Tried this last week w/ Ken:
1. Collection du Docteur Barolet AC: Beaune (11%-14%) Shipped by Francois Martenot/Savigny-les-Beaune; Imptd by CopelLtd/Algonquin/IL 1952: Cork relatively intact upon removal; deep murky/cloudy/brownish color; strong nose of decaying leaves/bit mousey/oxidized slight oak/cedary/pencilly; rather dried out/tired/astringent decayed leaves bit gritty flavor; long tired/dried out quite astringent gritty slight oak/cedary finish; pretty much a dead & gone historical relic. $12.49 (LM)
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Dr.Barolet was a physician in Burgundy who made a lot of wine for himself, purchasing grapes. Mostly for his own drinking and gifts for friends. When he croaked in the early '70's, he left this huge stash of wine behind w/ no heirs. It was purchased by a Swiss firm, labels were printed up & slapped on the btls. The btls had a lot of dust/grime on them from his original cellar. And they didn't stick to the btls very well.
The Swiss firm sold the collection for pretty reasonable prices. A large stash came to the USofA and were sold off by CopeLtd. Most of the stores who bought them tacked on huge markups, knowing their rarity would make them sell. PhilReich/ReneRondeau at LiquorMart/Boulder bought a large stash, but just took their usual 20% markup. So the wines were really reasonably priced in relation to other stores in the Nation. In fact, there were a number of Calif winemakers (so I'm told) that actually drove out to Boulder to purchase a bunch of the Barolets at much better prices for what they could get in Calif.
They wines dated from the mid-'50's clear back to the early '20's. Both whites & reds. All village appelations, no vnyd designates that I can recall. When we tasted thru them in the mid-'70's, they were all, by & large, in pretty good shape, including the whites. Good, but not great, examples of old/fully mature Burgs.
I bought about a case of them, pretty much one of each, with a few xtras to hold. Ken (Shultis, my wine mentor...whose links take my wine lineage clear back to RichardFeynman) bought a few and this was the last of his stash. Alas, pretty much shot.
A bit of a discussion here on WB:
WB:DrBarolet
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2. It always amuses me when I read in wine books written by certain "authorities" that when a wine gets old, it turns to vinegar and only suitable for use as salad dressing. The wine, definitely way old, was nowhere near vinegar. It would ruin any salad you dressed with it.
Tom