All three of the wines in the flight were excellent, my favorite flight of the night. There was very little apparent oak. I do not recall how long they were decanted. I will try to find out. I was very glad to see that Jay’s palate is broadening. It’s so much better to enjoy more stuff!
There was a lot of oak on the Vega Sicilia though.
I do not know if I would say “a lot.” There was some oak, but I thought it was well-integrated. AND I would point out that it can hardly be argued that Vega Sicilia is “modern.” They’ve been using oak for 100+ years.
I thought the American oak was apparent in all three, which is what made me confident in guessing Rioja. For what it was worth, my guess was two Prado Eneas and a younger Torre Muga for the modern-showing wine.
In the past couple of years I’ve seen Jay like a spoofy CDP, Zinfandel and now spoofy Rioja. What happened to the Jay Miller that I used to know? ![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}
Have to admit I’m amazed as well - I bought a six pack of this on release, and the first three bottles were all in the “lactic, blueberry shake, this wine sux” category.
The last one I tried several years ago was palatable/drinkable, but certainly not memorable. I have two bottles left, and this note gives me hope that not every bottle will end up being a total wash-out. From his notes on the Board, Jay Miller and I are at least reasonably aligned from a palate standpoint (at least a lot more than Jay Hack and I would be), so I’ll have to make a note to check out a bottle in the near future.
Great post, and it’s refreshing to see people willing to challenge their own preconceptions when going into tasting wines.
Bordeaux seems like another place where wines made with more oak, more overall “modernity,” and/or from ripe vintages, can sometimes morph over time into a wine that people who prefer traditional wines will enjoy. I’m not making a blanket statement that it always goes that way, but I think I’ve seen a number of other WBers have that experience.
That’s nothing. He liked a 2002 **********! But what happen’s at LBTG stays at LBTG. I’m just glad his horizons are broadening.
I was never as anti-oak as Brad (heck, I like Roty’s wines). But I never would have thought that a wine I disliked as much as the 1994 Torre Muga would have turned into something good.
This doesn’t mean I’m going to start buying them in preference to Prado Enea or Muga Reserva. But that 1994 TM was really good.
That’s not so strange. If you’re going to drink CDP, it should be spoofy, because otherwise it will taste like CDP, which is even worse.
Zinfandel I don’t have an explanation for.
Scherrer OMV and a 1974 Simi. Hard to argue with either of those.
So where does this put Clio and Nido?
That doesn’t hold a candle to the 2002 ********** that he liked. We will win him over to flavorful wines eventually. The Simi 1974 Zin was excellent, at least when I drank it in the '70s.
They were opened and immediately decanted about 30 minutes before pouring. So some air, but not that much.
Ben
Great question!
I don’t think those ever turn into something “traditional”. They are their own data points. Matter of fact, I don’t know that they turn into anything at all other than what they start out as. There seems to be very little evolution. Then again, I haven’t had them with 25+ years on.
I think it’s cool that Jay re-thought his predilection. I hope I’m that open-minded. Looks like a nice tasting too!
Actually, they turn into traditional Australian wines made from a blend of Bordeaux and Provence grapes grown in Spain.
I have held on to some '04s AND '05s in the interest of science.
He’s becoming Jay Stuart Miller!
My first guess would have been that my palate was finally shot but every other olde worlde palatee at the table liked it too.
Pegging it double blind as Muga Prado Enea is what really gets me. One week ago I would have claimed there was no way I could confuse the two.