Peter, try to snag some 75’s, 83’s, & 86’s. They’re mostly ready.
Several people mentioned (positively) the 2008 Cristal. That one went in my “I don’t get it” bucket. Sure, it was probably just too young and tight, but it was just lemony champagne to me. I’m sitting on the rest of my batch hoping it turns into something spectacular.
Many negative examples: perhaps just off bottles. The one I will relate is the one DRC I’ve ever tried (no, I don’t remember the specifics, but it wasn’t La Tache, Romanee Conti or Richebourg). It was…good. Really, it was good. But I had a good Burgundy last week that cost me $60, and no one would write paeans to it. The DRC didn’t make me want to drop $X thousand to try another.
Fortunately, many examples living up to the hype, too. Just because it was dissed earlier, I will cite d’Yquem, which I credit with changing my life in respect of wine because it was the wine that made me realize that spending a lot of money on a bottle of wine could actually be worth it.
Historically I have not been a big fan of 2000 Bordeaux. A few weeks ago I opened a 2000 Rauzan Segla. My first of 6 bottles purchased. It was stunning albeit on the younger side, WOTY contender.
I’ve only had Salon once and it was the 1976. Blew me away. We had it at The Hotel Crillon restaurant in Paris. And we had several other wonderful bottles that night, including a 1975 Leoville Las Cases. We were young and stupid and the franc was 10 to 1 against the dollar at the time. We went overboard on that vacation!
Thanks Joe! I fell for La Conseillante. Fruit, Cigar Box, and spices…first time I’ve ever tasted a wine changing in the glass. Turns out I have expensive taste—-Pomerol doesn’t exactly come cheap.
So, did you like it? My experiences have been excellent with this bottle
I can think of a few wines where my excitement met reality and wine was mind-blowing…1961 Dom. Leroy Musigny, 1953 Chateau Margaux, and 1985 DRC RC come to mind first. On the flip side I had same expectation for a few wines that didn’t meet reality…1982 Cheval Blanc and 1989 Jaboulet La Chapelle, both corked. The wines that just flat out didn’t perform, I get over quickly and have forgotten most.
No, I LOVED IT!!! 
Some predicted it would "NEVER BE READY " !
Many years ago, my first 100/100 by Parker. YES
1990 Ch. Montrose
So is Clos des Briords, but it’s not worth $60 (let alone $100+).
I knew that there’s something in this thread that’ll excite! I have bottles of 2000 Rauzan-Segla blindly purchased EP and have not tried ever.
Sampled the 2000 Clos de Sarpe just over a year ago and found it really impressive.
Cheers,
Doug
Pop one now Ramon, just be sure to give it air.
Will do, Glenn.
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Back when I was new to wine, a co-worker somehow heard about the 2001 Paloma Merlot being WS WOTY, so he grabbed a case. After this came to be true, and it was given (I think) a lofty 95 points by Wine Spectator, the hype was certainly there. We opened one together and, yep, to my very young and inexperienced palate that had mostly had great WA wines at that point, the hype was worth it. I was a smitten kitten. It’s funny to contemplate how my wine life trajectory might have changed if that wine was really a disappointment in that momenet.
1990 Leroy and DRC languished on the shelves while California wines were scooped up by admiring folk. I went to Wine Ex and traded Steve a whole bunch of Cali wines for a variety of Leroy and several mixed DRC cases. Coates had called the 90 DRC wines “a cathedral full of archbishops in all their finery.” The 90 Leroy Clos de la Roche, for example, cost $100, Musigny $200. DRC mixed cases included 3 La Tâche and one Romanée Conti cost $2000. One night many years later, by myself, I opened and drank a bottle of the 90 Leroy Musigny. One of about 240 bottles made. The heavens opened and two angels flew down, lifted me onto their shoulders, and flew me around the room. That experience has rarely been replicated, though the 90 DRC come close.
I tried my first this year. Didn’t enjoy it, really not my style at all either!
I’ve been fortunate to have been impressed by wines that I had hyped up myself, and only a few that have been disappointments. The one that stands out the most, was the first time I had a first growth, a 1983 Margaux, about 10 years ago.
Biggest disappointment for a super hyped wine was a 2005 Vatan Sancerre Clos La Neore that I had last summer. I didn’t get it, but some others thought it was amazing. In fact, I personally find that the hype/price for the cult Loire wines (Rougeard, newer Dageneau) don’t match up for my palate. Don’t get me wrong, I think they are phenomenal wines, but don’t get the prices.
Robert - I had a quick chuckle when I read this. What? He’s using his $1200 rescue check to buy Latour 
? Of course not, right? lol
This is a fun exercise and brings back memories! Expectations are what all of us really need to contemplate/temper when trying to enjoy wine with or without friends 
. If you think about it - the more open minded you are - theoretically giving you more of a shot to not overshoot perceived stratospheric expectations?
1982 Pichon Lalande maybe for the first time maybe 16-17 years ago first comes to thought (many since…). Fresh case from a good source - relatively cheap to tell you the truth. Man, it was a magical bottle of wine that transformed the entire evening and not just for me. I’m pretty sure it launched a couple people there that night to further chase wines to build cellars. Crazy - it’s also well known there there’s fairly good bottle variation with this '82 so 1/2 the bottles since have been just OK experiences - I’d say they just showed young . Fun stuff.
Did you see the light, too? Not many people return after they’ve experienced death.
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