Wine Berserkers - international wine social media, online community, and discussion

No RBs for me at all in 2010! I've enjoyed a lot of CBs over the last few years, though some I have been slightly disappointed by recently. The best recent one was Fonréaud, very fresh for the vintage. Rollan de By was good, too. Cambon La Pelouse - hopefully will improve but chunky and monolithic L...

Cheers Steen - the citrus notes are weird, I agree - I've encountered them several times now, the last of which was the Pedesclaux 05 I had a few weeks ago. It seems to be a characteristic of the vintage, but which I think will disappear with time, as the decanting showed.

At last, signs that the 05s may be coming out to play - not before time! I tried these two together out of curiosity since they cost the same at release (22€). Both were decanted for four hours, which in fact was not nearly enough - and they were much better the second night. Château Siran - Margaux...

And now for something completely different ! Kayra Buzbag Rezerv Oküzgözü Bogazkere 2008 (Turkey) https://us.v-cdn.net/5020913/uploads/editor/a4/tlf5apwbsz3r.jpg I discovered this in a corner of my cellar and opened it, since it was bottle collection day and I wanted to fill the container before it ...

Tried the 2015 a couple of months ago after having tasted the 2005, 06 and 07 some years ago. All these vintages were very good to outstanding. The recently tasted 2015 was certainly no exception flirtysmile . The Vignobles Huberts even began following me on instagram, possibly after seeing my revi...

I’ve never tried it but as I was reading this, this month’s copy of La Revue des Vins de France opened on the page where this domain’s 2018 got a good write up and 91 pts! It’s biodynamic and sounds quite good in fact! No doubt it could be....but whatever happened pre or post bottling to the wine I...

I’ve never tried it but as I was reading this, this month’s copy of La Revue des Vins de France opened on the page where this domain’s 2018 got a good write up and 91 pts! It’s biodynamic and sounds quite good in fact!

Sounds good for a Monday night wine!

I actually am happy to see older bottles with signs of mold, etc. on the label. Suggests to me the potential for having been stored properly. Absolutely - if the level is good and the label is damaged by damp, it's an excellent sign. Some of my best buys have been wines like that, precisely because...

Actually, the Bordeaux 1982 example is a good one. Many people correlated early accessibility with a short life, which is not at all what happened. Unlike subsequent vintages, I think it was nature's accident rather than Man's design - which probably accounts for a lot. Looking at more recent ripe B...

January has always struck me as an odd time to go dry, since it's such a horrible time of the year - now in high summer, I can understand! But I always admire those that do. Sounds like a great way of easing back into the saddle! I've never tried this wine - oh well, another on the shopping list! Ho...

The comparisons of 2016 and 1982 seem weird to me. 2016 seems like a very good vintage but not a historic one. How many people would confidently say that the 2016s stand head and shoulders above 2009, 2010, 2015, 2018, and 2019? To say nothing of 2000 and 2005. As I understand it 1982 was just &quo...

I forgot - as a fan of GL 82, wouldn’t you agree it’s the best ever?

As for the wines, I think they differ from the modern vintages in two major respects, alcohol and acidity. Alcohol was by comparison low, most wines hovering around the 13 degrees though a little bit higher on the Right Bank. Second the wines were balanced, the acidity clear if a little lower than ...

I couldn't agree more, Howard, and you didn't even need to buy them EP (although it was a good idea to have done so). I remember strolling into my local supermarket in early 1985 and buying things like L-Barton, Pichon Baron and Montrose for 100 francs a bottle, so around 15€ in today's money. Crazy...

I quite agree about older Cantemerles, which were marvellous - and I'm delighted to read that the legendary 89 is still going strong! But I'm not so sure about more recent ones. The youngest I've tried was the 09, which was enjoyable, but not as good as Citran 09 at half the price. The style swings ...

As for 1982s to buy today, the only wine I know of which I can recommend without hesitation would be, as Maureen said, Gruaud Larose. I finished the last one last year and it was almost as good as the first. IMO Gruaud has never come close to repeating that level of quality since and in 1982, it co...

As for the wines, I think they differ from the modern vintages in two major respects, alcohol and acidity. Alcohol was by comparison low, most wines hovering around the 13 degrees though a little bit higher on the Right Bank. Second the wines were balanced, the acidity clear if a little lower than ...

I had a bottle of Bouscassé Vieilles Vignes 2000 a couple of days ago which was excellent. Madirans are not really my type of wine nowadays and I haven't bought any for several years, but the Bouscassé was a great example of one - intense flavours of forest fruits, quite spicy, a big wine but well b...

Happy New Year Mark! That's an excellent question. 1982 was the vintage of discovery of Bordeaux for me. It was readily available in shops in France and not expensive, although I was not to realise just how cheap it was until much later. I'm sure that you, like me, can still remember what the wines ...

Sounds (and looks) great, Arjan - lucky you! Which other vintages did you find? 1975 in Magnum in a great condition for €60 was a very lucky find. For the rest I’ve got quite a few ‘95 and younger. I hope this domaine stays under the radar for a long time! A magnum of 75 for 60€ is indeed a lucky f...

Sounds (and looks) great, Arjan - lucky you! Which other vintages did you find?

The gods of wine were kind to us at NYE. We enjoyed the following: Laurent-Perrier Brut NV: surprisingly good, full of lemony flavours and very elegant Pepière Les Gras Moutons 2019 + Clisson 2017 - Muscadets: the former was very fresh and richer than the Briords 2019, but we had enjoyed that one mo...

Sounds excellent - lucky you, Elliot! I was even more lackadaisical than you and have completely given up on the idea of ever buying any, unfortunately.

Something old, something new: Clos de L'Echo - Couly-Dutheil - Chinon - 1990 Very fresh, vibrant aromas of dark cherry and raspberry, fresh spring flowers too, with a hint of nutmeg. The attack is bright, crisp, full of cherry, raspberry and blueberry, before a second section moving more into blackc...

and just a few years ago, it would never occurred to me that a Loire red could perform so well - which considering that 2012 is not a particularly good vintage, was even more impressive. My second favorite Brit has finally coming around! [wow.gif] [wow.gif] Partly thanks to you, Grand Master! Well,...

2005 was the Pedesclaux that beat the Ist Growths in a Decanter panel tasting, if I remember well. It's hard to see why today, but it's still a nice wine. If you're lucky enough to come across a good bottle, 2000 can be surprisingly good, even better than the 05 in fact. But with any Pedesclaux befo...

Thanks Jayson, I had missed that thread last year for some reason and it answers my question perfectly. I suppose at some point someone will see the huge gap in the market and start producing wines like that again. One of the tragic things about this is that they decided to dump Magdelaine just as ...

Thanks Jayson, I had missed that thread last year for some reason and it answers my question perfectly. I suppose at some point someone will see the huge gap in the market and start producing wines like that again.

To cheer us all up during lockdown N°47, or however many there have been so far, I've been delving into some mid-table Bordeaux CCs. I kept a glass of each back to try with a remaining glass of Les Mémoires (Roches-Neuves Saumur-C) and it proved to be a really interesting experiment - well, for us, ...

Thanks Mark - the trouble with Robert is that he has got Levet on the brain - there I was scratching my head wondering who on earth Levet was, now I see he has edited it and it's Jeff Leve after all!

Thanks - I've never tried Corbin-Michotte - sounds good. I remember there was a polemic when it lost its CC status in 2012 - probably a badge of honour!

I am afraid we will not see St Ems like this anymore. Great ramblings, Robert! I've been hunting down a few Magdelaines recently thanks to your rec. It's not that I didn't know it before, but it had rather gone under my radar - also, it's fair to say that in my salad days I didn't appreciate the su...

I had opened a first bottle in the middle stages of Covid, which showed me how much my taste had gone - it was totally featureless. So I finally plucked up the courage to open another last night - and really enjoyed it. Markus - that description of the nose is spot-on! Nothing to add whatsoever. As ...

If you are/were lucky to come across a good bottle of 1990, you'll be amazed at how good it is, the problem being that there are a lot of bad ones. I was very lucky to have a whole case of excellent ones which for a time seriously challenged Lynch-Bages. But generally, I agree that the 80s and 90s w...

Julian—sounds like you were pretty taken with the Singuliere. Any info on the site where the vines are located? It’s not so easy to find here, unfortunately. From what I can tell from their website, it's like a super cuvée made from vines in the oldest parts of the domain. Yields are supposed to be...

I've never met Robert, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind being the Fonz of the board - he'll have to change his avatar! This thread is getting on for a year old soon, so I was wondering if the original "classification" shouldn't be revised a little, if people's ideas have changed. I've been ch...

Glad you liked it, Robert - I had a feeling you would! I just picked up some Magdelaine 2000 following your recent rec. I'll try one over Christmas.

Great notes, Otto, thanks for posting. Some I have, others I haven't got, but interesting to see which ones showed well and which didn't. The Poujeaux and the Chasse-Spleen caught my eye, especially the Poujeaux because I didn't think much of it in the past. Also, the Pez sounds like one to track do...

Sorry to hear that, Mark - your trajectory sounds very similar to my own, although I never went to hospital. I got it a month ago too - just returning to normal now. I've been happily tucking into some of my guilty secrets made by Rolland or Derenoncourt, with similar results - they actually taste ...

Sorry to hear that, Mark - your trajectory sounds very similar to my own, although I never went to hospital. I got it a month ago too - just returning to normal now. I've been happily tucking into some of my guilty secrets made by Rolland or Derenoncourt, with similar results - they actually taste q...

It really depends on what sort of Bordeaux you like, but if I had to choose a few stalwarts which seldom disappoint, it would be: Léoville-Barton Sociando Mallet - try the 01, 04 and 08 among recent vintages - excellent value Giscours - but not from the 90s Bel Air Marquis d'Aligre Lagrange Gruaud L...

I haven't tried the 2016 yet and I haven't seen the 2017, but basically I would tread carefully. I was quite impressed by the 2014, which is a return to a more normal, classic style, but I'm just going to buy one of each and try them before getting any more.

Domaine des Roches Neuves is an estate which I regularly drink and where the green notes are more limited (note: I am drinking 15 and 16). It's a highly regarded estate, that's also mentioned in this thread, so you may want to look into that to confirm whether to your tastes, there are less green p...

Elliot - thanks for the note - I haven't tried any of mine yet - sounds excellent. I agree that Jacky Blot deserves to go up a rung, maybe two. His wines are not necessarily for Loire purists but they are really good. Mike - I would say that Roches-Neuves is definitely less green in any vintage. I h...

Sounds wonderful, Kelly - I've never actually had a good 75 so I'm extremely jealous!

I always thought "Lift" was about Miran Kegl's helicopter?

Happy 55th Robert, what a great occasion - fine wines, fine friends - and a bottle of Pavie to boot! Well done you for having such a fun evening in these troubled times! I shall raise a glass to your good health later.

Dissent and discussion are great - I suspect that unlike Parker, who would have thrown a tantrum, Neal would probably take any comments without taking offence - so why do you not simply post them on the Vinous Your Say forum, so he can actually read them and react?! I've never seen him post here, so...

Having looked them up on Wine Searcher, these ones:

Domaine des Hauts de Sanziers - Saumur (or Saumur-Champigny) - $8.43 + tax

Château Coudray-Montpensier - Chinon - $11.70 + tax

Both are wines I buy for daily drinking, costing 4 or 5 euros, but in good vintages offering real value for money.

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