WTN: 1988 Meyney, 1994 Pyrus, 2001 Merkelbach

• 1988 Château Meyney - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe (8/24/2008)
  Decanted a couple of hours. Drinking better than 4/07. Dark brick color at 20 years. Still quite tannic, but perfect grip with broiled lamb chops. As befits the vintage, a more classic nonvoluptuous Bordeaux but with enough cassis and blackberry fruit to flesh out the structure. Drink now or over several years (at least).
• 1994 Lindemans Pyrus - Australia, South Australia, Limestone Coast, Coonawarra (8/19/2008)
  Young in color and still quite unevolved. Plum and other black fruits, unobtrusive oak. Acid level fine (was a little screechy 2/08). One would not mistake this for Bordeaux, despite the blend, but this is a wine of substance with a long way to go.
• 2001 Alfred Merkelbach Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese #12 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (8/16/2008)
  Slate, a hint of strawberry as well as yellow fruits. Good balance and certainly not too sweet for dinner. Some creaminess. A good wine, and raging QPR from Merkelbach on 2001. Drinking well but will for some years.

[list][*]1988 Château Meyney - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe (8/24/2008)
Decanted a couple of hours. Drinking better than 4/07. Dark brick color at 20 years. Still quite tannic, but perfect grip with broiled lamb chops. As befits the vintage, a more classic nonvoluptuous Bordeaux but with enough cassis and blackberry fruit to flesh out the structure. Drink now or over several years (at least).

Always been a solid wine. Meyney was such an overachiever in the 80s. Thanks for note, sadly my last '88 is gone (still have the '86 & '89, as well as some less impressive vintages '90-'03).

Always been a solid wine. Meyney was such an overachiever in the 80s. Thanks for note, sadly my last '88 is gone (still have the '86 & '89, as well as some less impressive vintages '90-'03).

Dale,
Don't be too sad about the '88 if you still have the '89, though difference in style very characteristic of the vintages. Note below is from my last bottle of '89.
Charles

• 1989 Château Meyney - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe (10/4/2007)
  My last bottle. Still quite a saturated color. Excellent concentration of cassis-dominated fruit, in the style of the good 1989s. Too "four-square" to be great, it was nonetheless excellent, and drinking beautifully now.

[David M. Bueker]

How I did not buy any 2001 Merkelbach is beyond me. At one point I looked back at the stash of '01s and noticed that I had a TON of Meulenhof and zero Merkelbach and went "D'Oh!"

How I did not buy any 2001 Merkelbach is beyond me. At one point I looked back at the stash of '01s and noticed that I had a TON of Meulenhof and zero Merkelbach and went "D'Oh!"

I bought a fair amount of spatlese and auslese mainly because of very positive reviews in IWC by David Schildknecht, You probably didn't because there were also ecstatic reviews in the Wine Advocate by Pierre Rovani

But I think you have enough German Riesling anyway, and perhaps even enough from 2001.

Charles

I haven't tried the '88, but I too have enjoyed the 89 Meyney a couple of times... and have more on order right now... I think I have Jenise to blame for my appreciation of Meyney.. and quite a few other wines.. blame is probably not the right word, except that it reflects on the continuing damage to my wallet.... evil woman....

[quote="Charles Weiss"]Don't be too sad about the '88 if you still have the '89, though difference in style very characteristic of the vintages. Note below is from my last bottle of '89. Charles /quote]

Charles, the last 89 Meney I saw in my local BAWS (Big Ass Wine Store) was a case of it that was dumpted back by the store owner. I suspect he paid about $12 - $15 per wholesale, and the price It was carrying at the time, was $89.99 per 750ml. I left it on the rack, even though I would have loved to have had a couple bottles.

[David M. Bueker]

Bob,

I would respectfully submit that today's $20-$30 Bourgeois is significantly better quality than yesterday's $10 Bourgeois.

Bob,

I would respectfully submit that today's $20-$30 Bourgeois is significantly better quality than yesterday's $10 Bourgeois.

I suspect you are right David, but today's $30 Bourgeois represents almost 4 hours work at my part time job, which is ear marked for my wine habit.