So I have been a lover of wine for 30 years, including owning a wine bar & bistro for 9 years and being lucky enough to pass level III of the Court of Master Sommelier. My dream has always been to try the '61 Lafite and I have now been lucky enough to obtain a bottle. I will probably open it next year to celebrate my Bday and the 50th anniversary of this wine. I would love to hear any experiences anyone would care to share and any advice any one has. Thanks so much in advance!
I’ll never understand why after their brilliant success with the ‘59, Lafite was so erratic with the ‘61, even though they both vintages were presumably bottled barrel-by-barrel. My scores over a 30 year period range from 84 to 98, with most of the laudatory ones 20+ years ago although the last bottle 2 years ago was one of the best. Most of the weaker ones were not poor or badly unbalanced, just very dilute and weak. I wish you the best of luck and if you are blessed you will find a wine of great finesse and elegance.
100% Cab, I believe in '61. I would guess harvest too early or maceration issues. The '61 Ch. Margaux I had was also underwhelming when I had it 10 yrs or so ago.
Hope your bottle is magnificent Len!
Last '61s I had were Palmer and then PLB - that was a while back now.
For me, that post WW2 era was my favourite right up to the mid '80s then things changed from then on. Still love the wines and many great beauties to be had amongst the many extraordinary vintages but they’re just different now.
Latour '45 wasn’t too bad either! - that’s a whole other story…
Wow! Congrats 
. I can’t wait to hear about your experience.
Not to mention a wonderful '62 -
I hope this is the greatest bottle of wine you ever drink. When it gets to this level, it doesn’t have to be “the greatest wine ever made”, but all the history of the estate, this vintage, and that unique flavor that only a wine from this site can achieve are more than enough to achieve a maximum orgasm.
my bottles of the 59 were fabulous, my bottle of the 61 was disappointing, I much preferred the 61 Montrose,
The best Lafite 1961 I have had was out of magnum. the wines during this era tend to better in large format, probably from better barrels. Both the maligned 1970 and 1975 were much better out of big bottles.
Thanks for all the comments! I realize I’m rolling the dice, but I’m hopeful…we shall see next year.
One of the wines of the vintage was Latour a Pomerol. Had a case of the '70 which was truly magnificent and drank like a dream from 25 years on.
Good to know because I have a magnum of '61 Lafite left to try during it’s 60th birthday.