TN: An old one that's Forever Young

[Ramon_NYC]

1964 Ch. Leoville Poyferre, Saint-Julien

A recent multiple-bottle purchase from an intact case by a local wine enthusiast. A generous act by the seller, as he felt that with the content being just below shoulder fill, he declined to charge me for this particular bottle. In spite of the fill, everything about this bottle appeared to have had impeccable storage and provenance condition.
Opened with last night's dinner. In the glass, I was greeted with the un-mistakable mature Bordeaux whiff of cigar, leather and other tertiary notes. The wine still had the dark cherry red core with slightest bricking at the rim. It tasted like a well-stored Bordeaux that’s less than half its age. Medium bodied, with some fresh acidity from plump red fruit and slight mineral notes. Smooth, elegant and exudes class. A lip-smacking finish. Seriously delicious. A most compelling reason as to why we like to age Bordeaux. A-

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[stefan]

'64 Medocs from estates that picked early are very good. I did not recall that L-P was one of the early pickers, although a number of St. Julien estates did pick before the rains.

[Ramon_NYC]

Appreciate the insight Bill. Good to know about the 1964 vintage situation.
I've only had 2 other '64s from the Medoc, the Montrose and the La Mission Haut Brion, drank sometime in last 5 years. Both wines were unforgattably good.

[stefan]

Montrose and the La Mission Haut Brion are two of the ones that are generally considered to be among the best. Latour is another (the only first growth other than Haut-Brion that produce excellent wine). Graves in general did quite well in 1964, and 1964 was very good on the right bank.

[SF Ed]

Impressive that a '64 LP would show well, as I am pretty sure they picked after the rain. As folks have said, of the prominent left bankers, outside of Graves only Latour and Montrose picked before the rain. Because the left bank was such a wash out, people don't understand how profoundly great the right bank was in '64. It is still hard to go wrong with almost any St. Emilion or Pomerol from 1964.

SF Ed

[stefan]

>>
It is still hard to go wrong with almost any St. Emilion or Pomerol from 1964.
>>

Oh, yes, Ed. And Graves is almost as good.

[Winona Chief]

Quite amazing Ramon. I remember opening a bottle of 1964 Leoville Poyferre in the late 70s and thinking it was just awful. We couldn't finish it. What great and magical things can happen with several decades of bottle age.

Chris Bublitz