Flickinger is offering a boatload of B&H wines from '94 through '09.
I don’t know what years they used those dreaded purple corks, but they did when I bought them from '98 through '00. And virtually every one of those bottles turned into a steaming mess. I can only guess they are that much more disgusting today. So buyer beware!
Does anyone know if they stopped using these corks sometime after the 2000 vintage? Certainly it must have been becoming clear what was happening. Assuming they stopped, how have the subsequent wines turned out? I recall barrel tasting there once and being quite impressed, but that never translated into the bottle.
I had some when they were young, and liked them, but never had any with age on them, nor experience with the reputedly bad corks. That being said, it seems like the story of their closure issues is well known among buyers, as we hear this story pop up on boards periodically.
I remember a while ago seeing some bottlings show up at K&L for silly low prices, and passed when reflecting on these tales.
I’ve had the 2004 Left Blank a few years ago and it was great. It didn’t have the plastic cork. I just bought the 2009 cemetery and Labor of love at auction and they are both fantastic. I really like most of their wines when they are young.
I know others have had bad experiences with the synthetic corks.