x
  • Country ranking ?

    769
  • Producer ranking ?

    28
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2040
  • Food Pairing

    Beef Goulash and Wide Egg Noodles

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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John Salvi MW
Colour:  To me rather surprisingly light.  Not old or brown but just not as deep as I expected.

Nose:  This is a wine which starts slowly on both the nose and palate.  On the nose it then gradually opens up and reveals more and more and becomes more and more generous.  Finally it is remarkably intense, with fruit, freshness and spice.

Palate:  As for the nose one thinks “is this not light”?  But NO!  Roll it around on the tongue; inhale, swallow and gradually the flavours grow stronger and stronger.  Deep, noble and integrated tannins, deep rich fruit at the core of the wine, spice and leather.  This great vintage, from the great Chateau of Lafite, is the perfect example of the iron fist in the velvet glove.  It has everything.  Great wine for now and for the foreseeable future.

94 Points Wine Spectator
Tasted from magnum. A really good, suave example of Lafite from a vintage in which it often tastes harsh and unyielding with tannins. This bottle blends spicy, nutmeglike aromas with abundant fruit flavors and meaty undertones. It is plenty firm and tannic, but not overly so. The finish is exceptionally long, too.--1961 Bordeaux horizontal. Drink now through 2010. 

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The Story

The Château Lafite estate run by the Rothschilds is, with its 100 hectares of cultivated land, the largest of the main Pauillac vineyards.

It is located in the highest part of the area and the view from its château, with its conical towers that appear on the label, takes in the banks of the River Gironde, which flows nearby. The wines are a blend of four different varieties of grape – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Lafite matures slightly earlier than other Premier Cru wines in the region on account of the generous amounts of Merlot used, and it is this that also makes the wine more delicate and subtle than those wines which are completely dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon.

“Lafite has a soul, a beautiful, generous, kindly soul. Lafite turns bare earth into heaven. Lafite is harmony, a harmony between man and nature, because without our magnificent winegrowers, nothing would be accomplished.”
Baron Eric de Rothschild 


Of the five Premier Cru wines in the region, Château Lafite to my mind has managed to produce the year’s best wine in many of the top years in 1900th centrury. The times I have spent in the company of a 1934, 1953, 1959, 1982 and 1986 have been unforgettable. And it was then that I always remembered how many wine critics fondly describe Lafite as ‘the perfection of elegance’.

Vineyard soil: fine gravel mixed with aeolien sands on a bedrock of tertiary limestone
Production area: 103 ha
Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon (71%), Merlot (25%), Cabernet Franc (3%) and Petit Verdot (1%)
Average age of vines: 30 years
Harvest method: hand picked
Winemaking: the vinification is nowadays done with all the sophisticated instruments which modern oenology has created. Fermentation takes place in large oak vats in which the musts remain for 18 to 25 days.
Ageing: the wines are aged entirely in new barrels for 18 to 24 months. During this time,the wine is racked 7 times and is fined with the whites of 6 eggs per barrel. Only certain vats are selected to make the Grand Vin, Lafite. The others are used to make the second wine of Lafite, the “Carruades de Lafite”.

 

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Vintage 1961

1961 - the greatest Bordeaux vintage ever?

I’m writing this during the en primeur campaign and notice that the Bordelais château-owners and négociants have been unusually quiet this year. I have followed this part of the market from a distance for close to 30 years now and have been told about a large number of “vintages of the century”. After the wines have been bottled and sold or the other way round, as the case is in Bordeaux, these claims tend to be modified.

Who are the serious contenders for the title “The Greatest Vintage Ever”?

During the 19th century there were a number of vintages with a great reputation made from pre-phylloxera vines. These include the legendary “Comet vintage” 1811, 1864, 1865, 1870, 1893, 1895 and 1899. Most are too old for anyone now alive to have tasted them at their peak.

During the 20th century claims have been raised for the vintages 1900, 1921, 1929, 1945, 1947, 1949 (by me), 1959, 1961, 1982, 1989 and 1990.In the present century already three out the eight vintages produced – 2000, 2003 and 2005 – have been mentioned by an overly excited wine press as candidates for the title, as well as the superb duo - 2009 and 2010.

In the book “The 1,000 Finest Wines Ever Made” 1961 is the Bordeaux vintage mentioned most often, with 22 châteaux. 1945 is mentioned 19 times, 1947 16 times, 1982 14 times and 1959 13 times.

What is the definition of a great wine?

It is a wine that has an extra dimension giving you an unforgettable drinking experience – in other words, a “Wow!” effect. It is a wine that has a long drinking span. It has to be good to drink young, but it must also be able to age for a long time without losing its attractiveness.A good vintage produces wines fulfilling these requirements.

A great vintage, however, is equally good in all major regions of Bordeaux, both on the left and right bank. It is also a vintage where something special was produced in all the different appellations, from the lowest Cru Bourgeois to the mightiest Premier Cru.

1961 fulfils these requirements better than any other vintage.

It was the vintage where the most incompetent winemaker just couldn’t make a poor wine and the wines drank very well at an early stage; in most cases they still do so to this very day.

Some extremely impressive wines were produced in 1945, but these were mainly from the left bank and a large number of the wines had excessively high tannin levels, which made them increasingly dry as they aged.

1947 produced the most stunning wines on the right bank but many wines on the left bank had problems with volatile acidity.

1959 produced a number of wines that are at the same level and sometimes even a bit higher than the corresponding '61s, and some experienced wine critics like Michel Bettane prefer 1959 to 1961. But 1959 doesn't have the same consistent quality at all levels.

1982 undoubtedly produced many very impressive wines but I feel that the wines from the right bank lack structure and have not aged very well and only very few wines from Margaux and Médoc were a great success.The twin vintages of 1989 and 1990, or 2009 and 2010 may come closest in overall quality, but it is too early to judge their ageing abilities yet.

 

What made 1961 so special?

It was a very small crop, the smallest since the Second World War. This was partly due to coulure (cold weather at the time of flowering) and in some parts because of frost on the night between 30th and 31st of May, together reducing the yield per vine to about a third of the usual size at that time (which, compared to today’s harvests, seems miniscule). This concentrated the minerals and potency of the vine amongst the few remaining grapes and was the reason for the success of minor châteaux, which would normally produce much higher yields than would be good for their wines.

August and September were both hot and extremely dry. This drought caused the ripening to take longer than the usually mandated 100 days. The harvest was delayed until 22 September, but enjoyed perfect conditions. Because of better cellaring techniques the wine-makers avoided the hard tannins of 1945 and the volatility of the 1947s. The wines have a very deep colour, a seductive nose and full-bodied, concentrated mature fruitiness, with enough tannins and acidity to give the wines structure and freshness.

I arranged a major tasting of more than sixty 1961s in 1989 and all the wines were very good, even from minor châteaux or from more famous properties that had not produced anything worthwhile for a very long time and some that have not done it to this day.

I also arranged a tasting, together with Dr. Peter Baumann, of fifty wines in November 2001. I had expected a large number of these to now be over their zenith but was amazed to see that many had not seemed to age at all during these intervening 12 years. With very few exceptions they were still very much alive.

 

The wines:

Margaux and Médoc

This is usually the most variable and disappointing group at any horizontal tasting with a large number of underperforming châteaux.

The star of this group and a serious candidate for the wine of the vintage is Château Palmer.

It first reached fame in 1978 as it won the famous Dr. Taam tasting in Holland. It is a precocious wine that was drinkable before most premier crus had softened and many tasters have underestimated its longevity. I remember arranging a tasting for Château Palmer in 1995 where I decanted the wine just before the tasting, believing it to be past its best. It did not show very well so Peter Sichel, the co-owner of Château Palmer, suggested that we decant the bottles planned for dinner five hours before serving them. It had then fully opened up showing all its softness and warmth coupled with power and strength for a long life. One of the best wines after Palmer and Château Margaux, which will be covered in the group of the premier crus, is Malescot St. Exupéry. Brane Cantenac, Giscours, Cantemerle and La Lagune are all still good but need to be drank soon.

 

Graves

La Mission Haut Brion is a fantastic wine, more powerful and concentrated than the soft and charming Haut Brion. Other very good ones include La Tour Haut Brion, Domaine de Chevalier, Haut Bailly and Pape Clément.

 

St. Estéphe

Cos d'Estournel is very good, Montrose is now shedding its tannins, whereas Calon Ségur needs drinking, having given much joy over the years.

 

St. Emilion

1961 is one vintage where I prefer Figeac to Cheval Blanc; both are very good but Figeac shows more complexity and elegance. I prefer Cheval Blanc's '64 to its '61. Ausone and Canon are both lovely elegant wines but they do not have the concentration of a top '61. Two very underrated wines are L'Arrosée and La Gaffelière – both are very impressive and still bargains if you are lucky enough to find them.

 

Pomerol

The two rarest and most expensive wines from '61 both come from Pomerol. Pétrus and Latour-á-Pomerol. Both are tremendously impressive – Latour-á-Pomerol with great sweetness, richness and concentration. Pétrus with similar richness but with even more power and structure. I have never had the pleasure of drinking these two giants next to one another but expect Pétrus to have the longer life expectancy. Vieux Château Certan is a wonderful mature wine, as is Lafleur. A wine I have also found very good over the years is Château Gazin. It did then include grapes from a parcel of the best part of Pomerol, now belonging to Château Pétrus. I don't have any tasting notes on Trotanoy or L'Evangile, but both have a great reputation.

 

St. Julien

My personal favourite here is Ducru Beaucaillou, possibly the most elegant of all wines. I have drunk it twice this year, and it was not showing any signs of ageing at all. It is closely followed by Gruaud Larose and Léoville Las Cases, both very impressive. Léoville and Langoa Barton did not have a very good period then and are, like Léoville Poyferré, disappointing for the vintage. Talbot and Branair Ducru are good but need drinking soon.

 

Pauillac

Both Pichons are good but I prefer Pichon Baron as it has more structure and concentration than the slightly overripe Pichon Lalande. Lynch Bages is still very good just like Pontet Canet. Pontet Canet was bottled by several négociants, and the one to drink is the Cruse-bottling which was the unofficial château bottling at the time.

 

The Premier Crus

The star here is Château Latour. It is the most majestic of wines and the wine that will become the new collectors’ item for millionaires as Mouton '45 and Cheval Blanc '47 start to fade away.

It has great concentration of cabernet fruit with a firm tannic structure. Truly an iron fist in a silk glove, only now opening up to reveal its true greatness. It is also the wine that was ranked in first place in “The 1,000 Finest Wines Ever Made”.

Château Margaux made its finest wine since the legendary 1900 and it is still wonderful to drink. Mouton is a luscious wine on a par with its wonderful '59.

Haut Brion is soft and lovely but not as great as its '59. Lafite shows big bottle variation as it was still bottled from cask to cask at the time and over a long period. At its best it is very fine and delicate with little power but great elegance, at its worst it is a tired wine with no body or fruit left.

Unfortunately great quality coupled with small quantity always leads to high prices, and this is particularly the case with the 1961 Bordeaux. However, all true winelovers should have at least once in their lifetime have drunk a good '61 to know what a perfect claret can taste like. 

Jan-Erik Paulson

READ ALSO NEAL MARTIN*S ARTICLE ABOUT 1961 VINTAGE

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Average Bottle Price

2023 2021 2019 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2005 2000
1 430€ +31.8% 1 085€ -5.7% 1 150€ +2.7% 1 120€ -4.3% 1 170€ +26.9% 922€ +9.4% 843€ -9.7% 934€ -5.4% 987€ -26.5% 1 342€ -7.6% 1 452€ +186.4% 507€ +46.5% 346€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Tasting note

color

Full, Cherry Red and Bright

ending

Medium and Gentle

flavors

Bread, Plum, Voluptuous, Cigar-box, Leather and Tobacco

nose

Intense, Refined, Opulent and Seductive

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Low tannin, Balanced, Good texture, Medium-bodied, Elegant, Dry and Silky tannins

Verdict

Fine

Written Notes

Fine looking magnum. Excellent by the neck level. Decanted 45 minutes. Deep dark brick red colour. The nose is expressive and stylish, but not nearly as intense and seductive as the 1959. Fine degree of fruitiness left, dark berries, roasted aromas and spiciness. Well balanced, but not as complex and multi-layered as one might expected from this great vintage´s Firsth Growth. Fairly good combination of elegance and power. Harmonious, firm yet refreshing. Softened fully ripe tannins. At peak today but will keep there for another decade.

  • 94p

I think there were about ten of us, so Lady Agah brought a double magnum of 1961 Lafite Rothschild. Niiiiice. And so was this bottle, which was about as good as this wine ever gets. There was honeyed fruit and nice supporting carob and cedar aromas. There was a delicate spice to its sweet, enticing nose. A big debate ensued about the overall quality of the wine; there was no question this was in ‘excellent’ territory, 93-94 points for those of you keeping score. Dapper Dave admired its ‘velvety animal texture.’ It was soft, easy and creamy, just beautiful. Every refresher invigorated the wine again. I was kind of torn between 93 and 94 points, vacillating back and forth. Bottles will likely score lower, but I could still go back to it at the end of the night after all the great wine that ensued…and still enjoy. Drink up, as not all bottles are created like double magnums, and this isn’t one of the legendary wines from this legendary vintage (93D).

  • 93p
The first time I’ve seen this wine and it lived up to expectations. No doubt, bottles vary considerably but this one was in great shape. There was a small ullage but it appeared to provide no adverse influence on the wine. The colour was certainly mature – deep reds/browns. The nose was gentle spices but beef stock and mushroom notes prevailed. There was also some of that classic mature Bordeaux dry hay character. Wonderfully complex. The finish is amazingly long, better than one could imagine. Magnificent stuff. Still wonderfully alive for a wine that has more than half a century under its belt. The last bottle of a case a friend has had for many, many years in ideal storage so no concerns re condition or fakes. It is easy to think that the reputation of the wine and the vintage influence the score but I’d like to think that they did not play a role. Just a wonderful mature, complex Bordeaux.
  • 98p

The 1961 Lafite-Rothschild is a wine that has always left me wanting more and a disappointment when compared to Latour and Haut-Brion (though Château Margaux was also below-par). Emile Peynaud recorded that it took a ton of ice to cool the vats that year. Baron Eric de Rothschild pointed out that the wine was bottled over a three month duration. This might well be the best example of the 1961 that I have encountered, but it is still a few paces behind full potential. The nose feels stuck in second gear for a while: blackberry, gravel, a touch of bay leaf and graphite, but there is an absence of both fruit and cohesion. The palate is medium-bodied, with light tannins considering the vintage, balanced but lacking substance. And it does not really have the power and grip on the finish to leave you convinced. There is a certain class about this 1961 but it lags behind the 1959 and for that matter, pristine bottles of the 1962 and 1966. Tasted at the Lafite-Rothschild 150th anniversary dinner at the estate.

  • 91p

Ruby with brick rim. Figs, scented, violets, liquorice, dates, some blueberries, leather, minty touch, elegant and refines, highly seductive nose. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, stunning texture, little bit light on its feet, detailed, superb balance, long. 95

  • 95p
Similar to the 1953 vary varied. It is the weakest of the premier crus in 1961 and nowhere near the 1959 in quality. Good bottles can be very charming and nice, but quite disappointing for the vintage.
  • 90p
D 5 h / G 2 h Little hazy, moderately intense brick red colour. The elegant nose is less expressive but has many layers in it making it fascinating and seductive – warm, vegetal, leafy, and floral. The palate reveals vivid acidity together with round tannins and less of a body weight. At the same time very polished and lean in style with lingering finish with elegant black currant and cedar notes. A classy wine although not a great charmer. This reserved wine benefits for at least 5 hour decanting to expose itself completely. Keep well another 15-17 years.
  • 93p
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Information

Origin

Pauillac, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Extraordinary

Value For Money

Satisfactory

Investment potential

Very Good

Fake factory

Serious

Glass time

1h

Inside Information

Wine Advocate #90
Dec 1993
Robert M. Parker, Jr. 91 Drink: N/A $1199-$2509
(Magnum)

After a dozen or more disappointing examples of this wine in a regular format (750 ml), I finally bestowed an outstanding rating on this renowned wine. This magnum possessed surprisingly deep color for Lafite, a sweet, caramel, cedary, lead pencil-scented nose, rich, medium-bodied, spicy flavors with noticeable tannin, high acidity, and a long finish. Other examples of the 1961 Lafite have displayed a light color with considerable orange/rush, attenuated, thin flavors, and excessive acidity. There has been speculation that the 1961 Lafite was bottled over an extraordinarily long time, and that the earlier-bottled examples possess more fruit than those bottled later. Who can say?
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