A recent bottle of 1961 Haut-Brion sourced from a private cellar at a dinner hosted by Christie's confirmed the status of the wine as one of the titans of the vintage. The colour was holding well, and there was a surprising amount of primary fruit still there, with pleasant aromas of ripe plum and mulberry, accented with notes of woodsmoke, fresh saddle leather, mineral and game. The texture was refined and elegant, but there was still plenty of density, and the wine was far from being overly mature. The integration and substance demonstrated that while this was mature, it would doubtless hold at this level for the foreseeable future without danger of decline.

Drinking at point, the 1961 Haut Brion was opened and followed over the evening. This prodigious, mammoth wine is another example of true greatness in wine and thumbs its nose at all the so-called more “elegant” wines today. A huge nose of sweet tobacco, applewood, cedar, wood smoke, and ample black fruits all gives way to a deep, full-bodied effort that has a stacked mid-palate and the classic, gravelly minerality and smoky character that’s the hallmark of this magical terroir. It picked up richness and depth over the evening, yet also faded slightly, so this is a case where it’s going to hold nicely going forward but is certainly not going to improve. If you have them, drink them.

A remarkably deep garnet colour with deep tawny rim. The nose is muffled at first with notes of mulberry, plum, tobacco and espresso. It improves after 20 minutes in the glass, gaining delineation and lift, that espresso note dominating the aromatics. The palate is tannic, muscular and powerful, closed at first but blossoming after 1/2 hour. Silky smooth texture, utterly harmonious with mulberry, leather and tobacco. I sublime ’61, not quite up there with Palmer or Latour, but not far behind either. Opening a bottle now, I recommend two hours of decanting. Drinking now, but a well-stored bottle could last another 10, 20 years. Tasted December 2006.

Drinking 2007-2015+

From The Purple Notebook – Dinner in South London. Lively, rich sheen. Classic mature ‘warm bricks’ Haut-Brion nose. Dry and minerally. Very linear in impact (the opposite of fleshy) and complete. A very good bottle. (JR)

The dark garnet-colored 1961 Haut-Brion is pure perfection, with gloriously intense aromas of tobacco, cedar, chocolate, minerals, and sweet red and black fruits complemented by smoky wood. This has always been a prodigious effort (it was the debut vintage for Jean Delmas). It is extremely full-bodied, with layers of viscous, sweet fruit. This wine is akin to eating candy. Consistently an astonishing wine! Anticipated maturity: Now-2005. Last tasted 3/97