2005 Chateau Prignac - any chance to improve?

In Wednesday's Food Section of the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00751.html) the 2005 Chateau Prignac was highly touted as a wine to have in these fiscally tough times. A local DC wine shop followed up with an e-mail that this was on sale for $10. Ever the good consumer, I took the metro up and picked up have a half case. Pepe, the salesman said that it was a light red but very nice. I felt like I had done real well.
The first bottle, Friday night, had an off taste that I could not identify; it just was not pleasant. Not corked or closed or over the hill just not pleasant. I've had Bordeaux from all quality levels and never, until now, have I tasted something I really didn't like. I let it sit and sit hoping the off taste would blow off but it never did - it became drain cleaner. Maybe it was just this bottle. The second bottle on Sunday night was no better.
When I read that this wine "...would not stay in your cellar very long.", I thought it was a good thing. Now, however, maybe I know what they were really trying to say.
What are the chances that this will improve in the bottle over a year or six months?

well, i have to say that you should complain - loud and long to both the store and the newspaper. mention of course that your problem is based on 2 not 1 bottles. the store should take it back. you might inquire if the writer recieved his version as a sample. if so, it may not have been the real mc coy - ok a decoy. is hard to understand this situation. i will see if we have any here for comparison.

who is the importer, btw.

Jon,
Judging from the two positive notes on Cellartracker, it does indeed sound like you got some bum bottles. Given the circumstances, the most likely culprit is heat damage, in which case a complaint should be registered with the retailer. The price they were asking for it was reasonable, so it's not as if they were making a "distressed merchandise" sale, the motto of which is usually caveat emptor.

Mark Lipton

who is the importer, btw.

I'll have to let you know tomorrow, David

Jon,
Judging from the two positive notes on Cellartracker, it does indeed sound like you got some bum bottles. Given the circumstances, the most likely culprit is heat damage, in which case a complaint should be registered with the retailer. The price they were asking for it was reasonable, so it's not as if they were making a "distressed merchandise" sale, the motto of which is usually caveat emptor.Mark Lipton

I'll place a call to the seller, with whom I have a good relationship, and see what we can work out. Thanks, Mark.

[David M. Bueker]

Check out my thread on bargain Bordeaux to see what happens to cheap wine some times. It is not always good.

who is the importer, btw.

I believe the importer is Monsieur Touton. What I've read recently about Touton makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
For example from http://thecheaplush.blogspot.com/2007/1 ... esume.html: "In a couple of the drabbest shops here in downtown Brooklyn—locals will know which ones I mean—nearly every bottle from France carries the label. These are the stores featuring salesmen in poly blend shirts and gold chains, with large Mionetto displays in the windows. Don’t get me wrong—for all I know, there may some terrific wines in the Touton quiver. I just haven’t tasted any. Time and time again, they’ve tended to be the most indifferently made and disappointing. So if you wander into an unfamiliar shop and find the shelves overflowing with Touton, let the Mariah Carey ballad throbbing over the sound system be your warning."

The good news is my retailer is going to take the bottles back and make me happy!

Check out my thread on bargain Bordeaux to see what happens to cheap wine some times. It is not always good.

I will, David, before I walk into another wine shop.