Found a few more 1961 notes I'd done:

1961 Ch. Pontet Canet - best nose of flight, high toned and a touch
alcoholic, sweet entry and long finish. One bottle was a bit dried out but
the other had time left. A nice wine.

1961 Ch. La Lagune - simpler sweet nose, nice flavours but not as serious,
and only medium length finish. Perhaps due to the young vines after frost
kill of 1956. I have had the 66 recently and greatly enjoyed it.

1961 Ch. L'Arrosee - for me the best wine of the flight, touch closed on
nose, but nice pepper on palate and good long finish

1961 Ch. Mouton Baron Phillipe -(magnum) darker with cocoa on nose, smooth
on palate, would have been my favourite had it not seemed a bit flat in
mid-palate.

and another event:

1971 Ch. La Lagune - I am a big fan of La Lagune, and I did a vertical of , I
think, 14 vintages a couple of years ago, omitting this one. The 1971 vintage
was respectable in quality, but the wines are either dead or nearing the end of
their useful lives, for the most part. I thought that the Montrose would show
well, with the La Lagune as an amusing sidekick. It turned out that this wine
showed quiet well, with the usual shot of sweet vanilla (all the new oak still
making it''s contribution), and a slightly sweet forward presentation on the
palate, with medium length and good balance. A good showing, all things
considered.


1971 Ch. Montrose - this wine exhibited an initial bottle stink, which passed
almost immediately (all were opened and served right away, to prevent any
chance of an early death in the glass before tasting). It had remarkably good
colour, all things considered, and a pretty decent nose became apparent, mostly
of cedar. In the mouth it was of medium length, with a slight astringency that
I put down to remaining tannins. This astringency increased with time in the
glass, and the wine went downhill fairly quickly after 10 minutes or so. I had
specified one of my very favourite foods to go with these wines (as consolation
should they not prove adequate) - fresh seared foie gras with apricot-ginger
compote and an apricot sorbet. In the end, both wines and food were fine, and
went very well together. Sadly, I failed to locate my seat between two foie
gras haters, although Andre did offer to forego his in return for a double
helping of the 59s (not!).
1966 Ch. L'Arrosee - dark, with a subdued nose with some spice and nut
flavours, drying a bit at the end, not as good as the 61.

I had the 61 Pontet Canet about 15 years ago. It was fully mature then
and seemed able to live quite a while longer. This 61 is the only Pontet
Canet that I have had that I considered to be of near top quality. Most
from other vintages that I have had were sound, but not exciting. Has
anyone had a Pontet Canet after the 61 that they consider up to the
quality of other wines in the same classification? I was so disappointed
with this wine in the 70s that I bought none after the 75.

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