Hit the jackpot with a 1953 Burgundy

Had dinner with a friend last night who has a few really old bottles and we opened this....

1953 Clos des Lambrays Morey St. Denis Grand Cru Classes (Alexis Lichine)

color: gorgeous deep garnet with no signs that this bottle was that old.

nose: exotic blend of truffles, cherries, cranberries, coffee, leather and spices.

taste: lots of cherry fruit, coffee and earth. Long, powerful, great length.

Boy was this good. My friend (who worked as a wine salesman for many years) didn't believe it was 100% Pinot Noir and speculated that there was some Rhone wine in this. I had no clue but the color was amazing for a wine that old.

[David M. Bueker]

Sounds great. I've never had a Burgundy that was as old as that. Maybe someday. Perhaps I should leave my Lambrays in the cellar for another 40 years!

I'm not sure I would recommend that. I've had plenty of really old Burgs that were awful.

I've had a lot of luck with 50 year+ Burgundy but only because the wines had been carefully selected by knowledgeable people. Outstanding was a Corton 29 from Bouchard P1F at a RVF millenium tasting. A series of Dr.Barolet bottlings tasted at about the same time starting with 1947 and going back to the 20s, including some supposedly "off" vintages was remarkable for freshness and richness with very few badly performing bottles. Finally a friend here has inherited from an uncle some 1949 village Burgs, Chambolle-Musigny I think, from a négociant unfamiliar to me, which were absolutely beautiful 2 or 3 years ago.

I have also had quite a number of disappointing bottles with promising labels from the 70s in particular.

Back in 1973, my dad purchased a case each of 1949 Bonnes Mares and 1959 Nuits St. Georges - Les Saint Georges bottled by a negociant named Pierre Bouchy; I have a bottle of the former and two of the latter left; both these wines were big, tannic (now completely resolved), extracted reds with lovely concentration and complex, earthy, kitchen spices on the nose and on the palate. The wines (bottled in very light-green bottles) still have a really good depth of color reminiscent of a much more recent vintage.

I suspect these wines were (a) blended with a dollop of Rhone Syrah, and (b) were bottled late, from reserves sometime in the mid-1960's, as the capsules are a thick plastic.

I ordered one bottle of the 2008 Clos des Lambrays (my first purchase from this vineyard). I hope I can open it in 2016-2018 frame since I will be in my 70's by then.

Lovely wine jsut from reding your notes.

It always feels great when you got to taste an old wine that is still so lively and delicious!