… bought two Leoville Las Cases 05s on sale and in bottle for $265. Absurd price for a single bottle of wine, but then again, a great wine. And a competitive price.
Cos and Montrose are the two historic superstar estates of the Medoc. One has lost its way, the other clearly has not. A comparison between the two would be interesting, esp. since I get to taste Panos’ LLC and your Haut Brion also. And, I figured the tasting would be at your mansion although it also could be at my house.
Of course, there will be two tastings. One night we do this wines. The next night I make you and Jay drink Burgundy!!!
I would mention feeling sorry for Panos having to put up with a bunch of lawyers, but Panos has to do this every year when he comes home to DC. I think at our big January tasting this year there were two thirds attorneys or retired attorneys and one of the others is married to a retired attorney. And, it was only Panos who was turned away at the French embassy.
I think it’s funny you scorned the Cos, even though LLC has long had the reputation for having the most “spoofy” wine-making, although I will leave it to others as to whether cold soaks, temperature-controlled fermentation and gravity pumps are more spoofy than micro-oxygenation or reverse osmosis.
Incidentally, at the 2017 Farr tasting, both Montrose and Cos were described as “nowhere near ready to drink,” and in his 2018 article on Cos, Neal Martin said that the 2005 needed 15-20 more years to reach its drinking window. I doubt the LLC is any closer. Have fun drinking tannin bombs. (Now I can hear Joan Jett singing, “ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tannin bombs!” I’ll have that damn song in my head all day.)
I’ve had 9 bottles of 2005 Cos because I have no problem killing em young. It’s sensational. Ignore this “spoof” bullshit. That wine is big, I’ll readily admit, but it’s Bordeaux, it is not syrupy, and it is super complex and aromatic. I’ll bring a 2005 Le Dome if you guys want to do this.
My favorite super second from the Medoc was the Pichon Baron. But the really great wine, the one you want for the tasting, is from the Right Bank, the VCC. I think Panos is also a major fan.
Panos you couldn’t have posted in a more sympathetic place. To be a Berserker is to passionately pursue the great wine under $50 before others discover it. And at the same time to crack and pay up for the great wine we all know about.
I would love to attend this 2005 Bordeaux event in 5 or 10 years. I’ll bring Palmer .