1953 Chateau Lafite

[Comte Flaneur]

Broadbent’s favourite wine apparently. Our friend David Wainwright, when I met him in NY over a decade ago, reserved a special affection for this wine, listing it as perhaps his favourite claret of all time.

I have tasted - had mini sips of - dodgy bottles of Cheval Blancs 1921 and 1947, which have tasted more like port and resigned myself never to taste the 1900 Margaux. Or the 1899. I have never tasted 1945 Mouton; nor 1961 Latour or Palmer. Probably never will.

But the 1953 Lafite was top of my list of wines I wanted to drink before I shuffled off my mortal coil. Two bottles came up in May at the Bacchus auction at 67 Pall Mall, just down the road from my office.

Both had lowish ullage. Reserve was £800-900 for the pair. When bidding started somebody had put in a pre-auction bid for £950. I bid £1000. Bingo! Taking into account commissions it worked out at £600 a bottle, 30% of the average retail price.

Tonight I opened the bottle with the lowest ullage, mid-shoulder, after celebrating an anniversary yesterday (tomorrow is a public holiday, and yesterday I went out to dinner with Josie, my daughter, where we drank 2010 Faiveley Echezeaux.)

When I opened this wine my Durand broke. But I still managed to get the cork out ok. Once that task was achieved I smelt the wine and it was alive, with a light translucent hue of a fully mature wine.

The expressive nose is tho die for, melts you. Just divine. Deceptive power in the palate with richness and power, the finest Cuban cigars, augmented by oriental teas, exotic spices, cardamom, intensely rich red and black fruits.

Beautiful texture, with deceptive richness and power and finish, this is a perfectly resolved example of the greatest wine in Bordeaux. I have drunk several fine bottles of Bordeaux over the last 30 years but I cannot recall drinking a finer or more complete claret.

Wines which would compete for best ever would include the 1953 Haut-Brion that Tim showed, a similar wine judging by my small pour. These are like the 1989s on the other side...the Lafite and Haut-Brion - the 89s are just entering their drinking window. Others that would compete would the best 1982s - Latour, Mouton, Cheval Blanc.

[jckba]

In what appears to be a definitive good gamble along with a great tasting note, thank you for sharing,!as that is likely a wine that will always remain just out of reach ...

[JimHow]

Baby doll. That's what it's all about.
Sipping on a 2012 Barde Haut here on the back deck on a holiday weekend...

[DavidG]

What a wonderful experience. Something you’ll remember for a long, long time.

[dstgolf]

Ian,

Sounds like another gamble that paid off. If it could stay in the same memory bank as the 53 Haut Brion served up at Tim's last Fall then WOW! A memory that we'll never forget both wine,friends gathering along with a fabulous birthday celebration. Over the top and how blessed we feel. Thanks for rekindling a wonderful time.

[greatbxfreak]

Hi Ian,

I've never had 1953 Lafite but can easily imagine it being a heavenly wine. Had great 1955 many years ago, fantastic 1908 last year and riveting 1949 last month. Yes. the nose of Lafite has always been legendary!

[stefan]

It is wonderful when a bucket list wine lives up to your expectations. I hope your second bottles is just as good.

[jal]

Awesome Ian. A once in a lifetime experience (ok, fingers crossed for twice!)

[sdr]

Beautiful note and story, Ian.

I’ve had more than my share of Lafite but I have not tasted the ‘53 in over a quarter century. Even back then, most of them were weak and tired, more tea than wine. But the best one was phenomenal.

It seems you got lucky with a bottle that was risky. I don’t bid on any bottles with low ullage, thinking that most of them will be bad.

Questions:
#1: Do you find many older bottles with known good or excellent provenance but low ullage?
#2: What is you success rate with mid-shoulder or lower fills?

Stu

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for all your comments, l guess Lady Luck shone on me.

Stuart I do not buy many very old wines unlike say Tim, so it would be interesting to get his view.

But in my limited experience ullage is not a good indicator of quality. Or more specifically low ullage is a flag, but it is not a reliable warning. Put differently I have had some great bottles with low ullage. Not just this Lafite but DRCs as well.

This particular wine I secured at less than 30% of the average UK retail price, so I figured it was a risk worth taking. Put differently I felt I was being over compensated for taking the risk.

I was totally reconciled to the possibility of that bottle being knackered, just as I am reconciled the the possibility of the second bottle being a dud. However I feel very happy to have experienced a mature Lafite at its finest, and the memory will stay with me!

I think these bottles were stored for many decades in the cellar of a country mansion somewhere in Continental Europe.

[OrlandoRobert]

I’ve only had one 1953, an Ausone from Bern’s. Had it about five years ago in a tremendous line-up, including some Leovilles from the 1920s. That Ausone showed beautifully.

Really enjoyed reading your story.

[Blanquito]

Man, that must have been some bottle to impress you that much! I’ll pile on and say thanks for sharing, terrific note.

[tim]

I have bought many older wines with low ullage. Ullage factors into the price.

In general, I have found around an 80% hit rate of old wines with great levels, and perhaps a 60% hit rate of wines with ok levels. Wines with high fills can be damaged, and wines with low fills can be fine to great. It is all a matter of risk/reward. Thus, if I can buy a wine with a low fill at 40% of the price of a wine with a high fill, it's worth the risk. Of course, it also depends on the age and the fill. I am more willing to take the risk with a wine from the 20's than a wine from the 80's.

[Nicklasss]

Thank you for that report Comte, on a wine I will probably never cross in my life.

I wish i could sample more Lafite sips, but seems like an impossible task. I did not had Lafite often, very rarely in the fact. But at the very first BWE in Chicago, Whuzzup_ brought two... magnums of 1976 Lafite. So I had very good pours of this one.

Nic

[Blanquito]

I’ve sourced wines on auction and places like Chambers St Wines as old as 1964 that had fills well into the neck, showing ullage loses are not an inevitable byproduct of long aging (at least 60+ years). And I’ve stored wines myself since the early 90’s that show zero evidence of ullage, stain up the cork, etc. Together these experiences have convinced me that storage unquestionably determines bottle condition. Now whether or not bottle condition means much about the condition of the wine is a separate issue, but I think it does. But we’ve all had old wines with low ullage that showed wonderfully, so clearly it is not the kiss of death.

I do love when retailers insist that a lower ullage is normal and inevitable for 20+ year old wines, when wines like my 1996 and 2000 Bordeaux haven’t changed a bit since they went into storage, still having spinning capsules, zero cork stain and perfect ullages.