[I would encourage the mods to be heavy-handed in limiting discussion to the wine and restraining anyone trying to end-run the lockdown of the train wreck thread.]
Finally had the opportunity to see what I think of the juice. I don’t normally decant Burgundy, but given youth I gave it about an hour’s ride in a wide-base decanter before dinner. Clear, cherry red color. Big nose; a bit boisterous, with both fruit and savory elements and still a little tight even with the decant. If you’d given it to me blind I think I would have guessed cool-climate New World pinot (and a good one) at this point. On the palate, though, the weight and texture were all Burgundy. Though it was pleasant, it didn’t live up to the nose - nothing incorrect or green, but not a lot of presence and disappeared quickly on the finish. Overall, pretty good but not great; haven’t had enough '11s at this point to place it relative to the vintage. B+
Lots of TN on this bottle on the original thread started by Bruce. Perhaps just merge with that and keep moderation ‘heavy’ to keep it wine/tasting note specific?
I would love to keep the wine discussion separate rather than having to wade through 105 pages of mutual acrimony to pick out the occasional wine-related post.
Paul, other than the 2010 Corbeaux, which was a mess, this has been my experience with MI. In general, they have had gorgeous noses, but the wine never lives up to the promise of the bouquet. There seems to be something thin in the mid palate and a fairly quick finish. Out of curiosity, have you tried other bottles? If so, how does this bottle compare?
It’s not uncommon for cool climate Pinots, burgundy or otherwise, to have a better nose than palate when young…and with time the palate gains weight and catches up with what the nose offers. I haven’t had this wine, or any other MI wine. But based on these descriptions, I wouldn’t give up hope on this wine.
Paul; As others have said…Check out Bruce’s thread on this same wine although I do not believe they need to be merged. You seem to have enjoyed this wine a bit more than the majority of tasters for the other bottle. I really do not see it as a "B+. In addition, and this is important, you seem to have gotten this bottle at a far more favorable price point. At your cost, it might be a little bit easier to swallow.
Paul, if I remember correctly, this wine had a significantly lower alcohol level than most of Ray’s wines. Could you notice this in comparison with others of Ray’s wines. [I think you were there when Ben brought the 2009 Chaffots a few months back.] If so, was that positive or negative?
I’m gonna try another, but I detected a bit of brettiness on my first. Consistent element over 3 days. It was manageable and in the realm of interesting, but not something I expected in this wine.
I don’t think I was there - I’ve been a pretty irregular attendee post-baby - so I’ll put that as slightly more likely than that I was there and I don’t remember. Interestingly, there’s no ABV on the bottle, but my guess is that you’re right that it’s relatively low-alcohol.
Perhaps we did like it a bit more (though when I say B+, I’m tracking typical grading scales - I wonder whether a C+ - or 77 - is really consistent with other scoring). In any event, it was interesting to see the other takes; I obviously hadn’t seen the notes before, but ultimate judgment aside the overall descriptions are remarkably consistent.
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