On Oct 15, 8:03*pm, Mark Lipton > wrote:
> Back in July, I presented Jean with a 50th birthday present of 3 bottles
> of the '61 Beychevelle, a birthyear wine for her. *Tonight, for no
> particular reason except the onset of cooler Fall temperatures, she
> decided to open one with a spontaneously made paella (this continues our
> tradition of serving wildly inappropriate wines with paella).
>
> 1961 Chateau Beychevelle St. Julien
> nose: leather, tobacco leaf and underneath a deep reservoir of plummy fruit
> palate: rich, smooth tannins, beautiful balance
>
> John Gilman has opined in his publication A View From the Cellar that
> this wine has almost 30 more years of drinking ahead of it. *It
> certainly has enough primary character and balance to suggest that it
> can many more years, but I doubt that our cache will live to see 2014,
> let alone 2040.
>
> Mark Lipton

Happy birthday Jean. What a great wine with which to celebrate.