1 bottle per lot
Details
Château Haut-Brion--Vintage 1961
Pessac (Graves), 1er cru classé. Château-bottled
Bin-soiled label. Level 2,5 cms below the cork
Tasting note: First tasted in July 1963 around the time of bottling. Red Graves tend to develop quite quickly, even top-quality wines like Haut-Brion, though this can be misleading. However. judging by my notes, the nose certainly evolved fragrantly, and even at six years of age, the wine was an attractive and refreshing drink, though basically unready. A decade later showing maturity and displaying what I think of as characteristic Haut-Brion scents: hot, pebbly, deep, earthy, singed; on the palate a lovely texture, 'gentle but firm'. At a Bordeaux Club dinner in 1980, 'rounded but not ready'. Despite its unremitting depth of colour, by the mid-1980s I noted 'elegant','well mannered','beautifully balanced' - on two occaisions 'elliptical'. Only four more recent notes. Sweet, with perfectly assimilated tannins and acidity; a superb magnum: rich, complete, hamonious, good length and a very high mark at the Aschau blind tasting (1994). Most recently, a magnum, and easily the best wine at a very weird tasting in the Musée Baccart, Paris. It could only have been Haut-Brion and despite showing some age, excellent. Last tasted May 2000 ***** but it will never be as great as the '45. Michael Broadbent, Vintage Wine
1 bottle per lot
Pessac (Graves), 1er cru classé. Château-bottled
Bin-soiled label. Level 2,5 cms below the cork
Tasting note: First tasted in July 1963 around the time of bottling. Red Graves tend to develop quite quickly, even top-quality wines like Haut-Brion, though this can be misleading. However. judging by my notes, the nose certainly evolved fragrantly, and even at six years of age, the wine was an attractive and refreshing drink, though basically unready. A decade later showing maturity and displaying what I think of as characteristic Haut-Brion scents: hot, pebbly, deep, earthy, singed; on the palate a lovely texture, 'gentle but firm'. At a Bordeaux Club dinner in 1980, 'rounded but not ready'. Despite its unremitting depth of colour, by the mid-1980s I noted 'elegant','well mannered','beautifully balanced' - on two occaisions 'elliptical'. Only four more recent notes. Sweet, with perfectly assimilated tannins and acidity; a superb magnum: rich, complete, hamonious, good length and a very high mark at the Aschau blind tasting (1994). Most recently, a magnum, and easily the best wine at a very weird tasting in the Musée Baccart, Paris. It could only have been Haut-Brion and despite showing some age, excellent. Last tasted May 2000 ***** but it will never be as great as the '45. Michael Broadbent, Vintage Wine
1 bottle per lot
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