Wines of the 1964 vintage: Were they successful?

Is 1964 a vintage close to your heart? Is it a year of birth, a year of marriage or some other symbol that makes you want to offer or drink a wine from that year? Let us decipher this vintage for you, to help you buy the bottle that best suits your needs.

> Our 1964 wines in stock!

 

• How was the 1964 vintage in Bordeaux? 

The 1964 vintage is a "textbook" vintage for understanding the complexity of a winemaker's work, the land and the vines. For wine lovers, it's also a textbook case showing that in the same region, it's possible to come across world-class grands crus, as well as diluted, botched grands crus. This 1964 vintage has two faces. A very fine face on the right bank, with the appellations of Saint-Emilion and Pomerol. Graves wines are also doing wonderfully well. The rest of the right bank was less pleasant, with almost all the wines too light and not ripe enough.

The 1964 vintage had everything to please and to resemble the splendid wines of Burgundy, but the rain spoiled the party. Spring went very well, with the grapes developing well. Flowering went off perfectly, leaving room for the grape berries. July, August and September went off without a hitch, with hot, dry weather. Then it was time for the harvest... Heavy rain fell on the vineyards from October 8 onwards, and winegrowers who had not yet harvested before that date saw a whole year's crop wiped out in the wake of a catastrophic 1963.

Merlot being the most mature grape, the winegrowers had already brought in their grapes and were therefore able to vinify grapes of great quality. If we disregard the misfortune of some, the estates that avoided the rains produced a super vintage, almost as great as 1961. 

The juices are concentrated, rich and powerful, with good acidity and a high alcohol content. This augurs well for ageing.

On the Left Bank, the unlucky ones harvested their grapes in the rain, bringing back diluted juices lacking acidity and balance. Only a few estates produced very fine wines. These include Château Montrose in Saint-Estèphe, and Latour in Pauillac. 

We are fortunate to still have a fine wine cellar from the 1964 vintage.

If you'd like to venture out for a tasting, some Châteaux are still drinkable, even though they've evolved considerably. These include La Fleur-Pétrus and Château Nénin in Pomerol, where the Merlot grapes have reached perfect ripeness. 

Château La Lagune in Haut-Médoc also lends itself perfectly to tasting.

 

• And the 1964 vintage in BOURGOGNE?

The 1964 vintage was the opposite of the catastrophic 1963. It was even a very interesting year for Burgundy lovers because the near-perfect climatic conditions in almost all the vineyards enabled us to produce wines that truly resemble their appellations. In fact, it's easy to tell the difference between the suppleness of a Pommard and the structure of a Gevrey-Chambertin. 

It also needs to be said, 1964 is the year of BurgundyThe weather in Burgundy was perfect, well above that of its Bordeaux neighbors, who had to endure heavy rains at harvest time. The opposite was true in Burgundy, where from April onwards, Mother Nature offered winegrowers perfect weather. One wonders if she didn't want to make up for the 63 vintage. By early spring, the vines were well under way. Flowering went perfectly, then veraison followed. Summer was warm throughout Burgundy, allowing the grapes to gorge themselves with sugar and reach maturity. A few light rainfalls softened the blow and were quite beneficial to the development of the grapes. The grapes thus developed in perfect balance, ensuring a quality vintage for the winemakers. In both Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, the harvest went off perfectly. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Chablis, where the harvest took place under a very heavy thunderstorm. Too much rain during the harvest causes irreversible damage to the grapes. The grapes become waterlogged, losing sugar and therefore taste and acidity. A disappointment for the winemakers, who had already set their sights on producing a great wine.

It's best to avoid Chablis wines in the 1964 vintage and concentrate on Côte de Nuits reds, because even if the whites are of the highest quality, they may lack balance because they've been over-sugared by the sun. It's for this reason that the 1964s are said to have been accessible very quickly. On the other hand, if well preserved, the grand crus of the 1964 vintage can still be enjoyed. Of course, you shouldn't expect a spirited little baby. But the perfect balance and concentration of the wines when they were first released should make for an interesting tasting. 

For Burgundy lovers, we still have a few bottles of this lovely vintage to discover.

 

• Vintage 1964 in the VALLÉE DU RHÔNE

The 1964 vintage is a special one in the Rhône Valley, and leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of the winemakers. It must be said that everything was in place to produce a great wine. There was little or no frost at the end of winter to disturb the development of the vines. Spring was almost perfect for development, with ideal flowering and veraison. Even summer did the job, letting in only a few drops of rain, allowing the grapes to soak up the sun. And perhaps that's the problem... When we tasted the wines from both the northern and southern Rhône Valleys, they were superb. Rich, powerful, robust... but sometimes too rich in alcohol. Too much sun didn't allow the grapes to develop the acidity needed for freshness. What's most frustrating is that the juices are very good and very complex. Time will have its way with these wines, which aren't very drinkable these days. 

If you come across a bottle of 1964, don't pass by. A little nugget may be hiding under the cork...

 

• And how is the 1964 vintage in the rest of France?

For many regions, 1964 is one of the vintages or the vintage of the century. In Champagne, we're talking about one of the greatest vintages of the century, with well-balanced Chardonnays and highly aromatic Pinot Noirs. The same goes for the Jura, where this was the year of the century, with a dry, sunny year producing a very healthy harvest and elegant, complex wines. In the Loire region, this is a very fine vintage for Cabernet Franc-based wines such as Chinon, Bourgueil and Saumur-Champigny.

 

> The best wines from 1964 in stock on the site