Seven bottles of Le Chambertin Grand Cru 1953, Armand Rousseau, believed bottled by Andre Simon, shipped by Andre Simon, 31 Bury Street SW1. Plain Andre Simon merchant labels; red foil capsules embossed `ANDRE L SIMON FILS (LONDON) LTD`; fairly short foils and corks, consistent colour from bottle to bottle; some quite heavily cellar-soiled. Each bottle described individually, as follows, and in order of level: bottle 1: 3 cm below foil, nick and discolouration to capsule, small fragments of label remaining; bottle 2: level just over 3 cm, foil intact, label substantially intact with some nicks; bottle 3: level 4 cm, capsule intact, remnants of label; bottle 4: 5.5 cm, nick on side of capsule, one fragment of label remaining; bottle 5: level 5.5 cm, top of capsule disintegrated, top of cork mouldy and slightly soft, substantially intact label with nick along bottom; bottle 6: level 6 cm, nick to top of capsule, sides only of label remaining; bottle 7: level over 8 cm, foil nicked and damaged, label legible but heavily soiled. These bottles were removed from a damp country house cellar where they had lain undisturbed for over 30 years

Domaine Rousseau were one of the pioneers of domaine-bottled burgundy at a time, pre-war, when most growers sold to merchants and thus lost significant control over their wines. Many would not, in any case, have had the resources to bottle cleanly and consistently. The famous and beautiful label that adorns modern releases of Rousseau`s Chambertin is believed to have been introduced in 1953 - but this bottling, from that very year, escaped that regimen, for reasons unknown. Most likely the domaine, then under the charge of Armand Rousseau himself (d. 1959), had an agreement in place with Andre Simon that granted the latter a proportion of the former`s leading crus, possibly in a London trade distribution deal with all the domaine`s wines. At any rate, unlike second-tier wine leading growers sometimes sell to merchants nowadays, the label on these bottles proudly identify the source, most certainly with the grower`s consent. Thus, we can be confident the contents were in essentials (allowing for slight differences in bottling date etc) the same as Rousseau`s own stock. Today the domaine`s reputation is as high as ever and continues to be owned and run by the founder`s descendants, to include the retired Charles Rousseau (b. 1923) who would have had a hand in the making of the `53 Chambertin. The domaine`s vineyard holdings have risen from 6 ha in the 1950s to nearly 14 ha today including 2.15 ha in Chambertin (out of a total of 13.22 ha) and 1.42 in Chambertin Clos de B?ze (of 14.67 ha). The 1953 vintage was a very good one, among the three best of the 1950s.