Total failures - Copain 2004 Madder Lake et al.

[Dav1dZ]

2004 Copain Madder Lake Syrah - Awful. The first sign of danger was when I poured the wine and forgot about it for 15 minutes while I responded to an email. My fiancé picked up a glass and exclaimed “oh, is this one of your difficult old wines?” Violently, harshly citric, as acid as pure lemon juice, this marries a virtually undrinkable wine with an overripe, blackberry pie (blackberry, vanilla, baking spice) nose. Hours of air only accentuate the lack of balance and, to be blunt, shittiness of this wine. Not even good enough to freeze to cook with.

2010 Overnoy-Crinquand Arbois Poulsard - On the Internet, I found a note from a merchant (or was it Rosenthal himself?) advising that this wine needed a “few hours in a decanter”. I’d like to find that person and skull f*ck them with a cattle prod. This has been exposed to air for 2.5 days, and still smells like I’m standing over an oil well in my days as a geologist, with wafts of toxic H2S hitting my nose with every turn of the pump. This is also brown and has other delicious reductive compounds that evoke pleasing, nostalgic aromas like fermenting cabbage and Calcutta sewage. Repulsive.

[Steve_Doi]

David:

I tried the same Overnoy-Crinquand Poulsard (purchased from CSW) and found it to be, let’s say, a challenge. Not as colorfully bad as yours, but most of it found its way down the drain followed by a liberal dose of drain cleanser to kill the smell. I don’t know if you bought the O-C Trousseau, but it is much, much better.

[John_Ritchie]

Yeah, those guys trying to make wine sure tried to pull a fast one on you but no dice.

You tell 'em!

Maybe now they’ll know not to make bad wine, since someone on the internet is going to catch them if they mess up.

Better yet, maybe this post will inspire a boycott of their wines by all educated consumers and eventually both estates will have to fold due to lack of demand. Clearly that’s what you’re hoping will happen by putting up a post like this, right?

[Dav1dZ]

The Copain is just cracked up. I’m sure it was made with the best intentions, but its a failure.

The O-C was sold, IMO, in bad faith. f*ck whoever had the balls to charge people for it.

@John Ritchie

Yeah, those guys trying to make wine sure tried to pull a fast one on you but no dice.

You tell 'em!

Maybe now they’ll know not to make bad wine, since someone on the internet is going to catch them if they mess up.

Better yet, maybe this post will inspire a boycott of their wines by all educated consumers and eventually both estates will have to fold due to lack of demand. Clearly that’s what you’re hoping will happen by putting up a post like this, right?

[Steve_Doi]

David:

While I get a good laugh from your hyperbolic notes, I think it’s unfair to throw the bad faith label out there (yes, I know, you couldn’t care less about what I think). Hope you get a chance to drink something nice soon.

[John_Ritchie]

@D. Zylberberg

The Copain is just cracked up. I’m sure it was made with the best intentions, but its a failure.

The O-C was sold, IMO, in bad faith. f*ck whoever had the balls to charge people for it.

Why are you so sure? I know for a fact that the distributor made everyone interested in purchasing this wine take it untasted. After it arrived, some people actually liked it. We sold bottles to Steven before we had a chance to taste it, but ended up sending almost all of what we bought back to the distributor because it we didn’t like it (Steven, you’re entitled to credit for those…).

Not sure where or when your bottle was purchased, but I fail to see a persuasive case that you were definitively, knowingly, sold a bad bottle of wine. It’s certainly a possibility, but given how opaque the distributor chose to be, I’m not convinced that phrases like “f*ck them” are warranted. Additionally, the Trousseau and Cremant were both excellent this vintage, and the retailer may have only tasted those once they were on the shelves.

Then there’s the issue that the wine could have been less reduced when it left the cellar; perhaps due diligence wasn’t done and the wine was offered by the wholesaler not realizing that it was showing differently after crossing the ocean. Shocking, I know, but it happens.

Again, it’s possible that someone sold the wine in bad faith. That’s not necessarily what happened, though, and it’s unfair to jump to such a rash and angry conclusion.

[Dav1dZ]

John - you misunderstood me. I don’t mean that the retailer knowingly sold me a bad bottle; rather, I mean that somewhere up the line, someone sniffed this, recoiled in horror, yet bottled and sent it out to the world anyways. I don’t know who THAT person is, but they should be drawn and quartered. I recognize that the retailer was probably just as screwed as I was in this situation.

[mike_pobega]

@D. Zylberberg

2010 Overnoy-Crinquand Arbois Poulsard - On the Internet, I found a note from a merchant (or was it Rosenthal himself?) advising that this wine needed a “few hours in a decanter”. I’d like to find that person and skull f*ck them with a cattle prod. This has been exposed to air for 2.5 days, and still smells like I’m standing over an oil well in my days as a geologist, with wafts of toxic H2S hitting my nose with every turn of the pump. This is also brown and has other delicious reductive compounds that evoke pleasing, nostalgic aromas like fermenting cabbage and Calcutta sewage. Repulsive.

Awesome. Line of the year within the TN of the year.

[M_Dildine]

I seem to remember the Madder as a “bargain” (under $20) wine made from Lake County fruit? I’m guessing it was made for earlier consumption?

[Berry_Crawford]

@D. Zylberberg

2010 Overnoy-Crinquand Arbois Poulsard - On the Internet, I found a note from a merchant (or was it Rosenthal himself?) advising that this wine needed a “few hours in a decanter”. I’d like to find that person and skull f*ck them with a cattle prod. This has been exposed to air for 2.5 days, and still smells like I’m standing over an oil well in my days as a geologist, with wafts of toxic H2S hitting my nose with every turn of the pump. This is also brown and has other delicious reductive compounds that evoke pleasing, nostalgic aromas like fermenting cabbage and Calcutta sewage. Repulsive.

I just tried this and totally agree. Flawed wine.

Also, why are you so angry at the world?

[Dav1dZ]

@Berry Crawford

I just tried this and totally agree. Flawed wine.

Also, why are you so angry at the world?

Michigan fan

[doug_johnson]

@John Ritchie

@D. Zylberberg

The O-C was sold, IMO, in bad faith.

Why are you so sure? I know for a fact that the distributor made everyone interested in purchasing this wine take it untasted.

Hey John,

Love CSW!

How unusual is it for a distributor to make you buy before tasting? And what reason did they give you to explain why you couldn’t taste first?

[David_K_o_l_i_n]

@mike pobega

@D. Zylberberg

2010 Overnoy-Crinquand Arbois Poulsard - On the Internet, I found a note from a merchant (or was it Rosenthal himself?) advising that this wine needed a “few hours in a decanter”. I’d like to find that person and skull f*ck them with a cattle prod. This has been exposed to air for 2.5 days, and still smells like I’m standing over an oil well in my days as a geologist, with wafts of toxic H2S hitting my nose with every turn of the pump. This is also brown and has other delicious reductive compounds that evoke pleasing, nostalgic aromas like fermenting cabbage and Calcutta sewage. Repulsive.

Awesome. Line of the year within the TN of the year.

Pretentious note

[G_Greenbaum]

What an ass.

[Brad_S_w_a_l_l_o_w]

@G. Greenbaum

What an ass.

[CFu]

Apparently even when a wine sucks we have to sugar coat stuff here?

[David_Bu3ker]

People are still calling out Anthill Farms for the 2008 smoke issue. If a wine is bad it’s bad. Screw PC notes.

[A_Bree]

.

[W_Leonard]

@D. Zylberberg

2010 Overnoy-Crinquand Arbois Poulsard - On the Internet, I found a note from a merchant (or was it Rosenthal himself?) advising that this wine needed a “few hours in a decanter”. I’d like to find that person and skull f*ck them with a cattle prod. This has been exposed to air for 2.5 days, and still smells like I’m standing over an oil well in my days as a geologist, with wafts of toxic H2S hitting my nose with every turn of the pump. This is also brown and has other delicious reductive compounds that evoke pleasing, nostalgic aromas like fermenting cabbage and Calcutta sewage. Repulsive.

SOOO many of us have said this sucked, why did you even bother?

On another note, David the importer of this wine has, from what I gather, a rather strict no taste policy so many retailers bought this given the quality of the other Jura wines in this merchants portfolio. For what it is worth, the Trousseau is actually pretty good from O-C. So yeah, three tiers once again not in your favor.

[W_Leonard]

@A Bree

As you can see, the Overnoy has always been a rather controversial wine. To draw conclusions about the importer’s motives and character based upon a single tasting is simply ignorant.

Wrong Overnoy