Worst Wine of the Year....Anthill Farms Pinot Anderson Valley 2008

WINE TALK
#1

A smokey ash color in the glass. On the nose some forest fire and petrified wood.On the palate some ashtray(nonfiltered) and game(I think its smokey the bear) with a hint of heat(about 700 degs).

I tried a second bottle but no variation. This wine should not have been offered. Bad move by a winery I
respected.

WHAT WAS YOUR WORST WINE THIS YEAR?

#2

Wow! That sounds awful. I don’t think I could top that. That said, my worst wine of the year was Pretty Sally Cabernet; A Garagiste offering.

#3

Gene- I got that one too from Garagiste and remember being disappointed but don’t remember much else.

#4

Imagine your disappointment if you bought six of these. I did. I’ve opened two bottles so far and never finished either. On the other hand, I had an '07 Anderson Valley last weekend and it was terrific.

#5

Not to beat a dead horse, but this is exactly how my first 2 bottles showed and I insisted that there was no bottle variation. After seeing notes where people didn’t pick up on the smoke I opened my last one and sure enough no smoke. I don’t know how many bottles the AF guys opened before they decided to release it, but I agree it shouldn’t have been released.

At this point as much as I’ve loved the '06 and '07 AF pinots I will no longer be a buyer. You would think after so much talk on the boards over the last year about this they could have stepped up and offered a refund or some sort of break on the next release for those of us who bought these.

#6

Well…no Pride this year…so, that wasn’t it…

Maybe the 2005 Flying Goat YNOT Cabernet Sauvignon

or the entire tasting that I did at Patriarche

honorable mention - Stonehaus - Tennessee Orange Squeeze “orange wine”

#7

Don’t forget honorable mention for this one from Rowdy: 1999 Noel Verset Cornas- I think something died in the bottle

#8

I almost selected that one…but figured that it was a bad bottle…(I want to hope it was/is)

#9

Any number of premoxed French whites

#10

Hmmm … I would have guessed that the Tennessee Orange wine was off, and the Cornas - French. [wink.gif]

#11

Joe,

Before giving up on Anthill Farms, I’d give them a chance to make things right with you. We opened a 2008 AF Comptche the other night which was excellent, and I’m looking forward to their 09s.

#12

Truett,

I agree their wines are good, like I said I have loved everything I’ve had, but the '08 AV. I just think there’s a lot of good wine out there and these weren’t even discounted. There’s no way they didn’t know about the taint.

#13

I’m confused Joe. Did you write or call and ask for restituition due to perceived smoke
damage (very reasonable), or are you saying you expect them
to give you one based on negatives here on the board? Do the Anthill Farms people post here?

#14

Anthony,

No I have never contacted them and that isn’t something that I would ever do. This started a long time ago ( back on ebob) there was a 3 page thread over a year ago. Web posted there, so it’s not like they don’t know about it. Just check the CT notes and you will see what I have to believe are the most different notes for any single wine. I don’t want to be compensated, but after selling these for a full $33 you would think they would it least comment on the matter.

#15

Understood. Didn’t remember the EBob thread and I hadn’t seen the CT notes. It’s obviously your decision, but I don’t think asking for a future discount is unreasonable at all if the wine is that bad.

#16

Worst wine of the year - that I had the high expectations for - was the 2004 Cayuse En Chamberlin Syrah. The Cayuse funk blew me away, and never went away. Maybe it was me, maybe not. Either way, over the course of three days, I didn’t have a glass that I liked. To put it into context, my personal WOTY is the Cayuse 2006 God Only Knows grenache. As a huge Cayuse fan, it was, to say the least, disappointing.

#17

I agree on the 08 AF, bought 6 bottles and wish I hadn’t

#18

Ignoring flawed bottles it was a 06 Riesling from terry theise that I cant remember the producers name. It had a synthetic cork and it was awful. Maybe the sweetest wine Ive ever had (and it was a spatlese).

#19

I have a single bottle of that, and I have no idea where it came from. Haven’t tried it yet, but now I don’t want to…

#20

You actually put that stuff in your mouth? Blech. You’re supposed to just go there to see the amazing cellars, not to taste the wines! [tease.gif]