1976 Lafite...

A few years after falling in love with Taurasi from Mastroberardino, I began working at Liquor Square in Syracuse. I worked under probably the best teacher I have known in regards to wine, Dana Decker. We
carried both horizontal and vertical collections of most of the top Bordeaux estates and since this position was in addition to the restaurant, I could afford an occasional nice bottle. My partner in wine crime, Paul, and I began tasting together all of the older vintages of Latour, Mouton, Haut Brion and
most memorable, Lafite-Rothschild. We started with the vintages in the 1950s, but found the available wines from the 1960s (most memorable the 1964 and 1966) too good to pass after just one try.

Finally we came to the 1976, which back then was a relatively feminine vintage we did not have huge hope for…and we were wrong! The 1976 at that point was mature, subtle and complex. We paid, I think, $65 a bottle! We stopped our Lafite-Rothschild progression until we finished all of the 1976, about 18 bottles in all, over the course of a few months. Real big shots!

There were many classic wines in that store, including Petrus, and even 1971 Latour and 1955 Louis Martini Reserve, but our favorite, the one we still talk about today, is the Lafite ’76. We were just kids in a candy store.

Shayne Hebert, Central Florida Wine Supervisor

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