Proprietor François-Xavier Maroteaux whipped out a quartet of vintages on a recent visit to Branaire-Ducru. Nothing new there. However, this quartet spanned 125 years. I recall Maroteaux mentioning in passing about a handful of ancient bottles from a collector. So, to clarify, the bottle of 1890 had not laid undisturbed in the château’s cellars since birth. Instead, it resided in a private cellar until “coming home”.
