My personal best BDX night.... ever!

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• 1959 Château Latour Grand Vin - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (7/23/2017)
  Tonight, the wine gods blessed us with 4 exquisite btls, all from different producers between 1955-1961. All, from the same primitive but cold dirt floored and frequently flooded with a couple of inches of water, St Paul MN cellar. All wines acquired locally. For me, ALL 4 of them were 100pt+ experiences and in extraordinary condition regardless of how decrepit and patinaed the labels looked. The '55 Haut Brion label was barely readable. The Montrose was unique in the group as its label was actually, all and all, in relative excellent condition with only some lightly soiled scuffing and capsule corrosion. Maybe it resided a little higher off the floor . I didn’t see the corks and believe all of these were opened at Capital Grill upon arrival. ALL 4 btls delivered nearly or completely resolved wines free of any indication of decline and all in peak condition. I tend to be hypercritical of many old wines that show up weird and oxidized so, I fully expected 1/2 if not all, of these to be in some state of decline or long since dead. Instead, these wine exceeded my widest dreams and rank right at the top along just a few other truly flipping awesome wines I’ve had like a '61 La Mish HB from about 6 years ago. It was a night of superlatives and head shaking. None of us could fathom our great fortune??? Even allowing for Lonny’s usual great karma effect! This '59 Latour, lived up to its legend! Tonight this was structured ans masculine leaning without one rough edge or hint of advanced age. Every element of great BDX was present. An intellectual BDX masterpiece. Powerful but resolved, deep and gracious. Dark cherry, tobacco, lead pencil, and other complex flavors and aromas. Maybe a tad more mineral then the other 3 wines? Again, the color was about what you expect from a 20yr old BDX ,not, a 56yr old wine! Darker ruby with pretty gem like red edge. I can assure you none of these 4 btls was less than 100pts for me! Here’s hoping I don’t miss the opening of other remaining btls from this excellent local cellar! Tied with the 61 Montrose for my personal WOTN but on another night, solo, any of the 4 wines would be anyone’s… WOTN. (100 pts.)
• 1961 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (7/23/2017)
  The '61 GPL, tonight was another ethereal, textural wonder of resolution and depth. Dark cherry, mineral, tobacco, lead pencil, and other complex flavors and aromas. Again, the color was about what you expect from a 20yr old BDX ,not, a 56yr old wine! Darker ruby with pretty gem like red edge. I’ve been fortune enough to enjoy another one of these this past January. I can assure you none of these 4 btls was less than 100pts for me! Here’s hoping I don’t miss the opening of remaining btls from this excellent local cellar! (100 pts.)
• 1955 Château Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (7/23/2017)
  The '55 Haut Brion, tonight was a bit more masculine to the '61 Montrose’s Chambolle like femininity. Amazing depth and maybe even slightly less resolved than the Montrose but still velvety smooth and ethereal. Dark cherry, raspberry, tobacco, lead pencil, and other complex flavors and aromas. Again, the color was about what you expect from a 20yr old BDX ,not, a 61+yr old wine! Darker ruby with pretty gem like red edge. I’ve been fortune enough to enjoy another one of these some months ago and have that btl on my desk. A wine along with the 3 others, I’ll never forget! Ok, for some of us this might even be 105pt but, I can assure you none of these 4 btls was less than 100pts for me!(100 pts.)
• 1961 Château Montrose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe (7/23/2017)
  This Montrose might have been the most “Burgundian” of the bunch with its silky supple ethereal presence and lovely autumnal feel. Rainer cherry, raspberry, tobacco, lead pencil, and other complex flavors and aromas. The color was about what you expect from a 15-20yr old BDX ,not, a 56yr old wine. Darker ruby with pretty gem like red edge. I took the empty home with me and its sitting on my desk as I right the note. A wine along with the 3 others, I’ll never forget. Ok, this was a 100pt wine and, perhaps, the '55 Haut Brion was 105pts but I assure you none of these were less than 100pts for me! Cap (100 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Wow. Epic. Congratulations…we all hope for such experiences: when the wines all show perfectly.

Damn! Birth year wines and no invite!

Had this a couple of years ago and it clearly is a 100 point wine. Great, great wine. Neat that you had several such wines at one time.

However, you confuse me with a couple of comments. At one point you state that the Latour and the Montrose were your personal WOTN, but at another you say that the Haut Brion could score 105 points. Score me confused.

Fantastic. 61 Montrose is on my short-list, as is the GPL.

Thanks for sharing

Wow. That’s a nice night.
Cheers, Craig.
Thanks for sharing. Sounds right lovely.

Great notes and sounds like a wonderful night. Just perplexed that you found a bottle of '61 Montrose which could be described as ‘supple’. It has probably the firmest tannic chassis of any '61 Médoc I’ve had. A brooding monster, in my experience from English cellars. I love it but it sounds like yours was more expansive and expressive than the bottles I’ve had.

Do you have pictures of the bottles?

Tom

I imagine when you open any 56 year old wine you’re going to find many different experiences depending on the provenance. OTOH, even a wine as hard nosed as Montrose in its first 10 years ought to be pretty supple with that much time in btl. Then again every taster has their own experience with a wine too. Another buddy of mine will be posting his notes soon on CT and it will be fun to see how Kevin describes his experiences with each of these. I expect he’ll feel somewhat differently than I on all of them. Sitting next to him, I know, he loved them too though. This btl was purchased by the original owner locally and resided in that same cellar until one of my local buddies and a couple other guys bought the cellar in an estate resolution.

Some nice wines there Craig.

Very wonderful experience and very great wines.

For some of them I had not the same chance as you had : 55 Haut-Brion and 61 Montrose were not as brilliant as yours.

Congratulations for this fantastic experience.

Another thumbs up on the GPL '61 - in good condition this is utterly sublime (also, perhaps slightly less surprisingly, can the '59 Latour). Haven’t had a superb '61 Montrose yet but crossing my fingers for my last bottle…

Sounds like a great evening!

I want to hear more about the cellar. Is it passive?

Sorry, I don’t know all the specifics but it no longer exist as a cellar and I’d bet a dollar against a dime it was passive. Think it was in an old St Paul mansion. The deceased prior owner was a prominent attorney, I think.

Added my notes on those four wines and the link to the event.

https://www.cellartracker.com/classic/event.asp?iEvent=35829

Bordeaux Flight 1: Old Beauties Volume 1

1961 Château Montrose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

These were the same bottles that Chablis28 chronicled the history of in his notes: all from the cold, dank, dark dirt basement of a St. Paul home. Most of the wines we acquire, we don’t absolutely know the provenance. We trust the source and hope for their authenticity, not to mention their careful and thoughtful storage. The beauty of a fortuitous situation like this is that none of those provenance concerns was in question. The only issue was the condition of the individual bottle and all the variables that go into what becomes of the elixir inside. I’ve had amazing fortune with countless older bottles over the years as the wine gods have smiled on me as I opened bottle after bottle. However, I don’t think I could anticipate a situation where all four bottles of wine, from '55, '59, and two from '61 could be so pristinely preserved and be near perfection. These bottles were an amazing display of terroir, vintage, and winemaking. A living, breathing organism that when finally opened blossomed into something almost more beautiful than one can imagine. The fact that these wines can evolve into what they have and show such life, along with the near certain potential of even more longevity, is simply amazing.

Dark red color with a 1cm transitional margin. PNP, drank 1 glass over 2 hours. The '61 Montrose was the first bottle we poured. As I lifted my glass, I instantly new this was something special. Sure, it’s a birth year wine and I had high hopes, but you never know. The nose was exploding out of the glass and growing more intense and complex with every swirl. Bright cherries, rose petals, intensely perfumed and seductive, saddle leather, dried flowers, pencil, and dried forest floor aromas. My words simply can’t do justice to what was an ethereal nose. Now how the palate could manage to follow that nose is a mystery, but one that did not need to be solved. The palate is medium bodied with a sensuous mouth feel, and everything is so perfectly integrated and balanced. The tannins are folded into the red fruits, deeply earthy core, wood spices, pencil, leather, and floral elements. The finish is long and lifted and leaves you completely energized. This got better and better over the two hours. I’m not sure what perfection is, but this may be as close as I’ve come. A singular wine, and one of the best I’ve had. This may be a one off of good fortune for which I will always be grateful to the wine gods. Stunning. Co- WOTN 100pts. (100 pts.)

1955 Château Haut-Brion - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

Very dark red color with a clear 2mm margin. Second time having this wine and another example of individual bottle variation in the same cellar. This was the darkest of the four wines. PNP, drank 1 glass over 2 hours. Drinking this side by side with the '61 Montrose was a sheer delight. The contrasts were noticeable, but the purity and expression of both were divine. The Haut Brion also has an immense and intoxicating aroma that while beautiful immediately becomes incredibly intense over 20 to 30 minutes, building on the perfume of earth, shitake mushroom, cassis, cigar, violets, graphite and a touch of funk. Deeper and more intense both on the nose and palate, showing stunning purity, as well as concentration, of dark cassis fruits that simply belied the 62 years of age. Wow, even though there is no question, one would just not believe this is that old. The texture is luxurious, not like the glycerin monsters of today; but like that of silk sheets that caress your entire body. The palate is probably even better than the nose and clearly Graves. Dense and intense cassis, cigar, gravel, graphite, crème de cassis with subtle mint, and gorgeous porcini infused damp earthiness. The balance is perfect with velvet soft tannins and a very long finish. Glorious. Co-WOTN 100pts. (100 pts.)

Bordeaux Flight 2: Old Beauties Volume 2

1959 Château Latour Grand Vin - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

Very dark red color with no bricking. PNP, drank 1 glass over 90 minutes plus. Another pristinely preserved bottle. The nose is remarkably youthful along with the palate. More similar to the '55 Haut Brion. Blind, you could not be convinced that this is 58 years old. The fruit purity is beautiful with crème de cassis upfront followed by mulberry, boysenberry, dusty mineral, violets, tobacco leaf and more subtle mint and cedar box. The palate is layered with beautiful black and blue berry fruits, tobacco, dried earth, mint, very dusty and intense with round tannins and another long finish. Still powerful, this can go for 25 years more easily. 98pts. (98 pts.)

1961 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

Dark red color with a 5mm bricked margin. PNP, drank 1 glass over 90 minutes plus. Another perfect specimen and the third time we’ve been able to drink this honey. As Mr. Loaf said, two out three ain’t bad. It just goes to show you, no matter what - every bottle in the same situation evolves differently. I still think the first time was the best and left me about speechless that night. Tonight, after two perfect and one near perfect wines, it had a couple of tough acts to follow. And it sure did it well. Much more like the '61 Montrose in overall character with red fruits and a medium body. On the nose, cherry, red plum, earthy, pencil, and leather. The palate like before was well integrated and provocative. Fine grained tannins, leather, red berries and cherry, good acid, purity, funk and wood spice on the finish. On any other night, this would have been the WOTN. 96+ to 97pts.
(97 pts.)

Thanks. And, not surprised by your preference. The 59 is a great wine.

By the way, we have the same birth year.

Nice recap Kevin but you need to change all your scores to 100 for the 55-61 wines . BTW, I’d happily drink more of that '85 LLC.
Craig