Still several cases on futures order from Premiere Cru.
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honestly, the Z-H surprises me, I still have a bunch from the late 90s/early 2000s, and find them drinking quite nicely.
I think they were secondary market purchases.
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1700 or so, but probably 1500 are fine.
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My dad may be the only person who never bought from them.
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how was dad’s storage?
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Excellent.
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The 2005 Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay Reserve Sonoma County was dead, but not as far gone as some. Not quite Marty Feldman “freshly dead” but close.
A bottle of 2008 Au Bon Climat Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard was in fact freshly dead. Just a trace of oxidation ran around the edges of what was at one time a very fine wine. Willy Mays with the Mets.
1996 Ferrari-Carano Trésor was corked.
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Condolences David. This is a great thread and I’ve been following along.
These era ZH just totally threw me off buying ZH ever again. Respect Olivier and what he initiated in many ways, but too many bottles from this time were either a hot (literal) mess, or as you say, criminally lacking in acid.
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+1
(New site won’t let me say just that. It says it requires three characters.)
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2002 Joseph Phelps Insignia was not a crypt wine!
So delicious in an easy, comforting style. After a very difficult week of working through probate, taxes, and such it was just what the doctor ordered. Drink now and over the next few years.
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I went through a ton of that wine. Normally the baseline wine was a bit hard to come by in my local market, I think a lot of restaurants must have declined their allocations because of the lack of AOC. It was our house pasta wine for year or so.
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Headed for home with a car full of wine, not much of the “crypt” variety, but a dusty, dingy half bottle of 1995 Chateau Ste. Michelle Late Harvest Riesling Horse Heaven Vineyard seemed potentially dicey. Well it was just fine. It was the color of Grade B maple syrup, but the flavors were classic long aged botrytis Riesling. The only thing that was lacking was mid-palate depth. Other than that it reminded me of old Beerenauslese. Nice little treat that cost $15.99 when it was released. I can’t fathom why my father bought it, unless it was intended as a gift for me or my wife, and just got lost in the cellar.
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It’s a nice thought, I’d stick with that one.
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As my father often said:
The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.
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The last one of those I had last year was quite dead.
When? Bottle variation can certainly be a factor after 20+ years.
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Could be but I bought half a case and all the rest were great drunk over the 20 years. This one died.
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That really sounds like a substandard cork.
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One of the 96 bottles I brought home, a 1995 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley was horribly corked.
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