The so-called cool factor is just people trying to be cool by rejecting stuff that is classic and seen as prior generation. It’s really rather superficial. Class, like classicism, never goes out of style. Fads and trends are trivial.
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If you’re not a kid, you can’t be a cool kid. Aspire to be a codger. It’s much more fun.
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Its funny how Rolland continues to get the hate vs Chateau owners looking to cash in on RP scores or perceived wine trends with consumers and achieving higher bottle prices. The Chateau owners paid him to come in and help them make more approachable wines in a riper fashion, which means higher alcohols, with the hopes of cashing in, but the downfall of losing the character of their properties.
I begrudge Rolland nothing for cashing in on a consulting trend and helping people make technically sound approachable wines that lacked a soul for many who followed them over time. The people who drink them now likely hated them befire for their rusticity and those that loved them before hate them now. So goes the wine world.
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Yes, one of the most interesting points Jeff made during the session was to point out that many wines from Bordeaux are made to drink in the short term, but ALSO age, and I believe it was Mark who opined thereafter that those wines likely won’t age as gracefully, or as long, which I believe is also the case. I think a happy medium has been settled upon for many, allow them to drink well young, but they also improve with age, versus the old school claret which was untouchable for decades but emerged glorious.
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I think I reached old codger status some time ago
For the estate owners and Rolland, I think my view is more benign neglect than hate
Bordeaux never started being too rich for me. Others are entitled to disagree.
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Thank you Jeff. I’m always delighted to hear that you’re able to put us on the right path. But you are right about the three wines, although last time I looked neither SHL nor Pape were in the Medoc. But it does appear as if I don’t know how far the reach of Rolland was.
I don’t remember your submitting your application. The requirements are more than just being old. You have to be ornery, cantankerous and given to pointless argument for the sake of it. Querulousness also gets points.
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You never took a sip of Le Dome and gagged and exclaimed, horrified, “DAFUQ DIS???” Damn. I did. And I’m probably willing to let bordeaux get a little riper than some of these geezers who want pyrazines and lead pencil and brett bombs.
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Flip side is there is probably going to be less variability and much more pleasure at 20 years, and folks won’t be dead-reckoning whether a vintage was going to be a total bust or whether there is something to save 50 years from now.
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Same.
Can we add curmudgeonly to the list?
For Bordeauxs or for Codgers?
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I have never tasted Le Dôme. Nor have I ever seen it among the offerings of a caviste.
I did have the opportunity recently to have a glass of 2012 Pavie, which I understand to be reviled among a cohort of Bordeaux aficionados on the basis of excessive extraction. I thought it was tasty.
Chacun à son goût.
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Codgers, baby!!
Todd… Why do you think that’s the case? How many wines from 2009 have not aged well? And those are almost 18 years old.
Pick another vintage if you like. We can discuss that or others. If you don’t like the wines, that’s one thing. But not having the ability to age, that is another thing.
How much has the dominant style in Bordeaux moved back towards freshness, if at all?
As analogy, Barolo saw a large shift towards bigger wines in the '90s, but has since moved back to traditional vilification in almost every case.
I have a number of 2009s to not be particularly fresh, to have to have overripe fruit. This is more true of producers using more “modern” methods, but I also found the 2009 Durfort Vivens to have a touch of a burnt quality to the wine even through wine otherwise had nice fruit.
I do find 2016s to have good freshness. And, the one 2021 I have had (Lafon Rochet) had excellent freshness. Reminded me some of 1979s I had when I first started buying wines.
I found myself in this exact scenario in July when a bottle of 2009 Clos l’Église showed up at our blind tasting. No thanks. Give me the pyrazines, lead pencil and brett, thank you very much. I want my Bordeaux to taste like Bordeaux…if I want Napa cabernet I’ll open one.