there were some recent discussions on this wine on the boards so i figured i would pop a cork…err…unscrew a bottle a few nights ago to check it out. my first time with this producer. it started off with a slightly yeasty nose and a touch of wet cardboard, the cardboard blew off pretty quickly, but the yeasty note stayed on. at first the finish was clipped and the fruit was muted. if it had a cork i probably would have called corked immediately, but that wasn’t the case.
after a half hour there was some cherry fruits on the nose, maybe some violets. it was mid-weight with a sort of fake cherry flavor. and the finish expanded and became spicy.
overall we drank a half glass each the first night, then just a few ounces the second night to check on it. it was not any better.
was my bottle faulty? there were many positive reviews so i had high hopes but this was just bad. like, ive had better $10 pinot. i do have one more bottle. i was planning on saving it for a while, but i feel like i should try it soon to see if the first bottle was off, or maybe they got damaged somehow along the way.
anyone else had a bottle of this wine that sounded this way?
Mike,
You definitely had an off bottle!
I would agree with Paul. These have all been great for me.
yeah i definitely dont think that it was a correct bottle based on what i have read. ill have to open my other bottle soon.
what can go wrong in a screwcapped bottle that would cause this? i dont drink a whole lot of wines in screw cap, though i do taste a lot for my store, but i dont recall having one that seemed off in this way.
if it were finished with a cork it would be easy to blame that.
cross your fingers for my other bottle!
If you ping Kathleen and discuss it - she may have some ideas.
She is very responsive.
its not too big of a deal honestly, bad bottles happen. if the next one has a problem ill consider it.
I had a 2003 last weekend that was bretty. There seemed to be a nice wine in there with a good level of acidity, but I couldn’t get past the brett. The store I bought it from replaced it, but I haven’t tried the new bottle yet.
I’ve tried this wine probably three times, and it’s been clean each time. So does sound like an off bottle, Mike. Kathleen is tremendously responsive, and I know would appreciate hearing about it. She’s good with quality control.
Just to follow up, I had the replacement bottle last night, and no problem with brett. Went great with dinner. Nice level of acidity balanced with plenty of cherry fruit. I have two bottles each of the 04, 05, and 06 waiting to ship in the fall, and look forward to trying those.
it was definitely an off bottle. sent an email to kathleen about it and did get a very quick response. opened another tonight amongst others and it showed extremely well. ill post up a note soon and email her about my much better experience.