1964 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

Community Tasting Notes (42) Avg Score: 92.5 points

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  2/9/2023 - ilee Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Dinner with RC and friends (and some seriously old Bordeaux) (Duddell's, Hong Kong): Tasted blind, it seemed so tantalizingly similar with the bottle just before it; that same telltale mineral character, but oh this one was more powerful; the nose was richer, the wine more fulsome on the palate. Haha it turned out also to be 1964 La Mission, just a different bottle from the same case, popped and poured. You really had us there, RC! (PS. that last half a glass I downed as we stood up to leave last night, mmm it's still tingling on my palate!)

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  2/9/2023 - ilee Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Dinner with RC and friends (and some seriously old Bordeaux) (Duddell's, Hong Kong): Tasted blind. Lively bright ruby with not a hint of bricking. Elegant nose with dark berries, dry leaves and a distinct mineral complexity. Medium bodied on the palate, the wine is beautifully balanced and nicely proportioned; the still-vibrant fruit nicely resolved with the tannins that are light as snowflakes. Easy, effortless finish -- as though the last 60 years was just a dream.

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  5/19/2022 - joshabramson Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Took a few minutes for the funk to blow off, at which point this was quite fresh! Fruit was clean and elegant, with very pleasing acidity. I would recommend doing a quick splash decant at this stage, but it doesn't require much air to get going.

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  7/19/2021 - Cailles wrote: 95 Points

  15 Mature Bordeauxs Magnums (with Heitz MV in the mix): From magnum. Not decanted, this performed very well right after pouring it. Intense, layered, precise, round and harmonious. Based on that this was on a 95/96 point level. After half an hour it cracked a bit and showed less clean with some unwanted age notes. All four Missions that weekend (52/64/66/71) showed quite consistent, lots of typicality and fun to drink.
  
  TN: Starts off expressive on the nose, displaying herbs, black tea, liquid and dry tobacco, old leather, ash, minty and meaty notes and still ripe dark fruit. Superbly complex and precise. The palate can‘t replicate it. The aromatic complexity is similar but it is all a bit watered down. The structure is impeccable and the finish shows great length and poise. After 20-30 minutes more port like ripeness and oxidation nose came forward and tainted the experience but until then, this was a 95+ pts experience.
  
  Decanting: Not decanted. This needed no decanting.

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  7/3/2021 - sirpat00 wrote: 94 Points

  Magnum rarities tasting; 7/2/2021-7/3/2021 (Zunfthaus zur Waag, Zurich): Magnum rarities tasting hosted by a merchant and collector. The headline line-up of the main event featured 18 aged red wines from magnum which was preceded by warm-up tasting of a dozen aged reds. The highlights across both days were Chris Ringland 1998 (99), Montrose 1990 and Yquem 1948 (both 98). Also strong were Palmer 1989 (97), Cheval Blanc 1985 (97) and Léoville Poyferré 1990 (96). None of the wines were decanted prior to serving.
  
  Tasting note:
  From magnum. Surprisingly intense. Leather, sous-bois, concentrated and very ripe cherry fruit, dried herbs and black tea running along some sweet elements. Unfortunately every other nose came across as somewhat Port-like. Very smooth palate, tannin molten away completely leaving a tobacco aftertaste. Still a surprisingly fresh fruit but not much structure left. This drinks fantastically if you like your Bordeaux aged, light-bodied yet with reminders of its muscular past scattered across the palate. In direct comparison with Angélus 1964 this was miles better, more present and just felt much more alive in general.

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