Everyone remembers 1961 for the reds. Sauternes had a good year too, quieter and far less discussed: enough autumn humidity for noble rot to take hold on the Sémillon, and enough sun afterwards to concentrate what it left behind. Sweet wine from the vintage now costs a small fraction of what the Médoc First Growths do.
La Tour Blanche has belonged to the French state for more than a century, bequeathed on condition that it be run as a viticultural school. Students still work the harvest, going through the rows in successive passes and taking only the berries botrytis has shrivelled to raisins. It is the first-listed of the Sauternes First Growths after Yquem, a detail from the 1855 classification that the estate has never once stopped mentioning.
At sixty-five, a well-kept Sauternes is usually deep amber and still sweet, with the fruit gone over to dried apricot, caramel and orange marmalade, and the acidity holding the whole thing upright.
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Producer: Château La Tour Blanche
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Vintage: 1961
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Appellation: Sauternes AOC
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Format: 75cl
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Region: Bordeaux, France
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Style: Sweet or fortified
Where it is likely to be now. Sweet whites of this class are the great survivors, and a 1961 Sauternes is more likely than most old wine to still be drinking, though we sell it as a collectible without a guarantee.
Who it suits. A sixty-fifth birthday present for someone with a sweet tooth, and one of the few bottles from this legendary year that does not run into four figures.
Condition. The merchant grades it good for its age with no fault noted; we check the fill, cork and capsule ourselves and send photographs before charging you.
Provenance. Bought to order from a professional European merchant. We check fill, label and capsule when the bottle reaches us and photograph it before it ships.
Delivered in 7 to 10 working days, tracked. Transit cover can be added at checkout.
Sold as a collectible item, as seen. No guarantee is given on drinkability.
