There is a wine bar near me that did a vertical tasting for Palmer (2003, 2012, 2015, 2020, 2021) and out of all of them the 2020 was the least approachable right now and IMO it needs more time to age. I’d come back to it at a minimum of 5 years or so but ideally around the 10 year mark it should be starting to drink well. However, if you did want to drink it today then a heavy decant should be enough to open it up. The 2003 was the winner for us that night – really well integrated, lush tannins, and an expressive ripeness of fruit.
For $200, it’s a solid price although you can buy an aged Palmer starting around the $300 mark without needing to age it yourself bypassing cellaring costs. Just look into Palmer tasting notes on WB to see if it’s your style before committing. IMO, if I had the budget for it I would pick up a couple bottles because I don’t mind cellaring it myself.
Usually only a CA thing, its a bug during the price input where the 10c CRV is added into the price, when you check out, you wont pay the CRV. Happens quite often. So in this case, its actual price is $34.99 + $0.10 = $35.09
I really didn’t like the 2020 bichot pinot noir Bourgogne (though I don’t think it was origins). Grapes were underripe, green notes, bitterness. I didn’t finish the bottle.
Has anyone had any luck with Italian wines at Costco? Obviously we all know their Bordeaux offerings, but I’ve never seen much Italian wine that interests me and I wonder if it’s just the stores near me, or Costco in general.
I’ve seen some things like flaccianello and sassicaia go through occasionally. They regularly carry produttori normale at a reasonable price as well as some other italians here and there. I don’t go deep in these areas so can only offer those anecdotal recollections
I have occasionally seen Produttori Barbaresco and Vietti Barolo at decent prices. In 2020 my wife picked up a 2015 Antinori CC for $24.99 that we just opened. It exceeded expectations. I thought it was quite nice, esp. for the price.
