I purchased a few lots in the recent sale of wines confiscated from Rudy Kurniawan by Gaston & Sheehan. Nothing exceptional, just interesting older wines at what seemed like reasonable prices, mainly for curiosity.
One of the most unusual was a lot of three bottles of 1911 Aloxe Corton, from an unknown producer. I suppose therefore that everything else is realistically unknown, as the labels consisted of handwritten notes. As can be seen in the photo, these were purchased in the 2008 Zachys auction of Graham Lyons “historic cellar.” I couldn’t find the old catalog but would be curious how they were described and what was paid. I think I paid something under $200 for the lot.
A few weeks ago I brought the first bottle to a Friday night dinner with neighbors, so that we could collectively see what came out. After a significant effort to remove the cork,what came out was thick brown sludge. Nothing resembling wine, and that was that.
I planned to open and dispose of the other two bottles this week, but received a surprise from the second one. The wine was on the browner side of amber, with lots of fine sediment, but looked much sounder. The sediment gave the wine a strong bitter taste, so I poured half the bottle into an empty 375 up to the brim, corked tightly and stood up in the fridge. What remained in the original bottle continued to be bitter, although drinkable.
Last night after two days I warmed and opened the other bottle, carefully poured the wine, and ended up with two glasses that came very much alive over the course of the next two hours. With time, the wine was really highly enjoyable. Clearly older, moving toward insipid, but still delightful. The color without sediment was thin, almost yellowish, but nose and palate sang a different tune.
Anyway, it’s 50/50 on the third bottle.
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