All bottles were properly stored and had no cork or other issues.
Chateau Haut-Brion 1970 is holding well and likely will last at least several more years. I read some reports several years ago that suggested it needed drinking soon. I can only conclude that there is more than usual bottle variation, or some of the wine was poorly stored. The color is still deep with only little indication of age around the rim. The bouquet and taste are intense and are of dark fruit and cassis with some spice and tobacco. The wine is smooth, has very good balance, and has smooth medium tannins.
Rauenthaler Baiken Riesling Auslese 1971, Freiherr von Simmern, A.P. Nr. 33045 007 72 is a most remarkable wine from a very great vintage. It is now old gold in color and very bright. The intensity of taste and bouquet is extreme. It could easily be mistaken for a BA . The main fruit is apricot with some yellow peach. There is enough clean old Riesling petrol character to add interesting complexity. There are also hints of honey, wild flowers, and spice. The wine was not so remarkable early on. It went through a very long dumb stage. It is now extremely well balanced and is very rich and sweet.
The Farnum Hill Summer Cider (sparkling), Poverty Lane Orchards, Lebanon N.H., USA, contains 7.5% alcohol. They also make other ciders. I must say that I was not expecting much. Although apparently decent ciders were made in the US in the 1800s and early 1900s, I had never tasted a modern one that I liked. Most I have tasted are swill that taste as if they were made from cull apples that have fallen to the ground that even hogs would refuse to eat.
This was a quite decent cider. There is no mention of how the fairly light sparkle was obtained - most likely from added CO2. However the bubbles were small and slowly released. The color was very light yellow. The cider is made from a mixture of classic cider apples native to Europe and the US rather than the cheapest apples that can be found. The bouquet is of very intense apple skin - by far more intense than most apples sold in stores. The cider is fairly dry. There is a clean apple taste, but the intense apple bouquet is the most remarkable feature. This cider might go well with pork or perhaps a traditional US Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.