David, It's not the alcohol itself; the alcohol is the result of various decisions which were forced on the winemaker by the weather-it was especially difficult for those who use a lot of Merlot. 2010 was in the middle of a long term drought, exacerbated by little rain during the growing cycle (half...

Getting back to Mark's original thesis it is deliberately provocative, which I applaud, and it is great to see a heated and mostly civil debate about this. But it also fatally flawed. His thesis only gets a C- at best in my book. But more likely a fail. Because what he has cleverly done is try to t...

A half bottle. Lesson 1.Next time stand it up. Huge amount of sediment, and decanting it after pulling it out from a rack only got rid of a fraction; lots of grains in the glass. Color was good, solid crimson, a touch of mahogany. A gorgeous nose of dark fruit, all spice and the beginnings of some t...

Nobody complains about high alcohol in 1989/1990 because the Medoc was in the low 13% range, and the Right Bank around 14%, a far cry from what was produced in 2010. And I do dispute that Pavie 2010 is well made; this was for me one of the the worst wines I tasted during the futures campaign. It was...

I will not bother with the petulance, but I think it is important to answer the alcohol question. Bordeaux produces elegant wines that reflect where they come from. Historically they struggled to make 12-12.5% , and in some vintages it was hard to achieve double digits. Their aging reflects that the...

Mark, why in the world you compare Pavie 1998 to La Mission 2010?? It's completely different vinification on these estates and different approach to things. When you extract too much you extract alcohol too. I'm pretty sure alcohol will disappear from LMHB 2010. It's natural not added, so why makin...

brodway, For me, 1989 and 1990 are not that consistent as 2000, 2005 and 2010, but saying that, some of my all time favorite wines are from these two vintages, like Angelus and Tertre Rotebouf. Angelus made some astonishing wines in 1989 and 1990, full of character and style, and direct opposite of...

Mark I take issue with your assertion that the alleged lack of consistency, in your opinion, 'immediately disqualifies it' from being among the greatest vintages. OK that's your opinion and you are entitled to it...I respectfully disagree... Regarding St-Emilion others would disagree with you re th...

I was very careful with the words I wrote. I did not use the word "weak"; Graves was as I said "patchy" again better in 2009, with some excellent wines, but also some like La Mission which I am not convinced by. I also did not think the word "weak" applied to the Right ...

Yes, it is me. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's a bad vintage, in fact I I think it is a very good, with pockets of greatness, but definitely areas which are very problematic. It is certainly not as homogenous as some of the great vintages of the past, which immediately it disqualifies from ...

I saw the La Lagune 2010 thread, and was surprised to see that 2010 vintage as a whole is so highly regarded. It is strange for me to feel the need to say anything negative about it, as among the people I taste with, both in Bordeaux and New York, my take on the vintage is probably the most positive...

Could not agree with you more. As I grow older, the allure of tasting small quantities of trophy wines gets less. In this case, there is even less interest as most of the wines will be entering adolescence, and the expensive first growths will be the least approachable. Another ten years, and the ta...

A quick calculation; about $10,000 on the table. Say 20 pours to the bottle, + cost of the place, and it strikes me as break even with no margin for error.

I am not really a fan of the short pour mega tasting, but it is not outrageously overpriced.

The potential of the vineyard is very good, and it's probably in need of serious refurbishment. I recently bought a 1945 L'Encos as part of an interesting auction lot. I brought it to a Pomerol tasting (with a back-up) and it was the WOTN.

The Feiring article was interesting because she got one thing right- here in the US, Bordeaux is not exciting, but her reasoning is all wrong. You start with a bee buzzing around in your brain, whispering" make natural wines" and then everything becomes skewed to the buzz. So the idea that...

On the right bank all the Moueix wines tend to be traditional, so Trotanoy, lafleur Petrus etc. Newly acquired Belair Monange which has swallowed Magdelaine (another great source of trad wines) is worth looking for at half the price of Figeac. Canon is back in gear, and also worth buying. A sleeper ...

Belair in the past, suffered from a whole slew of problems, but in terms of terroir is one of the top estates of St. Emilion. The Mouiex family is now responsible, and Christian, the patriarch has given responsibility to his son Edouard. From 2008, the wines have been exceptional.

Interesting. A few thoughts. Like some others on this board, seeing Magdelaine disappear is tragic. There are few really well made traditional St. Emilions, and Magdelaine's demise is all the sadder for that. Belair Monange, also a well made terroir driven wine will be the better for the Magdelaine ...