1 dozen bottles per lot
Details
AN IMPORTANT MODERN COLLECTION
The anticipation of a cellar previously unseen by specialist eyes can be reminiscent of a blind date. Cellars with impressive attributes on paper could turn out to merely possess "a good personality" while others might be stacked to the brim with blue chips, but lack that a certain je ne sais quoi that makes the heart race. Walking into this generous consignor's cellar, however, was love at first sight. It's a virtual wine library of the classics from excellent vintages, interspersed with esoteric intellectual treatises and fun crowd pleasers. With the consignor opening bottles at a rapid fire pace, and two lovely dogs, Bordeaux and Merlot, providing friendly company, it was difficult to leave the cellar even though a dinner with more great wines and conversation beckoned. As specialists packing up the cellar can attest, this sale was necessitated by a need to make room for wines that are rapidly approaching their peak drinking window.
The collection offered here speaks for itself and every lot is a highlight in its own right. Ghost Horse, the cultist cult wine, makes it auction debut here, accompanied by other new world superstar, Chris Ringland. From Burgundy and Rhone, we have 2003 Domaine de la Romanée Conti across all of their red vineyards and the incomparable Pegau from standout vintages 1998, 2000 and 2003. The heart of this consignment is claret, and every coveted modern wine is included:1986 Mouton, 1989 Haut Brion, 2000 Lafite, 2003 Ausone and a large Pétrus vertical from 1998 through the present with the addition of the outstanding 1995.
An eye-widening swath of 2005 Bordeaux is the jewel in the crown of this collection. The quality of this vintage, universally acclaimed, allows it to stand proudly aside 1982, 1990, and 2000 as one of the greatest in the past 30 years and possibly of all time. Lafite, Margaux, Pétrus appear in solid wood cases and generous offering of Le Pin, Ausone, Haut Brion (perhaps the most successful in a vintage where everyone made a good wine), La Mission and Lafite are presented in the desired magnum format. All are in original wood cases and were purchased as futures from reputable East Coast retailers.
These wines were all sourced from retailers on the East Coast and fastidiously maintained in a pristine home cellar. Removed for sale by a team of Christie's specialist and transported under temperature and humidity control.
Amanda Crawford
Château Mouton-Rothschild--Vintage 1986
Pauillac, 1er cru classé
In original wooden case
Levels: Bottom neck or better; one torn label
"After stumbling over some wines I thought were high class Bordeaux, I nailed this wine in one of the blind tastings for this article. In most tastings where a great Bordeaux is inserted with California Cabernets, the Bordeaux comes across as drier, more austere, and not nearly as rich and concentrated (California wines are inevitably fruitier and more massive). To put it mildly, the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild held its own (and then some), in a flight that included the Caymus Special Selection, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23, Dunn Howell Mountain, and Joseph Phelps Eisele Vineyard. Clearly the youngest looking, most opaque and concentrated wine of the group, it tastes as if it has not budged in development since I first tasted it out of barrel in March, 1987. An enormously concentrated, massive Mouton-Rothschild, comparable in quality, but not style, to the 1982, 1959, and 1945, this impeccably made wine is still in its infancy. Interestingly, when I was in Bordeaux several years ago, I had this wine served to me blind from a magnum that had been opened and decanted 48 hours previously. Even then, it still tasted like a barrel sample! I suspect the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild requires a minimum of 15-20 more years of cellaring; it has the potential to last for 50-100 years! Given the outrageously high prices being fetched by so many of the great 1982s and 1990s (and lest I forget, the 1995 Bordeaux futures), it appears this wine might still be one of the "relative bargains" in the fine wine marketplace. I wonder how many readers will be in shape to drink it when it does finally reach full maturity? The tasting notes for this section are from two single blind tastings, one conducted in May, 1996, in California, and the other in June, 1996, in Baltimore." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #106 (Aug 1996)
1 dozen bottles per lot
The anticipation of a cellar previously unseen by specialist eyes can be reminiscent of a blind date. Cellars with impressive attributes on paper could turn out to merely possess "a good personality" while others might be stacked to the brim with blue chips, but lack that a certain je ne sais quoi that makes the heart race. Walking into this generous consignor's cellar, however, was love at first sight. It's a virtual wine library of the classics from excellent vintages, interspersed with esoteric intellectual treatises and fun crowd pleasers. With the consignor opening bottles at a rapid fire pace, and two lovely dogs, Bordeaux and Merlot, providing friendly company, it was difficult to leave the cellar even though a dinner with more great wines and conversation beckoned. As specialists packing up the cellar can attest, this sale was necessitated by a need to make room for wines that are rapidly approaching their peak drinking window.
The collection offered here speaks for itself and every lot is a highlight in its own right. Ghost Horse, the cultist cult wine, makes it auction debut here, accompanied by other new world superstar, Chris Ringland. From Burgundy and Rhone, we have 2003 Domaine de la Romanée Conti across all of their red vineyards and the incomparable Pegau from standout vintages 1998, 2000 and 2003. The heart of this consignment is claret, and every coveted modern wine is included:1986 Mouton, 1989 Haut Brion, 2000 Lafite, 2003 Ausone and a large Pétrus vertical from 1998 through the present with the addition of the outstanding 1995.
An eye-widening swath of 2005 Bordeaux is the jewel in the crown of this collection. The quality of this vintage, universally acclaimed, allows it to stand proudly aside 1982, 1990, and 2000 as one of the greatest in the past 30 years and possibly of all time. Lafite, Margaux, Pétrus appear in solid wood cases and generous offering of Le Pin, Ausone, Haut Brion (perhaps the most successful in a vintage where everyone made a good wine), La Mission and Lafite are presented in the desired magnum format. All are in original wood cases and were purchased as futures from reputable East Coast retailers.
These wines were all sourced from retailers on the East Coast and fastidiously maintained in a pristine home cellar. Removed for sale by a team of Christie's specialist and transported under temperature and humidity control.
Amanda Crawford
Château Mouton-Rothschild--Vintage 1986
Pauillac, 1er cru classé
In original wooden case
Levels: Bottom neck or better; one torn label
"After stumbling over some wines I thought were high class Bordeaux, I nailed this wine in one of the blind tastings for this article. In most tastings where a great Bordeaux is inserted with California Cabernets, the Bordeaux comes across as drier, more austere, and not nearly as rich and concentrated (California wines are inevitably fruitier and more massive). To put it mildly, the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild held its own (and then some), in a flight that included the Caymus Special Selection, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23, Dunn Howell Mountain, and Joseph Phelps Eisele Vineyard. Clearly the youngest looking, most opaque and concentrated wine of the group, it tastes as if it has not budged in development since I first tasted it out of barrel in March, 1987. An enormously concentrated, massive Mouton-Rothschild, comparable in quality, but not style, to the 1982, 1959, and 1945, this impeccably made wine is still in its infancy. Interestingly, when I was in Bordeaux several years ago, I had this wine served to me blind from a magnum that had been opened and decanted 48 hours previously. Even then, it still tasted like a barrel sample! I suspect the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild requires a minimum of 15-20 more years of cellaring; it has the potential to last for 50-100 years! Given the outrageously high prices being fetched by so many of the great 1982s and 1990s (and lest I forget, the 1995 Bordeaux futures), it appears this wine might still be one of the "relative bargains" in the fine wine marketplace. I wonder how many readers will be in shape to drink it when it does finally reach full maturity? The tasting notes for this section are from two single blind tastings, one conducted in May, 1996, in California, and the other in June, 1996, in Baltimore." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #106 (Aug 1996)
1 dozen bottles per lot