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[TN] '61 Beychevelle

Tonight's dinner was rack of lamb and a potato-green bean salad. Jean expressed an interest in having a glass of really good wine with dinner, so I suggested a bottle that she'd received from me for her birthday last year:

1961 Ch. Beychevelle (St. Julien) nose: cassis, graphite, cedar, a slight herbaceous note, some earth palate: fully resolved tannins, medium body, rich mouthfeel, great acidity

This was the second bottle of a cache I gave to Jean last year and it was even better than the previous one had been. Incredibly youthful (even down to the cork which was in superb shape), it had a classic Cabernet nose and an incredible feel of richness in the mouth. It was acidic enough that it needed the food to show well, but at 11.5% ABV it showed no heaviness or heat. This led to an interesting discussion concerning the ABV: since '61 was noted as a warm year that produced very ripe grapes in Bordeaux, how did they keep the alcohol so low? Canopy management? Earlier harvest?

Mark Lipton

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Mark Lipton
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Mark Lipton wrote in news:k2jj8n$sm6$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

I am not an expert, but canopy management sounds quite a recent practice to me to be the cause. My guess is that they harvested way earlier in 1961 that they do today.

Anyone has access to a historical series of harvest dates going back to that era?

s.

Reply to
santiago

Mark Lipton wrote in news:k2jj8n$sm6$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org: This led to an interesting discussion

Besides of an earlier harvest, could it be that they had bigger crops per hectare therefore harvesting a bit less concentrated grapes with less sugar?

s.

Reply to
santiago

Glad to hear these are doing well! :)

Reply to
DaleW

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