1 bottle per lot
Details
The 1949 Vintage
The third of the great trio of post-war vintages. Stylistically quite different from the concentrated '45s and the ripe and more opulent '47s. At their best, and there were many wines of great style, avoiding some of the constraints and excesses of the two other vintages just mentioned.
What on earth were the growing conditions to produce wines like these? Certainly not predictable, perhaps not even understandable. The year started with the driest January and February all round. The always crucial flowering period took place in cold, rainy weather which cause the worst coulure ever remembered and, consequently, a much reduced crop. Hot weather followed, increasing to an almost unprecedented heat wave. Then storms, and finally a late harvest in fine weather.
It was a very popular vintage with merchants and their customers, prices being very reasonable: Lafite "for laying down" (in 1954) sold for a mere 24 shillings a bottle, unsurprisingly sold out by the following year.
The best are still superb but living precariously; storage and provenance are vital.
Vieux Château Certan--Vintage 1949
Pomerol
Level: top shoulder; bin soiled label, slight signs of seepage, lightly corroded capsule
1 bottle per lot
The third of the great trio of post-war vintages. Stylistically quite different from the concentrated '45s and the ripe and more opulent '47s. At their best, and there were many wines of great style, avoiding some of the constraints and excesses of the two other vintages just mentioned.
What on earth were the growing conditions to produce wines like these? Certainly not predictable, perhaps not even understandable. The year started with the driest January and February all round. The always crucial flowering period took place in cold, rainy weather which cause the worst coulure ever remembered and, consequently, a much reduced crop. Hot weather followed, increasing to an almost unprecedented heat wave. Then storms, and finally a late harvest in fine weather.
It was a very popular vintage with merchants and their customers, prices being very reasonable: Lafite "for laying down" (in 1954) sold for a mere 24 shillings a bottle, unsurprisingly sold out by the following year.
The best are still superb but living precariously; storage and provenance are vital.
Vieux Château Certan--Vintage 1949
Pomerol
Level: top shoulder; bin soiled label, slight signs of seepage, lightly corroded capsule
1 bottle per lot