1975 Vintage: Wine categories with good chances?

A hypothetical that may turn into an actual for me. You are to be presented an opportunity to select one or more bottles from the 1975 vintage with the restriction that you cannot select a specific wine (e.g. 1975 Figeac), but rather a “random” survivor from a wine category (e.g. Red Bordeaux, White Burgundy, Sauternes, etc.) What categories would you pick your wines from and why?

If you like Riesling, Germany is a contender. Sauternes is definitely the most dependable. Most red Bordeaux started out hard as nails, and stayed that way until after the fruit faded. Right bank is the best bet, if given a chance to narrow it down. Vintage port will still be drinking fine, but was a less distinguished vintage to begin with. Maybe a random Brunello will have held on. Chancy without selection.

Bordeaux or California Cabernet.

Being a 75 birthday…its pretty rough on red side. Bordeaux doesn’t give.much pleasure other than some high ticket Right Bankers. Napa is hit and miss, Ridge York Creek PS are good if you can find them. Sauternes and German Riesling are best wines I have found.

The only really good LLC I’ve ever had is a 75 out of magnum. So I’d vote for that :slight_smile:

75 heitz martha is pretttttty killer

There are some spectacular '75 Napa Cabs, Mayacamas and Mondavi Reserve for instance. Most are faded. If you could select a well cared for Magnum, I’d lean in that direction. Otherwise, you are rolling against the odds.

I’ve had fabulous luck with Spanish wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero - these have been knockouts for me. If well stored these can be relatively inexpensive also.

Impossible to say generally.
There are some great 1975 Bordeaux - and a lot of disapointing ones.
In Burgundy the vintage is quite poor, but I´ve had 3 or 4 really excellent bottles …
In the Rhone valley there can be some very positive surprises (CdPape!), although it´s far from a great vintage.
In Germany and Austria it is a very good vintage …

I would look at Sauterne, many are still excellent and YQ, well amazing.

This. Some excellent right bank wines…La Mish, HB, Lafleur. And the 75 d’Yquem is off the charts good.

Also agree with Jon on Spanish wines.

1975 is a flat out brilliant year in Germany, and almost as magical on the Right Bank and Graves in Bordeaux. The '75 northern Medocs are less interesting. Sauternes is also stellar in 1975. It is also one of the greatest years for California cabernet sauvignon in the decade of the 1970s- probably right up there today with 1974, though it has long had to live in the shadow of its older sibling. Contrary to a comment above, most 1975 cabernets are now at their peaks and are not fading- it was a more tannic vintage than 1974 and needed a longer time to blossom. Some of my favorites include all the Heitz bottlings, Joseph Phelps, Sterling, Mayacamas, Mondavi Reserve and Diamond Creek. Have not had the '75 Mount Eden or Clos du Val bottlings but would expect very good things; '75 Ridge Monte Bello was lovely the last time I drank it, but more advanced structurally than many of these Napa bottlings cited above and all velvet elegance on the palate- though perhaps this was just the bottle? In most cases, one does not have to look for mags of 1975 cabs to find wines with plenty of vigor, as this was a powerful vintage out of the blocks. There are loads of good options out there!

This is good information and already is helpful to me. I know the scenario is a bit like a game of chance, but if I can pick the game (i.e. the wine category) that gives me the best odds of “hitting”, I’m good with that!. Thanks to all who have posted and to others, please feel free to to chip on if you have an opinion on this.

For quality and value, it’s Sauternes for me.

Actually opening a 1975 Rieussec next week and expect it to be as great as the last 3 bottles I opened.

Sweeeeet!!! (on many different levels) Enjoy!

‘75 Vega Sicilia and ‘75 Haut Brion are good wines.

To pile on a bit - for somewhat reasonably priced reds - Trotanoy and/or Heitz Martha’s.

Used to love '75 d’Yquem, but pretty much stopped drinking dessert wines a number of years ago, but I’m sure it’s still great.

Plenty of bargains that drink very well from Rioja.

Chianti and Brunello are great. Montevertine, Castell in Villa, Poggione among others
Port is ok
And MSR as others have mentioned are wonderful

I jumped in big on 1975s when I graduated law school in 1976 and had money to burn out of my initial salary of $16,500 per year. Then I got a case of 1975 Gruaud as a bonus for working through New Year’s Eve 78/79. I still have a couple of the Gruaud and a bottle of 1975 Cheval Blanc. My experiences were:

Latour - outstanding, best of what I had. Served one to a friend at a dinner party at my house and he said it was the best wine he ever had.
Lafitte - a bit weak and thin
Cheval Blanc - Opened a bottle at an Ebob offline in September 2005. Not too shabby. Reasonably good.
Gruaud - All from the same case. Very good but not great. Last bottle I opened was a year ago. If you like old Bordeaux, it was excellent.
Lascombes - Ex chateau bottle provided by someone else in about 2006. Perhaps the worst wine I have ever had that is not called Retsina. Reminded me of a ziplock bag of mushrooms that had gotten lost at the back of a refrigerator for two or three months.

I’ve had a few others, but those stand out.

Big +1 on Sauternes, very reliable. Some Barolo but need to pick your spots and may be less reliable across bottles.