A Visit to Carmes Haut Brion in the City of Bordeaux

Posted on July 13, 2026 by Benjamin Lewin

Les Carmes Haut Brion is a tiny jewel of a property, the only chateau within the city limits of Bordeaux, and just at the very border of Pessac Léognan. It’s essentially surrounded by suburban housing. It was split off from Haut Brion as a present to the Carmelite monks who owned it from 1584 until the French Revolution. Since then it stayed with one family until it was sold in 2010 to Patrick Pichet of the Pichet Real Estate Group. The vineyard is not classified, but clearly there are plans to revive it and push to a higher level.

Surrounded by a high wall, it’s a single plot of 10 ha, with 7 ha planted to vines. It’s divided into a 4 ha block planted with Cabernet Franc and Merlot, and a 3 ha block planted with Cabernet Sauvignon. The microclimate is 3-5°C warmer than the countryside.

The chateau itself was not built until 1850 and is just at the border of the property. The old cells are at another border. The most strikign feature of the property today is a new cellar, designed by Philippe Starck and architect Luc Arsène-Henry, and completed for the 2015 harvest. A small stream runs through the property, and was extended to surround the new cellar, which has the shape of an upside down ship.

The new winery at Les Carmes Haut Brion

Winemaking focuses on the objective of making a wine that is drinkable early. “You don’t have to wait ten years, it’s well balanced and ready after 6 years.” Vinification uses a lasagna with alternating layers of berries and whole bunches. Submerged cap is used to achieve infusion rather than extraction. The wine ages for almost two years in barriques with 80% new barriques, some 18 hl foudres, and amphora (there are also some stainless steel barrels).

The Cabernet Franc can give the wine a more aromatic impression than is usual in Graves. The 2023 is smooth and elegant but a touch angular, while 2022 is lighter but elegant. The 2021 shows elegant fruits. The 2019 shows its Cabernet Franc in a distinctly mineral expression, the 2017 is also dominated by Cabernet Franc, 2016 has classic cigar-box impressions, and 2015 is on the lighter side.

There is a another wine, C des Carmes Haut Brion, but it’s definiotely not a second wine in the traditional sense, as it comes from 40 ha purchased in Martillac. “We don’t like to talk about second wines, we talk about wines from different places.” This is a more classic blend with two thirds Cabernet Sauvignon to one third Merlot. The first vintages aged for one year in barriques with 50% new oak followed by one year in concrete. Now a third year of aging in foudres has been added. It’s intended to be easy drinking. Although vinification of the C cuvée is similar to that of Carmes Haut Brion, the style is completely different, much softer and more forward.

A Visit to Mouton Rothschild

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Benjamin Lewin

“First I cannot be, Second I disdain, I am Mouton,” was Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s motto as he campaigned for promotion to first growth from 1924 to 1974. Often one of the most powerful wines of Bordeaux, Mouton Rothschild can age for decades, becoming less opulent but without much loss of its remarkable density. The 1945 is generally recognized to be timeless, although perhaps now finally fading.Mouton is sui generis, but now at the center of a series of brands, with Châteaux Clerc Milon and d’Armailhac, close by in Pauillac, and the Mouton Cadet brand (which ha no connection with the chateaux other than ownership) made not very far away.

A recent visit to Mouton Rothschild showed that its facilities are eye-catching in a quite different way from the other great chateaux. Lafite has its circular barrel room, Latour has its tower (really a dovecot), Margaux has its tree-lined allée. Mouton does not have a grand chateau, just a relatively small one (wich members of the family still use) near the winery. The vinification facility was renovated from 2009 and appears relatively workmanlike from the outside, with huge wooden doors that open to allow the grapes to be brough in. But inside are a series of collapsible wooden walls that can be removed to open it all out into a huge area for handlign the grapes. Baron Philippe’s daughter, Baroness Philippine, a great figure in Bordeaux until she died in 2014, was formerly an actress in Paris, and brought in a stage designer to produce this trompe d’oeil. The facilitywas renovated with 44 wooden vats, allowing better plot by plot vinification, using an elevator system to avoid pumping. The first vintage made in the new facility was 2012.

The doors at Mouton’s new chai open out in parts, the walls inside can be removed, and it becoems a vast open space for handling the grapes

There’s an interesting connection between Mouton and the other chateaux in the group. At Mouton, 50% of the production gos into the grand vin, and 25% goes into the second wine, Petit Mouton. The Mouton Rothschild ages for 18 months in 100% new oak, and Petit Mouton ages in 50% new oak. There is also a white wine, Aile d’Argent, which comes from 11 dedicated ha in the vineyard. Vineyards are in a single block around the winery, and the division of lots for the red wine is based on selection immediately after the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations.

The old cellars at Mouton run for hundreds of meters underground

The last 25% is declassified to a third wine, a Pauillac that also contains lots declassified from Armailhac and Clerc Milon, which do not have any second wine. This is the Baron Nathaniel Pauil;lac, which is made at the Mouton Cadet plant. So Mouton’s third selection is more or less equivalent with Armailhac and Clerc Milon’s second selection. What about a pecking order foe the chateau? Petit Mouton usually shows better than Armailhac which shows better than Clerc Milon.

Mouton is also an interesting tourist experience because, in adfition to the wine, there is also an art museum with Baroness Philippine’s collection of objects and art connected with wine, and a museum with the original artwork for all the labels.

Chateau Duhart Milon Typifies the New and the Old in Bordeaux

Posted on June 29, 2026 by Benjamin Lewin

With Lafite Rothschild closed for an extensive renovation until 2028, the way to get a taste of the Rothschild wines on the left bank is to visit Duhart Milon, now open after a refurbishment. Located close to the waterfront in the village of Pauillac, Duhart Milon is one of only two châteaux remaining in the village of Pauillac. The group of buildings is surprisingly extensive within the village, eve including a large garden, but the vineyards are outside at the northern border of Pauillac.

The first information about wine production at Duhart Milon dates from the eighteenth century, and it was well known by the nineteenth century. The château was created when privateer Jean Milon married Suzanne Castéja. After Jean Milon died, Suzanne left the property to her nephew Pierre Castéja, who was the proprietor at the time of the 1855 classification, when it became a fourth growth. After Castéja’s death, the estate was run for the family by André Delon, at the time also the manager of Léoville Lascases. Financial difficulties caused the usual depredations, and some of the vineyards were sold off, including 15 ha that went to Château Batailley.

Duhart stood in splendid isolation near the waterfront in 1898. Today it is immersed in the town, although the winery buildings are surrounded by extensive gardens

Things got steadily worse as the property kept changing hands, until it was bought in 1962 by the Rothschilds of Château Lafite. The estate then consisted of only 17 ha, but the existing vineyards were replanted, and there was a great expansion as new vineyards were purchased. There are now 62 ha in a single block, separated by the hamlet of Milon from the vineyards of Château Lafite Rothschild immediately to the east. The château was known for a while as Duhart Milon Rothschild, but now has reverted simply to Duhart Milon. Although the vineyards are close to Lafite, elevation is lower, and exposure is more northern. Duhart Milon usually harvests 7-10 days after Lafite.

The grand vin is usually 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, aged 50% in new oak and 50% in 1-year oak. The second wine, Moulin du Duhart, is usually a more or less equal blend, with 20% new oak and 80% 2-year oak. Production is typically three quarters grand vin. In spite of proximity and similarities in winemaking, the wine does not at all resemble Lafite: it is solid where Lafite can be ethereal, and robust rather than powerful. Benefiting from the halo cast by its famous neighbor, Duhart Milon prices above its classification. A white wine was introduced in 2020, but is only a small production. It has a majority of Sémillon, aged in barriques for 8 months.

Tasting recent vintages at the château this week shows the extent of the change in Bordeaux. The grand vin from 2019 is very much the new Bordeaux: all but ready only half a decade after the vintage. It makes quite a classic impression, moving in a savory direction, with tannins not at all obtrusive but giving support. In fact, it should last another 20 years, becoming more savory and smoother with age. It’s a modern take on the old style of Bordeaux.

Moulin du Duhart is a complete contrast. The 2022 vintages shows a really fruity nose, not quite exotic, but tending to red fruits, say raspberries, rather than the traditional black fruits of Pauillac. That impression of aromatics beyond Bordeaux is enhanced by using 5% of American oak during aging, bringing coconut and vanillin. The quasi-exotic character comes out more on the palate, making this seem not merely approachable but even a touch aggressive: a quite different impression from the reserve of Pauillac. This is a wine intended to appeal to people who may not know, in fact may even have been put off, by Bordeaux. It’s an attempt to reinvent Bordeaux to appeal to a new class of consumers.

This is what Bordeaux has always done: stay classic but renew itself.

Turning Bordeaux Upside Down

Posted on June 25, 2026 by Benjamin Lewin

I have always been doubtful about what difference the material of the fermentation container makes to vinification. Aficionados of wood vats say that they give a better rounded wine. Believers in stainless steel argue for increased purity and freshness. Concrete has gone in and out of style, and its present resurgence is based on the argument that it’s as neutral as stainless steel, but allows micro oxygenation like oak. It is clear, of course, that nothing gets through stainless steel, but I do wonder if there is any actual experimental support for the idea that breathing of concrete is a significant factor in fermentation.

Given the turbulence of fermentation, I am inclined think that other factors, such as temperature within the vat, may be more important than the contact surface at the exterior. Of course, maceration to keep the cap in contact with the juice, whether by pump over or punch down, is a major factor in determining the level of extraction. I am suspicious whether the exterior surface has much role here, and more interested in the question of whether the shape has any effect. The latest buzz in shapes was the introduction of tronconique or tulip-shaped vats, where the diameter narrows from bottom to top. The argument is that offers better maceration because the cap has a smaller diameter than the bulk of the liquid. This is plausible, but I am puzzled how it relates to the latest vats, which are suspended in reverse tronconique shape.

When they were renovating the cellars at Chateau Grand Puy Ducasse, there was a problem with space. The chateau is right on the waterfront in Pauillac (one of only two chateaux left in the town; the other is Duhart Milon, a couple of hundred yards inland). So the high water table makes it impossible to dig down deeper, and the waterfront makes it impossible to expand horizontally. Now owned by the bank Crédite Argricole, who wanted to improve quality by introducing plot by plot vinification, the issue was how to get more tanks into the same space. The answer was to invert the tronconique shape and suspend the tanks from the ceiling. Grapes go in at the top level, but after that vinification can be controlled from below walking around the tanks, which are all in stainless steel. It’s quite an engineering feat to sus[ecd tanks that will be full of wine. In fact, the insurance company insisted on double checking all the calculations. (Even though the tanks were empty, I did not have the nerve to walk directly underneath them.)

The suspended vats at Grand Puy Ducasse

A similar lack of space to expand led Chateau Branaire Ducru into the same calculation that they could fit in more tanks by suspension. The cellar (actually a building at ground level) was entirely renovated . “From the original building we have only the walls and roof. We didn’t want to take out any vineyards, there was nowhere to expand, so the way tanks were got into limited space was to suspend reverse trannconique tanks,” explains cellarmaster Jean-Dominique Videau. Stainless steel tanks are almost touching at the top, but there is space to walk around and work on them underneath—the bottoms just over a meter above the ground. Jean-Dominique says the shape works well because they use only pump over, not punch down.

The renovated fermentation hall at Branaire Ducru

“Not much has changed since 2018 except the new winery,” I was told when I visited Angélus. The barrel cellars were renovated in 2012 when the chateau took its present striking form, but the vat room remained. It’s just completed a massive renovation, which will come into use for the 2026 vintage (running two years late). But the vats are not buried underground; they are suspended with the tops at ground level, so grapes can be put in directly by gravity feed. An even more unusual feature is that while most of the vats are stainless steel, there are also 6 concrete vats and 4 oak vats. This required some innovations in manufacture.

The new fermentation hall at Angelus is being prepared for the 2026 vintage

While admiring the sheer chutzpah in suspending the tanks, the question that remains unanswered is what effect the inverted shape has on vinification. After all tronconique and inverted tronconique can’t both be best for vinification. So does the shape actually make any difference. Or is it just bubble, bubble, toil and trouble?

The New Vintage Port in 2024: Modern Incarnation of a Classic

Posted on June 22, 2026 by Benjamin Lewin

The roller coaster of climate change has produced the same erratic vintages in Port as everywhere else. Historically Port has had two or three vintages every decade that were commonly declared. It was extremely unusual when in 2016 and 2017 there were almost universal declarations for successive vintages (and a little problematic for a market unaccustomed to such a surfeit of riches). Then there was hiatus of 7 years, with erratic rainfall increasing water stress, prolonged heatwaves (47°C in July 2022), and compressed ripening periods leading to earlier harvests. There wasn’t much that could be regarded as classic. Then came 2024: wet winter, no prolonged summer heatwaves, slow, even ripening across all varieties bringing homogeneity, and a small crop bringing concentration. Touriga Nacional has been exceptional, but Touriga Franca has excelled.

The result is a vintage that is classic in some regards but thoroughly modern in others. It’s classic in the sense that it’s full of ripe black fruits, sweet on the palate (of course), but with the underlying structure holding it together and preventing it from becoming jammy. It’s modern in the sense that tannins are ripe and supple, not obtrusive or jagged in the old style, present but subsumed by the fruits¾leaving the wines almost ready to drink on release! To say it is unusually accessible is an understatement. This is a huge contrast with the old idea that you buy vintage Port to leave for the next generation, not to enjoy yourself.

Approachability is the hallmark of the vintage. Although most can be enjoyed almost immediately, or at least within the next couple of years, flavor variety will widen with time, and the wines will last another two, three, or even four decades. Beyond approachability, there is great delineation of fruit flavors, conveying an unusual sense of fruit purity. I cannot recall another vintage with this combination of immediacy and longevity. Precision is not a word I often use of Port given its characteristic richness and breadth of flavors, but it often comes to mind here. Suggesting a delay of two or three years before starting to enjoy the vintage is really pro forma as most have a balance that allows almost immediate enjoyment, and some are already overtly delicious.

Until recently, vintage Port was always a blend. Exceptional single vineyards might be used to produce a vintage in years that were not quite good enough for the house to declare a vintage. Now there is more of a trend to representing single vineyards in special cuvées in great vintages also. Partly this is because some smaller growers only produce Port from single vineyards, partly because the larger houses have started to make some single quintas in years that they declare. There is an interesting tradeoff here. The blended Port tends to be deeper, richer, and broader; the single Quinta tends to be finer and more precise. It will be fascinating to see how this difference plays out at maturity, but the trend hasn’t been going on long enough yet to tell¾this being vintage Port, we need decades, not years.

Will 2024 establish the precedent for the New Port: enjoy immediately but hold for decades?

Notes from a tasting in London, June 2026

Alcheny Wines, Blackett Port
Fine impression to palate with aromatic black fruits showing cherries. Long finish but flavor variety has yet to develop. Some dryness on finish takes edge of sweetness and suggests underlying structure. 92 Drink 2029-2047

Alves de Sousa, Amphitheatrum
Ripe, rich impressions show youth. Dense black fruits have granular texture. Flavors are undeveloped. More of a traditional impression than most. 91 Drink 2029-2045

Churchills
Very typical of the house. Great sense of purity and delineation of fruits, focusing on black cherries and blackcurrants, with finesse and precision on finish. All it needs is time to develop increasing flavor variety, but it can be started immediately because the texture is so fine. 94 Drink 2028-2048

Dow’s Port
At a similar level to Warre’s. Sweet, ripe, and fine, sense of finesse, a touch grapey on the finish, nice sense of grip and structure 20% 99g r.s. 92 Drink 2028-2043

Ferreira
Sweet and ripe, tannins not directly in evidence, but shows bitter chocolate on finish. Rich and grapey with a great sense of fruit delineation. 20% 100g r.s. 92 Drink 2028-2048

Graham’s Port
Great sense of finesse and delineation of fruits and precision, very much showing the purity of Graham’s style, a very fine result for the vintage. Purity is the hallmark. 20% 107g r.s. 94 Drink 2028-2048

Graham’s, Quinta do Vesuvio
A little deeper and more structured than the Graham’s blend. Great sense of grip to palate, structure in the background, can enjoy now but will become increasingly sophisticated as the structure resolves. 20% 110g r.s. 95 Drink 2029-2048

Kopke
Black fruit palate shows faint sense of applies in background. Not very developed yet although that contrasting sense of freshness and fruits makes it delicious now. 90 Drink 2029-2044

Menin Douro Estates, Menin Port
Somewhat direct black fruit impressions with nutty overtones. Flavor development has yet to come. 90 Drink 2029-2044

Nicolau de Almeida
Overtly sweet with somewhat primary black fruit spectrum at present, giving a rather direct impression. Structure is pushed into background. Needs time to resolve and develop. 91 Drink 2029-2044

Niepoort Vinhos
Fine contrasting hints of freshness showing hints of apples against rich black fruits of vintage. Palate shows the finesse you expect of Niepoort and good delineation of fruits. Just needs time to develop more flavor variety, but is already delicious. 92 Drink 2028-2048

Poças Vinhos
Ripe and rich and overtly fruity with an aromatic black fruit spectrum. Some grip to finish shows underlying structure. Certainly seems youthful at present, and needs time to develop flavor variety. 92 Drink 2029-2047

Quinta do Noval
Very fine impression of delineation of black fruits of cherries and blackcurrants, with real sense of class and breed. Very true to the house style of finesse. 19.5% 94 Drink 2028-2048

Quinta do Vale Meão
Fine fruit impressions on textured palate. Strong sense of fruits in black spectrum. One of the more textured expressions of the vintage. 93 Drink 2029-2048

Ramos Pinto
Perfumed impressions to nose. Variety of black fruits on palate, with good sense of delineation, you could almost say precision. Already very flavorful. Broader and deeper than the single vineyard Ervamoira, which is finer and tighter. 93 Drink 2028-2048

Ramos Pinto, Quinta de Ervamoira
Very fine impression to palate with great sense of finesse and delineation of black fruits tending to cherries. Long on finish. Impression of a great classic. 94 Drink 2028-2048

Sandeman Porto
Rounder and deeper than stablemate Ferreira, more sense of traditional Port, great sense of structure in background, although fruits effectively hide tannins. Very fine impression. 93 Drink 2029-2048

Warre’s
Sweet and ripe and very approachable, although a touch raisiny. At least at present, a bit straightforward. A certain delicious quality makes immediate consumption feasible. 20.0% 100g r.s. 92 Drink 2027-2042

Wine and Soul Pintas
This comes from 95 year old vines in a single vineyard,
Black fruit aromatics to nose. Ripe and sweet, the sweetness perhaps a touch more obvious than most, presently somewhat direct in ist flavor spectrum. Granular texture to palate cuts sweetness. 91 Drink 2028-2043

Bordeaux 2023 Is Not Really a Classic Vintage

Posted on January 21, 2026 by Benjamin Lewin

The 2023 vintage is widely described as ‘classic,’ which has become a euphemism in Bordeaux for ‘not overblown.’ This is really not a fair description. If classic means vintages of the era before global warming, say the 70s, then the mark of left bank Bordeaux would be herbaceous notes of Cabernet Sauvignon, and the mark of the right bank might be a slightly vegetal note if Merlot did not achieve full ripeness. Neither description would be at all fair to the wines as revealed by the annual UGBC tasting of the latest vintage upon release. Usually the UGCB tasting has around 120 chateaux, but this year was reduced to under 100, whether because of perceptions that the vintage will be a hard sell or because of other economic factors, so it’s not quite so representative.

After adjusting to the fruit-forward style of recent hot vintages, it can be difficult to recalibrate. The general style is restrained compared with the exuberance of some recent hot vintages. Alcohol levels have backed off from the excesses of some recent vintages. (Some people define a classic vintage in Bordeaux as having less than 13.5% alcohol on the left bank and less than 14.5% on the right bank: in that case, a ‘modern’ Bordeaux cannot have much resemblance to wines of the era before climate change, but that’s another story for another day.) The best wines in 2023 are smooth and elegant. Some are virtually ready to drink on release, some may need a year or so, but there are very few that will benefit from long aging. “Classic’ shows itself more as a lack of real concentration rather than any reversion to herbaceousness. It’s a very nice vintage to enjoy for lunch in restaurants.

Pessac-Léognan reds are quite consistent, showing a smooth elegance that’s been missing from some recent vintages. The best reds at the UGCB were Domaine de Chevalier (a slightly muted version of its usual crystalline brilliance), Larrivet Haut Brion (smooth elegance with a classic touch of cigar box), Smith Haut Lafitte (with the move to a more ‘international’ style toned down but showing slightly on its chocolaty finish) and Carbonnieux (getting away from the brutal extraction of some recent hot vintages). Tannins are really mastered in the top wines, but at a lower level, the wines show a more angular character that may come to the fore and restrict enjoyment to the mid term. The whites are lighter in style than usual, for drinking over the next 4 years or so, with Domaine de Chevalier maintaining its crystalline structure, Larrivet Haut Brion already ready but complex, and Smith Haut Lafitte showing a clean, pure style with a savory tang at the end.

Margaux is the least successful appellation in the Médoc. It’s relatively uniform, with most chateaux showing relatively light black fruits followed by a touch of tart acidity on the finish with hints of dryness from the structure. The wines are tight at the present, with a sense of asperity. It’s unclear if and when the fruits will come forward. Margaux certainly does not show a very generous style in 2023. Prieuré-Lichine stands out for a smoother, rounder balance than most. Rauzan-Ségla has beautifully delineated black fruits, giving a sense of precision, and is very approachable.

St. Julien shows a range from light and tight like Margaux to wines for which classic would be a fair description, in the sense that they show a more savory sense of balance. Beychevelle, Branaire Ducru, and St Pierre (which outclasses Gloria in this vintage) come over as virtually ready to start. This is not a vintage that shows off the forward international style, and both Lagrange and Léoville Poyferré have reverted to a more classic style with some overt evidence of structure. Talbot shows a clean, pure style that really speaks for St. Julien. Léoville Barton almost achieves its usual elegance, but still is a bit angular.

Pauillac is probably the most even and successful appellation in the Médoc, with a sense of smoothness, and is relatively full bodied for the vintage, if almost always stopping short of the usual plushness. There are few disappointments. D’Armailhac is one of the most refined (outshining Clerc Milon), and Duhart Milon shadows the style of Lafite, and is a standout for the vintage. Grand Puy Lacoste achieves its usual elegance, Lynch Bages achieves its usual smoothness, both in a lighter style. Pichon Baron and Pichon Lalande are both smooth and elegant.

Reduced numbers meant there weren’t really enough chateaux from St Estèphe to judge the appellation, but a certain hardness seems to come out in the wines.

St. Emilion is quite even, in spite of considerable problems with Merlot throughout the vintage, The wines are far from the caricature of forceful overblown forward fruits driven by high-alcohol Merlot. If there is not really a direct impression of Cabernet Franc, there is certainly an impression of greater restraint. The corollary is that the wines are (at least at this stage) a little monotonic in flavor spectrum. They should be nice restaurant wines over the next decade as they develop more flavor variety, although none is likely to achieve great longevity or complexity. The standout for its elegance is Valandraud, a far cry from its origins as a fruit-driven garage wine. Chateau Canon has made a very approachable wine. Canon La Gaffelière is very fine, with high Cabernet Franc making for a sense of precision, true to the usual sense of refinement of the chateau. Beauséjour-Bécot is smooth but nicely structured, and virtually ready now.

Reduced numbers made Pomerol hard to judge, but the wines are definitely much more restrained than has been usual in recent vintages. Some show a textured impression, perhaps because of lower fruit density, that seems a little rustic. On the limited showing at the UGCB, Pomerol was less successful than St. Emilion. One of the best is Chateau Beauregard, which shows a nicely restrained smooth style.

Sauternes and Barsac generally show mid-level botrytis, but two wines that stood out were Bastor-Lamontagne (unusually botrytic for the vintage) and Suduiraut (complex and varied on the palate with a relatively subtle impression).

2023 is an example of the progress made in viticulture and vinification. In the previous era, much of the crop, especially Merlot, would have been lost to mildew. Tannins would probably have been astringent. A relative success with Cabernet Franc explains why St. Emilion performed better than Pomerol. The left bank is less regular than the right bank.A lot depended on harvest date, as September started out rainy, and better wines were made by those who had the nerve to wait. At the end of the day, this may become a lovely vintage to drink in the relatively short term, but I view it as more in the modern style than ‘classic.’

A Retrospective of 1945 Bordeaux

Posted on November 19, 2025 by Benjamin Lewin

Bordeaux was in terrible shape at the end of the Second World War. It had been occupied by the Germans, and cellars were destroyed or looted. Vineyards were in poor condition: the women had done their best to maintain them and harvest grapes during the war. But the summer of 1945 was glorious and harvest occurred in close to perfect conditions. A frost early in May had reduced yields and increased concentration. The wines proved to be the best vintage of the twentieth century. Its only rival might be 1961. It’s generally agreed that the Médoc was the star of both vintages. The rivals for the best wine of the century divide between Mouton Rothschild 1945 and Latour 1961.

At a retrospective in New York to celebrate the 80^th anniversary, the vibrancy of the wines was still evident. Opening with Trotanoy, the wine still seemed fresh with lively fruits, well rounded, and just a touch of the tertiary character of old Merlot. It did not fade at all in the glass, even over an hour. Its elegance might be viewed as a contrast with the sheer power of today’s Pomerols.

The Berry Bros bottling of Cheval Blanc followed. It’s well known that Cheval had problems with over-heating in the vats in 1945, with ice thrown in to cool some, and volatile acidity sometimes developing. There was no trace of either problem with this bottle. Indeed, this is one of the rare instances in which I have usually found the Berry Bros bottling to be superior to the chateau bottling. The flavor spectrum of Cabernet Franc was marked, with that dry sense of tobacco dominating the finish. The wine held up well immediately after opening, but faded a bit after half an hour as the dryness of the finish took over.

*The Berry Bros bottling of Cheval Blanc 1945*

The next two flights were comparisons. Lafite Rothschild has been ethereal, with fragrant fruits floating in the atmosphere, but has begun to fade in the past couple of years. Although usually sturdier in most vintages, its neighbor Cos d’Estournel has sometimes shown something of the same fragrant elegance. On this occasion, the Cos started out if anything more fragrant and elegant than the Lafite, but first growth character showed as the wines developed in the glass and Cos developed an edge while Lafite floated along.

A similar development ensued with a comparison of Palmer and Chateau Margaux. Chateau Palmer started out with a touch more generosity, with rounder fruits, while Margaux seemed a little tight. Then as Palmer lost its sense of forward fruits, the structure of the Margaux loosened up and it become more elegant than the Palmer. The difference was a brilliant demonstration of the characters of their blends, heavily Cabernet Sauvignon for Margaux, more Merlot in Palmer.

Even after eighty years, Chateau Latour showed the power of Pauillac. Fruits are still relatively dense. Black fruit character and the pulling power of Cabernet Sauvignon remain evident. Some people preferred the Latour to the Mouton Rothschild, but I thought the Mouton pulled ahead for slightly livelier fruits, greater aromatics, and sense of freshness. It really is a timeless wine, or at least as timeless as wine can get.

*The famous V for victory label of Mouton and a rather tattered label for Latour*

We finished with Chateau d’Yquem, so dark it seemed almost black. All Sauternes become darker with age, of course, but they say at Yquem that the 1945 is one of the darkest of the vintages of the century, having taken leaps into greater darkness every decade. It was even more intense than I remember it from my previous tasting, twenty years ago. The balance of sweetness to acidity is fantastic, with a palate that’s mature but not old, and a huge range of flavors.

I suppose it’s undeniable that these wines are no longer at their peak, which in most cases may have been several decades ago, but they are a living demonstration of the greatness of old Bordeaux.

Detailed Tasting Notes

Trotanoy

Pungent notes of old Merlot show through sweet ripe fruits, still in balance with acidity. Not at all tired although tannins are resolved. Keeps going in the glass and does not tire at all.

Cheval Blanc

Strongly dominated by mature Cabernet Franc with notes of tobacco and tea on the finish. Quite dry at the end. Feels more like the seventies than the forties in terms of age. Fading a little in the glass as fruits begin to dry out. A faint touch of tannin at the end becomes bitter as the fruits fade.

Cos d’Estournel

Just a little less weighty than the Lafite, but a very similar impression of elegance. Sweetens in the glass after opening, and then becomes a little bitter as it develops, losing elegance compared to the Lafite.

Lafite Rothschild

Not as fragrant or aromatically uplifted as previous bottles. A little sturdier than Cos when it opened, with a touch of bitterness at the end. But lightens up in the glass, developing that infinitely fragrant elegance.

Margaux

Very refined, greater sense of precision in its black fruits than Palmer, very much Cabernet Sauvignon in fine structure and texture. Great finesse Fruits begin to dry out very slowly in the glass.

Palmer

At first the Merlot carries this forward with a sense of generosity. A little fleshier than Chateau Margaux to begin with, but becomes a touch bitter as fruits fade in the glass.

Latour

Ripe and generous and quite nutty on the finish. A touch of bitterness as wine develops in glass. Certainly full bodied, you can definitely see the power of Pauillac and Latour, but it’s lost the sheer gloss, the plushness, that it showed when younger.

Mouton Rothschild

A little nutty, a little more elegant than Latour. Something of the same sense of those fragrant layers of flavor, that ethereal character, of the Lafite, but weightier. There is now a little bitterness on the finish.

Chateau d’Yquem

Rich, unctuous, figgy, very intense, very viscous. Notes of caramel. Sweet but not overwhelming. Very much its own wine, its own style. Vastly more complex than a modern Sauternes.

Lewin on Wine

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