1961

What we would buy, and why

This is the most expensive and by some distance the most forged year of the decade, so buy only where the merchant will name the source and show you photographs: fill at base-neck or better, capsule undisturbed, label consistent with the period. A classed growth in honest condition starts around €600-900, and anything under €300 should be refused outright. If the budget will not stretch that far, a 1961 Hermitage or a 1961 Sauternes gives you exactly the same year for a third of the money.

1961 in the world

On 12 April, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to leave the planet, one orbit in 108 minutes. The same year Audrey Hepburn stepped out of a taxi on Fifth Avenue at dawn for Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Joseph Heller published Catch-22.

Best bets for 1961

• Château Palmer 1961 if the budget allows; Ducru-Beaucaillou or Léoville-Barton for the same year at less
• Hermitage or Côte-Rôtie 1961 from Chapoutier, Jaboulet or Guigal
• Sauternes 1961 - Coutet, Climens or Suduiraut, sweeter and far more forgiving of a poor cellar
• Barolo 1961 from Borgogno or Fontanafredda, both of which still release old stock from their own cellars

How we grade a bottle

Fill level, label, capsule and cork, then provenance. Every bottle is checked by hand by people who have handled thousands of old bottles, and we write down the flaws as well as the good news. What the fill levels mean · How to choose a birth-year wine