Good God, this is one of the most grotesque wines I’ve ever had in my life.
Alcoholic cocktail of vanilla, banana, oak, and more vanilla… Yuck.
And I frackng paid $89 for it! [suicide.gif]
I don’t like any of the descriptors you listed and have absolutely loved some PMs over the years. I wouldn’t pay the price of admission anymore, but I will gladly drink my last 05s over the next couple of years with the right food (scallops, lobster, etc.).
+1. I’ve never understood why people go nuts for their Chards. I’ve tried at least 20 of them over the years - some young and some with age - and while 2 or 3 were quite good, most were heavy handed and way over the top, i.e., all about the winemaking and nothing at all about the grape and the earth. I’ve always assumed that this was Parker’s influence at work - if he likes them then they must be good.
Lobster was the one food that came to mind when we were drinking this.
I’ll take them off your hands for a serious discount.
Chris,
They make a number of Chardonnays, which one did you have, and which vintage?
In my experience, Peter Michael Winery were (still are?) prime players in the international wine industry conspiracy to de-forest France. The last time I tried them was a bottle each of their 2001 Belle Côte and Mon Plaisir, both of which were, IMO, low on fruit and high on alcohol and oak – think Bourbon cream candy filling and you’ll have the idea. I do remember a decent '95 Cuvée Indigène in which the oak receded a bit with enough time in the glass, but my notes for the '95 Mon Plaisir just mention the oak. I used to be on their mailing list so there were a number of others I’ve tried but finally gave up.
The wines are too expensive to keep buying just to see if they’ve mended their ways. FWIW, for my tastes the vast, vast majority of California Chardonnays I’ve had have also suffered from a clumsy excess of residual oak.
+1
That’s the beauty of wine. Everyone has a different palate. I love PM chards. I think they produce the most high quality complete portfolio (chard, sauv blanc, pinot, cab) for my liking.
They’re certainly massive. They’ve been made in the same massive style for a decade, with everything spending 11 months in french oak, fermented in oak barrells, unfined and unfiltered and all that jazz, and with ABVs from 14.7-15.5. They’re sort of massive beasts. I enjoy them once in a while. They’re certainly not my normal style, but on occasion I quite enjoy them.
2009 Evening Land Summum. If you want more acid and less oak, go snag one of those and be completely blown away.
There was a time when I really loved these wines… That time has passed.
Nice people though and I think they are serious about their prostate cancer foundation.
It was 2010 La Carriere. Drank over 2 days. If anything it was worse the second day (less cloying but seemed hotter).
Sounds a bit like college if I cut and paste a bit:
Drank over 2 days. If anything on the second day she was less cloying but seemed hotter.
Thanks for the recommendation; I’ll look that one up.
I agree this is an excellent wine…but Bouchard’s Meursault Perrieres is asGood/better and a lot cheaper.
I’ve had a few vitnages of Bouchard Meursault Perrieres this year, including the 2008 which was very nice, but did not think it was on the same echelon of quality as the summum. I was recently at a blind tasting and the 2009 Summum was put up against a 2002 Leflaive Batard Montrachet. The Summum hung with the Batard, which was excellent.