What wine was most disappointing for you in 2011? I posted the same thread near the end of 2010, and so I’ll restate a modified versin of my guidelines from that thread this time around, which were in the hopes of making the thread as relevant and interesting as possible to the rest of the board. The guidelines are as follows:
(1) “Disappointing” means relative to expectations. It’s not the same question as “what was the worst wine you had in 2011.” If you had a d’Yquem or first growth or Grand Cru Burgundy from a great vintage and thought it was an 88 point wine, that would be quite disappointing; if you had a glass of Woodbridge merlot at a wedding reception and thought it was a 78 point wine, that isn’t necessarily disappointing at all.
(2) “Disappointing” also means relative to your personal wine preferences. As a corollary to the first point, if you generally only like big modern wines, and then you tried a 2007 Loire cabernet franc which Keith Levenberg praised on his blog but which you thought tasted like bell peppers and cow dung, that isn’t really disappointing either, as you weren’t expecting to like it. Plus, it would just be nice not to see this discussion co-opted by that same old tug of war about modern v. traditional, Parkerized this, pancake syrup that, fruitless dirt juice, etc.
(3) Let’s omit corked, cooked, poorly stored, or otherwise flawed bottles that you believe not to be representative. I know that it is disappointing when this happens, but there really isn’t any benefit to anyone else in listing those out, whereas I think people can benefit from hearing of experiences that people had with wines that didn’t turn out to be as good as expected.
So, what tales of disappointment do you have to share with the board?
I’d have to think about it but maybe a 2008 jadot Clos St jaques relative to expectations. Just not much “there” there. At least at this stage. Not bad though.
2006 Linne Calodo Nemesis. Thick, heavy, and tiring, and without the hedonistic fun of many Linne Calodo reds.
2000 Poggio Antico Brunello. An anoymous wine, flavors seemingly mostly derived from barriques, little acid or structure.
2002 Domaine Laroche Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. The second bottle of this I’ve had, and both have been muddled, flat, and lacking any precision or energy. Finished with a screwcap – could that have anything to do with it? No idea.
2004 Dehlinger Cabernet. I love this producer, and this wasn’t a bad wine by any means, but relative to my expectations, it was pretty disappointing. Big, oaky and clumsy, with none of the elegance I associate with Dehlinger wines. It’s possible this just needed more years in the cellar.
2002 Stag’s Leap Cask 23. Probably the worst wine I had all year. It tasted like a glass of vitamin pills, with zero fruit or anything at all reminiscent of wine.
I’m sure there were others, but those are the ones I recall or have notes of.
There are so many good and tasty wines out there that I would prefer not to focus on the few ones that I found disappointing.
But I will . . .
2009 Bedrock Pinot Noir Rebecca’s Vineyard - It just did not taste like Pinot to me; What was disappointing is that I have enjoyed other vintages of the Rebecca’s Vyd Pinot. This tasted more like a whole cluster syrah - so much so that it could simply have been mislabeled.
2009 Copain Syrah Tous Ensemble - Disappointing as I had higher expectations. As I recall, this was all about dried herbs as the predominate flavor.
1999 Fattoria Le Pupille Saffredi - Bought on release and let sleep in a dark and cool undisclosed location. I was disappointed due to high expectations. This showed a reductive, soy sauce component that was too heavy and dark. Light soy sauce might have been ok; this was a dark tamari.
Yes - wines from producers of two Board favorites and one wine that doesn’t get much air play.
In fairness and full disclosure, I did have several Copain wines and Bedrock wines that were quite tasty and enjoyable this past year.
I very much enjoyed the 2008 Bedrock Heirloom and the 2007 Copain Les Copains (James Berry Vyd.)
I guess I’d have to say the 82 Mouton I was served a month ago by a very generous friend. It was big, very young and undeveloped in the mouth, yet with some faintly oxidative notes in the flavors. My friend said it had been stored well since purchase on release, though I had my doubts. In any event, pleasing but nowhere near profound. Maybe 90 points for me. I hope my bottles show better.
For me, 2008 Clos de Lambrays. Everyone has been praising it to high heaven but our bottle was not enjoyable. Hollow and dominated by stems that didn’t fade even after several hours of air.
I’ve had just a couple of bottles this year that I thought notably underperformed - nothing extravagant and nothing that was really a huge letdown, but anyway…
2001 Tenuta La Torraccia Brunello di Montalcino - At a dinner with friends we hadn’t seen in years, this closed up tight shortly after hitting the decanter and didn’t open up for the rest of the evening.
1999 Domaine Cady Coteaux du Layon Chaume - Disappointing because it seemed pretty good…except for a biting astringent finish which kind of overshadowed its positive traits.
A 70-something Gemello Cabernet from magnum that was making the rounds at Berserkerfest last month. Some were touting it as the best thing to come out of California in forever. I thought it was shrill, weedy and sucky.
Easily the 2001 Beaucastel I popped for our 10-year anniversary. Tasted like cheap cooking sherry.
Luckily I was able to save the day with some quite wonderful 2001 Mordorée Lirac and 2001 Alban Grenache. Unfortunately I have a 2nd Beaucastel in my cellar, from the same source.
2003 Quilcida Creek Cab. Decanted for 3 hours and drunk over 3 hours. If it had anything, it never appeared. Dumb stage maybe, but it was nothing more than red, acidic and alcoholic liquid. I’ve heard it is good on day two or three, but we didn’t try it.
Has to be the 82 PLL that Ken V. brought to NY. While the wine was very good it was not showing like I know it should but it was much better than my corked bottle of Richebourg.
Sure, sure, piss all over my Lambrays parade. I don’t even have the wine yet.
I had a 2009 Louis Michel GC Vaudesir chablis last week that was blah, boring and blah. Is the balance of 2009 Chablis going to taste like this? Tell me no after what seemed to be very good 2008s.