December 26, 2023 - Drank on Christmas Day 2023; perfect!
October 24, 2023 - Would think that the bottle is cork due to poor provenance. Ullage was low shoulder.
December 22, 2021 - Deep tawny in colour. Medium nose with medicinal, black tea, hawthorn. Medium acidity and tannin. Ullage was low fill at mid shoulder. Still drinkable.
October 17, 2021 - 30x 1955 & 1961 (mostly Bdx): Tasted single blind. Taste-off between the 1955 and 1961 vintages. Oh boy, was I disappointed when the wines were revealed. The 1961 (88 pts) was the wine I was most looking forward to taste in this tasting, especially as provenance should have been great. Sadly the bottle was no winner. Still quite some substance but disjointed. So the 1955 (95 pts) won the race. The best nose of the evening (99 pts) with an incredible complexity and precision but a bit less impressive on the palate. I hope to meet a pristine bottle of the 1961 again some day (and with the right amount of air).
TN: Killer nose with layers and layers of aromas. Coffee, herbs, minerality, dark fruit, forest floor, matchstick, some brett. Very intense, highly precise, ever changing, very balanced and luxurious. The best nose of the tasting, close to perfection. Seductive palate with a great attack and finish but a bit of a hole mid palate. Same aromatics but a bit less impressively staggered. Impeccable structural frame with fine tannins, medium+ tension, good, well integrated acidity and a nice creamy structure.
Decanting: Good from the go, didn‘t need any extensive decanting.
September 20, 2021 - Grand 1961 vs 1955 vintage tasting (Fribourg): Big 1961 vs 1955 tastings including 10 direct match-ups and 11 individual wines from 1961. The tasting was conducted in flights of 4, single-blind and with no previous decant with all bottles opened 1h prior to start. The line-up was dominated by Bordeaux reds, but also included 5 Sauternes, 1 Champagne, 3 Burgundy reds and 1 Ribera del Duero. The following observations are worth mentioning: i) 1961 generally came across as a better vintage today than 1955, ii) the performance correlated with the 1855 classification, iii) The most outstanding wines were outside of the Bordeaux reds with Veuve Clicquot Rosé '61, Vega Sicilia Unico '61 (both 97) and La Tour Blanche '61 (96) worth mentioning, iv) Top-performing Bordeaux was Margaux (95) in 1961 and Mouton in 1955. List of wines included in the tasting story.
Tasting note:
Roasted coffee beans, matchstick, dark chocolate, fine spices and seasonings as well as herbal notes present a very complete aromatic picture. You could tell immediately that this was a different level. Also a nice and harmonious palate that leaves not that much to wish for, except that maybe it was already starting to thin out a bit.
May 8, 2021 - From a bottle with a top shoulder fill, this wine had a very deep red center and light red/puce rims. The high- intensity nose offered up cherries, wild mint, chocolate, minerals, and plums.
In the mouth, this wine was gorgeously rich with incredible integration and sweet, rounded tannin. It had excellent length.
This bottle was right up there with the great Moutons. While drinking, it will easily last for 20-30 years. Outstanding!
January 22, 2021 - Found the fill level had dropped from high shoulder to below shoulder in this otherwise excellent looking bottle, color excellent, good capsule, no sign of seepage and in my cellar since late 80s when I started buying bottles from the 1955 vintage, my birth year.
As others have noted the cork had a hard crystalline layer, using a Durand the cork, which was covered with a fine black powder, was removed intact. Decanted, noted that there was almost no residual sediment and served. Beautiful bright ruby color, nose showed initial sour notes which blew off quickly and clear hints of sweet red currants, cedar and rose petals, we all smiled that it was drinkable and settled in for what became a magic carpet ride of sorts. Over the next three hours this wine went from solid drinkable to one of the best BDX I’ve had over my 40 years of collecting. As if by magic this below shoulder bottle gained fruit, sweetness, spice, complexity, silkiness, balance, mid palate, finish and, most amazingly the best sip was the last... 🤯🤯🤯..talk about no good wines only good bottles
December 24, 2020 - High shoulder fill but signs of leakage at some point in time. Unfortunately completely dead.
October 10, 2020 - High shoulder fill, a bit of seepage under foil but interior of cork unsaturated. Some orange on the edges and nose a bit funky and sweet. Decanted and followed over two hours, best from 60-90 minutes. Nice redcurrants and earth, long finish, not much nuance but didn't taste over the hill. Opened for a friend's 65th birthday and it didn't disappoint for the occasion.
November 26, 2019 - Solid and typical but not as light and uplifting as better surrounding vintages at this point.