1967 Lafite Rothschild Help?

WINE TALK
1

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I am helping a friend who is having an estate sale and would like to sell a 1967 Lafite Rothschild.

The wine has been stored at room temperature, the foil capsule is torn to the lip of the bottle, the cork seems solid with no sign of leaking, mid shoulder fill. What do you think would be a fair price if I tried to sell it on the Commerce Corner?

Also, how was the 1967 vintage? Has anyone had this wine recently and would be willing to share their experience with the wine?

Thanks,

Doug Uno

2

Can’t comment on the '67 Lafite, but I was once told that a '67 Margaux was the same in vintage as it was in score (67).

In that condition, with that provenance, I don’t think anyone on WB would pay a nickel for that. I know I wouldn’t.

3

A less than good vintage with less than bad storage. In 1987 a magnum drank beautifully but it was perfectly stored and in pristine shape. This one looks like hell. I would say this is a gamble, at best with terrible odds and little or no upside, for anyone other than the seller who could care less for the last bunch of years…until now. Don’t risk a negative feedback or deal gone bad for you or the seller.

4

I’ve had this as well as 67 Latour in this last few years. There’s a dustiness to them, and grit, but drinking old wines is fun. Love the mystery as this bottle could be shot or gorgeous, and why not take a chance.

I do agree that it’s a total crapshoot.

5

Funny, my uncle has a '67 Lafite sitting on his wine rack, which sits on a bar counter at room temperature. He seems to think it will be revelatory when he finally drinks it. Not sure what he’s saving it for, has had it for 15+ years, but I’d guess it’s dead. Not a great year, and certainly not assisted by the storage.

6

The vintage was quite weak, Lafite in this period also weak, condition acceptable but not vg - and storage questionable.
I would maybe pay some 30,- (€) to gamble on it … not more - if it´s an auction I would say start at 1.00 and see how high it goes (with clearly indicating the questionalble storage!) …
(there are always label-buyers …) [wow.gif]

7

I’m afraid it doesn’t have much value unless you can find someone who collects labels and is missing this one. I had the wine about 15 years ago as part of a 1960s Lafite vertical and at that point the '67 wasn’t quite dead but damned close. (The only saving grace was that it was better than the '63 and '68.) And as Gerhard noted above, the 60’s wasn’t a great decade for Lafite, so the chances of this bottle being at all drinkable are almost non-existent.

8

Have tasted the 67 Lafite probably 3 or 4 times many years ago, and it was consistent, completely drying out! Not much fruit and lean to acidic. And they were high fill level, well stored wines. Given the OP storage and fill level, would expect little interest or value. A wine to open as a curiosity more than anything.

9

Exactly. As big an issue as provenence is that Lafite was not making great wine at the time - so there is a 90% chance of it being dried out. Latour would at least have a fighting chance - still would be fun to open though because you never know -

10

I was given a 1964 Lafite four years ago that had been stored under a staircase for decades after it had been given as a gift ex chateau by the owners of Lafite to a client of mine. We opened it two years ago and it was DOA.

I bought a few bottles of 1967 Carruades in about 1977 because I could not afford the “real thing.” We opened one of them at Berserkerfest 2.5 at my house in 2010. It was not dead but had a green pepper streak to it. It was actually not a bad wine given its age.

Here is a photo of my remaining 1967 Carruades. The storage has gotten progressively better, but let’s just say that it was not the greatest from purchase through 1986. Note the fill is much better than your bottle. The price tag is still on the back but it is faded and I can’t read it. I think it was less than $5.

11

Speaking of second labels and 1967, opened the 1967 Les Forts de Latour not too long ago as a curiosity. Very high fill level, excellent condition by all appearances, but completely DOA. Have had good luck with off year older Les Forts de Latour, but it was highly disappointing.

12

I bought a 64 Lafite a couple year ago for $100-drinkable but 12-13/20.

I lost my bet.

13

Probably stuffed. I’d gamble $50 on it, but not much more.

14

I paid $25 for a 70 Lafite that looked about that bad.

Selling it will cause more aggravation / irritation than you’ll get.

Just drink it, or at least try to drink it.

15

agreed…pop/pour and hope for the best. What shoulder fill would you give that?

16

First, I want to thank everyone for their honesty, advice, and encouragement. I think after sharing with my friend the comments from the thread, we are going to open the bottle and see what we get. Of course, we will have a suitable backup bottle if the wine is DOA:)

This what I love about the WB forum. You can come with any question/idea and know that you are going to get an honest and informed response.

17

I have had a bunch of 67s in recent years (Latour, Lagrange a Pomerol and some others) and there can be nice bottles out there (and condition is not always indicative (e.g., I have had a great bottle of 66 Lynch Bages where the cork had dropped into the bottle).

So give it a try and do not give up immediately as sometimes these bottles come around.

18

That’s the best course Doug and I hope you are pleasantly surprised. From the apparent protruding cork in the photo and the fill level, I would guess there was a closure integrity issue. I remember a tasting where the host pulled out a '62 Latour that looked like that. It was an auction cast-off deemed unsaleable by the firm she worked for. The contents were delicious.

19

I have not drunk 1967 Lafite but I have drunk around 100 bottles of 1967 of different origins.
may I suggest a few things :

  • wine is stronger than one can think and bad storage does not mean necessarily that the wine is ruined

  • low level has an effect, but for Bordeaux, mid shoulder is still acceptable

  • if one expects from a 1967 to have the taste of a 2005, I always suggest to open a 2005 and not a 1967. This means that one has to expect to have less fruit than with a young wine.
    To drink such a wine requires an approach with open mind.

  • it is always better to taste a wine than to avoid it.

To make it short, I suggest to try such wines for the sake of experience. There is always something to learn.

My son was born in 1969. I had the opportunity to buy 2 cases of 24 halves of 1969 Lafite. This year is weaker than 1967 and the format is half.
We have drunk many of these wines and they were absolutely delicious. And I would say : amazingly surprising.
The last we opened were rather tired, so it could be the end of the story, but we enjoyed a lot of them, at a level that we did not expect.

To come back to 1967, my older daughter being born in 1967 I have bought many 1967 Pétrus. They are absolutely charming.

I highly recommand a positive attitude, open to the wine.

20

Have had a fair bit of '67 Bdx. (my birth year).

Had Lafite at least 3 times, never really good - well past it, a bit thin and weak, drying out etc all pretty much sums it up. Every bottle I had was in much better condition than this one, so I would be careful re price, and not have high too expectations…

'67 Latour and Haut Brion were the best two '67’s I have had, Mouton not too bad either.