Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

marcs

I've really loaded up on Montrose over recent years, it's become one of my most significant left bank holdings, and at reasonable prices too:

8*2000
6*2005
12*2009
2*2010
8*2014
6*2016
12*2020

Problem is I'm not entirely sure *any* of these are fully mature.

marcs

The New York criminal trial and civil penalty trial both seem like ridiculous cases that would never have been brought against any ordinary individual. They are a terrible precedent of the use of the legal system to negate the peoples' right to choose their candidate in an open election. With that s...

marcs

I have never been to Bordeaux, was all geared up for the 2020 trip before Covid shut it down, and would be up for a France trip…and of course for DC as well but that hardly counts for me

marcs

Are $40-50 wines from 2019 and 2020 better than first growths from the 90s or oughts? Discuss

marcs

OMG the rat thing is true:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2010- ... ks/6203336

Nightmare fuel! And yet another thing to worry about in my wine life

marcs

A case of 2006 Conseillante for $110/bottle.

Perhaps an excessive number of bottles given my pace of drinking - this is a good but not great year for Conseillante that has probably a solid decade left on it, maybe more

marcs

Another special thing about this dinner was that Winona told a long story about rats entering his wine cellar, chewing off the capsule of his 1986 Mouton Rothschild, chewing through the cork, and then guzzling like half the bottle of 1986 Mouton. This would be a worthy sequel to Ratatouille should D...

marcs

Catching up on this. It was indeed a super enjoyable dinner. When I was a kid I played Strat-O-Matic baseball. You get performance cards for individual baseball players and roll dice based on the pitcher and batter card to determine the outcome of individual plays. You can recreate either current te...

marcs

The other thing is that at the very high end scores just don't stay consistent. If you have a truly rhapsodic experience with an aged wine it's rare that your next time drinking the exact same wine, even from the exact same batch, will yield quite the same experience. When a wine gets an extremely h...

marcs

I would say 2009 is a contender for VOTC.

Didn't critics tend to judge 2020 as being around as good as 2019?

I would also say that is roughly one out of four vintages could be a VOTC that is a lot of VOTCs.

marcs

My email to them: Let's see how they respond. Hi Stores 73 and 76. A few months ago I bought a sealed original wood case from I think the Hampton north store. It looks like you have 10 bottles at the North store and 8 bottles at the South store. I haven't made the decision to pull the trigger yet b...

marcs

I can’t. I just can’t pick one of my babies to spit on. Sorry.

marcs

I do it all for the “very well done indeed!” cred on BWE!

marcs

God forgive me, despite my age, a case of 2020 Montrose for $150/bottle.

Could have gotten a case of 2019s for the same price but some key tasters (e.g. William Kelley) preferring 2020 tipped my decision, although it may take longer for the 2020 to come around...

marcs

Let’s get to the important question - who’s the cutie in the miniskirt?

marcs

I wouldn’t call a wine excellent if you had to stick it in the fridge for a day to be palatable!

I wonder if some oxidation just took the edge off negative qualities…I don’t think oxidation and aging are the same thing

marcs

P.s also Jim be sure to let us know when you’ll be in DC next month!

marcs

Didn’t get really intense until he made it to the case section….then, woah baby! Made me want to head down there with a crowbar and start prying the lids off a couple of those cases! I would like to make it up to Maine sometime this summer. Been a while since I’ve been up there but have fond memorie...

marcs

I’m sitting on some 2005 Conseillante, Figeac, Pichon Baron, and Montrose. The Conseillante was absolutely tremendous at about 10-12 years old but has since closed up a bit. I haven’t tried the Figeac yet. The Montrose is too young but enormously powerful and well structured and I think will turn ou...

marcs

What about 2020? Not as much of a bargain on release as the 2019 but critics seemed to like it just as much.

marcs

Yeah, I have had some overdone Malescots, seems like they've turned flabby and overdone when they come out of hibernation. I can't remember trying the 2016 though. This was exactly my experience with the 2009. Seemed to have vivid acidity to counteract the big fruit when I drank it on release, a de...

marcs

Perhaps I’m prejudiced because I brought that 02 Mouton in 2022, but I think it was correct (fruit seemed fine/no evidence of being corked, purchased at release and professionally stored). I ranked it behind the Lafite (my first Lafite ever), but didn’t find any of those 02 FGs to be super impressiv...

marcs

Nothing fancy here but some nice hits. 2015 Cantemerle (half bottle) -- absolutely gorgeous nose on this one, living up to its Margaux (adjaecent) quality in 2015. I find that sometimes more recent vintages of Bordeaux are too heavy/fruity to have that elegant Bordeaux nose to them but this wine hit...

marcs

So the $50 Fortuna clearly beat the $300 Sassicaia?

marcs

Opened the 2005 Pavie a couple of nights ago. Here's the note as promised: 2005 Pavie : Going through some 2005 right bankers. Was overwhelmingly disappointed by the Bellevue-Mondotte and thought I'd better check in on the Pavie. Cellared since release. Pop and pour, drunk over 2 days. Dark purple ...

marcs

My experience with 2005 has been that the left banks are good but slow to come around but the right bank is very spotty. My two right bank holdings from 2005 are Conseillante and Figeac, we'll see how those turn out. Conseillante has been very good in the past but I haven't tried Figeac.

marcs

I remember when Prieure Lichine was itself like $30/bottle

marcs

It was great to hang out with the DC folks and drink some great wines with great people. I'll cover more later but while I had a great time talking to Marcus at length about foreign and tech policy, we do not share a palate. I thought the 2003 Latour wasn't particularly outstanding. I enjoyed the 2...

marcs

Can’t believe I missed a 1982 Gruaud! That’s what I get for not circling all the tables like a vulture and just sitting nursing a couple of brilliant wines like I did. I liked the 1985 La Mission but had it at a time in the evening when my palate was no longer registering new WOTN candidates My WOTN...

marcs

That last photo by Brian shows our 2003 lineup last night (edited to add - that’s me in the striped sweater opening the 03 Cos!) Lineup was Pavie, Leoville Barton, Leoville Poyferre, Pichon Baron, Sociando Mallet, Latour, Cos d’Estournel, Pichon Lalande Not too bad! I didn’t get to the Cos but tried...

marcs

Another legend! Thank you Bruce! In the 80s wine pantheon this might beat out the 89 Lynch tonite!

marcs

WE MISS YOU JIM AND EVERYONE NOT HERE! Not the same without you!

marcs

From left to right — 2003 Latour - maybe the best left bank wine I’ve ever very had. I brought the bottle so didn’t cheat on this pour! 2003 Leoville Barton - a fair distance behind the Latour, but very very good and a small fraction of the price 1989 Lynch Bages - the BWE legend! Started out super ...

marcs

I spent like $300 for the 89 Lynch Bages because this board assured me it was the greatest Bordeaux ever, now I learn the $50 2014 Clerc Milon is just as good…sigh. I have to adjust my purchasing decisions for Jim’s rapture factor Lol, it's cheaper than the 89' LB but it's now at least $120 at reta...

marcs

I spent like $300 for the 89 Lynch Bages because this board assured me it was the greatest Bordeaux ever, now I learn the $50 2014 Clerc Milon is just as good…sigh. I have to adjust my purchasing decisions for Jim’s rapture factor

marcs

Feels like the context of the Lewiston tragedy is not the right setting to be talking about BWE internal politics, and like Joel suggested I think we should move that discussion to the other thread. Just want to reiterate how rich and thoughtful Jim's interview was. It really helped me understand hi...

marcs

I agree that the context of the Lewiston tragedy and Jim dealing with that was not the setting to bring this up. We'll discuss this all later no doubt but my personal view is that BWE is all of us. As long as we all post here and take the initiative to set up social wine events with each other, this...

marcs

Incredible interview. You stood up for the things you love about your home town and your state while at the same time fully expressing the trauma and impact of the last few days. Really vivid and heartfelt.

marcs

I don’t think the world is any worse than it ever was, and in some ways it is better, but there is a LOT more media devoted to bringing the worst of it not just to our door but hot-wiring it into our minds through our phones. That part is new. I spend a lot of time reading history, always been a hob...

marcs

This is horrible. I didn’t realize how many casualties at first. My heart goes out to Jim - even if he is OK the city he has lived in all his life is not.

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