The Donnington Priory saleroom states that Richebourg “always needs more time than other Grand Crus. It takes that little bit longer to show the other-worldy complexity it hides for the first years of its life. The 1985 will now be as Henri Jayer intended when he first harvested the grapes.”
Little is left in the world from an original production of one barrel. The bottle on offer at Dreweatts in the November 26 auction is estimated at £30,000-50,000.
Guided at £4500-5500 in the same sale is a Chateau Latour 1966 which has been owned by the same family since it first arrived on these shores. This “sensational and unique jeroboam of 1966 Chateau Latour is in perfect condition and presented in the box it was originally shipped”, says Dreweatts.
The 1966 vintage, one of the favourite vintages of renowned wine writer Michael Broadbent (perhaps best-known as the man who restarted Christie’s wine auctions in the 1960s), is described by Dreweatts as a “lean long distance runner” and “magnificent depth, enormous, well stacked and velvety”. In such a large format, the ageing process slows considerably and “the new owner of this wine will have no urgent need to drink it, but very hard to resist this titan of wines at the peak of its powers”.
