I love K&L, but I don’t think they’re aware of how flawed these bottles of Alcina are at this point. I think Greg P., is a wonderful guy, but I believe the corks on these affected the wines, unfortunately.
This is the 2004:
http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1160216
They are also offering the 2003.
Upon release the Alcina Pinots were really quite nice.
What happened over time was not pretty… ![[cry.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/853b6e76c6e8406be77a6727c2a27ad1672678b3.gif "cry"){kind=small}
TTT
Kl will take it back if it’s bad. Happened last time. I think they are just hoping ppl don’t return em I guess.
Anyone know what Greg P. is doing these days?
Ah, the memories. I was on his list briefly in the early days…
You have to wonder if they aquired this as part of a cellar they aquired? I remember them blowing out Alcina wines back in the day.
What was wrong with the corks? Are they synthetic?
Yes, synthetic. Wines were very good out of the gate, but then had issues.
I don’t think I have ever experienced wines like these from the standpoint of being really nice upon release and then completely falling apart 18-24 months later. I don’t know if this was the synthetic cork or winemaking mistakes, but it certainly was a frustrating experience.
There are other producers who used Neocorks in that era and received similar results, especially with pinots made in a forward style. The syrahs hold up a bit longer. I once went to a blind tasting of older vintages of California Pinot Noirs with maybe 15% of them closed with Neocork (several producers). You could pick out the Neocorked wines blind.
-Al
I don’t think the producer of Neocork recommends them for long-term aging. I am sure they were purchased as part of a cellar.
The producer of Neocork now makes several different products with different recommended aging times. I think there was only one model in widespread use during the early to mid 2000’s, all the producers I knew were using the same cork. I do not believe they were originally marketed for only short term aging and I doubt those producers would have used Neocorks if that had been the case.
-Al
I have two of his 04 pinots that were buried in the cellar and that I found last summer. I guess is should open one tonight and have a backup handy.
Not just Pinots, also Syrah. I had experience with more than one producer (in addition to Alcina) using those closures, and they were all pretty much ruined after a couple of years. I can’t blame the producers for not knowing up front what was going to happen, by the time everyone realized what was happening, it was too late.
Yes, as mentioned, also syrah. I think the syrahs held on longer, how long depended a bit on the style.
-Al
I think it was a combination of cork and wine-making. All the producers that used those corks had problems but with Alcina it was 100% fail. Whereas I had a Loring last year that was an 03 or 04 and it was terrific.
Does anyone have Greg’s Petit Sirah? It was done under cork.
Jason
Brian used the exact same Neocorks and his wines held up pretty well.
A potent volatility invaded Greg’s wines.
Luckily I drank most of them before they turned…
TTT
I was a fan of those I tasted young. Bought a bunch over a few years and most of them went down the drain. Don’t know why anyone would want to buy them now, but if you look at the CT scores without reading the notes, they don’t look so bad (entries of “flawed” without a number don’t reduce the average score).
The base Neocork they are selling now is rated at 2 years, I don’t know if that’s exactly the same as the original Neocork, but the wines I sold under the old Neocork were good for 2 years at most. At that time cork taint was so much worse than it is now that people were desperate, I know a number of French producers made the same mistake.
Has anyone with experience in Alcina wines and Neocork communicated with K&L?
I’ve found them to be receptive to input.
P Hickner