2008 Grand Puy Lacoste I decided to buy a bottle of this on a whim, and popped it yesterday. It has a nose of little distinction. Some mineral and steminess with a touch of fruit. Mostly, just a big nothing. Medium bodied on the palate and the flavors were consistent- mostly not much going on. The wine is recognizable generically as a Bordeaux, but has no other distinction. I wish I could get my money back. Time will not help this wine, it is not closed, just not very good. 79 points. If offered, don’t buy this wine, based on the bottle I had.
Speaking broadly, this is starting to sound like the theme for 2008 BDX. During the year and harvest, everyone thought the wines wouldn’t be that strong. Then, RP came out with his ratings which were significantly higher than expected. Then, he delays re-rating them by a year followed by significant downgrades (although, it sounds like the downgraded scores are still too optimistic). Not many people tasting them have rated them as well as RP.
Now, if you were a conspiracy theorist, you might say that following 2 “nothing special” years in BDX (06 & 07) and the enormous price increases seen from 05 that were attempted to be (nearly) maintained in 06 & 07, BDX needed some good scores to sell the 08’s and RP delivered. Then, no follow-up scores while the 08’s were being cleared from the system. Then, a moderate adjustment downward closer to the real scores. I’m not saying it’s true, but a suspicious mind could get carried away…
Thank God 2009 came along and washed most of any potential controversy away.
Chris
Interesting. I tried the '08 duhart milon recently and came to the opposite conclusion of the vintage. Sounds like it might be hit and miss and I should be cautious about what to buy. The duhart milon was fresh and aciditc, lots of oak but seemed like it would integrate. My note is below.
Lost in the shuffle was that Tanzer’s bottle scores were quite high(for tanzer), more similar to RP than JS, for instance. I’m thinking I may buy a fair amount of this vintage, sounds like I’ll need to try first. Getting some lalande’s soon, will report back.
2008 Château Duhart-Milon - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (8/10/2011)
Opened for curiosity and to get a handle on the '08 vintage. Decanter 2-3hrs. Nose a little closed, with french oak funk, smoke, flint, sage, and black cherry. Palate is quite structured with a nice refreshing acidity and fine polished tannins. Red fruit comes out with air. Nice finish of mocha, tar and flint. A nice wine that’s going to need 10yrs. Seems to be rather “classically” styled, medium weight and complexity, but impressive balance. (92 points)
Well, Parker wasn’t a huge fan of the 08 GPL. He was generally of the vintage, but then so was John Gillman (what does that say?)
No gbig deal to me. I bought 4 wines, none more than $50/bottle and 3 bottles each. Meh.