roumier musigny
carillon bienvenue
1931 Nacional. Not sure I’ve ever even seen one for sale. and if I have it’s only been one or two over my life. If anyone has one and wants to team up to do an epic dinner, drop me a line.
Yeah, last I checked it was $15K!!
It was really good, but the 71 was better. [Prior to my father was selling his store in 1981, he sold to good customers a number of “expensive” wines at good prices. He sold a bottle of the 67 to a good friend of mine for about $35 (the price differed depending on whether I was talking to my father or my friend). My friend opened the bottle on New Year’s Eve before 2001, which is when I had this wine.]
Had the 75 in the early 80s a few times and it would be neat to try it again. Very young when I had it but very promising.
A (true) story told to me by an ITB friend. The merchant in question is still trading.
A wine merchant in the region was asked by a local guy to come round and see if his deceased father’s cellar had anything worth selling. He had no clue whatsover about wine, but would happily glug anything back, and had been doing so, including what the merchant realised were some really fancy wines.
Before he had a chance to properly catalogue the wines, the merchant said to the guy, who had taken a liking to Port, that he should avoid drinking anything from the declared vintage port years: 1966, 1963, 1960 etc.
The next time he went round, the guy said he’d done as he was told, and had been sticking to other years, especially “this 1931”, holding up a now emptied Noval Nacional from that year, that had joined a number of other emptied bottles of the same wine.
Noooooo!!! That’s an amazing story, Ian. Hope he enjoyed them at least.
Cheers,
Patrick
I tried to buy one once but some other bidder at the auction was willing to pay way more than I was. The 1963 is supposed to be as good, but I failed on that one as well. At least I got a photo of that bottle so I have something to compare if I get another chance.
Nacional was always the top of my bucket list ever since Parker in one of his early books write that not only had he never tasted it, but he thought it might not really exist since he had never seen a bottle. I finally bought 2 bottles and opened a 1996 in 2013. Still a baby but delicious.
I’ve actually had a (very small) glass of the '31 Nacional once, served with stilton after a dinner of other excellent, though far from equally mythical wines. Served next to the ‘regular’ '31 Noval, most (including myself) actually preferred the latter. The former was very good but the latter was beyond a doubt the greatest port I have ever tasted. I’ve seen the regular bottling up for auction a number of times and would certainly recommend it as an (perhaps even better) alternative, given the impossible task of securing a bottle of the Nacional.
I have no bucket list. Are there wines I’d like to taste? Sure. But for me the wine has always come in second to the company. So long as I can drink wine with people I care about – and Rob – for a few more decades, I’m good.
Well said. I have been very lucky to drink a lot of great wines but it’s usually the conversation and fellowship I remember.
I don’t add vintage into the mix since that could make things too crazy, but my bucket list (specifically- wines I have never tried that I would also like to try) is pretty short at this point,
Le Pin
Leflaive Montrachet
Egon Muller Scharzhofberger TBA
Everything else I have ever dreamed of tasting I have managed to get to at this point.
A timely reminder to those who have fancy wines on their wine bucket list.
After reading through the responses here, my bucket list has sadly gotten much longer. ![[cry.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/853b6e76c6e8406be77a6727c2a27ad1672678b3.gif "cry"){kind=small}
Put me down for a LARGE bucket of the same 
I have the same one but up until now thought it was a one handed ice bucket. Regardless of what you actually look like, you look like a rockstar when you mingle in a party with your own bottle of champagne cooling in your one-handed ice bucket which you occasionally swig from. 
1978 la Chapelle.
1996 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises
Late 90’s Masseto.
Any Gentaz-Dervieux, Château-Grillet, Pichler Unendlich, Clos Rougeard
Awhile back, I had a bottle of the 31 Quinta do Noval in the trunk as I was planning to take to Seoul for a wine dinner. All of sudden, I smelt wine as I was driving a convertible. I stopped the car and…. The bottle was irregular and quite fragile at the shoulder. What little I tasted was incredible!
1870 Lafite Glamis castle magnum - We had a group bidding on the last mag offered at auction, tie bid but lost.
1945 La Tache or RC
Alive and cognizant enough to drink and enjoy my remaining bottles of '96 Clos du Mesnil when they are 60+ years old.
lame