TN: '61 Pape Clement with my '61 bro

Thanks for the notes for the 61 Pape Clement. I only bought one bottle of it many years ago, and it is good to know that it likely will be quite decent when I open it. Most tasting notes that I have read recently suggest that it should be drunk soon, so I guess I should drink it within the next year or so.

My mailbox is always full to avoid spam. To contact me, erase snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net from my email address. Then add snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com . I do not check this box every day, so post if you need a quick response.

It is good to have a Brother born in such a good vintage. If he was born a year earlier or later, you would not have had a Bordeaux. My birth year (1963) was not good in Bordeaux, but great in Port.

Fred.

In general, even for my brother, I'm priced out of the '61 market.

I'm a '60. I've had some good though not great '60 Ports, and barely alive Rhones (and 1 OTH Barolo). I have one Port left, but have no intention of chasing more.

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

I don't know storage history of this one bottle (I bought last year at Premier Cru), but was told today my notes were mostly in agreement (at least as far as maturity) with group consensus from a Pape-Clmnt vertical last year. Enjoy! Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

The 61 Ducru is excellent!

I also found the 61 Ducru to be first class. The 62 Ducru, if very well stored, is not far behind and often costs less. Others that I have tasted within the last 5 years that were very good to outstanding include. Gruaud-Larose, Leovlle-Barton, Palmer(but it costs more than some of the 1'st growths), and La-Mission-Haut Brion(expensive). Montrose, Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Beychevelle, Malescot-St.-Exupery, and d'Issan were very good but they seemed more advanced than some of the others and proper storage probably will be very important for these. Of course good storage is all important for wines of this age. I once met someone who had bought a poor bottle of the 1961 Latour, perhaps the best red Bordeaux of 1961 and one of the top wines of the last century when properly stored and not corked.

My mailbox is always full to avoid spam. To contact me, erase snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net from my email address. Then add snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com . I do not check this box every day, so post if you need a quick response.

We opened a '61 Lynch-Bages for Jean's 40th, and it was easily one of the finest wines of my life. It was also easily within the OP's price range. FWIW, the only other '61 I've had (Cos) was not nearly so impressive, though I wasn't nearly as experienced a taster when I tried it.

Mark Lipton

Dale, Bill, Cwdjrx_ , Mark - thanks for your replies