1959

In 1959, unemployment problems eased to 5.5%. Television shows included “Rawhide,” “Bonanza” and “The Twilight Zone,” movies included “Some Like it Hot,” “Ben Hur” and “North by Northwest.” Alaska is admitted to the Union and becomes the 49th state and Hawaii is admitted to the Union and becomes the 50th state. The Boeing 707 Jet Airliner enters service and little girls love Barbie dolls created by Ruth Handler and manufactured by Mattel. Fide...

Bordeaux 1959 was proclaimed wine year of the century by overzealous journalists. Although it was a great year, it just wasn't the best year of the century. The year started with ideal weather conditions. The summer was perfect until the fall, when the rains arrived in mid-September. But the rains gave way to hot and dry weather, preparing a magnificent setting for the start of the harvest. The result was a truly ripe and juicy harvest. Reds are generally full-bodied, with mild acidity and an oily mouthfeel that comes from the high alcohol content. Although the vintage is generally compared to 1961, it has much in common with the 1949. The Sauternes vintage was also a success and the region produced very long-lived wines. Once again, Château Lafite-Rothschild was a complete success, sharing the title of best wine of the vintage with Haut-Brion. Hot on their heels are Pétrus, which must be decanted for at least three hours before drinking, and La-Mission-Haut-Brion.

Burgundy: A record crop of magnificent wines, legendary and still very good. Full but soft-textured.  After a number of difficult vintages and small crops, finally a great vintage arrived with the rare combination of sufficient quantity and high quality. 

An ideal spring flowering was followed by hot and dry weather in July and August. Showers refreshed the vines and on 14 September the harvest commenced under clear skies. 

Great, charming wines of rich, ripe fruit balancing the structured tannins. Still with a long life ahead.

Australia / A cool dry growing season with average rainfall produced “strong” reds despite the challenge of a wet February and March.

In 1959 there were 7,171 hectares of vineyards in Barossa and 29,030 tonnes of wine grapes were crushed in that vintage.

Muscat Gordo was still South Australia’s “most used” wine grape. As well as being used for dried raisin and table grape consumption it was a mainstay of the fortified wine industry.

The first fully automatic sterile bottling line, capable of processing 200 dozen bottles per hour, was commissioned at Orlando by Henry Deinhardt.

John Vickery and Reg Shipster pioneered skin cooling methods at Leo Buring’s Chateau Leonay winery. This was the first attempt at cool fermentation and paved the way for improving the quality of red and white wines.

Peter Lehmann was appointed winemaker-manager at Saltram Wines.

“From the Golden Slope of Burgundy to the châteaux of Bordeaux, 1959 will be remembered not as the year of De Gaulle and Algeria but as the year of the Great Wine,” declared Time magazine. “A godsend for grapes, and not only was it a great year in quality, but in quantity in year,” wrote the influential humorist Art Buchwald. With an exceptional summer, it seemed that nineteen fifty-nine was turning into something truly remarkable throughout the vineyards of Bordeaux. And brilliantly capitalizing on all this free publicity, French winemakers solemnly dubbed it “The Vintage of the Century,” a title that sparked a wine renaissance across the United States.

For the people of Bordeaux, the good news could not have come at a better time. The previous year had produced a small harvest and the previous year had been so bad that France had been forced to import wine. In terms of quality, the vintages of the late 1950s were so horrible that many in the newly created Fifth Republic chose beer instead of wine when visiting the local watering hole. Back in America, a young enthusiast named Robert M. Parker Jr. agreed along the same lines by tasting a bottle of 1957 Château Lafite-Rothschild. Noting that it “tastes like cat piss,” Parker learned that in the absence of a rating system, premier cru Bordeauxs like Lafite could easily profit from their reputation despite such a mediocre product.

But with news about the vintage of the century spreading like wildfire, American wine drinkers have finally decided to enter the market in a big way. During the 1950s, as wine culture began to gain momentum on the East Coast, the school of thought was that French wine was the undisputed gold standard. And with a devaluation of the franc ordered by Charles De Gaulle, American dollars could now capture a significant share of Bordeaux's exports, dominated by the British for seven and a half centuries.

For those who took advantage of the situation, they would not be disappointed. Michael Broadbent described the 1959 Château Lafite as “one of the best Lafites of all time...mammoth.” And superb” while describing Château Latour: “Glorious... Perfect enough to continue to mature for another quarter of a century. According to Parker, “The wines exhibit the effects of having been made in a classy, hot, dry year, with just enough rain to keep the vineyards from being stressed. They are full-bodied, extremely alcoholic and opulent, with high levels of tannin and extract.

Long before terms like “vintage of the century” were used ad nauseam, the marketing slogan proved to be a smash hit in places like New York and Washington DC. By 1961, the price of premier crus had more than quadrupled, with Americans becoming the main buyers for the first time. Adding to these booming prices was a futures market – something that would have been unheard of in the US a decade earlier – which infuriated many British customers. Describing the mood in England at the time, author Elin McCoy writes: "The international market was now built on these high prices, and if the Americans gave up it would surely collapse. Who else but Americans would pay so much money for wine? »

Looking back on the vintage craze of the century, many wine writers believe that 1959 failed to live up to its hype, especially compared to 1961. However, no one can deny the impact that this vintage had on purchasing habits in the United States, signaling a seismic shift in the French wine export market that is still felt to this day.

By Joseph Temple

“This was no party of the year, it was the celebration of 25 centuries!” Orson Welles

In 1959 the atmosphere was keyed up. All the necessary barbed wire fences had been erected around the huge gala venue. Special troops consisting of professional soldiers guarded the area, keeping the curious at bay. A number of private planes carrying diverse heads of state had already landed at the nearby Shiraz airport, and many more were on their way. A 200-million-dollar party was just beginning. Surrounded by steel spikes, in the depths of a huge cluster of marquees, 306 bottles of the first-ever vintage of Dom Pérignon Rosé champagne impatiently awaited the royal gourmands.

The 2,500-year anniversary of the Persian Empire was one of the most flamboyant society events of the twentieth century. Planning of the event had begun in the late 1950s, and it climaxed in a gala dinner held on 14 October 1971. The light-coloured leather seats of 250 red Mercedes-Benz limousines carried 600 guests of honour, including royals and heads of state, to a huge serpentine table, where they would enjoy the world’s most lavish dinner.

The dinner was made and served by the world-renowned Parisian establishment Maxim’s, which was forced to close down its restaurant in Paris for several weeks due to the festivities.

For almost six months the Imperial Iranian Air Force made frequent sorties between Shiraz and Paris, flying supplies which were then trucked cautiously in army lorries to Persepolis. Each month, goods were driven down the desert highway to deliver building materials for fifty Jansen AG-designed air-conditioned tents, Italian drapes and curtains, Limoges dinnewares, Baccarat crystal, Porthault linens, an exclusive Robert Havilland cup-and-saucer service and over 5,000 bottles of wine (including 1959 Dom Pérignon Rosé).

The event was officially opened with a toast of Dom Pérignon Rosé 1959 champagne.

The dinner started off with quails’ eggs filled with caviar from the Caspian Sea. The host, the Shah of Iran, was actually allergic to caviar and had to settle for an artichoke dish. Next came a mousse of crayfish tails, which was nicely complemented by a Château Haut-Brion Blanc from 1964.

The celebrated 1945 vintage of Château Lafite Rothschild added some elegance and a dash of soft tannins to the third course of roast saddle of lamb with truffles. Before the main course, the guests’ taste buds were refreshed by a champagne sorbet and a taste of the Moët & Chandon vintage champagne from 1911, created during the Champagne Riots. The main course was Iran’s ancient national symbol, peacock, stuffed with foie gras. The 50 roast birds decorated with peacock tail feathers were a stunning sight on the dinner table. The Comte de Vogué Musigny from 1945, a soft Pinot Noir, was chosen to contribute a suitable depth and structure to the meal. The Dom Pérignon Rosé champagne from 1959 was also chosen to accompany the dessert of glazed Oporto ring of fresh figs with cream and raspberry champagne sherbet.

The six hundred guests dined for over five and a half hours, making this the longest and most lavish official banquet in modern history, as recorded in successive editions of the Guinness Book of World Records. In the words of Orson Welles, “This was no party of the year, it was the celebration of 25 centuries!”

1959 was the first vintage of Dom Pérignon Rosé. The first bottles of such glamorous quality, considered the “jewel of Dom Pérignon”, were first set on lees in the Dom Pérignon cellars in 1960, with only 306 bottles released. The vintage was only presented at the celebration of the Persian Empire; it was never commercially released. As Richard Geoffroy, Dom Pérignon’s Chef de Cave, says, it was a turning point: “Dom Pérignon Rosé vintage 1959 is a rare, superlative, mythical vintage. Powerful and solar, its light will inspire the creation of Dom Pérignon Rosé forever.” Geoffroy also told us that there are only a few bottles left in the Dom Pérignon cellars. “Looking back, I think of the creator of the Dom Pérignon Rosé 1959 – René Philipponnat. I contemplate what has become of Dom Pérignon’s legacy: his ambition to pioneer rosé wines at a new level; the start of the Dom Pérignon Rosé adventure that generated the other expression of Dom Pérignon. Looking forward, it is my duty to live up to this heritage and keep pushing and taking risks to make an ever more provocative rosé.”

The Dom Pérignon Rosé 1959 vintage reached a record price of USD 84,700 at a historic rare champagne auction in New York, overseen by Acker Merrall & Condit. In this, their first ever public sale, the Dom Pérignon Rosé 1959 “rarer than rare” bottles were estimated at USD 5,000–7,000, but were acquired for the astronomical price by a wine investor.

92p

1959 Dom Pérignon Rosé                      2010/now

D 30 min / G 30 min (disgorged 3/69)

Excellent looking bottle. Purchased from private cellar of Italian champagne collector, whose father was an importer of Dom Pérignon in 70’s. This rare and unique bottle was opened at Premier Wine Club event in 2010.

In our open minds, we had no trouble imagine, that this bottle – Celebration bottle - we just opened was one of the “left overs” from the 2,500-year anniversary of the Persian Empire. Sometimes if you have an adequate amount of wild imagination, even the poor wine could taste like haven. Happily the only thing we needed to get this Celebration wine taste like pure silk was time, and after 30 minutes aeration it opened and became out of this world.

Intense, hazy, amber colour. Rich and complex nose that evolves beautifully in the glass. Pronounced and intense nose delivers white truffles, jammed arctic bramble, figs, hints of smoke and liquorice. Dry, intense and rich palate with vivid acidity, elegant and complex taste shows multilayered flavours. Focused and concentrated long crispy red berry finish. Vinous and peculiar style of Champagne. This unforgettable bottle was disgorged in 1969, and was absolutely the most charming and finely tuned wine.