AG's Clos Du Val score 95 points

[Paul_McCourt]

@GregT

If it scored that high, I’m backing up the truck. That means the wine is good. The fact that I don’t particularly like it is irrelevant. Cripes, 95 points is 95 points, I don’t care who the critic is!

This made me laugh

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

@mike pobega

There was no Maybach in 2011, just a cool mug.

True, but unfortunately, Galloni went to print with the news before the decision had been made by the owner, and was banished for his trouble. It was a sufficient embarrassment to his former employer, the Wine Advocate, that it redacted the offending sentence (and, unlike Galloni, was allowed to taste at Maybach again). Timing is everything in screwing up, as we are seeing with the Clos du Val, and the 2008 Giacosas and 2010 G. Mascarello Monprivato as well…

[larry_schaffer]

This really is a strange story indeed. So did he indeed try this from bottle? Or perhaps a barrel sample?

I can imagine it might be difficult to keep track of all the notes written when you are tasting hundreds of wines, but if you are going to score a wine this high, you would think you would make sure, right?

Or perhaps there are PLENTY of wines scored this high that it’s ‘just another one’? Curious . . .

[Dav_d_Parta_n]

Sure hope it’s true! I can’t wait to drink all those points!

[Thomas_Concilio]

Doesn’t matter what points it gets if you don’t like it. Now if I can get Saxum to receive some 80’s and drop their prices back to $45, well …back up the truck.

[Tony_C]

@Bill Klapp

@mike pobega

There was no Maybach in 2011, just a cool mug.

True, but unfortunately, Galloni went to print with the news before the decision had been made by the owner, and was banished for his trouble. It was a sufficient embarrassment to his former employer, the Wine Advocate, that it redacted the offending sentence (and, unlike Galloni, was allowed to taste at Maybach again). Timing is everything in screwing up, as we are seeing with the Clos du Val, and the 2008 Giacosas and 2010 G. Mascarello Monprivato as well…

Bill - Please explain about the 2010 G. Mascarello Monprivato.

[GregT]

Or perhaps there are PLENTY of wines scored this high that it’s ‘just another one’?

There’s probably more truth in that simple query than in most of the points assigned in a year. Kind of like a Rudy label: “Oh crap. I forgot about this extra 95 point score in the drawer. Here. Let’s put it on this wine.”

But this next one is actually profound. Surely destined to become immortal:

Timing is everything in screwing up,

Hilarious.

[Chuck_Anderson]

@GregT

If it scored that high, I’m backing up the truck. That means the wine is good. The fact that I don’t particularly like it is irrelevant. Cripes, 95 points is 95 points, I don’t care who the critic is!

Heh.

Hasn’t he assigned them a handful of scores in the 90s the last half-decade or so? “Hated it at 92+ points, but at 95, sign me up!”

AG is doing a hell of a job immunizing me against pointophilia, finishing the job RP and The Suckling started.

(OK, I see some of those scores are for other bottlings, but, hell, it looks like this one may be too! Why let facts get in the way anyway?)

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

@Tony C

@Bill Klapp

@mike pobega

There was no Maybach in 2011, just a cool mug.

True, but unfortunately, Galloni went to print with the news before the decision had been made by the owner, and was banished for his trouble. It was a sufficient embarrassment to his former employer, the Wine Advocate, that it redacted the offending sentence (and, unlike Galloni, was allowed to taste at Maybach again). Timing is everything in screwing up, as we are seeing with the Clos du Val, and the 2008 Giacosas and 2010 G. Mascarello Monprivato as well…

Bill - Please explain about the 2010 G. Mascarello Monprivato.

Short version with no rant: Galloni does not have a lot of relevant tasting experience or expertise from cask. Historically, Monprivato has proven one of the most difficult Nebbioli to make any sense of from cask, and also often from bottle at first. Galloni goes (93-95) on the 2009 Monprivato in May, 2013, then after Mauro decides no 2009 Morissio will be made and adds all of that fine Michet clone juice to the blend, Galloni offers up “?” in January, 2014.

Next, pre-Vinous Tanzer offers “(93-96)” on the 2010 Monprivato in November, 2013. Galloni comes along in September, 2014 and offers up “89+”, noting this:

“The 2010 was just bottled in August and Monprivato is notorious for being hard to judge in its youth, so it will be interesting to see what time brings. Bottles I left open overnight did not show any meaningful development.”

In March of this year, after a good deal of “WTF???” head-scratching by Monprivato fans, Galloni offers up an “89” after re-tasting and says that, while the wine is “more fully formed” than last time, it lacks the pedigree of the best Monprivato vintages. In June, 2015, Monica Larner declares the wine to be stunning, and gives it a “97”, with only three 2010 Baroli scoring higher. Days ago, Kerin O’ Keefe of Wine Enthusiast gives the wine a “99”, with only two 2010 Baroli rated higher. (Nobody cares what score Suckling gave it. Not even Suckling.)

[larry_schaffer]

@Bill Klapp

(Nobody cares what score Suckling gave it. Not even Suckling.)

[/quote]

My favorite line in quite some time! Thanks for that one, Bill.

[Gary_York]

So now ML’s scores have merit? When did that happen, I must have missed it.

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

@B. Buzzini

For both the 13 and 14……

"Editors’s Note: In response to reader inquiries, this wine will be tasted again shortly, as there may be a discrepancy between the wine name and the wine that was actually tasted. Last updated: November 3. 2015.

– Antonio Galloni"

Whoa! Sounds like the Parker/Faiveley “issue.”

[Robert_Pavlovich]

Can we get one of our people on this situation? i.e. drink one and review it.

[larry_schaffer]

@Robert Pavlovich

Can we get one of our people on this situation? i.e. drink one and review it.

Robert,

And who would you want to do that? A member of the AFWE group? Someone who digs bigger and bolder wines?

Cheers . . .

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

@Gary York

So now ML’s scores have merit? When did that happen, I must have missed it.

Certainly more merit than Galloni’s on the 2010 Monprivato. Even a blind pig finds an acorn now and again. That sort of wine reviewer adage thing.

Think of it this way, Gary…Galloni is losing the war of attrition among wine reviewers…

[Gary_York]

If you are starting to use one critics score to refute another critics score surely this portents the end of days.

[Keith_Levenberg]

@Robert Pavlovich

Can we get one of our people on this situation? i.e. drink one and review it.

I don’t think that would prove anything. It would require the Galloni score to be a reproducible result even if the wine were the same.

[Gary_York]

I vote for Klapp to do it. Although we might have to wait 2-3 days for him to decant it.

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

@Gary York

If you are starting to use one critics score to refute another critics score surely this portents the end of days.

We can only hope so. The point, lost on you, it seems, is that a variety of very different palates, of very different qualities, all called this one the same way. Galloni is the Parmigiano Reggiano standing alone. The odds of him being right and all of the others being wrong are nonexistent.

And hey, if your boy is on top of things, why are you warning him to duck and cover his ass on the potential Clos du Val flap over on the Vinous board? His ass and K&L’s are the only two with any potential exposure here, yes?

[Bill_Klapp_deactivated]

@Gary York

I vote for Klapp to do it. Although we might have to wait 2-3 days for him to decant it.

New releases generally require no decanting because there is no sediment, and indeed, decanting can be counterproductive. Maybe you should read up on the subject before cracking wise (well, cracking mediocre, if not wise in this case)…