Terrific lunch yesterday to celebrate a great mate’s 54th. A couple of 61 red Burgs were the highlight from an excellent array of wines.
The 1961 Chateau de la Maltroye Chassagne-Montrachet ‘Clos de la Maltroye’ 1er Cru came from a bottle that was mid-high shoulder. It poured out looking alive and had a good depth of colour. Initially there was quite a bit of leather to the aroma and some animale smells. It really breathed up in the glass and those around the table were amazed at all of the subtle nuances they found in the glass. Notes of iodine, soy, hoisin, beef stock and licorice were prevalent. It was fresh and full flavoured with good intensity of fruit countering all of the tertiary savoury traits. Length was excellent. The 1961 Charles Vienot Corton Grand Cru was poured next and this was from a near perfect fill bottle. It was somewhat lighter in colour but still glistened with freshness. As we all drew in the wine’s perfume there was no chatter, just silence as we were collectively transfixed by the wonderful aroma emitting from the glass. It smelt of rose petals, freshly churned earth, red berries, curry leaf and other Asian spices. In the mouth it was lacy but had superb detail of mineral and crunchy red berry fruits. It was an ethereal wine of floral beauty and just at the end the wine flexed its sinewy muscle to remind you of where it was grown. One of the most delicious aged red Burgs I have had.
Beautiful note on the Vienot. I have only had one bottle, a 1953 Richebourg, and it was stellar like your 1961 Corton. Nothing in the world like perfectly aged Burgundy!!!
We drank together with a group a really lovely 61 Corton Clos de Vigne St. Anne from Belland recently. Jeremy is absolutely correct about old negociant bottlings, though the Adrien Belland is domaine bottled.
I wish I still had more of the Jules Belin 62 Clos D’ Arlot!!! - he did own it and later sold the vineyards to what is now Domaine D’ Arlot.
I wouldn´t call Vienot a “little known negociant” - not sure if he had some vineyards of his own, but he seemed to have excellent contacts through the whole cote to purchase great wines. Was bought up by Boisset in the early 80ies.
I´ve had a Vienot Clos Vougeot 1959 3 weeks ago that was fabulous … another proof of the great potential of this vineyard … ( )
It’s repeatedly amazing how old I am and that these are my birth year wines. Wish I could ever afford to try one some day, any day. Great reading about them though.
I bought both bottles out of France last year. The Chassagne was less than $150 and the Corton less than $400 by the time I paid freight, duties and taxes. The strike rate of good bottles of these sort of older wines is a lot higher than most people think hence the risk of buying them is actually low. Provenance is the key however.
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