Haut Brion 1961 (750ML)

100 RP / 98 VM / 98 JD / 96 WS / 18 JR

The dark garnet-colored 1961 Haut-Brion is pure perfection, with gloriously intense aromas of tobacco, cedar, chocolate, minerals, and sweet red and black fruits complemented by smoky wood. This has always been a prodigious effort (it was the debut vintage for Jean Delmas). It is extremely full-bodied, with layers of viscous, sweet fruit. This wine is akin to eating candy. Consistently an astonishing wine! Anticipated maturity: Now-2005. Last tasted 3/97

The 1961 Haut-Brion is a vintage that I have only come across on one occasion back in 2006. This bottle reaffirmed that it is one of the top wines of this epochal vintage. Juxtaposed against the 1989, I noticed that it is virtually the same in color and remains astonishingly youthful for its age. The bouquet rivets you to the spot. Every scent is perfectly placed, blackberry and hints of cassis, fleeting glimpses of crushed violet, sage, warm gravel and a light estuarine scent. The palate is endowed with quite a grippy, almost foreboding structure and yet there is enthralling symmetry. For certain, it is a masculine Haut-Brion whereby the Merlot is less expressive than the Cabernet Sauvignon, yet somehow it pulls off the feat of being sensual and refined. Does it have the captivating personality of the 1961 La Mission Haut-Brion tasted just three weeks earlier? Perhaps not... Yet, the 1961 Haut-Brion is more an impressive wine, one of stature and grandeur. Tasted at the International  Business & Wine First Growth Dinner at the Four Seasons. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

Drinking at point, the 1961 Haut Brion was opened and followed over the evening. This prodigious, mammoth wine is another example of true greatness in wine and thumbs its nose at all the so-called more “elegant” wines today. A huge nose of sweet tobacco, applewood, cedar, wood smoke, and ample black fruits all gives way to a deep, full-bodied effort that has a stacked mid-palate and the classic, gravelly minerality and smoky character that’s the hallmark of this magical terroir. It picked up richness and depth over the evening, yet also faded slightly, so this is a case where it’s going to hold nicely going forward but is certainly not going to improve. If you have them, drink them. - Jeb Dunnuck

Very mature, with a smoky, even slightly burnt nuance, but powerful with ripe cherry, toast and tobacco flavors that linger on the solid, smooth finish. A glorious mouthful of wine, at its best now.--Haut-Brion vertical. - Harvey Steiman, Wine Spectator

Lively, rich sheen. Classic mature ‘warm bricks’  Haut-Brion nose. Dry and minerally. Very linear in impact (the opposite of fleshy) and complete. A very good bottle. - Jancis Robinson