2007 Maybach could be monumental, but...

WINE TALK
1

frickin corked. 150 bucks of frustrating. Beautiful concentration, structure, and texture. Even some floral, mocha and rich fruit. Alas, it’s all dumbed down, obviously robbed of it’s nuance and fruit - and the wet cardboard is impossible to get past. Oh well.

2

Wow, what a bummer. Sorry that happened to you.

3

Given such a recent vintage, I would write the winery. They may send you a new one.

4

+1. I’d never do this for a $25 bottle but for $150? Yeah, I’d write.

5

I certainly don’t fault Chris, and Ive never had a flawed Maybach before this one. I’m still getting a TCA rate of about 5%, it’s just harder to accept when one of those flaws hits on a bottle I have so few of.

I usually don’t report on Tainted bottles unless it’s a reccuring Issue with a single producer. I only noted this one because I was so impressed by it’s reedeming qualities given the level of TCA present. I’m looking forward to trying a clean 07. Although the 05 and 06 were great, this really has something special on the finish. I just wish I could’ve got an impression of the nose…

6

Give them a call, or shoot them an e-mail, or write them a letter. You’ll get further doing one of those things than posting here. Not saying you can’t post your frustrations here (God knows I would be cussing if it happened to me), but contacting the winery might…just might…get you a new bottle.

7

Absolutely reach out to Chris! The winery’s customer service is amazing. I opened an 04 Maybach at my birthday dinner in August and was corked, such a bummer. I emailed Chris and he got right back to me and generously insisted on sending me a replacement bottle. We decided that due to temperatures (and there was no way I wanted the winery to incur the expense of overnight shipping), we’d wait and he’d include it with my next order.

8

Chris is first rate.

On a similar note, I had a corked Jones Sisters recently and Stephanie went above and beyond what was expected to make it right.

Jody, You will be amending the title soon.
‘Nuance and fruit’ is in your horizon. [basic-smile.gif]

[cheers.gif]

9

Chris rocks and I’m sure he’ll make it right for you. All you need to do is let him know there’s a problem.

10

Bad news: Corked $150 bottle.

Good news: It was a Maybach. You won’t find a classier outfit. There is no question that they will replace the flawed bottle.

11

I appreciate the condolences, but I really don’t feel the winery owes me anything, or that there is any wrong to right. (Portugal on the other hand…). I guess my title was a bit misleading - I should’ve continued by saying it may be monumental (and I suspect that it is), but I still don’t know because I was denied my first look at this vintage.

My OP was just another vent at the cork industry - but I’m glad to hear the resposes about the people at Maybach.

12

Unfortunately a percentage of flawed bottles might be the cost of doing business with cork producers/suppliers. Fortunately I believe most reputable producers using cork (especially those of high end wines) are prepared to accept that cost with their young wines. I am always surprised at the sentiment a small portion of consumers seem to share that they (the consumers) should absorb the cost of that risk. Based on their reputation I doubt that this producer has any problem replacing such a young bottle. Even if that’s not the case, it doesn’t hurt to mention the occurrence to them. I suspect that they’d rather have you enjoy a bottle that isn’t flawed at their expense than suffer the obvious frustration you now feel at your expense.

13

From a winery’s perspective…

They would (or at least should) want you to have a bottle you enjoy. Although I’ve never had any personal dealings with Maybach, it sounds from other posts on this thread, that this is true.

Since you decided to publicly announce the cork bottle – within your rights to do so – why not allow them a chance to publicly make it right? It’s always nice for a business to be able to at least try to add a happy ending to negative publicity.

14

Sorry Jody, we had a really excellent 2005 last night: vanilla & floral notes in the nose and a spectrum of subdued chocolate and plums in the mouth. This will age effortlessly IMO.

15

Randy,
Just to be clear, my intentions on posting were never to generate negative publicity for Maybach, nor was it some passive aggressive troll for remuneration from the winery. Mentioning the winery, in hindsight was probably a mistake. My point in mentioning Maybach, the anticipation of trying the 07, and the resulting frustration as I was writing it, was a form of flattery in my obviously twisted mind. Given the devastating effects of TCA, especially at this level, made the redeeming qualities in the wine particularly noteworthy. To you as a vintner, that may seem like a back-handed compliment, but to me, I was sincerely impressed.

Doug,
Good points, and probably the obvious ones to everyone but me… I suppose I’ve always assumed the risk/cost of flawed bottles because philosophically, I continue to buy wines finished with a cork when I know 1 in 20 are going to be flawed. But you are right, the flip side is that the producer shares that understanding as well.

I did shoot a message off to Chris, if for nothing else, to provide him a data point when considering cork suppliers.

Glenn,
Glad to hear the 05 is coming along nicely.

16

Jody,

Chris is a class act! I recently visited Outpost and they were supposed to have the Maybach available to taste but when I arrived for the tasting they did not have any for me to taste so I emailed Chris and he responded right away.

17

Just to follow-up, since I derailed my own thread into something it was never intended to be…

They graciously offered to replace the corked bottle. Equally, if not more significant, they requested a returned cork so they could have it analyzed, so obviously they take quality control seriously. Chris is indeed running a first rate organization, but well, you all already knew that [thumbs-up.gif]

18

Follow through and update the thread title with resolution?