A Confluence of Tasting Notes

WINE TALK
#1

Sent to me via email, these are some tasting notes put out there in cyberspace by a “blogger” that match up quite eerily with RMP’s scores and notes.

“27 wines (26 reviewed by Parker) and on 22 wines he is within 2 points of Bob…he is amazing…

89 Chateau D’Armailhac displays a spicy, cedar nose. Medium bodied with a short blackberry finish that already has some dry sensations. Since this wine is past full maturity, it should be drunk up. 86 Pts
Parker 87

89 Chateau Branaire Ducru is light in color. Tobacco, cassis, spice, and coffee aromatics are a pleasure to sniff. Light and elegant in style. The silky mouth feel ends with a blackberry filled finish. This wine is fully mature and gives no reason for owners to wait any longer. Branaire Ducru is another property that is producing markedly better wines today than previously. 90 Pts
Parker 92

89 Chateau Branaire Ducru Cuvee Evelyne, named after the owner’s wife, is 100% Merlot, an experimental wine. One barrel, 25 cases produced. This was the second vintage for the owner, Patrick Maroteaux, who began picking the Merlot on August 31. The wine was made using 100% new oak, while the regular wine saw 60% new oak. The wine showed coffee, black fruit, mocha, and plum aromatics. The wine finished with a velvety, blackberry and chocolate sensation. Not as complete or complex as the fully blended wine, it was a pleasure to taste. 88 Pts
No parker score

89 Chateau Brane-Cantenac is light in color. Aromatics of truffle, earth, cassis, spice, and cedar are a pleasure to sniff. Medium bodied and elegantly textured, this fully mature wine ends in a short, cherry/cassis note. 87 Pts
Parker 88

89 Chateau Cantemerle with aromas of blackberry, currant, and oak, and with floral scents. Medium bodied. Soft and light on the palate. It’s at the end of its life. Nice, but not very interesting. A luncheon claret. The 83 is a better wine. 89 Pts
Parker 91

89 Chateau Chasse Spleen was one the best surprises of my 89 tastings. At age 20, this wine nonetheless tasted several years younger tan that. Filled with layers of deep, ripe black fruit, herbs, earth, and tobacco scents, this full bodied wine has come together nicely. Still young, this wine will offer pleasure for at least another 20 more years. The wine will fool a lot of people in a blind tasting. 92 Pts
Parker 91

89 Chateau Clerc Milon offers black fruit, licorice, camphor and coffee notes on the nose. Full bodied with a nice finish of licorice tinged cassis. This wine is fully mature and should be enjoyed sooner than later. The fruit has already started fading. 89 Pts
Parker 90


89 Chateau Clos du Marquis sports an earthy, black fruit, and chocolate nose. The wine ends with a short, simple, black fruit finish. 85 Pts
Parker 88


89 Chateau Cos D’Estournel is ruby colored with bricking around the edges. The wine is very spicy, with scents of cinnamon, truffles, earth, cassis, and minerals. The wine is traditionally styled, giving it an austere quality. The fruit is not as rich as it was and is slowly starting to fade. Drink soon. 89 Pts
Parker 88

89 Chateau Giscours is past its prime. Tobacco, barnyard aromas, and stewed fruit make up the perfume. Austere on the palate. Drink up. 83 Pts
Parker 87

89 Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste is light around the edges. Cedar, earth and cassis make up the perfume. This wine is slightly austere in personality and will offer more appeal to tasters seeking old-school Bordeaux. This finishes with notes of red and black fruits. 90 Pts
Parker 89


89 Chateau Haut Bailly is filled with sweet, roasted fruit, tobacco, tar, wild strawberry, and fennel. Medium bodied, this elegantly styled wine feels very plush and silky in the mouth. Nice length and purity. Since it’s fully mature, consumers should plan on drinking their bottles over the next 5-10 years. 92 Pts
Parker 89

89 Chateau Haut Brion is a definite candidate for wine of the vintage as well as a strong contender for wine of the decade. And then some! I tasted 5 different bottles recently. My note is for the best bottle. Other bottles were more mature and not as expressive the one I note here. Sadly, one bottle was corked. The best bottles of this legendary wine can bring tears to the eyes of even the most jaded tasters. Deeply colored with a cornucopia of aromatics including smoke, tar, herbs, cassis, blackberry, truffle, Cuban cigar, and fennel. The layers of deep ripe fruit that fill your mouth seem endless. Very concentrated, rich, deep, and opulent, this tremendous wine ends with a seamless, black fruit finish that lasts over a minute. Still young, this wine will evolve for decades. This is Haut Brion at its best. At full maturity it may end up better than previous legends like 1961 or 1945. 100 Pts
Parker 100

89 Chateau La Lagune was another surprise. Still going strong, this black cherry, blackberry, tobacco and floral scented wine was a treat to experience. Very elegant in style, medium bodied with ample ripe, black and red fruit in the finish awarded a lot of pleasure at 20 years of age. 90 Pts
Parker 90

89 Chateau Lascombes is light in color. Earth, steel, spice, tobacco, and olives are easy to find in the perfume. The wine finishes with a light, strawberry note. Medium bodied, this wine reached full maturity at least a few years ago. Lascombes is another outstanding property that is currently making much better wine today than it did in `89. 84 Pts
Parker 85


89 Chateau Latour had a perfume of blackberry, cassis, mocha, truffle, spice, rhubarb, and earth. Light in weight for a Latour from a top vintage, this wine is fully mature and has already started dropping fruit. To be drunk sooner rather than later. 90 Pts
Parker 89

89 Chateau Leoville Barton is ruby colored. Spice, cassis, tobacco and cherries on the nose. The wine finishes with roasted black and red fruit. This is an elegant style of wine for the Chateau. All the tannin is resolved, and the wine is ready for prime time drinking. Owner Lillian Barton thinks the 89 and 90 are the same level of quality, but feels the 90 needs more time before it is mature. 89 Pts
Parker 90

89 Chateau Leoville Las Cases offers a complex nose of tobacco, truffle, spicy cassis, and cedar. Full bodied and mouth filling, this well balanced wine ends with spice filled blackberry and black cherry fruit and hints of chocolate. 92 Pts
Parker 91

89 Chateau Leoville Poyferee was a positive surprise because I had little experience with it prior to this tasting. The complex perfume sports ample notes of earth, truffle, mocha, coffee, and anise. The elegantly styled wine offers your palate ample pleasure. This wine is fully mature. 90 Pts
Parker 89

89 Chateau Lynch Bages made its best showing yet. The deep ruby color was assisted by a beautiful nose of cassis, mint, tobacco, and chocolate. Big, fat, concentrated and well balanced. Tannins are firm, but they have integrated well into the wine. Very broad shouldered. Still young, at 20 years of age, it’s much closer to maturity than previous bottles I’ve tasted. The long, lusty, fruit filled finish had a lot of persistence and was a pleasure to taste. Well stored bottles have at least another 20 or more years of evolution in their future. 95 Pts
Parker 95


89 Chateau Margaux showed an advanced ruby color with lightening around the edges. Tobacco, spice, black cherry, blackberry, and truffles with hints of floral notes made up the complex perfume. The wine displays a soft texture, but it lacks the concentration found in the top years. The wine finishes with notes of ripe black fruit and plums. This is a finesse style of Margaux. Paul Pontillier feels the wine is the same level of quality as the 90 Margaux. But I do not agree. 92 Pts
Parker 89

89 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion remains deeply colored at age 20. Cassis, tobacco, chocolate, plums, smoke, and licorice with dark berry aromatics are all over the place. Full bodied with intense levels of concentration, this is one of those rare thrill a sip wines. Dense, opulent, rich, and fat, this wine tastes great, pouring over every inch, every nook and cranny, of your mouth. The seamless finish goes on and on with an endless array of palate pleasing, sensations. Still young, it will get better over the next several decades. What a treat! 99 Pts
Parker 100

89 Chateau Montrose, tasted a few days ago, was stunning. Deep ruby with hints of brick in the hue. Cassis, cedar, earth, mineral, truffle, and licorice scents are made even more complex by an intriguing note of Asian spice. The wine is dense and concentrated. The mid palate is where it truly shines. The rich, corpulent, multi-layered mouth feel ends with a blast of spicy, black cherry and black berry that lasts at least 40 seconds. After the wine had been decanted about an hour, I scored it 96 Pts. But after a few more hours of air, the wine developed additional nuances, and an elegance married to a power that was stunning. I ended up scoring it two points higher. Even if the 89 Montrose drinks great today, I suspect the wine will easily improve for another 20-30 years. 98 Pts
Parker 96

89 Chateau Mouton Rothschild shows a ruby nose with light edges. Coffee, licorice, cedar, cassis, tar, and molasses fill your nose with pleasure. This full bodied wine has nice weight and density as well as good texture. But the black fruit filled finish falls short, especially for a First Growth in a strong vintage. This wine will continue drinking well for at least another decade. 91 Pts
Parker 90

89 Chateau Palmer explodes from the glass with aromatics of violets, berries, cassis, tobacco, spice, and truffle. This full bodied wine is pure silk and velvet on your palate. With great concentration of fruit and flavors and an exotic mouth feel, this wine is still youthful. It will continue improving for at least another 2 decades. The wine ends with a blast of ripe boysenberry, mocha, and plum sensations in a sensuous style. 96 Pts
Parker 95

89 Chateau Pichon Baron — now we’re talking! And I love what it has to say. The deep ruby color looks great in the glass. Cedar, cassis, tobacco, truffles, and spice get your senses going. Deeply concentrated and full bodied with layer upon layer of rich, ripe cabernet and blackberry that glides over your palate. This wine perfectly combines power with elegance. Still young at 20, as good as it is, it’s going to get even better over the next several years. 96 Pts
Parker 95

89 Chateau Pichon Lalande has it all going on. This elegant, suave elixir is close to fully mature. Black fruit, earth, herbs, spices, tobacco, and chocolate kick the perfume off. The palate is treated to lush, opulent, ripe waves of flavor. Everything is in balance. The clean, rich, fruit filled finish is a treat to experience. I plan on finishing most of my bottles over the next decade. 95 Pts
Parker 92

89 Chateau Pontet Canet starts off with tobacco, stewed fruit, and tea notes. The fruit is not fully ripe and the finish has drying sensations. The wines being produced today at the chateau do not resemble this wine, for they are sublime. 83 Pts
Parker 89

89 Chateau Poujeaux offers tobacco, spice, and cigar ash notes in the perfume. Light bodied and with a short, cherry filled finish, this wine needs to be opened in the near future. With the Culvieres as the new owners (the same family who owns Clos Fourtet in St. Emilion), I expect Poujeaux will begin producing much better wines than this one. 82 Pts
Parker 86

89 Chateau Rauzan-Segla displays tobacco, herbs, earth, and cassis in the nose. The wine, which still has some tannin to resolve, has good body and lot fruit, but it needs time to come around and soften up. This is a more traditional style of Margaux. 90 Pts
Parker 89

89 Chateau Talbot remains deeply colored. Typical Cordier funk nose with a touch of barnyard, cassis, and black fruit, along with a hint of rhubarb. Decent texture, but not much elegance or excitement. 85 Pts
Parker 88”



Edited to clarify what was sent to me

#2

Nope…

I was kindly asked to post said information, and I am making no commentary on the author or his/her tasting abilities.

#3

Guilty!
It’s me. Like Winston Smith loves Big Brother, I love Bordeaux!!

#4

I think it’s more fun to use one’s own notes and personal ratings, but that’s just me.

pepsi

#5

Pepsi still sucks…zero points.

There.

#6

Little bunny rabbit mystery toothpick.

#7

Sorry if I’m being a little slow today, but I’m kind of missing what the big deal is about this. What I mean is, being within two points of Parker is like saying you scored the wine within the same 5 point band as Parker. If he scored it 90, you could score it any one of 88, 89, 90, 91, or 92, and be “within two points of Parker”. I’d actually be surprised if most people on this board didn’t score wines within this band around Parker’s score most of the time. Not a reflection of amazingness on anybody’s part but just a reflection of tasting the same wine, and growing up with the same general scoring methodology.

Are you saying the words in the notes themselves sound eerily similar too? I’d expect some overlap on that too, without plagiarism happening. How many words can you use to describe the oak in Bordeaux? Or, some wines, you pretty much have a choice of lead pencil, or graphite.

I don’t know whose notes these are, so I don’t have any ax to grind one way or another - sorry if I’m missing some bigger picture here.

#8

Alan, what was pointed out to me is the fact that the descriptors themselves are very, very close between the two tasters over the span of 20+ wines. Another person on the email chain even suggested that the notes be run through a plagiarism checking software application to see just how close the two are aligned. Basically what is being insinuated it that the notes above were written after reading TWA and RMP’s notes.

#9

I think my tasting notes would correlate highly to RMP’s if I consulted his notes while writing mine…

#10

It’s frustrating to people like me to see when someone just scores whatever the professional scored it. It seems patently obvious in CellarTracker for the big scoring wines - as if people are afraid to divert from the opinions of the pros, lest they be ‘wrong’.

I don’t know the ratings/scores of ANY of my wines - not a one. I had one that I knew because it was my only 100 pointer - 2003 QC - and I sold it. Now I have none that I know, so all my ratings come from my own experience, as it should be.

In the case shown above, I would have loved to had those all tasted blind - then the taster would NOT know the wines, so also not the scores, then compare notes. That’s a true test.

#11

I’m curious about the methodology of this tasting. Was it blind? Did that taster know how Parker reviewed the wine prior to tasting? It’s common for critics to do such parlor tricks by saying “scored consistently on multiple occasions” because they know both what they’re tasting and what they wrote before. It’s only one step removed for an “anonymous blogger” to do this. If you are obsessed with Bordeaux and are a The Bob lover, you may well have his notes essentially memorized . . . .

#12

My guess… Not blind, very few if any notes taken at the time, notes written a day or so later with “research” up on the same screen as the notes…

#13

That’s the part I’d be more interested in seeing - the wording of the notes. Again, I’d forgive some overlap there, because of the limited range of descriptors you’ve got if you really are tasting the same things, but certainly at some level of similarity you’d start to worry about plagiarism. I would note though, that it would take someone much more time to do that, look up notes, cross-reference, etc. than just write their own notes, so they’d really have to go out of their way.

Maybe for fun we should all do a compare of our own notes with RP’s notes. I promise to indict myself publicly if there are any eerie similarities in mine. [rofl.gif]

#14

Alan, I can whole-heartedly see some people going above and beyond to research the published notes by RMP before making a public posting. This ensures that the secondary postings are indeed in line with The Palate and that one’s place is still secured in the BDX world. These wines evidently were tasted back in the middle of 2009…plenty of time to perform research and hone up the notes.

Think about this also…why are Hedonist Gazette articles so far removed from their respective dates of occurrence? One possible explanation is to go back and see what the original ratings & TNs were. Not making any accusations here, and I don’t have on a tin foil hat. Just a simple observation.

#15

Anyone is welcome to compare any of mine to his - I don’t ever read his, nor his ratings, so I don’t care. I’d actually prefer if they were markedly different.

#16

Well…you do like Pepsi.

#17

And you like Pavie

#18

Nice sig line.

#19

I don’t subscribe to Parker anymore so can’t compare but the note on the '89 HB sounds just like Parker even his comparison to the 47 and 61.

#20

You were just caught up in the moment during the Saints’ victory.