8 bottles per lot
Details
Château Haut-Brion--Vintage 1961
Pessac (Graves), 1er cru classé
One capsule corroded and one damaged. Lot 218 bin-soiled and slightly stained labels, one very stained and one damaged. Calvet slip labels. Levels: one 4cms, two 4.5, four 5cms and one 5.5cms below base of corks. Lot 219 bin-soiled and slightly stained labels, four slightly damaged. Calvet slip labels. Levels: five 3cms, two 3.5 and five 4cms below base of corks
Tasting Note: First tasted in July 1963 around the time of bottling. Red Graves tend to develop quite quickly, even top-quality wines like Haut-Brion, though this can be misleading. However, judging from my notes, the nose certainly evolved fragrantly, and even at six years of age, the wine was an attractive and refreshing drink, though basically unready. A decade later and showing maturity and displaying what I think of as characteristic Haut-Brion scents: hot, pebbly, deep, earthy, singed; on the palate a lovely texture 'gentle but firm'. At a Bordeaux Club dinner in 1980, 'rounded but not ready'. Despite its unremitting depth of colour, by the mid-1980s I noted 'elegant', 'well mannered', 'beautifully balanced' - on two occasions 'elliptical'. Only four more recent notes. Sweet with perfectly assimilated tannins and acidity; a superb magnum: rich, complete harmonious, good length and a very high mark at the Aschau blind tasting (1994). Most recently, a magnum, and easily the best wine at a very weird tasting in The Musée Baccarat, Paris. It could only have been Haut-Brion and despite showing some age, excellent. Last tasted May 2000 ***** but it will never be as great as the '45 M.B.
8 bottles per lot
Pessac (Graves), 1er cru classé
One capsule corroded and one damaged. Lot 218 bin-soiled and slightly stained labels, one very stained and one damaged. Calvet slip labels. Levels: one 4cms, two 4.5, four 5cms and one 5.5cms below base of corks. Lot 219 bin-soiled and slightly stained labels, four slightly damaged. Calvet slip labels. Levels: five 3cms, two 3.5 and five 4cms below base of corks
Tasting Note: First tasted in July 1963 around the time of bottling. Red Graves tend to develop quite quickly, even top-quality wines like Haut-Brion, though this can be misleading. However, judging from my notes, the nose certainly evolved fragrantly, and even at six years of age, the wine was an attractive and refreshing drink, though basically unready. A decade later and showing maturity and displaying what I think of as characteristic Haut-Brion scents: hot, pebbly, deep, earthy, singed; on the palate a lovely texture 'gentle but firm'. At a Bordeaux Club dinner in 1980, 'rounded but not ready'. Despite its unremitting depth of colour, by the mid-1980s I noted 'elegant', 'well mannered', 'beautifully balanced' - on two occasions 'elliptical'. Only four more recent notes. Sweet with perfectly assimilated tannins and acidity; a superb magnum: rich, complete harmonious, good length and a very high mark at the Aschau blind tasting (1994). Most recently, a magnum, and easily the best wine at a very weird tasting in The Musée Baccarat, Paris. It could only have been Haut-Brion and despite showing some age, excellent. Last tasted May 2000 ***** but it will never be as great as the '45 M.B.
8 bottles per lot
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