I guess when you are dealing with wines this old it a crap shoot…aside from storage issues, you still have bottle variation issues also…well, today the wine gods were smiling! This was my first 1961 wine, and I was very pleasantly surprised. This wine had the most complex nose I have encountered. It was perfumed, but notes of black and red fruit, coupled with leather and earth dominated. Later, violets and dried flowers came to the forefront. Unfortunately, this was only a two ounce pour, and once I started tasting the wine, it was gone before I knew it and no time to revisit later in the night to track its evolution. The palate showed a nice mix of fruit and tertiary flavors with notes of cassis and earth dominating, but also showed some bark, tobacco and dark cherry. A pleasure to drink and held up remarkably well for a 60 year old wine! Easy 95+
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I was fortunate enough to get to have this (due to the extraordinary generosity of a dear friend while visiting in Southern California over the weekend)–and it was everything you describe! My friend purchased at Hi-Times (great store with excellent customer service!) and we enjoyed it (savored every sip!) this past Sunday (as an early birthday gift for me, as this is my birth-year). What a truly wonderful wine and a “bucket-list” experience that I would never, under normal circumstances, get to enjoy.
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