Help needed

A book I have here lists Pauillac as one of the 5 Appelations designated in 1855 that make up the most illustrious areas of Bordeaux France. Haut-Batailley is listed as a Fifth Growth/5'eme cru. That's about all I can gather this quickly before work...

Scott

Checking my data bases and other documentation there is very little information pertaining to the value of the 61 vintage. My information indicates that last time that this wine was auctioned at a major auction house was in December of 1996 . This was an auction at Zachys-Christie's. At that time the auction price was US $76.67. It was a very fine year for this chateau. The key here, as with all fine wines, is how was it stored. You might take it into a good local wine shop and have them take a look at it.

Hi there,

Michael Broadbent gives the following tasting note for the 1961 Haut-Batailley (which is what your wine sounds like): 'Almost exaggerated Pauillac blackcurrant fragrance, crisp, silky, delicious (4 stars of 5) Similar wines are graded as dirnking well now (eg Lynch Bages)

Lucky you - 1961 is a fabled vintage. Enjoy soon with good freinds and excellent food! Johnners

ps the reference to Grants of St James is the bottlers - whilst nowadays wine comes bottled from the chateau, in those days it would come in cask and be bottled by the merchant, in this case, Grants, a well known English merchant. This can lead to substantial bottle variation in these wines, which is less in evidence now that they are chateau bottled. So I recommend decanting the wine and serving it without too much ceremony in case you have a duff bottle, and only let on what it is if the assembled crowd give good report! And have a spare to hand!

][] ] ps the reference to Grants of St James is the bottlers - whilst nowadays ] wine comes bottled from the chateau, in those days it would come in cask and ] be bottled by the merchant, in this case, Grants, a well known English ] merchant. This can lead to substantial bottle variation in these wines, ] which is less in evidence now that they are chateau bottled. So I recommend ] decanting the wine and serving it without too much ceremony in case you have ] a duff bottle, and only let on what it is if the assembled crowd give good ] report! And have a spare to hand! ]

The OP mentions that it is bottled at the Chateau, explicitly. I was confused by this, actually.

For "the Lenmeister," sorry to hear about your relative, but if the wine was kept in a cool cellar you've likely got a very nice drink indeed. Keep it in a cool place until you're ready to use, then let it come to room temperature over 24 hrs, upright.

I'd not bother trying to sell it even if you're interested, it would hardly be worth it. Enjoy it with family, and toast the departed. BTW this is likely better than "5th growth" would suggest, and it is a legendary vintage.

-E

P.S. Let's please avoid top posting, TIA.

] > grants of St.James ltd ] > Grand cru classe ] > 1961 ] > chateau haut-batailley pauillac ] > appellation pauillac controlee ] > mis en boutaille au chateau ] > Francis Borie propretaire ] >

] > Sorry to be so vague, but I have no idea about these things, I just ] > figure that as it's been kept this long there must be some reason to have ] > done so.... ] >

] > Thanks in advance, ] > L. ] >

] >

] ]

Sorry - if the label is chateau botled then I am wrong

and as for the posting transgression..

my apologies as well - consider it the fault of a novice!

Salut/Hi Johnners,

le/on Wed, 25 Feb 2004 18:39:42 +0000 (UTC), tu disais/you said:-

Errm, (forgetting the error about where the wine was bottled) What is the basis for this assertion?

In '63 or so when this wine would have been bottled, it was relatively common for top Bordeaux to be sold in barrel and bottled by top class wine shippers in the UK. In fact, it is arguable that in the case of slightly lesser chateaux (Haut Batailly is a 5th growth but WAY behind the best, like Lynch-Bages) which didn't have the sort of funds that the 1st growth had. So often, merchant bottling (I'm particularly thinking of Berry Bros for example) was done with far greater care than at the chateau. Chateau bottling was supposed to be a guarantee of authenticity - some bottlers in those days were less, err, meticulous about what they put in, but that certainly wasn't the case for Grant's whose bottlings were of the highest quality.

The importer/merchant of the wine.

^ e

The same family ownership as the much heralded Ducru-Beaucaillou and Grand-Puy-Lacoste (acquired later).

M.

Thankyou to all for your help, much appreciated

Hello Ian,

I suppose I don't have much in the way of evidence for this comment, other than information cleaned from what I've read. Alas I do not have the funds for a comparative of merchant bottlings...ah, if only!

I think that you are absolutely right that some of the great merchants did bottle with much more care than chateaux would have done at that time, but I would still have thought that if you bottle the same wine at different times in different parts of the country, especially without the science that we have now to stabilise wine, there must be variation. It doesn't have to be bad, either - just different.

Has anyone conducted or attended a tasting where the topic of different merchant bottlings has cropped up?

Johnners

Michael Broadbent writes a little about it in the three issues of his Great Vintage Wine Book (1980, 1991, 2003). The problem is that different négociant bottlings invariably also have different provenances including, of course, different cellar temperatures. This makes it practically impossible to state patterns of quality or excellence between different bottlings.

One year ago, e.g, I had a beautiful magnum of Léoville-Barton bottled by Justerini & Brooks - it still had 10 to 20 years of life ahead. So this would be an indication that J&B did a good job, but it's not scientifical evidence, of course. Another very reputable bottler is Van der Meulen in Belgium who specialised in top right bank wines (Petrus, Cheval Blanc et al.).

M.

Salut/Hi Johnners,

le/on Sun, 29 Feb 2004 08:50:20 +0000 (UTC), tu disais/you said:-

No, I can't say I have either! However I've had a number of merchant bottlings over the years, and I honestly can't say that _as a generalisation_ it would be fair to denigrate them. Sure, there are some merchants whose bottlings had a reputation that was - how can one put it tactfully - less than stellar. But honestly, _at that time_ I'm sure Michael will confirm this, many lesser chx bottlings were distinctly variable. With the high standards practiced nowadays, we tend to presume that it was always like that, but that's not altogether true.

I've not heard of any such test done formally, but if you think about it, it would be relatively tricky to do. However anecdotal evidence from exceptionally gifted tasters does exist, and I'm perfectly happy to trust them!