1 dozen bottles per lot
Details
HAUT BRION
Haut Brion, meaning "high mound of grave," enjoys the oldest reputation in print of any wine in Bordeaux. Its most prominent early owner was Jean de Pontac (1488-1589), who built the Château, became the richest man in Bordeaux, and lived an extradordinary 101 years. The name of the Pontac family was often attached to the wine, and in 1666 Jean's great-great grandson, Francoise-Auguste, opened a tavern in London called "The Sign of Pontac's Head," where "Pontac" was sold for three times the price of any other wine. The fashionable tavern lasted for over a century. The wine of Haut Brion was first sold at Christie's under the name of "Pontac" on April 6, 1778, consigned from the cellars of the Marquis de Noailles. Nine years later the American Ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson, travelled to Bordeaux and as history has recorded was unsuccessful in his attempt to purchase a barrique of the 1784 vintage. He had to settle for two cases of fifty bottles each and was known to enjoy and promote the wines of Haut Brion to his friends and colleagues back in a nascent America. Although fine wines were made in the 1920s the estate's renaissance is widely recognized to begin with the 1945 vintage, crafted by the senior Dillon-Delmas team.
Château Haut-Brion--Vintage 1955
Pessac (Graves), 1er cru classé
Levels: seven very top and five top shoulder
In original wooden case
"More recently, at Ziegler's tasting, a richly fragrant magnum with a distinctive tobacco-like flavour, dry and somewhat unbending. The taste conjured up embers in a drying fire... At best ****" MB, Vintage Wine
1 dozen bottles per lot
Haut Brion, meaning "high mound of grave," enjoys the oldest reputation in print of any wine in Bordeaux. Its most prominent early owner was Jean de Pontac (1488-1589), who built the Château, became the richest man in Bordeaux, and lived an extradordinary 101 years. The name of the Pontac family was often attached to the wine, and in 1666 Jean's great-great grandson, Francoise-Auguste, opened a tavern in London called "The Sign of Pontac's Head," where "Pontac" was sold for three times the price of any other wine. The fashionable tavern lasted for over a century. The wine of Haut Brion was first sold at Christie's under the name of "Pontac" on April 6, 1778, consigned from the cellars of the Marquis de Noailles. Nine years later the American Ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson, travelled to Bordeaux and as history has recorded was unsuccessful in his attempt to purchase a barrique of the 1784 vintage. He had to settle for two cases of fifty bottles each and was known to enjoy and promote the wines of Haut Brion to his friends and colleagues back in a nascent America. Although fine wines were made in the 1920s the estate's renaissance is widely recognized to begin with the 1945 vintage, crafted by the senior Dillon-Delmas team.
Château Haut-Brion--Vintage 1955
Pessac (Graves), 1er cru classé
Levels: seven very top and five top shoulder
In original wooden case
"More recently, at Ziegler's tasting, a richly fragrant magnum with a distinctive tobacco-like flavour, dry and somewhat unbending. The taste conjured up embers in a drying fire... At best ****" MB, Vintage Wine
1 dozen bottles per lot