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The March 2020 Auction: Part 4

Auction # 599 | View Auction Schedule and Details
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Auction Ends: 3/26/2020 6:00:00 PM PDT

Lot #1009. La Tour Haut-Brion 1981

Description: Consists of 1 Bottle, 0.75L
Score: 91 JG.
"The 1981 La Tour Haut-Brion is still a fairly young example of the vintage and really needs some extended aeration time to fully blossom, but blossom it most assuredly does when given enough time in decanter! The wine starts out a touch bretty, which coupled with the signature Graves tones of iodine and singed cigar can be a bit off-putting to the uninitiated, but with a couple of hours in decanter the wine starts to really put its best foot forward and is a superb example of the vintage. The bouquet eventually is deep, pure and complex, as it offers up scents of very sweet cassis, saddle leather, charred wood, singed tobacco, gravelly soil tones, a bit of bell pepper, cigar smoke and incipient notes of black truffles. On the palate the wine is fullish, very soil-driven and complex, with a sweet core of black fruit, melted tannins and outstanding length and grip on the long and classic finish. La Tour Haut-Brion was always famous for using more press wine, and in 1981, this certainly has given the wine impressive structure for the vintage. A lovely wine." John Gilman, View From the Cellar, Jul/Aug 2016, Issue #64
Notes: Base neck, lightly scuffed, nicked capsule, very lightly scuffed label.
Read about SWA's Six Point Inspection Process and how to read the condition notes.
Lot Location: Orange County
Estimate: $225

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