A lot of talk of the best wine of the year but what were some of the biggest letdowns and why? For me:
2007 Colgin IX Estate:
Decanted two hours and sadly never opened up.
2011 Sassicaia
Pop and pour and over 3 hours I was left scratching my head.
Lesson learned:
I need to be more patient and give wine more air.
Two quick ones that come to mind:
2003 Haut Brion
2008 Dominus
Great thread idea, I’m left thinking and lord knows I had some.
1982 Margaux
Was left underwhelmed.
2012 Caymus
3 weeks ago. My boss invited me to his house to drink a 1999 la tache. He opened at 9am and we were there at noon and took a sip at 1:30. I smelled it 40 times up until 1:30 and it smelled terrible. Like leather / old bad Bordeaux.
Firstly, it I s important to know that I was ruined with the wine bug by drinking a 2001 la tache in 2008 and it was life changing. It tasted like royalty. I haven’t found that quality since, although I’ve stayed in sub $300 burgundies.
Well back to the story. First sip and it was completely underwhelming on multiple levels. No aromatics. And as my wife said later (who is one of those females with a great palate) “it didnt even taste like a Pinot. The $20 Pinot you gave me last night was way better”. It had a little bit of persistence in the middle of its flavor but the beginning and ending were so underwhelming how can I even be talking about 99 tache?
Well I have a boss who is very positive and I didn’t know what to tell him but I decided to be truthful. I’m convinced it was either cooked in an oven or it was fake.
Either way on every level it was a letdown. A great wine experience that turned completely the opposite way on an otherwise nice Saturday right before the holidays.
1985 La Tache. “It’s some sort of Burgundy.”
Probably mild TCA.
We all know that fake, high-caliber Burgundy tastes delicious.
2003 Bryant Family - Sweet oak cherry, blackberry, boysenberry. Much too alcoholic and jammy. 90
Most of the portfolio of Burrowing Owl in the Okanagan.
LOL! What a great comment to share with my Canadian (Calgary) wife. According to her, everything in Canada is superior to U.S.
2004 Marcassin: generic and didn’t justify price.
1980 Inglenook Lot 2: was hoping for more. Was over the hill, and I like elderly wines.
2000 Ridge late picked Zins: bought at auction on a lark. Undrinkable hot messes.
1989 Domaine de la Rousse Cote Rotie: corked. Saddened me. Had high hopes.
So much mediocre red Burgundy that it is hard to even know where to start. And California wines overall seem to be a waste of time and money.
Nearly all the Lafon white wines I opened, with the exception of those from the 1980s. I think the premox rate must be over 75%. Luckily my stocks are coming to an end.
2003 Pegau Da Capo and 1989 DRC Romanee St Vivant.
The first was impressive but not very enjoyable. The second was enjoyable but not very impressive.
A recent one I can remember, 2003 Cos (very highly rated by critics and on CT) vs 2002 Cos (IMO badly underrated).
2000 Leoville Barton - I opened a huge Brett Monster which never got better. Undrinkable.
2012 Tor Kenward Chardonnays - based on prior years, I bought a bunch and they all taste “wrong”.
A 94 Monte Bello was underwhelming this summer.
The re-emergence of TCA. Adding up the stats yesterday, I was at 6.8% of cork finished bottles ruined by TCA. That was a full 4% higher than in 2013, and my average age of wines opened was lower than in 2013. About 50% of the 2014 corked wines were new releases.
2007 Garric cab - a bretty mess