1 dozen bottles per lot
細節
THE 1959 VINTAGE IN BORDEAUX *****
"A great vintage. Hugely popular with the British wine trade, proclaimed by the pundits as 'the vintage of the century' and très grands vins by the Bordelais, the optimists were not far out despite some talk of lack of acidity. Apropos, the eminent Professor Peynaud states that if a wine has an abundance of all the major component parts, alcohol, extract, fruit and tannin, an equally high level of acidity is not only not essential, it is not necessary. The 1959 vintage was blessed with a very favourable growing season, in particular a fine, warm summer, with rain mid-September to swell the grapes; the harvest followed a week or so later. *****" MB, Vintage Wine
Château Haut-Brion--Vintage 1959
Pessac (Graves), 1er cru classé
Recorked at the Château in 2005
In original wooden case
"There is a world of difference between the wine of Haut-Brion, arguably the oldest great-wine château in the Bordeaux region, and its peers in the Médoc. The mesoclimate is different, but above all - perhaps I should write beneath all - is the soil, the deep Graves-gravel. The wine is most distinctively different in appearance, nose and taste - yet it has elegance and finesse. For a start, and at the start - my first of all three dozen notes made in October 1964 - it is totally different in colour to the three '59 Médocs mentioned above. Not as deep but brown, its edge displaying a somewhat misleadingly mature rim. Its bouquet also has a soft earthiness, which evolved steadily through the 1970s, a sort of warm brick - hot Provencal tiles - scent with deep cedar and tobacco, invariably opening up in the glass, fragrant, lingering on the palate, its initial austerity softening. One of the best bottles was tasted in May 1984: its initial 'tobacco leaf' nose developing a delicate, 'old bracken' scent, finally, after 50 minutes, sweet, pure harmony and fragrance. On the palate, full of fruit, loose knit yet with concentrated, fabulous, flavour and good length. A decade later, vying with the '61 though less deep, more mature looking; slightly singed, chocolatey but fragrant; a fairly sweet powerful wine and very alcoholic. Perfection at a tasting in 1995, a beautiful, fully mature, brown-rimmed wine with bouquet surging out of the glass. Very sweet - with that distinctive earthy, tobacco-leaf taste, lunching at Ch Langoa. Most recently, by a short head the best wine at La Réserve's Haut-Brion/La Mission tasting: a wonderful gradation of colour; showing age but sweet and mellow, with a lovely edge-of-honeycomb scent after an hour in the glass. A positive, sweet entry and soft. All the component parts working in harmony. Last tasted June 2000 *****" MB, Vintage Wine
1 dozen bottles per lot
"A great vintage. Hugely popular with the British wine trade, proclaimed by the pundits as 'the vintage of the century' and très grands vins by the Bordelais, the optimists were not far out despite some talk of lack of acidity. Apropos, the eminent Professor Peynaud states that if a wine has an abundance of all the major component parts, alcohol, extract, fruit and tannin, an equally high level of acidity is not only not essential, it is not necessary. The 1959 vintage was blessed with a very favourable growing season, in particular a fine, warm summer, with rain mid-September to swell the grapes; the harvest followed a week or so later. *****" MB, Vintage Wine
Château Haut-Brion--Vintage 1959
Pessac (Graves), 1er cru classé
Recorked at the Château in 2005
In original wooden case
"There is a world of difference between the wine of Haut-Brion, arguably the oldest great-wine château in the Bordeaux region, and its peers in the Médoc. The mesoclimate is different, but above all - perhaps I should write beneath all - is the soil, the deep Graves-gravel. The wine is most distinctively different in appearance, nose and taste - yet it has elegance and finesse. For a start, and at the start - my first of all three dozen notes made in October 1964 - it is totally different in colour to the three '59 Médocs mentioned above. Not as deep but brown, its edge displaying a somewhat misleadingly mature rim. Its bouquet also has a soft earthiness, which evolved steadily through the 1970s, a sort of warm brick - hot Provencal tiles - scent with deep cedar and tobacco, invariably opening up in the glass, fragrant, lingering on the palate, its initial austerity softening. One of the best bottles was tasted in May 1984: its initial 'tobacco leaf' nose developing a delicate, 'old bracken' scent, finally, after 50 minutes, sweet, pure harmony and fragrance. On the palate, full of fruit, loose knit yet with concentrated, fabulous, flavour and good length. A decade later, vying with the '61 though less deep, more mature looking; slightly singed, chocolatey but fragrant; a fairly sweet powerful wine and very alcoholic. Perfection at a tasting in 1995, a beautiful, fully mature, brown-rimmed wine with bouquet surging out of the glass. Very sweet - with that distinctive earthy, tobacco-leaf taste, lunching at Ch Langoa. Most recently, by a short head the best wine at La Réserve's Haut-Brion/La Mission tasting: a wonderful gradation of colour; showing age but sweet and mellow, with a lovely edge-of-honeycomb scent after an hour in the glass. A positive, sweet entry and soft. All the component parts working in harmony. Last tasted June 2000 *****" MB, Vintage Wine
1 dozen bottles per lot