Nick, I feel your pain. I have so much wine I decided two things: 1) slow down buying and 2) track bottles coming in and leaving house. The idea was to not buy so much and shrink the total a bit. I have roughly 2200 bottles not counting our own product (Greyscale Wines) which has roughly 5K bottles in the warehouse.
So, I started off pretty well and by 9/1 I had shrunk my cellar by roughly 8 cases. Not bad, but a good start. The unfortunate happenstance is that there is a private list I subscribe to (Echelon) which offers interesting wines and often at very good prices. And the owner Sam is nice enough to hold bottles until we want to pick them up. Well two weeks ago I thought I had bought a enough so I should go pick them up. I expected there to be maybe 2 cases b/c when really interesting wines are posted I buy 2 so my wife Jean and I can try them.
As you might have guessed by now, I asked Sam to prepare the wine for me to pick up and asked how many cases it was…4 CASES! Damn, I was down 8 cases for the year until, oops, back to down 4.
I bought a lot of BDX in the 2000-10 (have 20+ cases). I’d be happy to sell some if folks are interested. I bought a lot of '09s b/c I thought they would be good to have in the future. Many are lower cost wines that turn out to be very nice.
We had '09 Pavie last week at a group dinner and it was surprisingly good. It didn’t taste like California to me. More so just a very dense and rich Right Banker. Plenty of acid.
Overall, I’ve been surprised by how well the '09s have held up. I’ve enjoyed several from lists over the past few years. I wrote this vintage off and never bought early, but I’m no longer hesitant to order them when I see them.
The only 2010 that I’ve tried is the Haut Brion poured at the NYWE this year and in 22. It was the best wine I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting. Keep trying to get some for the cellar, but talk about cost prohibitive….
Deep colour in the glass, hinting at maturity around the edges.
Not much nose on opening, but a swirl gives a little cedar and mulberry.
In the mouth this is solid and extracted. Tannins are firm. There is enough acidity to prevent cloying and the fruit is clean and free from prunes. This is not friendly however and the word monolithic comes to mind. ***1/2 and not sure where its going.
As promised I opened a 2009 Phelan Segur last Saturday and paired it with Lamb Chops. I thought this wine is young but very good. Dark fruited, cashmere like tannins, no heat or overripe aspects. Based on some comments I expected a bomb but it was a medium bodied, ripe but balanced Northern Medoc with upside potential. Certainly low acid but still Bordeaux. IMO this wine is not much evolved and will get more complex with time. Undrinkable? Not for me.
To me the most fascinating thing about wine is its diversity. Every vintage brings something new. I have no problems with that. I have problems with modern CdP but not with this St. Estephe.
