I’ve never managed to enjoy any of the dozen or so bottles I’ve had of this brand:
Overoaked (badly, each and every one) Silver Oak is a Stupid Joke
Another one of those bittersweet moments. I was with my dad when he bought this bottle. That was almost 25 years ago. Why he never opened it is beyond me. It’s pretty darned bretty but well that’s sometimes Beaucastel. He would have enjoyed it, as he couldn’t smell brett.
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1998 was a pretty good Brett year, as I recall.
-Al
Yeah, I have had the ‘98 almost ten times, with only two “clean” bottles.
I think VT also had issues that year, albeit less so.
-Al
I have actually had more VT than Beau, and VT has always been clean.
My 98 VT has been pretty clean too. There might be some there but I’ve never had a bottle that seemed overtly Bretty.
Ditto (Tritto?)
I had a couple bottles that weren’t completely clean, both bought on secondary market, I think.
-Al
Provenance, provenance.
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I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every bottle of 98 Beau and VT I’ve had. All purchased on release.
A modicum of Brett in Beaucastel was a feature, not a bug. Well, literally I guess it is a bug… or a microbe anyway… a featured microbe!
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True story: Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I started chasing wine (2005), I cut my teeth on Rhône reds. As far as I knew, “barnyard” was just part of the flavor profile. I got used to it and, recovering veterinarian that I am, the whole horsey-manure-y thing was kind of pleasant.
These days the merest hint of Brett in my Burg has me clutching my pearls in horror, yet pour a glass of horsey Gigindas and I’m fine. Go figure.
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The barnyard stuff seems to mesh better with Mourvèdre and Syrah. It destroys Pinot.
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Back in the pre-dinosaur days (early ‘90s) a friend and I were lamenting the lack of Brett in what seemed to be the too-clean 1988 Beaucastel. Mags procured locally still had a bit of that longed-for barnyard, suggesting different handling between source and cellar. Had I been aware of the temperature effect back then, I might have left the 750s out of the cellar for a few weeks.
I loved this vintage of Beaucastel until about 20 years out, when the brett seemed to overwhelm everything good in the bottle
Quiddo
Ten points for Gryffindor!
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As we always used to say a few boards ago, there’s good barnyard, and there’s bad barnyard…
I remember hearing that Beaucastel cleaned up their cellars in 97 or 98. This didn’t seem to me right since 98, 99 and 00 all had what I have always thought of as characteristic Beaucastel funk. I have only drunk a few of them since 01 since they didn’t seem to me the same wine after they cleaned up, whenever that actually happened. I miss the hit of brett on those wines, just as i would in Pegau if it cleaned up. Of course, those who hate it won’t feel the same way. But some people like highly oaked very riipe Napa. Taste is what it is.
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