2016 Chateau Pitray: serious quality for a song

Not a wine on my radar usually. From Castillon. Retails for 6 Euros in Europe apparently, and $14 here.

This was completely unexpected. A traditional well made Bordeaux, a couple of years off its peak. Everything about it was slightly better than expected, the nose more complex, the balance really solid, some nice complexity with spice, red fruit and a tiny bit of herb, and a much longer than expected finish. Served open at a tasting yesterday as an aperitif before some much more revered and interesting estates such as La Mission and Ducru. It stole the show, not because it was the best wine there, but because it was so close to the eventual winners.

For $14, this is a steal. I felt I could have been tasting a young Bordeaux made in the eighties. I scored it a 91, and promptly bought a case. A perfect house wine.

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I’m a big fan of this wine. The 15 was excellent as well. Costco had them for $9 several years ago. Bought a bunch but down to my final bottle. Time to reload as this is still a steal at $14.

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Love this thread! Need to grab me some.

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I… Will have to look in to this.

Much thx

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Just ordered one from WDC to give it a go. reputations are on the line here…

Haha. Poor Mark! After 10+ years of quality threads and notes, his future now rests on this $15 bottle! I’m ordering, too.

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The following excuses will be proffered if people are not entire satisfied with the wine.

The wine should not have been served with-

Red meat

White meat

Fish

Vegetables

Other

——————-

Air pressure was too

High

Low

——————-

The bottle was ill treated

At the Store

In being shipped

The journey from store to house

In the house.

—————————-

Ill treatment in the house is constituted from one of the following

You did not sing to the bottle every night

You did sing to the bottle every night.

You left it in the trunk of your car overnight

You left it in the Jacuzzi

You left it outside in the blazing heat or the freezing cold

————————————
The dinner was not a success because

You were fighting with your significant other

You told the Mouton joke

The meat was burnt

The fish was off

You served kale

The 23 cloves of garlic proved to be one clove too many.

——————————————

A fellow Berserker recommended the wine? Given his sterling reputation and good looks-

Expectations were set too high

Expectations were set far too high.

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Dang. I just had some with red meat, while the air pressure was too high in my house. I forgot to sing to my bottle and told it a bad mouton joke. My expectations were just too high!

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Jesus do people still serve Kale? Most overrated fad ever. Almost as bad as Burgundy…

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I had some underripe examples of Pitray from the 90’s and was gunshy ever afterwards, especially given that the name disturbed me for some reason. Glad to hear the wines have improved.

Kale is nasty!

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Will show best if served in one of these:

If these are dirty, then one of

will do.

Otherwise chug the bottle.

I’m about 80% sure this is the same wine. I was in Costco in Woodland, CA (about 20 miles northwest of Sacramento) on Sunday night, because my parents live in Davis and that’s the nearest Costco. I saw this for $7.99, not sure which vintage, maybe the 2019.

I was buying a few bottles to stuff away in their house, since I’m going to be up there more due to my dad’s health situation, but I passed on this one.

I’ll have to swing by there next time I’m up, and if it’s the same wine, I’ll give it a try.

Horrible fact checking. The most expensive bottle of wine was a fake, and had nothing to do with Jefferson.

Strange that a small cup is worth $36 million dollars though. After much soulsearching, I have decided that the buyer can spend another $36 million and buy my cellar (minus the VCC and Magdelaine). After all what is the point of having a small wine cup with lots of roosters painted on it, if you don’t have a nice collection of wine to fill it with.

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The wine store Calvert Woodley in DC turned me on to this wine a few years ago-- they’re big fans of it.

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I sing like the wine isn’t listening.

I tried this wine after recommendations. It is excellent. Definitely needs a lot of air to open up. I bought 3 cases. Excellent daily drinker.

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2018 in Chicago for $8.99

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Worth a try.
Just ordered another case of the ‘16

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