The 1960 Bordeaux vintage was (I'm told by somebody who remembers ????) considered to be light, relatively inexpensive, and to be enjoyed while the superior 1959s matured.
It was the biggest crop since the frost-bitten 1956 vintage. There was a shortage of wine so the 1960s were well-bought.
Caught between the twin peaks of 1959 and 1961, Château Mouton Rothschild's 1960 – when the estate was still ranked as a “Deuxième Cru” (Second Growth) – was one of the best examples of this overlooked year.
Our bottle of Mouton 1960 came from a cellar in deepest Sussex and is in as good a condition as could be expected for its age.
The label for this Mouton vintage was by Jacques Villon (1875-1963), whose proper name was Gaston Duchamp.
He was brother of the sculptor Duchamp-Villon and the painter Marcel Duchamp.
Villon’s abstract image is captioned “ils vont dans les vignes, les oiseaux…” (“They go in the vineyards, the birds…”).
We also have examples of Mouton 1994, 1992, and 1976.
Sadly, the 1945 has all gone… ????
Stuart George - Arden Fine Wines was founded by Stuart George in 2019 to enable fine and rare wines to be enjoyed by private and corporate clients.
Stuart began his wine career 25 years ago working alongside the distinguished Master of Wine and Burgundy expert Anthony Hanson. Five years in client-facing fine wine retail sales were followed by winemaking experience in Friuli, northeast Italy, and in Provence, France, and extensive travel across the world’s wine regions.
A holder of the prestigious Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma in Wine and Spirits since 2000, Stuart has tasted vintages back to 1780. He was UK Young Wine Writer of the Year in 2003 before working with Hugh Johnson OBE at The World of Fine Wine magazine, which won several awards during his time there. Stuart was Image Editor and lead contributor to the best-selling 1001 Wines You Must Try Before You Die and Editor of the award-winning The Finest Wines of Tuscany and The Finest Wines of Champagne.
He is a sought-after wine show judge for his experienced and fastidious palate: Stuart has been the sole UK representative at the Shanghai International Wine Challenge; the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles in Chile; the Austrian Wine Challenge; and the 21st Concorso Enologico Internazionale in Italy.
He is also a “wine detective”. In 2014, Stuart helped to expose a Swiss-based counterfeit wine operation. In November 2019, he contacted a UK auctioneer to advise that a bottle of Pétrus 1990 being offered by them was counterfeit. The bottle was withdrawn from sale. He has also exposed dubious figures on the amount of fake wine in the market.
Stuart was winner of the 2019 Scuderia Ferrari Wine Award for his “outstanding professional achievements” and of the 2020 Family Office Awards Wine Writer of the Year.
Visit Stuart George's Website
