"Let's see if all of the hype is worth it." Your stories...

Howard_Cooper · April 22, 2020, 5:28pm

When you drink a wine is also very important. Over the years, 1982 Leoville las Cases was a disappointment. About 2-3 years ago it just started to become mature and became more worth the hype.

Howard_Cooper · April 22, 2020, 5:29pm

This is where personal taste really comes into play. The 1996 Salon is one of my favorite Salons. I would put it and 1996 Taittinger CdC about equal, but they taste nothing alike.

Mark_Golodetz · April 22, 2020, 7:31pm

I love both but would add the 1995 Taittinger Comtes to these; a little bit of an outlier for the vintage. Can’t think of another great 1995.

Howard_Cooper · April 22, 2020, 7:48pm

I very much liked the 1995 Winston Churchill when I had it several years ago. Have not had the 1995 CdC.

Scott_M_Bloomberg · April 22, 2020, 7:57pm

New member and first time posting!

Last February for my 30th birthday I drank 3 1989 Bordeux: La Conseillante, Montrose and Lynch Bages. Easily one of my greatest wine experiences.

The 1989 vintage lived up to the hype with La Conseillante being my favorite wine yet. Surprisingly, the Montrose —-most critically acclaimed of them all was my least favorite. Wimped out on getting the 89 Haut Brion or Mission, but will need to try those hopefully soon.

ERPark · April 22, 2020, 7:59pm

2010 Coche-Dury Corton Charlemagne - shared this with a few forumites a couple years ago. Just a fantastic, sublime bottle.

Matthew_Hemming · April 22, 2020, 8:40pm

I was at the blind 2010 tasting with Neal. Latour 2010 showed brilliantly but wasn’t one of my two perfect wines: Mouton and Lafleur for me.

Wines that delivered on the hype? Palmer 61 immediately springs to mind; Krug CdM 96; Mission 89; old Madeira. Those that haven’t made the earth move?

Haut Brion 89 - not as good as Mission.
Petrus 82 - very good but not epic.
Most 08 Bordeaux.
Yquem 67 - prefer 75.

Just realised how Euro-centric that is. Sorry!

AndyK · April 22, 2020, 9:30pm

Hyped wines that really delivered: 96 Giacosa Asili Riserva, 01 Yquem, 16 Pax Hillsides, Dauvissat, Allemand, Richard Leroy, most Ganevat

Hyped wines that are good/very good, but not worth secondary market prices: Ultramarine, Overnoy, LdH Rosado, Gonon

Hyped wines that didn’t impress: 01 Masseto, Saxum, most Rivers-Marie

Peter_C · April 22, 2020, 9:45pm

I just read through Neal Martin’s article about a huge 10-year vintage retrospective tasting of Bordeaux. It’s a fun read, and I’m amazed at the number of wines tasted and scored. It was also interesting that he did two tastings: one blind, and one sighted, and then posted scores for each. I like that transparency.

Anyway, that’s not the point of my post. One of the points in his article is that, in his opinion, he’d anoint the 2010 Ch. Latour Pauillac as the wine of the vintage. Perfection, 100 points. I found myself compelled enough to ask, “Wow. I wonder if all the hype is really worth it. I’d love to taste a 2010 Latour and see.” I then pulled up wine-searcher.com pro and very rapidly concluded, uh, yeah, nevermind. Wow, those prices.

Anyway, I’d love to hear some stories about you asking yourself the, “Does _____ wine really live up to all they hype?” and then tasting said wine. Did it? Did it not? I’m sure there are some great tales out there and I’d love to hear them. Good, bad, funny, all of them.

If it’s someone else’s money, I think Rousseau’s wines up and down the board always are stunning for what’s on the label.

I thought it was crazy when the Gevrey village wine was $75, now that it’s $300 in most cases…

lleichtman · April 22, 2020, 10:13pm

I don’t know how hyped it was but had the 1947 Cheval Blanc on my 70th birthday. It was purchased in 2007 and was quite expensive but it turned out to be one of the best bottles of wine I ever had. Just sublime and still had some fruit after all that time.

Howard_Cooper · April 22, 2020, 10:17pm

1947 Cheval Blanc is one of the most famous wines of the 20th century.

lleichtman · April 22, 2020, 10:18pm

It lived up to the hype while I did not. This wine will outlive me.

Peter_Simpson · April 22, 2020, 10:35pm

I’ve yet to have any bottle of 2000 Bordeaux that has come anywhere near the hype. Parker blew this one big time!

Please don’t tell me they just need more time, at my age I most likely don’t have enough of it.

Eric_Ifune · April 22, 2020, 10:48pm

Mattstolz wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:56 pm
C Chen wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 4:26 pm
The only producer that immediately comes to mind as not being worth the hype is d’Yquem.
I do remember being pretty underwhelmed by the d’yquem that ive had. give me a sweet riesling for 1/3 the price and I think ill be happier.
I learned early on those are pretty unimpressive too young, at least from the vintages I tried. At 10 years out they’ve been waxy and not very expressive. At 20 years they’re starting to strut. i’d be more comfortable not wasting the effort opening one before 25 years.

This is so true. Young, d’Yquem is no better than any other Sauternes. After 30 plus years, that’s when it pulls head and shoulders ahead. Opened a 1976 just last week. Superb!

Joe_G_a_l_e_w_s_k_i · April 22, 2020, 11:00pm

Welcome to the board Scott, and that is a much better lineup than I had for my 30th birthday. But you have a better vintage to work with than I do. Congratulations! So, Lynch Bages or Montrose, those are a horse a piece. I wouldn’t kick either of them out of bed. Was it the Lynch Bages or the the La Conseillante that you preferred on that night?

DougS · April 22, 2020, 11:08pm

Yeah, I really like both of these wines, but agree that the hype that has led to current secondary pricing is unfounded. I’d be buying Gonon in quantity if I could get it for what I paid a few years ago.

Markus_S · April 22, 2020, 11:42pm

Not sure about this. These are benchmark wines.

Howard_Cooper · April 22, 2020, 11:43pm

What did Parker rate you?

Howard_Cooper · April 22, 2020, 11:45pm

Whether you (or I) have time for wines for mature may determine whether we should have purchased certain wines, but does not impact how good the wine ultimately will be.

Kirk.Grant · April 22, 2020, 11:50pm

Haven’t come close to living up to the hype:

'96 Salon
several vintages of Grange (undrinkable; yes, I mean it)
any Quilceda Creek (maybe the hype was all from 1 person, though)
'08 Cristal (I know I’m in the minority here, and maybe with time it will)
many others that were probably just opened at awkward stages of development

Have totally lived up to the hype:

Clos Rougeard (not worth current pricing to me, but clearly best of class, and better than almost all others by a huge margin)
'96 Taittinger Comtes (oh my god)
'96 and '08 Sir Winston Churchill (but '96 seemed to lose its luster over the years, and it should still be young)
Keller (sadly won’t pay aftermarket pricing and no longer have a connection for regular retail markup pricing)
old red Burgundy, just in general (not all great, but so many performing above expectations when well chosen, and I’m not talking trophies)
Cerbaiona Brunello (sadly found out too late)
Poggio di Sotto Brunello (not too late!)
probably many others that I’m not thinking of at the moment

How could I forget the '96 Salon…I dumped it down the drain after giving it 12+ hours to show up. Granted it was a weekend full of amazing wines…but it couldn’t hold a candle to any of them. Even the $50 Champagnes. It was good, it was aged, but there were NO fireworks like any of the other aged Champagnes I’ve had.

Also…Didier Dagueneau (his wines live up to all the hype & praise; unfortunately his son’s are not reliable enough to justify the cost. Some are great, some are off…and at those prices I’ll be buying from the producers that always hit the mark.