THE MAGNIFICENT PRIVATE CELLAR OF LEE KRAMER
Lee Kramer was a man who could easily be described as larger than life. His talents, personality, passions and influences were felt deeply by those who knew him. He had a great appreciation of all the senses. He sang and played instruments, wrote music and poetry, painted, photographed, and cooked; and he enjoyed sharing his love of the arts with his family and friends. He was meticulous and discerning in his tastes, often hard to please, and his quest for the best included not just wine, but cars (including a Gullwing Mercedes), and glassware -- anything crafted with precision caught his eye. He spoke at least five languages, was broadly educated and inquisitive and was seldom at a loss for words on any subject.
Lee's knowledge and taste, as well as his keen instincts in finding lesser-known gems, built his formidable cellar. He ordered from importers in New York, Washington and Florida, but he also enjoyed the thrill of the chase, frequenting the back shelves of local stores. He enjoyed regular tastings with a circle of wine-collecting friends. He particularly enjoyed blind tastings comparing three to five bottles. One participant would decant and another pour. A typical tasting would rank wines out of five in each of the categories of 'nose', 'taste', 'finish' and 'overall'. On occasion, Lee would deem a bottle greater than the rating system, giving it a final score of 21 out of 20. Many of these '21s' appear in this sale.
Although he was a natural and inventive cook, his preferred accompaniment to wine was a table spread with French cheeses and charcuterie. The bread had to be 'ficelles', thin baguettes with a crusty outer shell, which he was known to request from every bakery in Atlanta. This favorite meal was served most Sunday evenings for the family.
Lee Kramer was born in Cairo and educated in Alexandria, Egypt. At the age of fifteen, he began studies in medicine at King's College, London. He left before completing his final year, preferring to follow the vocation of singer and bandleader. Returning to Egypt, he had his own radio show and became a favorite entertainer to King Farouk. After the Second World War, he continued to compose and record music in London and Paris. He also sang on the Radio France in Paris and the BBC in London. It was in Paris that he met Charlotte Baker of Atlanta. Their romance began with a walk across Paris and lasted a lifetime.
Although he continued to sing at home with musician friends, Lee turned his love of music into the audio profession and founded High Fidelity
SSS (sight and sound systems), the first home audio and video store in the southeastern United States. It was through his store that he met
many of his friends and fellow lovers of wine.
When it came to wine, Lee was a fanatical note-taker; envelopes full of tasting notes discovered at his home make one envious of his vinous experiences. At one sitting five of the Grand Cru reds of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 1962 were tasted blind against each other. It was a tight race - but on that evening Grands Echézeaux came out on top with 20+/20 points, La Tâche and Romanée-Conti only received 19!
Some of Lee's own personal notes are recorded in the catalogue as an insight into the man behind this collection. He also kept many records of wines purchased; a copy of the original check and invoice for Cheval Blanc 1947 and Lafite 1949 showed that he paid just $375 per case for each.
All wines in this collection were removed from the Kramer family home in Atlanta by Christie's specialists. The cellar is located deep underneath the home built into a forested hillside and maintained at 54-57 degrees. Christie's specialists were able to taste a wide selection of wines prior to shipping the wines from Atlanta and all were found to be in exceptional condition for age. Specialist tasting notes of these wines have been provided in the following pages. The wines were shipped under refrigerated conditions to our auction warehouse.
A number of samples will be made available in New York, September 23, and in Los Angeles, October 1, at the pre-auction tasting and luncheon. Inquire with the respective Wine Department for details.
Richard Brierley and Scott Torrence
August 2005
We are grateful to the Kramer family for access to family photographs, Lee's tasting notes and documents as well as for the many conversations from which we have compiled this introductory essay.
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I wish I had met Lee Kramer.
He was a man of many talents, many parts: a brilliant musician, a bon viveur, a romantic character who, in the immediate post World War II era lead a hedonistically Bohemian life in Paris. There he met his future wife, Charlotte, an American student on vacation. It began a whirl-wind affair, not only with Charlotte, but with France which they explored and revelled in. It was also where Lee began his great love of wine.
Over an extended lunch in San Francisco with Lee's daughter, Mya and her husband Jef Loyola, I listened intently to the family history. After the Kramer's escapades in France, they returned to America, settling down in Atlanta where Lee owned a specialised music store, becoming something of a legend amongst the Hi-Fidelity music aficionados in the Southern States. After our lunch, Mya sent me a couple of her father's CDs which I am playing whilst I write. He had a beguiling singing voice, perfectly attuned to the first piece 'I'm in the Mood for Love'; a voice which seems also to be attuned to his tasting notes which remind me of those in Harry Waugh's Diaries, warm, human and deeply revealing. Mouth-watering too.
I have in front of me Lee's 'first attempt at writing up a tasting note on my computer'. What wines, what notes! I quote 'Some great burgundies with John Lawless, March 31, 1987', opening with 'Grands Echézeaux, DRC, 1966: nose deep, fruity, with a very earthy overtone terroir was even more obvious than the taste deep, concentrated at its peak, showing perhaps a few more grey hairs than it should. The finish was very long overall the best wine of the evening. I scored the wine 20++ in a fit of generosity because I couldn't score less than 20 points for the other two'. The other two being a 1961 Gevrey Chambertin, 1er cru, Drouhin Laroze: 'Lovely spice mingled with huge fruit perfect balance with traces of tannin promising an even greater reward in time. The finish was interminable and 20+ seemed to be an adequate score as I preferred it to the Clos du Roi', the latter being a 1947 recorked by Liger-Belair. He continues 'if the vintage is genuine, I suspect that they used a very young wine to top off the bottle judging by its dark colour', adding 'unquestionably the best wine at the table but not the most enjoyable'. There was also a dry white and a sweet white, an 'absolutely delicious' 1971 Meursault of Louis Jadot with 'served cheeses and patés, as openers, followed by smoked Cornish hens, pasta and dolmades' for which he made a delicious sauce. The meal itself ended with Coutet 1961. Then Cognac. 'It was well after midnight before I got into my car, the Paradis hugging my tongue all the way home'. Those were the happy days before radar and speed cameras.
Under 'Further thoughts' Lee mentioned his arrival being five minutes late. 'John (the host) greeted me with a big hug, Herb (see below) did the same, and I felt I had entered the Kingdom of Love'.
Just one week later 'A vinous video visit with John Lawless' 'It is so nice to feel so truly welcome ... in the cellar John handed me a number of exquisite bottles to choose from. Margaux 1961 seemed an adequate wine for openers and 1952 Clos de Vougeot a passable companion for the steaks'! Apropos the 1961 Margaux - a reminder that this was in 1987 - 'this wine has aged gracefully. I missed the violets, but the concentration of the fruit and the overall size of the wine were gratifying. The Margaux breed was in full evidence especially on the finish that seemed to enjoy the home it found on my tongue a sort of muscular gentleness (even) better than the 1961 Palmer that I adore!'
I think this is wine writing of a high order, and I cannot resist continuing with notes on a dinner he gave just a fortnight later: 'Some 1961 Chambertins at home, April 21, 1987'. Paul Bouchard's scored an 'extraordinary 20++++', adding wistfully that it had cost him $140 (a dozen) and a 1962 Lafite $300, and regretting that he has only bought one case of each. 'If only I had known. Oh well, they were big dollars then'.
Incidentally his 'rince bouche' was Moillard's 'totally delicious' 1983 Rully, and the dessert wine was Château Raymond Lafon 1979 'delightful but lacking a little in backbone. Infanticide but I think the black forest cake ruined it'. Hennessy's Paradis 'helped finish a lovely evening'.
Two Thursday evenings later 'some lovely Burgundies at Herbs, May 5, 1987'. Of Armand Rousseau's 1969 1er cru Gevrey-Chambertin he remarked that 'the lack of sophistication and character penalised this otherwise delightful wine. Sort of like an unspoiled country girl in full bloom' adding, mischievously, 'this is no chauvinistic statement for I really have no affinity for country boys notwithstanding the fact that I came from Egypt where, of such, there's much'. The next wine was Musigny, Comte de Vogüé 1966 which had 'an ugly barnyard element on the nose' (which Anthony Hanson has a rude word for) 'the taste was delightful but flawed how sad to see a giant die'. A pity. It should have been excellent. The third burgundy that evening was Louis Jadot's 1976 Chambertin. 'The fruit was overwhelmed by the tannin, and the acid was predominant on the finish', a feature of this hard vintage, particularly in its youth.
It really did give me great pleasure to read Lee Kramer's notes, made after four dinners over a relatively short period, recording a minute fraction of the many wines he had enjoyed in the company of like-minded friends over the years. What his commentaries reveal is a combination of humanity and sheer poetry; more to the point, considerable knowledge and a deep understanding of wine.
Mya told me that her father knew me from my writing; I now know him through his. What a pity we never met.
Michael Broadbent
London, August 2005
Château Lafite-Rothschild--Vintage 1949
18 half-bottles per lot
Details
CHÂTEAU LAFITE ROTHSCHILD
The celebrated growth of Lafite is of remote origin and very ancient renown. It occupies the finest crests in Pauillac.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Seigneurs of Lafite were the high administrators of justice in this country. It was through the officers of their choice that they excercised this right until 1789. The great qualities shown by their wines earned them the sobriquet "Princes of the Vines".
Lafite was very fashionable at the king's table in the time of Louis XV. It had a place of honor at the banquets held by Marshal de Richelieu, and Madame de Pompadour always poured some at her little suppers.
After having been the property of the great de Ségur family, it belonged to Mr. de Prichard, President of the Parliament of Guienne, until the end of the 18th century. Unfortunately, he was not spared by the upheaval of the revolution and was guillotined in Paris on June 30, 1794. At this point Lafite became the property of the State, eventually it was acquired by a Dutchman, Vanderberghes, and then by the English banker Sir Samuel Scott. In 1868, it was purchased by Baron James de Rothschild and still belongs to his heirs. The Baron's purchase of Lafite came late in his life, he was 76 years old.
But what of the wine?
By now many of you know of Lafite's legendary pre-phylloxera vintages, 1864, Lord Rosebery's 1865, the Glamis Castle's 1870, the Woodperry House's 1874. Then of course there are the great mid-century Lafite vintages of our time: 1945, 1947, 1949, 1959 and 1966. It is said that the bouquet of Lafite is very suave and of incomparable delicacy; its savour brings together at the same time the taste of almonds and the scent of violets without it being possible to distinguish whether the one dominates the other. Perhaps, as with great art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Château Lafite-Rothschild--Vintage 1949
Pauillac, 1er cru classé
Lot 1 levels: two bottom neck, one very top, one top, two upper/top, six upper, three upper/mid and three mid shoulder; one slightly raised cork, imported by Lord's Ltd. Washington. DC. Lot 2 levels: three very top, two top, three upper/top, six upper, two upper/mid and six mid shoulder; two low shoulder; imported by Excelsior NY from Cruse
Lot 2 in original wooden case
"Most recently: high toned, tea-like, spicy; sweet entry; dry slightly raw finish, but very flavoury. Last noted at Len Evans' Single-bottle Club birthday dinner, Sept 2000. At best *****" MB, Vintage Wine
18 half-bottles per lot
The celebrated growth of Lafite is of remote origin and very ancient renown. It occupies the finest crests in Pauillac.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Seigneurs of Lafite were the high administrators of justice in this country. It was through the officers of their choice that they excercised this right until 1789. The great qualities shown by their wines earned them the sobriquet "Princes of the Vines".
Lafite was very fashionable at the king's table in the time of Louis XV. It had a place of honor at the banquets held by Marshal de Richelieu, and Madame de Pompadour always poured some at her little suppers.
After having been the property of the great de Ségur family, it belonged to Mr. de Prichard, President of the Parliament of Guienne, until the end of the 18th century. Unfortunately, he was not spared by the upheaval of the revolution and was guillotined in Paris on June 30, 1794. At this point Lafite became the property of the State, eventually it was acquired by a Dutchman, Vanderberghes, and then by the English banker Sir Samuel Scott. In 1868, it was purchased by Baron James de Rothschild and still belongs to his heirs. The Baron's purchase of Lafite came late in his life, he was 76 years old.
But what of the wine?
By now many of you know of Lafite's legendary pre-phylloxera vintages, 1864, Lord Rosebery's 1865, the Glamis Castle's 1870, the Woodperry House's 1874. Then of course there are the great mid-century Lafite vintages of our time: 1945, 1947, 1949, 1959 and 1966. It is said that the bouquet of Lafite is very suave and of incomparable delicacy; its savour brings together at the same time the taste of almonds and the scent of violets without it being possible to distinguish whether the one dominates the other. Perhaps, as with great art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Château Lafite-Rothschild--Vintage 1949
Pauillac, 1er cru classé
Lot 1 levels: two bottom neck, one very top, one top, two upper/top, six upper, three upper/mid and three mid shoulder; one slightly raised cork, imported by Lord's Ltd. Washington. DC. Lot 2 levels: three very top, two top, three upper/top, six upper, two upper/mid and six mid shoulder; two low shoulder; imported by Excelsior NY from Cruse
Lot 2 in original wooden case
"Most recently: high toned, tea-like, spicy; sweet entry; dry slightly raw finish, but very flavoury. Last noted at Len Evans' Single-bottle Club birthday dinner, Sept 2000. At best *****" MB, Vintage Wine
18 half-bottles per lot