Wine Berserkers - international wine social media, online community, and discussion

Keith Levenberg

Been awhile since I've had an '09, but every vintage people have said will never close down, eventually closes down. Putting aside that this is a non-falsifiable statement, do you have some examples in mind? How's it a non-falsifiable statement? If someone older than me has an example of a vintage ...

Keith Levenberg

The VERY long haul. What I was trying to say as that 2009 will live longer and indeed, need more time than 2010. Maybe; I’m not so sure about that. 09 are drinking pretty great atm too. I concur. Every 2009 we've consumed, from basic Bourgogne to Grand Cru, has been deliciously accessible from the ...

Keith Levenberg

Congrats Robert. They really grokked you. Rare to see that in the press.

Keith Levenberg

Exactly. People are too impatient. A wine - or vintage - shuts down and people write it off. This is what happened with 1988s - beautiful and delicious when first in bottle and then the fruit went to sleep and people - most notably Parker, who never understood Burgundy (although has apparently now ...

Keith Levenberg

George Chadwick wrote: ↑
September 21st, 2020, 3:23 pm

Craig G wrote: ↑
September 20th, 2020, 9:13 pm
Is that even possible?
Yes, not all critics get high before they rate wines.

Did not think the perfect reply could be improved upon. Chapeau, gents.

Keith Levenberg

Keith, apart from 2005, what would you say are the other great vintages from the last 20 years? '99, '05, and '15 at the top, then '02, '09, and '10 a notch below. Thanks. So, in the last 20 years, not including 2005, only 2015 (1999 doesn't count [tease.gif] ) Someone called 2015 a crowd pleaser o...

Keith Levenberg

Many producers had very, very long malolactic fermentations. I think this is the key point to understanding why the vintage is heterogenous. The malos were very hard to get finished (one producer I know had 8 grams per liter malic acid in one of their Vosne-Romanée 1er crus). As a result, the wines...

Keith Levenberg

Beaujolais with burgers is always fun. Meets more or less halfway between your desire to drink wine and your burger's desire for a Coke.

Keith Levenberg

It's possible that I'm just a terrible taster, but we just did a dinner a few months ago with a bunch of 05s, and the clear winners were two non 05 ringers. Even wines as plush and typically open as Mugneret Gibourg's Fueselottes need 3 hours or more to open up. (On pop and pour a few weeks earlier...

Keith Levenberg

I've been hitting the odd cheapie from 2005 now and then - Rully, Santenay, etc. Some of them are getting to be in a nice spot. But for the most part even these still need more time. As Howard indicates, this was pretty obvious from day one. You can even search the board archives (or maybe it was th...

Keith Levenberg

A new store front opened recently here in the south SF East Bay. As I was watching them build out, I had hopes it was going to be a wine bar ;) but turned out to be custom furniture made from wine barrels. No affiliation, just thought it might be of interest to folks here. I’m not sure if they ship...

Keith Levenberg

It's possible that I'm just a terrible taster, but we just did a dinner a few months ago with a bunch of 05s, and the clear winners were two non 05 ringers. Even wines as plush and typically open as Mugneret Gibourg's Fueselottes need 3 hours or more to open up. (On pop and pour a few weeks earlier...

Keith Levenberg

I'm less confident making that call on 2005, as I have some concerns that it might go the way of 96 (though I really hope I'm wrong). I also think 2016 is a great vintage, personally. Greg, I'm not sure I get the comparison between the two vintages. 1996 was a less-ripe, high acid vintage that show...

Keith Levenberg

2013 > 2008 > 1996, but if one doesn't like the style, probably best to skip. 1996 tasted better young than 2008 or 2013, and 2008 tasted better young than 2013. If the hierarchy now is 13>08>96 that only reflects that the last two are aging badly (and the first might be the next to age badly!). A ...

Keith Levenberg

By the way, for those playing along at home, "closing shades of nuance" gets its own square on the bingo card, separate from the unmodified nuance. 99 Points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous: “Like Tignanello, the 2016 Solaia is a wine of extraordinary nuance and finesse. Super-ripe blackberry, plum jam, es...

Keith Levenberg

Had an '02 Bara a few months ago that was aging very nicely. Pretty confident these can hold just as well as red Burgundy.

Keith Levenberg

I slept through the whole thing and was irritated my phone was ringing off the hook. But our apartment had a clear view downtown and I figured out something was amiss when I woke up and looked out the window at noon or thereabouts.

Keith Levenberg

Me: Nothing could ever possibly make me want to drink a zinfandel
D&R: "Zin for 70's Space Exploration"
Me: Shut up and take my money

Keith Levenberg

but to me the best seal for todays wines is screwcap. A top notch white Burgundy producer told me the same thing but said that he does not use it because the market won't accept it. He's got it backwards - the market will accept them the moment the top notch producers start using them. And even wit...

Keith Levenberg

Absolutely

If we'd been using screwcaps all along, what exactly would the argument be for switching to corks?

Keith Levenberg

Buy a couple of German rieslings that use the glass stopper. Those things are great to hold onto for moving around an open bottle.

Keith Levenberg

Congrats to Craig!

Keith Levenberg

Been using these for a few days now and I have become a big fan - they'll be my new go-tos. Like I said before, I am thrilled by the return to fashion of the round bowl. The shape isn't quite perfect though - the vertical line from bowl to rim is just a bit too close to 90 degrees upright for my lik...

Keith Levenberg

Ferriere is really underrated. Dings very high on the comfort wine meter.

Keith Levenberg

Triple Leoville is always a fun theme. That Las Cases is a beauty indeed.

Keith Levenberg

I remember this being okay on release and pretty crappy a couple years thereafter. I got rid of mine and you could've knocked me over with a feather when Roagna became a culty name.

Keith Levenberg

Just ordered a set. I salute the return of the round bowl!

Keith Levenberg

I had this the other day as well. While BAMA's rep is for needing tons of air, this was one of those wines that seemed to show most of what it had right away, then closed in on itself a bit before opening again in a fruitier way. That gives me the sense it'll be better in a few years still. But I re...

Keith Levenberg

Against sous vide steaks unless you like your steak to taste like roast beef. Also against the trendy reverse sear unless you're talking about something like 3" thick. A boring ol' regular sear is all it takes to get a perfect crust and a rosy rare interior.

Keith Levenberg

Cool!

Keith Levenberg

I have recorded the daily average price, as seen on “Wine Searcher”, for the 2016 Sandrone Barolo le Vigne price, right after the WA 100/100 Published on July 23,2020. (I have kept the screen copies. Prices in Euro.) July 23 - 97 Euro July 24 - 106 Euro July 27 - 144 Euro July 28 - 157 Euro July 29...

Keith Levenberg

I really dig Malescot, but I think it's unlikely that what you're enjoying about it has much to do with it being a Margaux. The style these days is deep, bold, exuberant, up-front, powerful, not really the adjectives you tend to see in most descriptions of the appellation. Brane-Cantenac is a good r...

Keith Levenberg

I guess if getting the beautiful old wine consumed quickly is your goal, then I agree with you. Disclaimer: Bern's and Haven are customers. You’re suggesting it’s better to spend a few hours following the wines development? Yes Tom, enjoy the whole show. This is a bit of a non-sequitur. Decanting a...

Keith Levenberg

If you guys are buying 2019 hoping to avoid paying higher prices later, don’t bother with Cru Bourgeois and Cantemerle or others in that price range. Good wines, but not big market movers. Those are drinker wines. For a better return, You need to focus on the top scoring Classified Growths and sele...

Keith Levenberg

Rick Joyer wrote: ↑
August 7th, 2020, 10:58 am
So….explain like I’m five how you approach this topic please.

Well, since you asked...

Keith Levenberg

Maybe the OP asked the wrong question - instead of the $60 mark, how about just some good ones that don't taste like the oak monsters that were fashionable in the early 2000s... Vega is great of course if you have the $$$. I've been impressed with Perez Pascuas lately. I'd be buying a ton of Viadero...

Keith Levenberg

I was thinking of you when I mentioned the 100 point scores from some critics. I decided not to score this, because for me a wine that I don’t want to finish my first glass let alone pour a second, must by definition score less than eighty points. This is why those of us who do score those wines ke...

Keith Levenberg

This is the oldest Rhys I've had since it's of course the oldest Rhys it's possible to have without breaking into Kevin's basement. On release it floored me with its complexity, rocky expression, and conspicuous absence of any indication it's from a heat-wave vintage. Fourteen years later the ripe f...

Keith Levenberg

Why should Kermit Lynch subsidize your purchase of $5,000 wine below its market value? Why's he greedy for asking market price, but you're not greedy for wanting it below market price? Seems to me it was the old practice of selling it cheap and letting his customers make a quick buck flipping that ...

Keith Levenberg

Why should Kermit Lynch subsidize your purchase of $5,000 wine below its market value? Why's he greedy for asking market price, but you're not greedy for wanting it below market price? Seems to me it was the old practice of selling it cheap and letting his customers make a quick buck flipping that b...

Keith Levenberg

I have compared the Zalto, new Schott Zwiesel Vervino and Riedel Restaurant (ouverture) stems and tumblers extensively. I took measurements using a digital micrometer on the rims and the ranges provided are either due to rim variance for a single stem or due to rim variance when two stems were meas...

Keith Levenberg

Clos Manou! Wow! I'm sure Robert is going to run out to get cases. Lol, I did check WineSearcher. And Leve. It’s a Leve 88 so I would prolly love it. Never tried it before. Extremely well-done notes. Helpful reference on some wines I have. I knew that I should have bought more 2010 VCC. Clos Manou ...

Keith Levenberg

How does one tell if a wine is confident in its cassis and blackberries, or if it's riddled with angst and self-doubt?

Keith Levenberg

When the 2012s came out, I was stunned by how good the Pomerols and Graves were and was surprised the vintage had such a poor reputation. I haven't had many since release, but I have a hunch they'll continue delivering surprised smiles for awhile. Comparison to '14 may be on a wine-by-wine basis, bu...

Keith Levenberg

wow no love for Gazin on that ranking. It's gotten better, but I would agree with her on the 3rd Class status for now. Remember that there are quite a few that she didn't give a classification to, so that's not the lowest status. Depends on the period also, before the sale of vineyards to Pétrus in...

Keith Levenberg

Pricing certainly feels attractive, and I did buy a very small amount. But I also perceive (rightly or wrongly, the data isn’t really available) that the market is being manipulated in tried and true Bordeaux fashion. Yes stuff is selling out, but on what kind of quantity? It seems that a few dozen...

Keith Levenberg

I need more friends who drink that much CRB

Keith Levenberg

Well, you know you've bought too much when CellarTracker interrupts you to give you a CAPTCHA check. But this time I was just entering a mixed case of 375s!

Keith Levenberg

TW has PLL up. I'm sure it will go quick. I'm passing. Oof at $150. I backfill 80s-90s Lalande at or close to that price. Buying some as a YOLO. I bought. Wine-Searcher low on the 2016 is $220 right now. Best price I saw on release was $180. I think $150 will end up looking like a pretty good price...

Keith Levenberg

The '11 really was a wild and crazy ride, wasn't it?

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