TN: 1959 Château Calon-Ségur

[salilb]

From a bottle with a fill into the mid shoulder, decanted an hour before serving. This is utterly stunning, everything I could expect from perfectly mature Bordeaux with amazing finesse and depth. There's an incredible scent that keeps building with air, and tremendous complexity here with layers of mature fruit, dusty earthiness, floral, tobacco and other sweeter flavours all converging seamlessly. The tannins are fully integrated and there's a wonderful silken, polished mouthfeel with a delicate touch, and a finish that just keeps resonating. A phenomenal bottle, and one of my top aged Bordeaux experiences.

[DavidG]

Sounds wonderful! I'm always nervous about provenance and rarely buy old bottles, but experiences like that make it very tempting! Thanks for sharing the note.

[Blanquito]

My thoughts exactly, David! I almost opened wine-searcher after reading your note, Salil.

[sdr]

Mid-shoulder ullage on a '59 is somewhat low; some are as high is top shoulder or even very top shoulder. I'm glad you had a positive experience. There's nothing in the wine world like old Bordeaux deep in the secondary stage.

[Michael-P]

This is exactly why I love old Bordeaux! Nothing else like it. Amazingly complex and intellectual.
OK, maybe not as old as the wines Francois loves, but even one BWEer called my cellar "ossified". Fine by me.

Michael-P

[Ramon_NYC]

This is exactly why I love old Bordeaux! Nothing else like it. Amazingly complex and intellectual.

+1 !

[DavidG]

Ossified? Sounds like a compliment, Michael P - he was telling you your wines had made old bones!