1959 Château L'Evangile - Pomerol

1959 Evangile was a mise négoce (merchant bottling) with the level of the wine slightly low at upper shoulder. With wines that haven’t been bottled at the chateau it’s always difficult to know whether the content will reflect on what is stated on the label. In this case everything seemed ok with one exception : the vintage was stamped on in blue ink instead of having been printed on which did raise a bit of doubt of concerning its authenticity.
As they say, “the proof is in the pudding”, so to lift all doubts we just had to open it.
The cork unfortunately was very dark, completely saturated and crumbled apart upon opening the bottle, so no information could be recovered here. The color of the wine did confirm its age however : dark cognac colored with just a hint of red showing in the rim which is what you could expect from a wine 55 years old with a slightly lower level.
Incredibly enough, there were still some scents of jammy fruit lingering here albeit overshadowed by lots of wood, cedar and smokiness, abundant sweetness and roasted pine nuts with even a dash of marzipan after a couple of minutes in the glass.
On the palate the wine was incredibly warm and generous, with a balance and length that can only be found in great wines from classic vintages which made it a perfect meditation wine. We tasted this wine during lunch and I took a glass with me to my desk afterwards, slowly savoring it with each sip bringing me closer to a state of Zen any well trained Buddhist monk would be jealous of. It made me realize we were lucky enough to have a stunning example of a well made Bordeaux and how it can still amaze after more than half a century.
With the quality this thoroughbred was showing there was no more doubt that we were drinking exactly what was stated on the label, a great Pomerol from a top vintage.