1999 Hospices de Beaune Volnay 1er Cru Cuvée Général-Muteau- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru (11/12/2014)
This was on sale at the Wine House in SF for $15. I couldn’t resist. After I ordered, the owner called me to let me know he’d put it on sale because he’d had a bottle and it wasn’t very good and extremely advanced - and he didn’t feel right selling it without that disclosure. He swore the wine was sound, just prematurely aged. (Kudos to Wine House for such excellent customer service!)
As someone who always enjoys an interesting bottle of bad wine, I was game and ordered a brace.
Here’s the thing - the wine is actually very good. The bottles are immaculate, with spinning capsules and squeaky corks. It’s mature, for sure, but not at all past prime. The nose has tart cherry, raspberries, roses and a hint of forest floor. In the mouth, its perhaps a touch tarter and shorter than ideal, but very mineral and taillpieds like (perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s a dollop of Taillepieds in this cuvee), with a nice meaty savoriness that compliments the red fruit and a peacocks tail of spicy richness that fills out the back palate. There’s some subtle oak spice here, but you have to really look for it to even notice. The wine is a touch drying on the finish, but that’s a small nit - this is very enjoyable burgundy indeed.
Stupendous QPR, of course! Nice to see a 1999 Volnay that has turned the corner. Looking forward to my remaining bottles. (90 pts.)
Wait, could someone interpret this to mean that the store was selling bad wine? Sounds like a bait and switch, you douche.
Also, Maison Ilan (bad/good), because Texier (bad/good).
WTF are you doing posting actual discussion of wine on Wine Berserkers? Can’t you start trolling somewhere? God forbid this thread not make it to 5 pages.
I agree with Dan, somebody must be publicly humiliated.
Brace - a pair of something, typically of birds or mammals killed in hunting.
So you bought two, drank one, and now claim to look forward to your remaining bottles. Plural? What is your major malfunction? Can’t you math? Did you mistake your grammar? Or was it a truthiness error?
What’s this with the repeated gun references? Don’t you know that mixing alcohol and guns is not a good plan? Where’s that photo of the gun and liquor store in Texas when you need it?