A good friend had a small celebration of his 65th birthday last night. We drank 1959s in his honour. A few thoughts on some of the wines;
1959 Bredif Collection Vouvray: Corked but still able to appreciate the palate somewhat. Behind the TCA was a rich and strong old Vouvray with plenty of stuffing.
1959 Anheuser Kaesler Nieschen Spatlese: Great colour and initially noce honeyed nose this quickly became quite petrol like. Palate was clean and bright with tons of acidity. Good structure and shape but not much sense of sweetness or fruit. Good
1961 Thorin Chambertin. Mid red and a bit muddied. Started off a bit funky and smelly but over an hour or two it opened nicely with more power and depth. Impressive remains of sweet but nondescript fruits. Tannins and acidity provided shape. Very good.
1959 Bolla Valpolicella: Bright clear mid red, nice old nose of dried fruits, delicious and shapely in the mouth. Entirely held together by the acidity as the tannins were not detectable. Lighter bodied middleweight. A pleasure to enjoy. Very good
1959 Ch. Haut Batailley. Worst ullage of all the bottles at mid shoulder. Came bursting out of the glass with wonderful archetypal Paulliac nose of cigar box and cassis. Fine boned and delicate and a joy to drink. Best of the reds. Excellent
1959 Ch Talbot. Very similar to the Haut Batailley. Lovely old Bdx nose but not quite as fragrant and intense as the HB. Probably had a better structure and shape but lacked the extra charm and fruit. Still very good
1959 Ch La Garde. Nice fill level and great colour but corked.
1959 Ch Gillette. A gorgeous dark orange gold colour and a nose to die for. This was amazing and seems like it will live forever. Nose had orange marmade and other sweet honey notes. Palate was nicely sweet very clean and pure. Great acidity helped bring it all to togethet. EXCELLENT. Runaway WOTN.
A great night and a of fun
