I travel a lot, and see many, many wine shops and liquor stores, and am always snooping around in each store’s mark down bins. You never know what you will find, but I have found some amazing values this way - and every now and then a stinker (which is why I am wary sometimes). They all go into a separate bin, away from the regular stuff. Usually it’s German Rieslings that are closed out when a store changes wine buyers - and the new buyer doesn’t like Riesling because they are too sweet, so they dump them.
I’ve had a moderate amount of Chave [both red and white], and I don’t get it either.
Do NOT open it for another thirty years or more. Young Grange is a phenomenally boring, pedestrian, unremarkable wine. You just have to trust that they knew what they were doing when they threw it together [where “they” is whichever winemaker and grape farmer that Evil Megacorp chose for that particular vintage].
Either sell it at auction or leave it for your heirs to open after your funeral.
[quote="cepotts]…
Which leads me to my questions. You say 2011 is very different than the earlier vintages of Bearwallow, but you don’t expand on that thinking. What is so different about 2011? Are you saying that 2011 stands alone, or have you also tasted 2012 (and maybe 2013?) and are you saying that stylistically Bearwallow has changed (presumably for the better)?
Cheers,
Craig[/quote]
I tasted the 2011 before release at a release party and the finish was very minerally which gave the wine a much better overall impression that previous vintages and I might have guessed French, whereas in previous vintage it had been for me by far the most Californian of the Rhys pinots. Overall I’ve not yet tried the 2012 or beyond. I’ve been reading about them and other people says it’s not just minerality that is different in the recent vintages. I think Rhys has finally figured out what to do with this vineyard.
I forgot to mention the San Mateo 2012. It’s really, really good at a great price. I should have tried to buy a lot more.
Many wines have me pausing in some capacity- Bordeaux/Barolo that I may pop too young, rumors of green on my Burg, Cali in a jammy phase… but definitely premox scares the most.
What scares me the least by a wide margin is vintage Champagne. It seems that almost all bottles have performed well with so few excpetions that my mind is programmed to be confident to open (and continue to cellar) quality bubbly.
Having finished off the last of my 2002 Huet Demi Secs (with a near 100% premox rate) and not owning any premox era white Burgundy now it would be my Trimbachs.
I’m not bringing one anywhere without a backup available.
2003 CDP. I have about 10 bottles remaining and every time I see them and go to reach for one, I pause and pick something else. They are just not enjoyable wines to my palate.
I’m the opposite. I’m aging my Pinots and I’ve tried to choose them based on that. There are a growing number of CA Pinots that have shown a track record for aging and improving. I think the overall problem is more that CA is still trying to figure out the best sites for specific grapes, and the best methods for growing and harvesting. It’s not like France where the best place to grow Pinot has been pretty well established for centuries.
As an example, take Hudson Vineyards in Carneros, which has produced some pretty good wines. They have something like 17 varieties there including Chardonnay, Viognier and SB for whites, and CF, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Grenache for reds. This is inside of 200 acres in two locations quite close to each other. You could cover either plot roughly with Clos de Vougeot. How many of these varieties can possibly be the best grape to plant there given that they cover what’s grown from Champagne to Chateauneuf?
On top of this there are lots of vineyards that don’t have a long track record. Maybe the climate is good for Pinot but the soil isn’t, or vice-versa. Or maybe it’s great and we just don’t know yet. There are also cases like Copain where the style changed dramatically and there is no history of aging with the new one.
With all of this, it makes sense that aging results will be somewhat haphazard, but it doesn’t say anything about wines like Calera where the track record is clear.
Anything in my cellar with an ABV of 15% or higher. I’ve become VERY sensitive to alcohol over the years…and wines like Dal Forno, Port, Elio Grasso, and others in my cellar have me concerned that when I pull the cork on them…all I will pick up on will be the alcohol.
2005 Hospices Mazis Chambertin. Will I live long enough to enjoy it?
1994 Fonseca. Ditto.
1875 Barbeito Maderia. Can I keep my hands off it until it is 150 years old?
2005-current Scarecrow. When I finally decide to have the ultimate Scarecrow vertical, will it be good.
Define “relatively young.” We opened a 2004 Copain Pinot late last year that was, IMHO, the best pinot on the table out of many choices and was also the oldest.
I have a 2004 Rhys Family Farm pinot. Maybe I’ll pop it soon.
opened an 05 TOR To Kalon last week that was like lighter fluid…so hot…it was stunning when young…think my plan needs to be to drink these types of wines in the first 5 years
I’ve stashed away some Les Poyeux and Le Bourg from vintages early-to-late 2000s and have started to taste some of my early 2000’s and have not really experienced that “wow factor” that is over and above the times when I tasted earlier near/at release. Over the last 3 years, I’ve also tasted very few from the mid-90’s and while they were good, OK I’ll admit, more than just good, I was hoping that they’d be a lot more than just “more than good”. Not complaining here, but perhaps, just having too high an expectation?
2000 Carruades de Lafite. For a while it looked like these were going to be worth so much I wouldn’t have to worry about drinking them. Now that prices have come back to earth a bit, I’m in the uncomfortable position of wondering whether it might be worth cracking a bottle.
The ‘unicorn factor’ may be coming into play here: wow wine is similar to that mythical beast.
I’ve never had a Bourg yet, but of the 2 I’ve tried - an 2003 Clos and an 04 Poyeux - even though I wasn’t wowed either, I found them exquisite wines with a sense of balance and textural purity, which is worth the price of admission (perhaps not at today’s pricing, however!) to me.
Other than some already mentioned, Gallardi Terra di Lavoro. I bought several vintages based on price/reviews, then I tried a few and found them so hard and tannic and unforgiving (and I’m someone who gets pleasure out of young Barolo) that I really have very little faith that they will turn into something nice. But I trust palates more experienced than mine and am holding my rest in hopes that they will blossom. I’m also not buying more until I taste a mature example.
