{"title":"Rare \u0026 Collectible Wines","description":"\u003cp\u003eOne-of-a-kind bottles from carefully cellared private collections.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"amarone-della-valpolicella-reserva-comporal-2008","title":"Camporal Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva 2008\/09, Corte San Benedetto","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne bottle available. Seven years in wood before it was released.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCorte San Benedetto is an eighteen-hectare family estate at Arbizzano di Negrar, in the Valpolicella Classico hills. The family has been making wine there since 1956 under grandfather Angelo; the current estate was formally founded in 2006 and is run by brothers Angelo and Loris with their father Mariano in the vineyards. Camporal is their Amarone Riserva, and it is made to a schedule almost nobody else keeps.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout the Decanter accolade, precisely\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn May 2019 Decanter ran a panel tasting of Amarone Riserva, single-vineyard and special-selection wines, judged by Michael Garner, Andrew Jefford and Monty Waldin. They picked three wines as Outstanding, and Camporal was one of them, described in the write-up as \"the glorious Corte San Benedetto, Camporal 2009.\" The other two were Dal Forno's Monte Lodoletta 2012 and Brigaldara's Amarone Classico 2015. Camporal also made Decanter's year-end round-up of top panel-tasting wines, a list restricted to wines scoring 95 points and above out of 1,672 tasted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo honest caveats. That accolade is for the \u003cstrong\u003e2009\u003c\/strong\u003e; Decanter did not review the 2008. And the exact point score sits behind Decanter's paywall, so what we can stand behind is \"Outstanding, 95 points or better,\" not a specific number. So we are quoting the verdict rather than a number.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eHow it is made\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGrapes from Negrar, San Pietro in Cariano and Marano di Valpolicella, between 100 and 400 metres on clay and limestone. After the appassimento drying, the wine spends \u003cstrong\u003ethree years in tonneaux and then four years in 30-hectolitre Slavonian botti\u003c\/strong\u003e. Seven years in wood. Amarone Riserva law requires four years of total ageing; this nearly doubles it, in two different vessel sizes, which is why the wine has both the sweetness of oak and the resolved, dried-fruit character of a large-cask wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVerona Wine Top's published note on the 2008 gives ruby garnet, a complex and powerful nose of black cherry, chocolate, sour cherries in syrup, spice, toast and balsamic hints, then an intense, soft, fresh palate with balanced structure and gentle tannins. At 16% alcohol this is a serious, warming wine and it drinks like one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Corte San Benedetto, Arbizzano di Negrar, Valpolicella\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Riserva\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlend:\u003c\/strong\u003e 60% Corvina Veronese, 25% Corvinone, 15% Rondinella\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlcohol:\u003c\/strong\u003e 16%\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAgeing:\u003c\/strong\u003e 3 years in tonneaux, then 4 years in 30hl Slavonian botti\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e drinking well now. No published window.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant two hours ahead and serve at 64°F. Braised beef, game, risotto all'Amarone, aged Parmigiano or Monte Veronese. It also holds its own after dinner with nothing at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne bottle, then it comes off the site. Ships from our Florida cellar. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/amarone\"\u003eBrowse more from the Veneto\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Corte San Benedetto","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":21452282495056,"sku":"713289172039","price":379.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/Amarone_Comporal_2009.png?v=1593696491"},{"product_id":"hatteso-amarone-della-valpolicella-dop-2009","title":"2009 Garbole Hatteso, Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThree bottles available. Tiny, numbered production.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHatteso is Garbole's Amarone, and it is made with the same disregard for the middle of the road as everything else the Finetto brothers do: a long appassimento, years in new oak barriques rather than the large casks most of the zone uses, and a release only when they think it is ready.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere Garbole comes from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTregnago, in the Val d'Illasi, in the eastern hills above Verona. It is cooler and drier there than in the Classico zone near Lake Garda, which lengthens the growing season and suits the drying process. Ettore and Filippo Finetto founded the estate in 1994 with no family winemaking behind them, fermented their first vintage in their grandmother's shed, and did not release a bottle commercially until 2001.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDense and dark. Dried cherry and plum preserve, almond, cocoa and coffee from the barrel, with the balsamic, mint-edged lift that good Amarone keeps underneath all that weight. Full-bodied and warm, with the sweetness of dried fruit rather than of sugar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Garbole, Tregnago, Val d'Illasi, Verona\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Amarone della Valpolicella, Riserva\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2009\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e Corvina Veronese and other native Veronese varieties. The producer does not publish the percentages.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAgeing:\u003c\/strong\u003e extended appassimento, then multiple years in new oak barriques, far beyond the appellation minimum\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e drinking well now, with years ahead\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant two hours ahead and serve at 64°F. Braised beef, game, risotto all'Amarone, aged Monte Veronese or Parmigiano. Amarone at this concentration also stands on its own after dinner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCommon questions\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat makes this different from a supermarket Amarone?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScale and time. Large commercial Amarone is dried for around 100 days and aged in big casks to a schedule. Garbole makes a few thousand bottles, dries far longer, and uses new barriques, which is expensive and unusual in the zone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs there a critic score for the 2009?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot one we can verify. James Suckling's 94 points belongs to the \u003cstrong\u003e2008\u003c\/strong\u003e, not to this bottle. Buy it on the producer and the method.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have three bottles. Cold-packed, shipped from our Florida cellar, signature required. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/amarone\"\u003eBrowse more from the Veneto\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Garbole Boutique","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":21452286132304,"sku":"713289171360","price":499.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/Hatteso_-_Garbole.png?v=1586841341"},{"product_id":"hurlo-rosso-veneto-igp-2009","title":"2009 Garbole Hurlo, Rosso Veneto IGP · A Meta-Amarone from Val d'Illasi","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRoughly 2,500 numbered bottles a year. Not made in every vintage.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHurlo is made exactly like an Amarone and then deliberately refuses to be one. Ettore and Filippo Finetto use native Veronese grapes that the Amarone rules do not permit, so the wine goes out as Rosso Veneto IGP instead. They call it a meta-wine, a meta-Amarone. What it really is: an Amarone made by people who wanted to ignore the rulebook and were willing to pay for it in appellation status.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat makes it unusual\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe grapes dry for 120 to 130 days in the fruttaio, in shallow four to five kilo crates, roughly double the drying time of a standard Amarone. The wine then spends a \u003cstrong\u003eminimum of eighty-four months in new oak casks\u003c\/strong\u003e, American wood, plus at least a year in bottle before release. Seven years in new barrel would destroy most red wine. Fruit this concentrated absorbs it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe blend is around half Corvina Veronese with four other native Veronese varieties, several of them close to extinct. Saccola, Pontedarola and Negrar have all been named among them. The Finettos deliberately do not publish the percentages, which they say is to keep their hands free from vintage to vintage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImpenetrable colour. Dried black cherry and plum, liquorice, cocoa, coffee and a balsamic, almost medicinal edge from the long wood. Full, warm and very long. This is an extreme wine and it is meant to be: a small pour after dinner rather than a bottle for the table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Garbole, Tregnago, Val d'Illasi, Verona\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Rosso Veneto IGP, declassified by choice\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2009\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e roughly 50% Corvina Veronese plus four other native Veronese varieties. Percentages withheld by the producer.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppassimento:\u003c\/strong\u003e 120 to 130 days in crates\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAgeing:\u003c\/strong\u003e minimum 84 months in new oak casks, then minimum 12 months in bottle\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProduction:\u003c\/strong\u003e roughly 2,500 numbered bottles, each with a certificate of authenticity\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant two hours ahead and serve at 64°F. Braised short rib, game, aged Monte Veronese, or on its own after a meal. Do not chill it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe producer\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGarbole was founded in 1994 by the Finetto brothers, who were not from a wine family and taught themselves. The first fermentation happened in their grandmother's shed. They did not put a bottle on the market until 2001. They work in the Val d'Illasi in the eastern hills of Verona, cooler and drier than the Classico zone near the lake, and they make very little of anything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCommon questions\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhy is an IGP wine priced like this?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBecause IGP here is a choice, not a demotion. The production cost of 130 days of drying, seven years of new barrels and 2,500 bottles a year does not change because the label says Veneto instead of Valpolicella.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHas it won anything?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLuca Maroni named the \u003cstrong\u003e2011\u003c\/strong\u003e Hurlo the best Italian red wine in his 2019 annual guide. That award belongs to the 2011, not to this bottle, and we would rather be precise about it than let the vintages blur.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShips from our Florida cellar, cold-packed. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/amarone\"\u003eBrowse more from the Veneto\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Garbole Boutique","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":21452286296144,"sku":"713289171384","price":890.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/Hurlo-Garbole_51bde6ec-a805-4c3e-a1eb-10e8769482e3.png?v=1656107066"},{"product_id":"chateau-mouton-rothschild-magnum-pauillac-1971","title":"1971 Château Mouton Rothschild Magnum 1.5L, Pauillac","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMagnum, 1.5L. The Kandinsky label. Three available.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA 1971 Mouton in magnum is a birth-year bottle and a piece of the artist-label series. The 1971 vintage was small and low-yielding, and Pauillac was not where it shone. The Wine Advocate rated this 88 points and called it a medium-weight, charming example, fully mature. That is what it is: a beautiful, gentle, forty-five-year-old claret with a story on the label, in the format that ages best.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBought from a private collector, not off the open market. The people we buy from are ones we know, who bought on release and stored the wine properly for decades. Nothing enters our inventory without someone here looking at the bottle first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe published Wine Advocate note describes a classic Pauillac nose of cedar, blackcurrant and lead pencil, with a savoury, sweet, cedary profile, good freshness and ripe tannin. Expect a mature wine: gentle, perfumed, more about texture and scent than power. The magnum format means it has aged more slowly than the equivalent 750ml.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Château Mouton Rothschild\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pauillac, Médoc, Bordeaux, France\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eClassification:\u003c\/strong\u003e Deuxième Cru Classé at the time of bottling. Mouton was promoted to Premier Cru Classé in 1973, the only revision ever made to the 1855 classification, so this bottle predates its First Growth status by two years.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1971\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.5L magnum\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eScore:\u003c\/strong\u003e 88 points, The Wine Advocate\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now, fully mature\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe label\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1971 label is by \u003cstrong\u003eWassily Kandinsky\u003c\/strong\u003e, from a 1939 painting now held at the Centre Pompidou. Baron Philippe de Rothschild began commissioning a different artist for each vintage with the 1945, and the run since includes Braque, Dalí, Miró, Chagall, Picasso, Warhol and Bacon. The artists were paid in wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStand the magnum upright for two days before opening, then decant slowly off the sediment about forty-five minutes ahead. Serve at 62 to 64°F. This is a wine for a table of six who will pay attention to it, not a wine to open casually.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout the estate\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBaron Philippe de Rothschild took control of Mouton in 1922 at the age of twenty and changed Bordeaux twice over: he made château bottling compulsory at the estate, ending the merchant practice of bottling elsewhere, and he spent fifty years campaigning for the reclassification that finally came in 1973. The estate motto changed with it, from \"First, I cannot be. Second, I do not deign to be. Mouton I am\" to \"First, I am. Second, I used to be. Mouton does not change.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCommon questions\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs a 1971 still good to drink?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYes, with the expectations that come with a fifty-five-year-old wine. It is fully mature and will not improve further. Drink it, do not cellar it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhy a magnum?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWine ages more slowly in a magnum because there is less oxygen relative to the volume of wine. A 1971 in magnum is a fresher proposition than the same wine in a standard bottle, and it is the format collectors look for in older vintages.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs this a First Growth?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMouton is a First Growth today, promoted in 1973. This 1971 was bottled while the estate was still ranked a Second Growth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThree magnums. Once it is gone we cannot reorder it. Ships from our Florida cellar. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Château Mouton Rothschild","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40044060442804,"sku":"","price":1569.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/CMR71Btl2.jpg?v=1624484293"},{"product_id":"petrus-1972-pomerol-bordeaux-france","title":"1972 Petrus, Pomerol","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThree bottles available. Petrus, from a private cellar.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePetrus needs no introduction and this listing will not give it one. What it will give you is an honest account of what a 1972 is, because at this price you deserve one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat the 1972 actually is\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1972 was a poor year in Bordeaux. Cold spring, cold and wet August, harvest pushed back to 7 October. Petrus made a creditable wine in a washed-out vintage, which is the most anyone claims for it. Jancis Robinson tasted it in 2013 and found it pale ruby with brown at the rim, wonderfully perfumed and heady on the nose, then light-bodied and gently fading on the palate. John Kapon, tasting a full Petrus vertical, scored it 86.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo this is not a bottle bought for the liquid. It is bought because it says Petrus and 1972 on the label, and because someone was born or married that year. That is a real reason and the market prices it accordingly: a 1972 trades at roughly half a benchmark 1982 or 1989 and about a quarter of a 1961. We would rather sell it to the right person for the right reason.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery rare bottle we list came out of somebody's cellar, bought from a collector we know rather than through a broker. We inspect each one in person before taking it, and it sits in temperature-controlled storage from that day on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Petrus (Établissements Jean-Pierre Moueix)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pomerol, Bordeaux, France\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eClassification:\u003c\/strong\u003e none. Pomerol has never been classified, which is part of the appellation's character\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1972\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGrapes:\u003c\/strong\u003e predominantly Merlot. See the note below on the blend.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now, fully mature and fading gently\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eA note on the blend\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePetrus is 100% Merlot today, and you will see that stated for every vintage on plenty of retail sites. It was not always true. Under Madame Loubat the vineyard carried close to 20% Cabernet Franc, and the Moueix team only began shifting the plantings decisively toward Merlot around 1970. By the 1990s the Cabernet Franc was down to about half a hectare, roughly 5%, and today it is gone entirely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo in 1972 there was real Cabernet Franc in the ground. Whether any of it went into the wine is a separate question, and the estate has never published the blend for this vintage. Petrus has historically used its Cabernet Franc only in very ripe years, and 1972 was a cold, wet one. We are not going to tell you this bottle is 100% Merlot, and we are not going to tell you it is a blend. Nobody outside the château knows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStand upright for two days. Open and decant gently off the sediment no more than twenty minutes before serving, and do not let it sit. A wine this old gives you a window rather than an evening. Serve at 62°F with something simple.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout the estate\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMadame Edmond Loubat bought into Petrus in 1923 and was sole owner by 1929. Jean-Pierre Moueix took the distribution contract in the 1940s and acquired the remaining shares in 1964. Jean-Claude Berrouet arrived that same year and directed the winemaking until 2008, forty-four consecutive vintages, succeeded by his son Olivier. The vineyard is eleven and a half hectares sitting on a buttonhole of dense blue clay roughly forty million years old, the geological accident that makes Petrus what it is and that no amount of money can buy elsewhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCommon questions\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs the 1972 a good bottle of wine?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is a good bottle of Petrus from a bad year. It is mature, light and perfumed, and it is fading. If you want Petrus for the drinking, buy a great vintage. If you want 1972 on the label, this is the wine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow do I know it is genuine and well kept?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt came from a private collector we know personally and it was inspected before we bought it. We are happy to send additional photographs of the label, fill level and capsule before you order.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThree bottles left, packed for transit and shipped from Florida. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Petrus","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40048841949364,"sku":"","price":5990.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/files\/petrus1972.png?v=1764014469"},{"product_id":"2006-beaulieu-vineyard-cabernet-sauvignon-private-reserve-georges-de-latour","title":"2006 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEight bottles available. 95 points, Wine Enthusiast.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGeorges de Latour Private Reserve has a fair claim to being California's first icon Cabernet. The first vintage was 1936, released in 1940. Two years after that first harvest, Beaulieu hired a Russian-trained oenologist named \u003cstrong\u003eAndré Tchelistcheff\u003c\/strong\u003e, who spent thirty-five years running the cellar and brought cold fermentation, malolactic fermentation and frost protection into Napa practice. He mentored half the valley, Mike Grgich among them. Every serious Napa Cabernet owes him something.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis came out of a private cellar. We buy our older bottles from collectors we have known for years, and that is the only basis on which we are willing to sell wine of this age: we can tell you whose cellar it sat in and what the conditions were.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWine Enthusiast gave blackberry, blackcurrant and cedar complicated by chocolate, anise, sweet smoky leather and Asian spices. Wine Spectator found dusty herb and loamy earth shading the currant and cedar. Wine \u0026amp; Spirits described a crushed velvet texture and blue-black richness. At 15.1% this is a wine from the riper, more modern end of the estate's history rather than the claret-like Tchelistcheff era, and it is drinking at full maturity now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCritic scores\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e95 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Wine Enthusiast\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e92 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e91 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Wine \u0026amp; Spirits\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e90 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Wine Spectator\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA five-point gap between critics on the same wine usually means a divisive vintage, and 2006 was exactly that in Napa: Wine Spectator's own summary was that for every charming, sumptuous wine there was another that came out hard and tannic. This one landed on the good side of that line, but quoting only the 95 would flatter it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Beaulieu Vineyard, Rutherford\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Napa Valley, California\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2006\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlend:\u003c\/strong\u003e 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlcohol:\u003c\/strong\u003e 15.1%\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now. At twenty years this is at or just past its plateau.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant ninety minutes ahead and serve at 62 to 64°F. Prime rib, lamb, or aged cheddar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEight bottles, then it comes off the site. Ships from our Florida cellar. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/cabernet\"\u003eBrowse more Cabernet\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Beaulieu Vineyard","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40061801070772,"sku":"DP#1002GDL06","price":369.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/BVGeorgLaTr2006.jpg?v=1624821216"},{"product_id":"1985-col-dorcia-brunello-di-montalcino-docg","title":"1985 Col d'Orcia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Tuscany","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTwo bottles available. A five-star Montalcino vintage, forty years on.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino rates every vintage on a five-star scale going back to 1945. It has awarded five stars roughly a dozen times in eighty years. 1985 is one of them, sitting alongside 1955, 1961, 1964, 1970, 1975, 1988 and 1990. Across Tuscany that year the weather was close to perfect; the 1985 Sassicaia from the same harvest was scored 100 points by Robert Parker.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo broker, no auction lot. Our rare bottles come from collectors we deal with face to face, most of them people who bought on release and have kept the wine properly since. Each one is inspected before we agree to buy it, and stored cold from the day it arrives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat to expect\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMature Brunello does not taste like young Brunello and that is the point of buying it. Expect the fruit to have receded and the savoury register to have taken over: dried cherry, tobacco, leather, truffle, tea leaf and a dusty, resolved tannin. Antonio Galloni, tasting the estate's 1985 Riserva, described tobacco, truffles, black cherries, leather and spices and called it fully mature and in a glorious place. That note is for the Riserva rather than this bottling, so treat it as the family resemblance rather than a review of this wine. There is no published critic score for the 1985 annata, so the score line stays blank.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Tenuta Col d'Orcia, Sant'Angelo in Colle, Montalcino\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Brunello di Montalcino DOCG\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1985, rated five stars by the Consorzio\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGrape:\u003c\/strong\u003e 100% Sangiovese, as the DOCG requires\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAgeing:\u003c\/strong\u003e long cask ageing in Slavonian and French oak botti, the house style then and now\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now. Open it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStand upright for a day. Decant gently off the sediment thirty to forty-five minutes ahead, no longer, and serve at 60 to 62°F. Bistecca, wild boar ragù, aged pecorino, or porcini. Mature Sangiovese wants salt and fat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe estate\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCol d'Orcia is one of the largest and oldest estates in Montalcino, at the southern edge of the zone above the Orcia river. In 1985 it belonged to the Cinzano family, who had bought it from the Franceschi family in 1973, and bottles of this era often carry the Cinzano name. Francesco Marone Cinzano took over in 1992 and later converted the entire estate to organic farming, which at its size made it one of the largest organic vineyards in Italy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCommon questions\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs a 1985 Brunello still alive?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFive-star Brunello from a good cellar routinely goes forty years and further. This one has been stored properly, which is why we bought it. That said, every bottle of this age carries some risk, and anyone spending this much should know that going in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo bottles in stock. Packed for transit and shipped from Florida. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Col d'Orcia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40069246320820,"sku":"DP#2014\/4-1025","price":599.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/colDorcia-brunello1985.jpg?v=1624913995"},{"product_id":"1983-inglenook-napa-valley-reserve-cask-estate-cabernet-sauvignon","title":"1983 Inglenook Reserve Cask Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEight bottles available, still in the original wood case.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInglenook was founded in 1879 by \u003cstrong\u003eGustave Niebaum\u003c\/strong\u003e, born Gustaf Nybom in Helsinki, who made a fortune in the Alaskan fur trade and spent it on 450 acres in Rutherford. He was the only Napa vintner of his era to bottle on the estate, he won gold at the 1889 Paris World's Fair, and for most of a century Inglenook set the standard for California Cabernet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThese came out of the original wooden case\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lid is branded \u003cem\u003eInglenook Vineyards, Rutherford, Napa Co. Cal.\u003c\/em\u003e around the estate's diamond monogram, and stamped underneath: \u003cstrong\u003eEstate Bottled Reserve Cask, 1983, Cabernet Sauvignon\u003c\/strong\u003e. The bottles have been lying in the original wooden dividers since they left Rutherford.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn a wine this old that is the strongest provenance signal there is. An intact OWC means the case was never broken up and traded piecemeal, and it means the bottles have been stored horizontally, together, undisturbed. You cannot fake forty-three years of that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat \"Reserve Cask\" refers to\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Cask bottlings were the work of John Daniel Jr., Niebaum's great-nephew, who ran the estate from 1939, and winemaker George Deuer. Individually numbered casks, selected from the best lots, with Daniel declassifying anything that did not measure up. The 1940s and 1950s Casks are the legendary wines, the ones Wine Spectator scored in the mid-nineties when it revisited them decades later. Later owners used \"Reserve Cask\" as the name of the top Napa estate tier, a deliberate callback to that era.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe honest context\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel sold Inglenook in 1964. By 1983 the brand belonged to Heublein, which had spread the name across jug wine and hollowed out its prestige, and the consensus is that nothing made after 1964 measures up to the Daniel-era Casks. Meanwhile Francis Ford Coppola had owned the Niebaum residence and most of the original vineyard land since 1975; the name and the land were in different hands, and stayed that way until Coppola bought the trademark back in 2011.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1983 was also a hard year in California: heat spikes, harvest rain, and abnormally high tannin even in the successful wines. There is no published critic score for this bottling that we can stand behind. Note that the 88 points you may find attached to a 1983 Inglenook belongs to the \u003cstrong\u003eReunion\u003c\/strong\u003e, a different and separately labelled wine. This case is the plain Reserve Cask, so that score does not apply here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat you are buying is a forty-three-year-old Rutherford Cabernet carrying one of the great names in American wine, with case provenance, at a price that reflects all of the above.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Inglenook, Rutherford\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Napa Valley, California\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1983\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProvenance:\u003c\/strong\u003e from an intact original wooden case, stored horizontally\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now. Open it, do not keep it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStand upright for two days. Decant gently off the sediment no more than thirty minutes before serving at 62°F, and drink it over the first hour. A wine of this age from a tannic vintage can go from lovely to tired quickly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWant the whole case? Email us before you order and we will hold all eight together. We have eight, cold-packed and shipped from our Florida cellar with signature required. \u003ca href=\"\/pages\/rare-wine-sourcing\"\u003eHow we source older bottles\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Inglenook","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40099879092404,"sku":"DP#3x2Separate\/ING","price":349.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/Inglenook1983.jpg?v=1625272207"},{"product_id":"2002-silver-oak-cabernet-sauvignon-alexander-valley","title":"2002 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFive bottles available. Still going, twenty-four years on.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlexander Valley is the original Silver Oak. Ray Duncan and Justin Meyer founded the winery in 1972 and this was the first wine they made; the Napa bottling did not start until 1979. It is the brighter, higher-Cabernet, earlier-drinking of the two, and it is the one that made the house style famous.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe American oak thing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSilver Oak ages everything in American oak, roughly two years of it, and that is the whole signature: vanillin, coconut, dill and sweet cedar wrapped around the fruit. People either love it or find it too much, and Silver Oak has never pretended to be for everyone. They committed hard enough that in 2000 they bought a half stake in a Missouri cooperage, which now makes around three thousand barrels a year for them alone. Not many wineries own their own trees.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBought from a private collector, not off the open market. The people we buy from are ones we know, who bought on release and stored the wine properly for decades. Nothing enters our inventory without someone here looking at the bottle first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Wine Advocate found abundant spice, vanillin, cedar, herbs and smoke over black cherry and currant. What is more useful is that Decanter went back to it in September 2024, twenty-two years on, and scored it 93, describing layers of loamy earth, truffle, currant, white pepper and tobacco. The oak has folded in and the savoury side has come forward. This is a mature Cabernet now, not a fruit-forward one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCritic scores\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e93 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Decanter, tasted September 2024\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e91 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e90 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · The Wine Advocate, December 2005\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Silver Oak Cellars\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Alexander Valley AVA, Sonoma County, California\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2002, a strong California Cabernet year\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAgeing:\u003c\/strong\u003e around 24 months in American oak, then bottle age before release\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now. Fully mature and drinking well, per Decanter in 2024.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant an hour ahead and serve at 62°F. Grilled ribeye, brisket, or anything off a smoker. The American oak makes this one of the few mature Cabernets that genuinely likes barbecue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFive bottles. Once it is gone we cannot reorder it. Ships from our Florida cellar. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/cabernet\"\u003eBrowse more Cabernet\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Silver Oak","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40143927738548,"sku":"DP#3018SO2\/#1006\/9","price":429.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/SilverOak_27a12c49-b792-434f-b17b-6d04f960aeec.png?v=1656099428"},{"product_id":"1990-chateau-la-tour-haut-brion","title":"1990 Château La Tour Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan Cru Classé de Graves","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne bottle available. From an estate that no longer exists.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChâteau La Tour Haut-Brion made its last vintage in 2005. From 2006 the fruit went into La Mission Haut-Brion and its second wine, and the name came off the market for good. It was the smallest vineyard in the 1953 Graves classification, about five hectares producing two thousand cases, and there will never be another bottle of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe know the person who owned this before us. At this age that is not a small thing, and it is the reason we were willing to buy it at all. Checked by hand, then straight into temperature-controlled storage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJeff Leve, tasting it in 2020 and scoring it 92, called it concentrated, powerful and beefy, leaning slightly rustic in its tannins, with a nose of cigar box, tobacco, smoked meat, cedar and spice over a jumble of red fruits. His summary was the useful part: this is not a delicate wine, it is old-school. If you like Pessac-Léognan for its savoury, smoky, tobacco-and-gravel register rather than for fruit, this is squarely that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Château La Tour Haut-Brion (Domaine Clarence Dillon)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pessac-Léognan, Graves, Bordeaux, France\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eClassification:\u003c\/strong\u003e Cru Classé de Graves, classified for red wine in 1953\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1990\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePlantings:\u003c\/strong\u003e 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, 23% Merlot. The Cabernet Franc share is unusually high for the Left Bank and is part of why the wine tastes the way it does.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eScore:\u003c\/strong\u003e 92 points, Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e at or just past peak. Drink over the next few years.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant about an hour ahead, off the sediment, and serve at 62°F. Roast lamb, duck, mushrooms, or anything with a bit of char on it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe 1990 vintage\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the great post-war Bordeaux years and the strongest vintage of that decade. The second-hottest year of the century after 1947, with the hottest August then on record, an earliest-of-the-decade harvest starting 12 September, and a perfectly timed rain on 15 September that saved the ripening. Quality was high across every appellation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe estate's story\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVines here go back to the sixteenth century. The Woltner family took the property over in the 1920s and sold it in 1983 to the Dillon family, owners of Haut-Brion. Before 1983 many people treated it as La Mission's second wine, but it held its own 1959 cru classé rank, which no second wine could. The 1990 falls inside the independent Dillon-owned window, 1983 to 2005, when it was made as a standalone wine with its own identity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCommon questions\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhy can I not buy a newer vintage?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere isn't one. 2005 was the last. Domaine Clarence Dillon folded the vineyard into La Mission Haut-Brion from 2006, which is why prices on the remaining stock have held.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne bottle left, shipped from Florida in protective packaging. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Château La Tour Haut-Brion","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42473431957757,"sku":"VCH-3\u002610","price":519.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/ChLaTourHautBrion1990.jpg?v=1644630048"},{"product_id":"1995-chateau-pontet-canet-pauillac-grand-cru-classe-in-1855","title":"1995 Château Pontet-Canet, Pauillac 5ème Cru Classé","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne bottle available. 92 points Parker, 94 Wine Spectator.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePontet-Canet sits on the plateau next to Mouton Rothschild and is today one of the most talked-about estates in Bordeaux. The 1995 catches it right at the beginning of that climb. Alfred Tesseron had taken over management in 1994, so this is his second vintage in charge, and Parker was already writing in early 1998 that the wines \"behave like super seconds rather than fifth-growths.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBought from a private collector, not off the open market. The people we buy from are ones we know, who bought on release and stored the wine properly for decades. Nothing enters our inventory without someone here looking at the bottle first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParker found a saturated purple colour and sensationally dense, rich, concentrated cassis, tannic and closed but powerful. Wine Spectator gave berry, raspberry and dark chocolate over big velvety tannins. Neal Martin, tasting it later for Vinous, called it bright cassis and blueberry with a fine cohesive finish and said it was drinking perfectly. Thirty years on it is a mature, classical Pauillac: cedar, graphite, blackcurrant and cigar box, with the tannins resolved.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCritic scores\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e94 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Wine Spectator\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e92 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e92 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Neal Martin, Vinous\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Château Pontet-Canet\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pauillac, Médoc, Bordeaux, France\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eClassification:\u003c\/strong\u003e Cinquième Cru Classé, 1855\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1995\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlcohol:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13%\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now. Parker's window ran to 2025 and the wine is fully mature.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStand upright a day ahead. Decant off the sediment an hour before serving at 62°F. Rack of lamb, roast beef, or aged hard cheese.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe 1995 vintage\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA hot, dry summer brought the Merlot in healthy and early, then a week of mid-September rain caught the Cabernet and left tannins on the firm side. It is a good vintage rather than a great one, but Pauillac and Pomerol are the two appellations that came out of it best.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThis is not a biodynamic Pontet-Canet\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePontet-Canet is famous now for biodynamics, for the concrete amphorae, for the Demeter certification. \u003cstrong\u003eNone of that applies to this bottle.\u003c\/strong\u003e Trials began on fourteen hectares in 2004, the whole vineyard converted from 2005, organic and biodynamic certification came in 2010, Demeter in 2014, and the amphorae arrived with the 2012 vintage. You will find merchants listing the 1995 as \"organic.\" It is not. This is a conventionally farmed Pauillac from the start of the Tesseron turnaround, and it is a very good one on those terms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe estate\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFounded on land assembled from 1705 and named in 1781 for Jean-François de Pontet. The Cruse family held it for 110 years from 1865 until the fallout of the 1973 Bordeaux fraud scandal forced a sale. Guy Tesseron, a Cognac grower who already owned Lafon-Rochet, bought it in 1975 with the vineyard in poor condition and began replanting. His son Alfred took over in 1994.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne bottle. Once it is gone we cannot reorder it. Ships from our Florida cellar. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Château Pontet-Canet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42473603727613,"sku":"","price":379.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/PontCanet.jpg?v=1644634365"},{"product_id":"chateau-lascombes-margaux-grand-cru-classe-1994","title":"1994 Château Lascombes, Margaux 2ème Cru Classé","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne bottle available. A Margaux Second Growth, and an honest account of it.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChâteau Lascombes is one of the largest Second Growths in the Médoc and, since 2001, a serious wine again. The 1994 comes from the period before that, and there is no version of this listing that pretends otherwise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat the 1994 actually is\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo things worked against it. The vintage: a warm dry summer collapsed into rain that started on 7 September and did not stop for the rest of the month, more than seven inches of it. The Médoc wines came out austere, and as they aged a green streak showed up in the finish. Pomerol, picked earliest, was the place to be in 1994.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the estate: 1994 sits in the Bass Charrington corporate era, when Lascombes was widely regarded as an underperformer against its classification. An internal review found that of the enlarged vineyard, only about fifty hectares were actually producing wine of Second Growth quality. There was no second wine to declassify the weaker lots into either; Chevalier de Lascombes was not introduced until 1997. In a rain-hit year, that matters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRobert Parker scored it 85 to 86 points and, revisiting it, wrote that every bottle he tasted after bottling showed an unusual musty wood character that initially made him think the wines were corked. We are telling you that because you would find it in five minutes and because we would rather you buy this knowing what it is.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eSo why sell it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause a genuine 1855 Second Growth from Margaux at thirty-two years old is still an interesting glass of wine and a reasonable birth-year or anniversary bottle, and because it is priced as that rather than as a great claret. If you want Lascombes at its best, buy something from 2005 onward. If you want a mature Margaux with a story, this is it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe do not buy old Bordeaux on the open market. Bottles like this reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought long ago and cellared properly ever since. Every rare bottle is inspected in person before we take it, and it stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Château Lascombes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Margaux, Médoc, Bordeaux, France\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eClassification:\u003c\/strong\u003e Deuxième Cru Classé, 1855\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1994\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlend:\u003c\/strong\u003e Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. The estate does not publish percentages for this vintage, and the modern figures belong to a replanted vineyard under different ownership.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eScore:\u003c\/strong\u003e 85 to 86 points, Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now. There is no upside in holding it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStand upright a day ahead, decant off the sediment forty-five minutes before serving at 62°F. Roast lamb or a simple steak. Open it this year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe estate\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLascombes passed from the Ginestet family to Alexis Lichine in 1952, with David Rockefeller among his American investors, then to the British brewer Bass Charrington in 1971. Colony Capital bought it in 2001 for sixty-seven million and spent heavily; the French insurer MACSF paid around two hundred million for it in 2011, and the Lawrence family bought it in late 2022. The turnaround is real, and it starts after this bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne bottle, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Château Lascombes","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43234334802173,"sku":"","price":425.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/Lacombes.webp?v=1660932119"},{"product_id":"2019-chappellet-pritchard-hill-cabernet-sauvignon-napa","title":"2019 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e99 points, The Wine Advocate. Three bottles available.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDonn Chappellet went up Pritchard Hill in 1967 and planted where nobody thought Cabernet would ripen. He was the first winery on the hill and, by Wine Spectator's count, the second Napa winery founded after Prohibition, one year behind Robert Mondavi. Everything that has happened on that hillside since, and it is now some of the most expensive land in California, started with him. The Pritchard Hill Estate bottling is the top of the house.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLisa Perrotti-Brown's Wine Advocate note gives crème de cassis, blackberry preserves, licorice and mulberries, with hints of unsmoked cigars, wild sage and tar. Suckling found blackberries, blueberries, black licorice, ink and flowers over plush, integrated tannins, and called it one of the estate's best ever. Mountain fruit: darker, firmer and more structured than valley-floor Cabernet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCritic scores\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e99 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Advocate\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e98 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · James Suckling\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Chappellet Winery\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVineyard:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pritchard Hill Estate Vineyard\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Napa Valley, California\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2019\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlend:\u003c\/strong\u003e 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlcohol:\u003c\/strong\u003e 14.5%\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAgeing:\u003c\/strong\u003e 22 months in 100% new French oak\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHarvest:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9 to 28 October at 25.0 to 27.0° Brix\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e drinking now, better from here\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant two hours ahead and serve at 62 to 64°F. Grilled lamb, dry-aged beef, or hard aged cheeses.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCommon questions\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs Pritchard Hill an AVA?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo. Pritchard Hill is an unofficial place name, not a federally approved appellation, so the legal designation on the label is Napa Valley. Only a handful of estates are entitled by long use to put the name on a bottle, and Chappellet is the one that started it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow was 2019?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA cool, wet winter and spring delayed budbreak and forced heavy fruit thinning, then a warm October brought everything home. The wines have both ripeness and structure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have three bottles. Cold-packed, shipped from our Florida cellar, signature required. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chappellet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43600509993213,"sku":"BK-CH-3","price":599.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/products\/chap_pritchard_hill-2019.png?v=1669073217"},{"product_id":"2001-gaja-sori-san-lorenzo-langhe-barbaresco","title":"2001 Gaja Sorì San Lorenzo, Langhe DOC","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e97 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous. Six bottles available.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSorì San Lorenzo is the most structured of Gaja's three Barbaresco crus, a steep south-facing slope above the Tanaro that belonged to the church until the Gaja family bought it in 1964. This is the wine that made Angelo Gaja's reputation abroad and it is the one that ages longest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy the label says Langhe and not Barbaresco\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause it is not 100% Nebbiolo, and Barbaresco has to be. Starting with the 1996 vintage, Angelo Gaja pulled Sorì San Lorenzo, Sorì Tildin and Costa Russi out of Barbaresco DOCG so he could include a small proportion of Barbera, around 5% in practice. Gaia Gaja has explained that her father wanted to make the wines the way they had been before 1966, when the appellation and its 100% Nebbiolo rule came into being. The family reversed the decision with the 2013 vintage and returned all three crus to Barbaresco. That makes 1996 through 2011 a closed, finite window, and this 2001 sits in the middle of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBottles at this level reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought on release and cellared properly ever since. Every rare bottle is inspected before we take it and stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGalloni described dark fruit, leather, goudron and licorice, calling it the richest and deepest of the three crus in this vintage, cool and inward. Expect classic mature Nebbiolo: tar and roses giving way to dried cherry, truffle and tobacco, with the fine, insistent tannin that Barbaresco keeps for decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCritic scores\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e97 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Antonio Galloni, Vinous\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Gaja\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVineyard:\u003c\/strong\u003e Sorì San Lorenzo, Barbaresco, Piedmont\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Langhe DOC\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2001\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlend:\u003c\/strong\u003e 95% Nebbiolo, 5% Barbera\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2016 to 2031, per Vinous. Mid-window now.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant ninety minutes ahead and serve at 60 to 62°F. Nebbiolo of this age wants fat and salt: braised beef, agnolotti in butter and sage, porcini, or an aged Castelmagno.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCommon questions\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs Langhe DOC a lesser designation than Barbaresco DOCG?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot here. Gaja chose it deliberately for his three best vineyards and priced them accordingly. The label is a statement about the blend, not a step down in quality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs 2001 ready to drink?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYes, and it will hold for another five years or more. Vinous gives it through 2031. Decant it properly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSix bottles, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gaja","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44265721692413,"sku":"BKGSL6","price":639.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/files\/GajaSori-san-lorenzo2001.jpg?v=1699998060"},{"product_id":"2018-schrader-ccs-beckstoffer-to-kalon-cabernet-sauvignon-napa-valley","title":"2018 Schrader Cellars CCS Cabernet Sauvignon, Beckstoffer To Kalon, Oakville","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e100 points, Jeb Dunnuck. Four bottles available.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSchrader's CCS is one hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon from Beckstoffer To Kalon, the Oakville parcel that most people would name if you asked them for the single most valuable stretch of vineyard in California. Fred Schrader founded the label in 1998 and Thomas Rivers Brown has made every vintage since. The 2018 is a perfect-score wine from one of the decade's best Napa vintages.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat CCS stands for\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot a clone code, whatever you may read elsewhere. Fred Schrader has said plainly that the letters are his wife's initials: Carol Colesworthy Schrader. Schrader's bottlings are named this way rather than by cuvée, which is why the labels look like a private code.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBottles at this level reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought on allocation and stored properly. Every rare bottle is inspected before we take it and stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDunnuck's note gives crème de cassis, smoked tobacco, white flowers, crushed stone and truffle, and calls it a rare mix of power, structure and elegance. Wine Spectator found lush cassis, plum and boysenberry compote over sweet tobacco and licorice root. It is dense and long, and it has the acidity to carry it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCritic scores\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e100 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Jeb Dunnuck\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e97 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · The Wine Advocate\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e97 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Wine Spectator\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e96 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · James Suckling\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Schrader Cellars, winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVineyard:\u003c\/strong\u003e Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Oakville, Napa Valley, California\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2018\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlend:\u003c\/strong\u003e 100% Cabernet Sauvignon\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now through 2040, per Wine Spectator\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy To Kalon matters\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo Kalon was planted in 1868 by H.W. Crabb and is the oldest continuously farmed great vineyard in Napa. Andy Beckstoffer's parcel is farmed for a small number of producers who bottle it by name, and the fruit is sold by the price of the finished bottle rather than by the ton. Schrader's contract for Beckstoffer fruit ran through roughly 2021, which puts this 2018 squarely inside the era collectors chase.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant two hours ahead and serve at 62 to 64°F. Dry-aged beef, venison, or a well-marbled ribeye. Give it air.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFour bottles, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Schrader Cellars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44265759801597,"sku":null,"price":599.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/files\/2018Shrdr.jpg?v=1699999353"},{"product_id":"1994-altesino-brunello-di-montalcino-docg-tuscany","title":"1994 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Tuscany","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne bottle available. Thirty-two years old.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAltesino sits in the northeastern corner of Montalcino at Palazzo Altesi, a fifteenth-century palace built by the Tricerchi family whose marble crest is still above the old oak door. Giulio Consonno, a Milanese businessman, bought the estate in 1970 and proceeded to change how Montalcino thought about itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy this estate matters\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAltesino bottled \u003cstrong\u003eBrunello di Montalcino Montosoli from the 1975 harvest, the first single-vineyard Brunello anyone had made\u003c\/strong\u003e. Before that, Brunello was Brunello; the idea that one hillside might be worth naming came from here. Altesino was also the first in the zone to age IGT wines in small French barrels, and the first to sell Brunello as futures, starting with the 1985. The estate has belonged to Elisabetta Gnudi Angelini, who also owns Tenuta Caparzo, since 2002.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe do not buy wine of this age on the open market. Bottles like this reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought long ago and cellared properly ever since. Every rare bottle is inspected in person before we take it, and it stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands. With a thirty-two-year-old Sangiovese, storage is the whole question.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat to expect\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRuby tending to garnet, a bouquet of violets and vanilla, dry and velvety on the palate with fruit, acidity and tannin in balance. That is the producer's own published description, and at this age you should read it with the fruit dialled back and the savoury side forward: dried cherry, leather, tobacco, tea leaf and a resolved, dusty tannin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe could not find a published critic score for the 1994 Altesino Brunello. Scores you may see for the 1995, the 1997 or for the separate Montosoli bottling belong to different wines and we will not move them over here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Altesino, Montalcino\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Brunello di Montalcino DOCG\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1994, rated four stars out of five by the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGrape:\u003c\/strong\u003e 100% Sangiovese, as the DOCG requires\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAgeing:\u003c\/strong\u003e a minimum of two years in oak plus bottle time, and it could not legally be released before January 1999\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now. Fully mature.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStand upright for a day. Decant gently off the sediment thirty to forty-five minutes ahead, no longer, and serve at 60 to 62°F. Bistecca, wild boar ragù, aged pecorino or porcini.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne bottle, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Altesino","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44342309880061,"sku":"DP1OFF","price":399.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/files\/Altes1994Btl.webp?v=1702511272"},{"product_id":"1981-barbaresco-riserva-docg-bersano","title":"1981 Bersano 'Cremosina' Barbaresco Riserva DOCG, Piedmont","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne bottle available. Forty-five years old.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBersano was founded in 1907 at Nizza Monferrato and is one of Piedmont's old houses. This is their Barbaresco Riserva from 1981, in the estate's distinctive wide-shouldered \u003cem\u003eChampagnotta\u003c\/em\u003e bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat \"Cremosina\" actually means, since most listings get it wrong\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCremosina is not a Barbaresco vineyard. It is a Bersano estate at \u003cstrong\u003eNizza Monferrato, about sixty kilometres away\u003c\/strong\u003e, bought from the Counts of Cremosina under a notarial deed of 1912. Eleven hectares of calcareous clay on the left bank of the Belbo, planted to Barbera, and today one of the recognised top sites of the Nizza DOCG. Bersano used the name across its range on labels reading \"Antico Podere Conti della Cremosina,\" so on a Barbaresco it is a house name, not a cru. We mention it because a bottle sold as a single-vineyard Barbaresco would be sold under a false description.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe do not buy wine of this age on the open market. Bottles like this reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought long ago and cellared properly ever since. Every rare bottle is inspected in person before we take it, and it stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe honest read on 1981\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn average year in Barbaresco. The vintage guides put it at three stars out of five and describe it as a normal vintage giving delicate, elegant, finely scented wines; Jancis Robinson's Piedmont chart skips 1981 entirely, which tells you something on its own. For contrast, 1980 rates four stars and 1982 rates five.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no published critic score for this wine that we could find, and no professional tasting note. At forty-five years old from an average vintage this is a collector's and birth-year bottle, and it is priced as one. Nebbiolo of this age, well kept, can be extraordinary; it can also be tired. We are confident in the storage, not in a promise about the liquid.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Bersano, Nizza Monferrato, Asti\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Barbaresco DOCG, Riserva. Barbaresco was elevated to DOCG in 1980, so a 1981 is among the earliest bottles legally entitled to carry it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGrape:\u003c\/strong\u003e 100% Nebbiolo, as the DOCG requires\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAgeing:\u003c\/strong\u003e at least four years, the legal minimum for Riserva\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml, Champagnotta bottle\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now. Do not hold it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStand upright for two days. Decant gently off the sediment no more than thirty minutes before serving at 60°F, and drink it across the first hour. Braised beef, agnolotti, or aged Castelmagno.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne bottle, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bersano","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44404169539837,"sku":"BBDP2OF","price":389.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/files\/Bersano1981.jpg?v=1705019887"},{"product_id":"chateau-haut-brion-1er-grand-cru-classe-2015","title":"2015 Château Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan Premier Grand Cru Classé","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne bottle available. 100 points from The Wine Advocate. 100 points from Jeb Dunnuck.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChâteau Haut-Brion is the oldest great name in Bordeaux and the only First Growth outside the Médoc, classified in 1855 from the deep gravel slopes of Pessac-Léognan. 2015 is the vintage that brought the estate back to the level of its legendary 1989, and it is the wine Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW scored a perfect 100 for The Wine Advocate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe do not buy rare Bordeaux off the open market. Bottles at this level reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought on release and cellared the wine properly ever since. Every rare vintage we list is inspected in person before we take it, and it stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands. That is the only way we are willing to sell a wine like this, and it is why we can tell you exactly where it has been.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDeep garnet. Crushed blackcurrant and black plum arrive first, followed by the smoked tobacco, graphite and warm gravel that only Haut-Brion gives. The palate is full and unusually opulent for the estate, the tannins firm but polished, and the finish carries on well after you have set the glass down. Superb now with a long decant, and built to hold for another three decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCritic scores\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e100 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Advocate\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e100 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Jeb Dunnuck\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e99 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Jane Anson\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e98 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · James Suckling\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e96 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Tim Atkin MW\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Château Haut-Brion, Domaine Clarence Dillon\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pessac-Léognan, Graves, Bordeaux, France\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eClassification:\u003c\/strong\u003e Premier Grand Cru Classé 1855 · Cru Classé de Graves\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2015\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlend:\u003c\/strong\u003e 50% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlcohol:\u003c\/strong\u003e 14.9%\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAgeing:\u003c\/strong\u003e roughly 24 months in French oak, up to 100% new, much of it coopered at the estate\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now through 2055 and beyond\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant two hours ahead and serve at 62 to 64°F. Rack of lamb, dry-aged ribeye, roast squab, truffle risotto, or a well-aged Comté. If you are opening it for an occasion, open it early.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout the estate\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFounded in 1553 by Jean de Pontac, Haut-Brion was the first Bordeaux property to sell wine under its own name, at a time when claret was sold anonymously by region. It was poured at the table of King Charles II, and Samuel Pepys recorded drinking \"Ho Bryan\" in his diary in 1663. Haut-Brion pioneered techniques now taken for granted across Bordeaux, including racking and ageing in new oak barrels, and in 1855 it became the only château outside the Médoc admitted to the First Growths. The Dillon family has owned it since 1935. Fifty hectares of red vines sit on gravel over clay and sand, up to eighteen metres deep in places, now ringed by the suburbs of the city itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCommon questions\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs the 2015 Haut-Brion ready to drink?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYes, with a long decant, though it is still young for the vintage. Jeb Dunnuck suggested cellaring bottles for seven or eight years from release and then enjoying them across the following three to four decades. Opened today it shows beautifully; opened in 2035 it will show more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat is the difference between Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey are neighbours in Pessac-Léognan and share the same ownership, the Dillon family having bought La Mission in 1983. Haut-Brion is the First Growth and tends toward finesse and perfume; La Mission is typically denser and more powerful. Comparing the two from the same vintage is one of the great exercises in Bordeaux.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhy is only one bottle available?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEverything in our rare and limited vintages is a single-parcel purchase from a private cellar. We cannot reorder it. When this bottle sells, the listing closes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne bottle, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e or see the rest of our \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/bordeaux\"\u003eBordeaux\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Château Haut-Brion","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46197173223677,"sku":"OWN6-1","price":899.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/files\/2015hautbrion.png?v=1745699914"},{"product_id":"1983-chateau-pichon-longueville-au-baron-de-pichon-longueville","title":"1983 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron, Pauillac 2ème Grand Cru Classé","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne bottle available. A mature Pauillac to open, not to keep.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePichon-Longueville Baron sits directly across the road from Château Latour on some of the best gravel in Pauillac. It is a Second Growth of the 1855 classification and today it is one of the most reliable names in the Médoc. The 1983 comes from before that was true, and you should know the difference before you buy it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat the 1983 actually is\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe estate went through a long thin stretch. Underinvested through the 1960s and 1970s, machine-harvested for much of it, and by most accounts making wine well below its rank. AXA Millesimes bought the property in 1987 and brought in Jean-Michel Cazes of Lynch-Bages, and everything changed from there. The 1983 sits four years before that turn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRobert Parker, tasting it for the third edition of his Bordeaux book, gave 87 points and wrote that it was better structured than the 1982 but had become less interesting as it aged: dark ruby, a spicy cassis-and-herb bouquet, medium-bodied, plenty of tannin, maturing rapidly. Wine Spectator gave 85. The 1983 vintage itself was uneven, hot and dry in July then hot and wet in August with rot pressure, and Pauillac was one of the better performers rather than a standout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat you are buying is a genuine forty-three-year-old Second Growth Pauillac at a mature-claret price, with one piece of history attached: 1983 was the first vintage of Les Tourelles de Longueville, the estate's second wine, which means it was also the first grand vin here to benefit from any real selection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe do not buy old Bordeaux on the open market. Bottles like this reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought long ago and cellared properly ever since. Every rare bottle is inspected in person before we take it, and it stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Château Pichon-Longueville Baron\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Pauillac, Médoc, Bordeaux, France\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eClassification:\u003c\/strong\u003e Deuxième Grand Cru Classé, 1855\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1983\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAlcohol:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13%\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eScores:\u003c\/strong\u003e 87 points Robert Parker · 85 points Wine Spectator\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now. Fully mature and past its projected window.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStand upright a day ahead. Decant off the sediment about an hour before serving at 62°F. Roast lamb, a simple steak, or hard cheese. Do not save it for a birthday two years out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe estate\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe property was split in 1850 into what became Pichon Baron and Pichon Comtesse de Lalande. The Pichon-Longueville family held this half until 1933, when the Bouteiller family bought it. AXA Millesimes acquired it in 1987, Jean-René Matignon arrived as technical director in 1985 and is still there, and Christian Seely has run it since 2000. The château itself, a turreted nineteenth-century fantasy built in 1851, is one of the most photographed buildings in the Médoc.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne bottle, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Château Pichon Longueville Baron","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46224925688061,"sku":"OWNBP1983-1","price":519.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/files\/1983pichon.png?v=1745700228"},{"product_id":"opus-one-2021","title":"2021 Opus One, Napa Valley","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e100 points, Jane Anson. Two bottles available.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpus One is what happened when Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild shook hands in 1978 and agreed to make one wine together in Oakville. The first vintage, 1979, was made from Mondavi's To Kalon fruit and went out under the working name \"napamedoc\" before anyone settled on Opus One in 1982. Forty years on it is the reference point for what Napa can do in a Bordeaux idiom, and 2021 is one of the strongest vintages it has released.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere this bottle came from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBottles at this level reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought on release and stored properly. Every rare bottle is inspected before we take it and stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the glass\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe winery's own note gives crushed cassis, blackberry and black cherry, violet, vanilla and baking spice, closing on black tea, licorice and dark chocolate. Jane Anson called it a classical vintage that perfectly suits the Opus style, sculpted and balanced with a great deal of lift. It is drinkable now with air and built to hold for decades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eCritic scores\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e100 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e99 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · James Suckling\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e98 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e97 points\u003c\/strong\u003e · Antonio Galloni, Vinous\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eProducer:\u003c\/strong\u003e Opus One Winery, Oakville\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAppellation:\u003c\/strong\u003e Napa Valley, California\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVintage:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2021\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBlend:\u003c\/strong\u003e 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot, 0.5% Merlot, 0.5% Malbec\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWinemaking:\u003c\/strong\u003e 19 days on skins, 19.5 months in new French oak\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e 750ml\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDrinking window:\u003c\/strong\u003e now with a long decant, and for decades with cellaring\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eThe 2021 vintage\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second-driest year in the winery's history. Harvest ran from 31 August to 24 September with no heat spike above 100°F, which is the combination Napa growers hope for: small concentrated berries ripened slowly rather than cooked. It is why the 2021s across the valley are being talked about the way the 2013s were.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eServing and pairing\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecant two hours ahead and serve at 62 to 64°F. Dry-aged ribeye, rack of lamb, or a rib roast. If you are opening it young, open it early.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo bottles, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/limited-vintages\"\u003eBrowse more rare and limited vintages\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Opus One","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47117340082429,"sku":"BKCRCC3","price":599.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0082\/0622\/1392\/files\/opus.png?v=1745697617"}],"url":"https:\/\/thesimplewine.com\/collections\/rare-wines.oembed","provider":"The Simple Wine","version":"1.0","type":"link"}