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WTN: Red Bordeauxs

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WTN: Red Bordeauxs

by Jenise » Sat Sep 23, 2017 6:17 pm

Notes from a blind Bordeaux tasting:

1996 Château Sociando-Mallet Haut-Médoc Red Bordeaux Blend
Fully mature; in fact a bit past it. Soft and full, tamari-like with a bit of herb. Next day, leftovers were musty and medicinal.

2001 Château Léoville Barton St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend

Tighter than a bottle opened and loved a month ago. Decanted for six hours but it could have used more.

2000 Woodward Canyon Merlot Walla Walla Valley
Much better than a bottle two years previous. Impressive for a mature WA merlot and it didn't stand out as a ringer.

1998 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend
Decanted for six hours. Showed black currant, old leather and a hint of bell pepper. Two days later, the last third of the bottle showed more complex, more relaxed; well integrated, indicating it still hasn't reached peak.

2000 Château Tour Saint-André Lalande de Pomerol Red Bordeaux Blend
Yum! Great maturing wine, where it should be. Drink by 2018 and decant to let the slight funk blow off.

2008 Piers Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain
This one stood out as a ringer--for sweetness and alcohol. Piers is a brand created by notorious wine etailer Garagiste.

2010 Château Cantemerle Haut-Médoc Red Bordeaux Blend
Blue black color, huckleberry and coffee, big tannins. Not as herbal as I think of Cantemerles being. Showed lots of class but just needed more time (years) to open up.

2012 Château Peymouton St. Émilion Grand Cru Red Bordeaux Blend
Low tannins, elegant, toast, dark chocolate. Not my style but perfect for the American palate. Btw, also the #1 selling Bordeaux on wine.com "by far"--they've sold over 1000 cases of it in the last 18 months.

2014 Château Peybonhomme-les Tours Bordeaux Grand Vin de Bordeaux Red Bordeaux Blend
Shows it's youth, has some structure but very open now. Nice.

2010 Maison Riviere Chateau De La Mingerie Lussac-St. Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend
So you're at a blind Bordeaux tasting and someone pulls out this little Bordeaux Sup no one ever heard of that he only paid $10 for and has kept in just a closet ever since, and it's a traffic stopper. Great structure with a lot of tobacco, violets and red-black fruits. Wow.

2010 Château Grand Français Bordeaux Supérieur Red Bordeaux Blend
Touch of funk on substantial fruit, merlot-intense and it shows. Good value.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeauxs

by Patchen Markell » Sat Sep 23, 2017 6:35 pm

1996 Château Sociando-Mallet Haut-Médoc Red Bordeaux Blend
Fully mature; in fact a bit past it.


Ruh-roh. I only have two of these, but it sounds like it's past time to open one.
cheers, Patchen
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeauxs

by David M. Bueker » Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:05 pm

I have one standing up. Will open soon to compare notes.
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeauxs

by Jenise » Sat Sep 23, 2017 8:50 pm

Note: other recent posts on CT show better experiences than mine.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeauxs

by David M. Bueker » Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:16 pm

A couple of Europeans on Berserkers have written it off.
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeaux

by Tim York » Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:47 am

Patchen Markell wrote:
1996 Château Sociando-Mallet Haut-Médoc Red Bordeaux Blend
Fully mature; in fact a bit past it.


Ruh-roh. I only have two of these, but it sounds like it's past time to open one.


My bottles, last opened in January, have been fine for my palate, indeed remarkably consistent. I'm not in a great hurry to open the 6 remaining bottles. That said, I wouldn't expect remains in an opened bottle of any 21 year old claret to hold up 24 hours.

A lot depends on personal taste in degrees of evolution as well as on storage history. My dozen were bought soon after the bottles appeared on the market and were in their intact wooden case until 2015.
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeaux

by Jenise » Sun Sep 24, 2017 2:34 pm

Tim York wrote:
Patchen Markell wrote:
1996 Château Sociando-Mallet Haut-Médoc Red Bordeaux Blend
Fully mature; in fact a bit past it.


Ruh-roh. I only have two of these, but it sounds like it's past time to open one.


My bottles, last opened in January, have been fine for my palate, indeed remarkably consistent. I'm not in a great hurry to open the 6 remaining bottles. That said, I wouldn't expect remains in an opened bottle of any 21 year old claret to hold up 24 hours.

A lot depends on personal taste in degrees of evolution as well as on storage history. My dozen were bought soon after the bottles appeared on the market and were in their intact wooden case until 2015.


Tim, the 98 Grand Puy Lacoste and 01 Leoville Barton were both opened for the same event as the SM, and both improved over several days. I'm the first owner of all, and storage under my care has been great (could have been issues during the retail phase of custody, of course, that's always possible).
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeauxs

by David M. Bueker » Sun Sep 24, 2017 7:28 pm

Hour three on my 1996 Sociando Mallet, and it is quite delicious in the quirky Sociando way. There is still a healthy undercurrent (!!) of fruit, as well as tobacco and green pepper overtones. It's classic Sociando. Does it need age? No. Is it in danger of decline or demise? No.
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeaux

by Tim York » Mon Sep 25, 2017 2:22 am

Jenise wrote:Tim, the 98 Grand Puy Lacoste and 01 Leoville Barton were both opened for the same event as the SM, and both improved over several days. I'm the first owner of all, and storage under my care has been great (could have been issues during the retail phase of custody, of course, that's always possible).


Jenise, I am happy to read about those GPL and LB improving over several days. I nearly bought a Coravin to save ourselves from having to finish mature bottles in one sitting but was deterred by reports on the UK Wine Pages that the device was not doing a reliable job in preserving older wines in opened bottles. I'll try an experiment one of these days with a bottle of that sort of age left unfinished overnight in the fridge. Meanwhile finishing bottles like mine of Sociando-M 96 and last night's Branaire-Ducru 98 in one go is not really a hardship for us :D .

I suppose that the law of averages means that my next bottle of Sociando-M will be a dud.
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeauxs

by Jenise » Mon Sep 25, 2017 8:25 am

Tim, maybe not! I didn't think my S-M was a dud at home. But when I got it to the tasting, the guys did and I could see their point. Also, I went back through some old notes last night and found one that reported on a bottle of S-M, around 2006, that I opened because I read on some wine board that it was drinking fantastically just then. My bottle was rather swampy and not enjoyable at all. Then I noted when I opened my fourth or fifth bottle about two-three years ago that it was the first good bottle of SM I'd had. (I say fourth or fifth because inventory says I have one more but I don't think I do--where I pulled this bottle from, it seemed to be a loner.)

It's entirely possible, in fact in retrospect extremely likely, that my stash, all purchased from the same source way back when, was compromised.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeauxs

by David M. Bueker » Mon Sep 25, 2017 8:45 am

Swampy sure does not sound like Sociando.
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Re: WTN: Red Bordeauxs

by Jenise » Mon Sep 25, 2017 9:14 am

David M. Bueker wrote:Swampy sure does not sound like Sociando.


I know. These were never quite the full-on mercaptan rotting cabbage thing, but things just off enough to suspect damage, especially without any prior Sociando experience to compare these to. Had I a great bottle somewhere along the lines to begin with, I might have been certain mine were damaged.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

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