When 1962 Château Lafite Rothschild was released in 1965, it retailed at about £2 per bottle, which would now equate to about £40. Happy days… 😊
As juveniles, the 1962 wines were well-ordered and congenial (apparently – I’m too young to know first-hand). They were plentiful and reasonably-priced (as per 1955).
This largely forgotten Bordeaux vintage has always been upstaged by the bravado of 1961, which was a small crop and ambitiously-priced.
It was a late late vintage in 1962. Ripening was delayed (because the sap in the vines kept drying out), so the harvest didn’t start until 10th October; in 1961 it began on 27th September.
“It’s like those sticks of rock: bite it all the way down, you’ll still read Brighton”, as Ida says in Graham Greene’s 1938 novel Brighton Rock.
Lafite – like many other late-harvested 1962s – has a streak of acidity that runs through the wine like “Brighton Rock” in a stick of boiled sugar.
Arden’s bottle of Lafite ’62 came from a private client in the East Midlands, who retained it from their late parent’s cellar.
It’s a great bottle for a 60th birthday or anniversary in 2022 – or for drinking with a nice dinner on a Bank Holiday Monday…
