or most intense Yquems. It is certainly greater than any other 2002 sweet white bordeaux I remember tasting, with the strongly possible exception of Climens, but is almost spookily open for a recently-bottled Yquem. There's the merest hint of astringency on the finish still but this wine could be enjoyed in its relatively simple youth.' - Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, 18/20 (Mar 2006)