1971 Chateau Petrus (Pomerol)
From our monthly group’s blind tasting last night:
I had only ever had Petrus one other time, but the experience had stuck with me, so I had a bit of a feeling about this one. Served blind, it certainly showed age in its orange tinged ruby color. The aromatics were seamless yet all over the place, with warm earth, spice, faint cherry fruit (more like compote at this stage), and floral elements. To put it in one word: exotic. The palate presence was just staggering, and the wine was like velvet on the tongue. I pretty much lost the ability to take notes at this point…and yet it was not the wine of the night, for me or the group!
FYI - this bottle was cellared by the orginal owner since release in the early '70s. Sticker price: $20.99.
More on the other wines later when I get more time.
Alright, I’m not looking for a fight, I’m just saying if you had a cellar full of $21.00 wine in '71 you were in pretty good shape financially, just like today if you have a cellar full of $115.00 wine your probably doing fairly well. If I could buy Petrus for $115.00 today I would, however in 1971 there was no way me or anyone in my family would have spent 21 bucks on a bottle or multiple bottles of wine. Full disclosure: I was born and raised poor, I can’t help it. Plus you can always look back at what was a good deal, Microsoft at 2.00 share etc. Just sayin.
Ok, I’ll play along. If that guy had bought McDonalds stock (of course you could use Apple or some other explosive tech whatever, but Mcdonalds was a somewhat more “known quantity” even then) in stead of that case of wine, his stock today would be worth north of $900,000.00. That would buy a lot of Petrus!
It should be noted that in 1971 I couldn’t afford to eat at McDonalds…so blow me.
Not a lot of time to fully finish the story right now, but the other notable wines last night included a shocking good 1965 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, an earthy and still fruity 1974 Ceretto barolo Grignore, a beautifully evolved 1970 Chateau Cheval Blanc, and the surprise WOTN, an incredibly delicious, consensus top wine for the whole group 1971 Chateau Margaux.
All wines bought on release & cellared by the original owner.