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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