Guide-1960-millesime-vin
Nicolas Forestier

Visit vintage 1960 is a year close to your heart? Is it a birth year, a wedding year or any other symbol that makes you want to offer or drink a wine from this year? Let us decipher the vintage for you, to help you buy the bottle that best suits your needs.

> Our 1960 wines in stock!

 

 

buy rare great wine

 

  • Vintage 1960 in BORDEAUX

We're sorry for Bordeaux lovers, but let's be honest, the 1960 vintage is one of those that's quite difficult to produce and taste. And, to add insult to injury, it falls between two great years, 1959 and 1961.

Although things got off to a good start in the region, with the months of April to June in line with Bordeaux standards, it was not until July that things really started to go wrong. July was very wet and cold, which really slowed down the development of the grapes. The months of August and September then saw a lot of rain, which was devastating for the vineyards. After July's delay, rainfall like this will definitely condemn the grapes to produce low-quality juice, diluted by water and therefore abundant.

Even if some estates carry out a major sorting at harvest time, the juices are still not very concentrated. It is said that the most concentrated wines of the 1960 vintage are to be found on Bordeaux's Left Bank, with a little extra for the wines from Pauillac and Graves regions.

However, if you would like to taste Bordeaux wines from the 1960 vintage, we recommend you buy them in magnum. Containers are more conducive to aging than bottles.

 

  • Vintage 1960 in BOURGOGNE

The 1960 vintage was a rather difficult one in Burgundy. For both red and white wines, the general state of the vines did not allow the winemakers to produce a vintage of great quality. The start of the vegetative cycle suggested a year of quality, but it was in the summer that the 1960 vintage took a turn for the worse. Although there was no heavy rainfall, July was colder than normal, which slowed the development of the vines. This was followed by two complicated months, when humidity settled in the vineyard, encouraging rot, disease and run-off. In the Chablis vineyards, devastating frosts took their toll on weakened vines. This makes it difficult for owners to produce a top-quality wine with grapes that lack maturity. Severe sorting will be required to preserve only the highest-quality grapes for the vinification of healthy juice. Despite all these difficulties, the winemakers who work best in the vineyard and cellar will be able to claim to have produced a good vintage. It's true that 1960 Burgundies are now highly evolved, so it's a risk to open a bottle these days, but when the 1960s went on sale, the wines were highly aromatic, straightforward and of decent substance.

 

  • Vintage 1960 in VALLEE DU RHÔNE

Like most of France, 1960 was a mediocre year in the Rhône Valley. Heavy rains poured down on the vineyards continuously throughout the summer, with a few lulls, but not long enough to give the grapes a chance to develop. Whether we're in the North, on the Septentrional part, or in the South with the Méridionale part, the wines are recording high levels of humidity. Some appellations such as, Châteauneuf du Pape or even HermitageIn the end, they'll try to make the best of it, but without too much success.

Nowadays, we think that unfortunately, no wine from the 1960s can be "tasted" properly, without risking being passed over.

 

  • Vintage 1960 in the rest of France

As you can see, the 1960 vintage was an average or poor one for a large part of the French vineyards. Few regions succeeded in producing wines of good quality, as the heavy rains just before harvest loaded the grapes with water, swelling the crop, but above all diluting the grapes and giving them little substance.

However, there is one region that deserves special mention in this 1960 vintage, and that is the region of RoussillonSome of these wines will have reached maturity and benefited from a cool summer. Some vins doux naturels will have reached maturity, and will have benefited from a cool summer to avoid being overloaded with sugar and therefore alcohol.

 

The best French wine of 1960

? 99/100 Parker

Custody: 2015 - 2030
Tasted by Neal Martin in 2015: "Tasted at the La Romanée vertical at Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair. The 1962 La Romanée Grand Cru has an interesting history. This bottle actually comes from a barrel that was a wedding gift to Louis-Michel's parents, of which only three or four bottles remain. Its color is pale compared to coeval vintages, but this is not a sign of weakness. On the contrary, the bouquet is teeming with pure, surprisingly lush maraschino and blood orange. Purity and definition are outstanding. The palate is exquisitely balanced with such freshness you'd think it came from a warmer climate. The tannins are filigree, with just a pinch of black pepper towards the finish that lingers long on the palate. It doesn't get much better than this.

 

> The best wines from 1960 in stock on the site

Leave a comment