Community Tasting Note

The Wine Bum wrote:

Friday, December 2, 2005 - Claret that's considrably older than me, 1959-1961; 11/15/2005-12/15/2005: The big one. I don't think I've ever anticipated a bottle as much as this one; it was my most emotionally significant bottle, it had the grandeur of the name, the allure of Terroir, the reputation of 1961 and the fact that I could never under any foreseeable circumstances ever actually afford to drink another Petrus. All these ratcheted up the excitement level to a point when it was always going to be difficult to fulfill its destiny. The hyperbolic notes I had read about it didn’t help either, I was expecting and 'blockbuster' quasi-religious experience - all from a bottle of wine. It wasn't that it was disappointing, just a totally different taste sensation than I had been expecting. The nose was a little mystical, though that could have been the sandalwood reminding me of hippier days,. The fruit was vibrant, very ripe and positively mouth-watering. Espresso, bitter chocolate, lapsang, iron fillings, pencil sharpenings all featured in the decades of nuance on the nose. The palate was no 'blockbuster' though. Rich and showing the famed ripeness of 1961, but it was not the power I felt but the depth. The most startling thing for me was that it still felt young, there was plenty of tannic backbone and a amazing freshness. Combined with the subtleties of age it was a powerful experience. You know the lyric ‘I wish I knew what I know now, when I was younger’. Well this bottle of wine did. It showed all the complexity and wisdom of 45 years in the body of a teenager. Quite remarkable

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