1948 Coufran

BY NEAL MARTIN |&nbsp;MARCH 04, 2024I do
not wish to sound like a broken record, but allow me to reiterate the most sage
advice I will ever dispense on old bottles of wine. Provenance is key. Perhaps
even more than producer or vineyard, how that bottle has lived its life
determines how it will show once released from incarceration.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1709235210550-CF_March042024.jpg">Take
this humble 1948 Coufran. This bottle had spent its life in a cool, dank
cellar, hardly ever moved. Coufran is not a prestigious château, nor was this
wine born in a particularly esteemed growing season, forgotten between 1947 and
1949. Yet, after three-quarters of a century, this Haut-Médoc elicited so much
joy when served blind at a private dinner in Beaune. Sporting little aging on
the rim, the bouquet is simple but unbelievably fresh, well-defined and
charming. Vestiges of black fruit intermix with tobacco. The aromatics, for
want of a better word, just seem joyful. That is translated onto the palate
that, if you must quibble, is a bit rough around the edges, but undeniably
well-balanced, with crunchy tannins, crisp black fruit, touches of smoke and
tobacco and crucially, quite a noticeable saline finish that beckons you back
for more. While not the easiest bottle to find, it is claret like this that
habitually crops up at auctions, often inside mixed cases, that, if kept well,
represent better value than more auspicious names and even recently released
vintages. 92/Drink 2024-2040. © 2024, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.

1948 Coufran

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