The world’s most prestigious sweet white wine, Château d’Yquem, will not be releasing a wine from the 2012 vintage according to Pierre Lurton, who runs the estate.

The decision has been taken by the celebrated Sauternes Château, located just outside Bordeaux, to maintain Yquem’s reputation for excellence. The last time the château took this decision to ‘skip’ a vintage because of quality issues was 20 years ago in 1992. In fact, the winery seems to go through a 20-year cycle as most failed vintages for the château in the past include the years 1952, 1972, 1992 and now 2012.

To make top Sauternes, the grapes have to be left on the vines long enough so that they are affected by a noble rot called Botrytis cinerea, known in the trade as botrytised.

For that rot to develop, producers rely on a combination of autumnal morning mists and midday sunshine that occur most years, but not every year.

This year, although initial harvesting was good, heavy rains during the remainder of the harvesting period resulted in grapes that produced a wine of lower quality and that had a lack of concentration.

Harvesting at Château d’Yquem differs from traditional harvesting because, in most of the world’s wine regions, all of the grapes are picked in one go, whereas here pickers go into the vineyards six times on average during one harvest to ensure that only the botrytised grapes are selected.

That harvest rain prevented the grapes from reaching the high levels of concentration required to produce such a top quality wine as Château d’Yquem.

Pierre Lurton said: “A brand like Yquem has to be prepared not to make a vintage. For the image of one of the world’s great white wines and for Yquem’s place in history, it was a reasonable decision not to make a wine this year. We tried our best but unfortunately the weather was not with us.”

The Château dates back to the 12th century, but Château d’Yquem itself was acquired by Jacques de Sauvage in 1593. The site has been home to vines since at least 1711 when the estate became fully owned by Léon de Sauvage d’Yquem.

In 2006, a 135-year vertical (containing every vintage from 1860 to 2003) was sold in London for €1,131,000, one of the highest prices ever paid for a single lot of wine.

In July 2011, an 1811 bottle of Château d’Yquem sold for €88,200 at the Ritz in London to a private collector, to become the most expensive bottle of white wine ever sold.