Bordeaux: the 1961 Vintage
Le Colombier, London
1st June 2007
This was a rare opportunity to taste and drink a remarkable collection of wines from the fabled 1961 vintage. The bottles had been assembled from various sources by wine enthusiast Keith Prothero on behalf of the South African charity, Pebbles, to which all proceeds from the evening went.
As always with old bottles, each bottle has to be treated in isolation and not regarded as necessarily representative of the chateau in the year. In any other tasting, any one of most of these bottles would have been the star of the tasting, but put all together, it was a bit of an embarrassment of riches, and one becomes more critical of the individual wines. Overall, the standard of the wines was a little disappointing, with many seeming a bit over the hill, though I have a feeling that in most cases this was as much down to the provenance of the individual bottle as it was to the inherent character of the vintage from each chateau. Given these circumstances, rating the wines is pointless.
1961 Chateau
Loudenne, Médoc Cru Bourgeois
This is a dark, mature colour, though still with a hint of ruby amid
the oldness. On the nose there is some sweet
blackberry fruit with a life, and some truffley damp forest floor
scents. The immediate impression on the palate is of
a sweet old claret, with no great depth or complexity left. But it is very drinkable. There are some soft
tannins on the finish.
Fifteen minutes of evolution in the glass brings some very clear coffee
grounds to the fore on the nose; the fruit has faded and the soft, evolved
tannins dominate more. After about an hour, it had gone over completely.
1961 Chateau Cantemerle, Margaux 3ème Cru Classé,
served en magnum
An unpromising murky, polished mahogany colour.
The nose is rather murky and has a dirty feel, with a
touch of stink and furniture polish. This
is almost dead, but you can see that there was some good stuff in there once. It is, however, just still
drinkable, and tastes a lot better than the nose would suggest.
It has a sweet sandy texture with some decent length.
Returning to the glass about an hour later, there was much more
volatile lift on the nose, together with an overwhelming feel of death. It is, however, still much
more drinkable than the nose suggests. The
tannins are coming more to the fore, but it’s still drinkable. Definitely faded though.
1961 Chateau Giscours, Margaux 3ème Cru Classé
Looking at the colour, this still has plenty of life in it:
it’s a bright,
clean, mature ruby. There
is sweetish
cherry fruit on the nose. It’s
rather
light on the palate, quite fresh with a notably high acidity. If tasted blind, I
don’t know that I would
have immediately put it as claret, and it has a more Italianate feel to
it. The big acidity
gives a somewhat
false impression of freshness.
Coming back to it later, there were more air freshener notes on the nose, and the Italianate feel becomes more focussed: it definitely starts to feel like old nebbiolo to me.
1961 Chateau
Lascombes, Margaux 2ème Cru Classé
A mature, light colour. Lovely
integrated nose; the best so far.
There
is some sweet black fruit on the nose with some savoury, almost Bovril
notes,
but then there are some elegant floral notes.
On the palate, the first impression is that this is rather
nice: it has
a good, mature claret feel. Quite
wide
on the palate with a soft-grained tannic structure still. This is still fully open
for business and an
impressive wine.
After an hour or so, the nose was still really good and there was some
sweetish
red fruit on the palate. Still
impressive.
1961 Chateau
Brane-Cantenac, Margaux 2ème Cru Classé
This looks fully mature. Initially
there
are some sandalwood notes on the nose, then some high tones. The palate is open, and
nice and clean with
some acidity lending a freshness, but nowhere near that of the Giscours. It’s a tiny bit
dried out, but there is still
some good black fruit in there on the palate.
Returning to this later, it was becoming very secondary and faded on both the nose and the palate.
1961 Chateau
Margaux,
Margaux 1er Cru Classé
A slightly murky, mature mahogany-ruby colour.
It’s quite lifted on the nose with some
marshmallow notes and also some
river bank notes. There
is some open red
fruit on the palate, with some ripeness.
It feels nicely balanced, though there’s a bit
of an earthy edge.
Around an hour later, there are sweet biscuits and honeycomb on the
nose and
it’s still drinking well.
1961 Chateau
La Tour
du Pin Figeac, St Emilion Grand Cru Classé
There are fresh button mushrooms on the nose, though with some aeration
and
time some sweet cassis fruit comes through.
The palate has some quite sweet fruit: this is quite
together and fairly
enjoyable, with some purity and elegance.
1961 Chateau
Cheval
Blanc, St Emilion 1er Grand Cru Classé, English
Bottled
This has a very dark colour and a musty, porty nose, that feels very
maderised. This
bottle is completely
spoiled and shot: I assume it’s been slowly cooking in poor
conditions over the
years. A shame.
1961 Chateau
Haut
Brion, Graves 1er Cru Classé
Again a deep colour. The
nose is murky
and somewhat musty, feeling a bit cooked.
It is (perhaps with some imagination) possible to detect a
hint of the
wine’s former elegance, but now this is bottle is shot.
1961 Chateau
Trotanoy, Pomerol
In the glass, this is a deep, dark garnet and polished old oak colour. Deep and slightly brooding
on the nose with
some torrefaction, coffee and brambley fruits.
In contrast to the last two, this is still very much open
for
business. Very deep
on the palate with
some leathery complexity. There’s
a bit
tannic style, with an elegant fruit backbone.
Superb stuff. It
could easily age
some more. Excellent.
1961 Chateau
Cos
d’Estournel, St.-Estèphe 2ème Cru
Classé, English bottled by Justerini
& Brooks
A very mature ruby with some teak hints.
Leafy and earthy nose with some black fruits behind, and
also some
mintiness. This is
quite impressive
initially. There
are lots of red fruit
on the palate and it’s actually quite fleshy.
Very attractive. Very
Good
Indeed.
1961 Chateau
Batailley, Pauillac 5ème Cru Classé
A mature even ruby with a deep teak-coloured edge.
Quite flat on the nose: leafy with some quite
curranty fruit. On
the palate, it’s
high-toned and feeling very thing and short.
This bottle is going over.
1961 Chateau
Lynch-Bages, Pauillac 5ème Cru Classé
A lovely colour – this could be 10-20 years younger to judge
from the
colour. Very
perfumed nose with a mint
and lavender fragrance. This
is nice and
pleasant on the palate with quite forward sweetish fruit, yet also
light and
elegant. There are
some nice spicy
tannins on the finish, followed up by super length.
Very Good Indeed. It
holds up very well in the glass with time.
1961 Chateau
Pichon-Longueville Baron, Pauillac 2ème Cru Classé
This doesn’t look at all over mature.
It
has a deep, almost brooding nose.
The
palate is light and fragrant with some very elegant fruit coming
through in
layers. This could
definitely be 10
years younger on the palate.
Lovely. With
time, it takes on
some roast coffee notes on the nose, and the palate continues to hold
up well.
1961 Chateau
Latour,
Pauillac 1er Cru Classé
A dark mulberry colour. A
bit closed on
the nose: I find some cinnamon notes, though others are talking about
coconut,
which I can’t find. On
the palate, this
is showing its class in spades. Deep,
elegant and wondering why on earth we’ve woken it up so soon
in its life. Excellent.
1961 Chateau
Léoville
Poyferré, St. Julien 2ème Cru Classé
A mature, browning red. There
is some
deep, sweetish hedgerow fruit on the nose along with some big cassis
notes. It ha a nice
round palate with a
certain meaty fleshiness and some rather direct fruit.
It is just about showing its age, but it’s by
no means to its detriment. Enormous
length. Excellent.
1961 Chateau
Léoville
Barton, St Julien 2ème Cru Classé
A very attractive mature colour. The
nose has deep black fruits. Very
attraction on the palate, this has a lovely open, full feel. There are some slightly
lifted high tones,
but here they serve to make it more attractive.
It has nothing like the length of the Poyferré
and is actually a touch
short. Very Good
Indeed.
1961 Chateau
Léoville
Barton, St Julien 2ème Cru Classé
This has an Avery’s label, but was chateau-bottled. It has a clear appearance,
looking more
mature with more of a polished oak colour than the first
Léoville Barton. It
feels a bit corked on the nose, and is
definitely so on the palate.
1961 Chateau
Léoville
Las Cases, St Julien 2ème Cru Classé
A very nice colour – mature, but not overly so.
There is some attractive black fruit on the nose with some
subtle
mintiness. Very
good on the palate, this
is open and quite fresh without being high toned.
There are some quite firm tannins, especially
on the finish. Very
Good Indeed+.
1961 Chateau Gruaud Larose, St Julien
2ème Cru Classé
A notably mature colour. Superb
nose:
fresh black fruits with some mint and eucalyptus.
Very attractive on the palate: this is clean
and fruity, with quite forward fruit.
It’s ready to drink now, but isn’t
really showing its age. Excellent.
After a while, a touch of cough medicine on the nose.
1961 Chateau
Coutet
A deepish orangey gold. Very
refined
nose with apricots and marjoram. Quite
big on the palate and a touch rough and ready, though that adds to its
interest. This is
clearly a bottle
that’s in very good condition.
There’s
lovely balance and a very fine acidity noticeable on the finish. This is a nice wine,
notably alive, but a
touch simple.
1961 Krohn
Colheita,
bottled 2002
This has the appearance of old polished oak – very much a 40
year-old tawny
appearance. The
nose is nutty and
raisiny with dried figs, initially with some alcohol, but that blows
off to
reveal some medicinal notes. A
bit
coarse on the palate. This
would have
benefited from being opened longer.
Good/Very Good. 86/100
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Last updated: 9 January 2008