2007 Chateau Cantemerle Haut Medoc

[Claudius2]

I have just opened this.
A 'rescue" wine Wendy recovered from the old Chairman's office.
One of only two classed growths.

Cork was okay but some leaking was evident.
Colour isn't great to be honest. Fair bit of tannins in the neck.
Seems a bit too mahogany coloured. Yet not a disaster.

Nose is quite sweet with a range of red and dark fruits, smoky oak and some nutty notes.
I'll leave it in the decanter a while and return later.

[Claudius2]

Okay,
Now I have sipped my way thru half the bottle.
The nose has opened to show more savoury, tobacco leaf and undergrowth notes.
The palate is typically 2007, light to medium bodied, rather low in tannins (seems that the storage issues has brought it forward).
There is some acid and soft red and black fruit.
The oak treatment isn't great. It reminds me of old oak - smoky, tarry, dusty, rather drying on the palate.
If I tried it blind I'd guess it is a Rioja not a Bordeaux. More red than black fruit, but too much old oak influence.
Unfortunately the fruit is dull and the structure of the wine is a bit of a mess.

No idea how it would have tasted if it had benefitted from proper storage.
So the wine is drinkable but after a few sips, we debated keeping it for cooking only.
I said it is drinkable just accept that it has been treated badly.
Despite the fact that this is from 2007, I have had some quite nice wines from that vintage - it wasn't a disaster by any means.
And with good storage, I imagine that this wine would have been better, but so is life.

Actually the 2001 de Pez St Estephe last week was better.
Having said that, the non-Bordeaux wines Wendy took from her office have all gone down the sink so far.
In that context, the wine is at least drinkable.

Cheers
Mark

[AKR]

Kind of fun to read about these!

[Claudius2]

Arv
Yeah they have been something of a crap shoot.
Most have already been poured down the sink - not even useful for cooking, and the only wines that have actually been drinkable are the Bordeaux.
Even the two Ports were a complete disaster.

[AKR]

The shame is how much wine is treated like this, and people drink it, thinking that taste is normal/expected/correct.

And they are turned off from fine wine forever after that.

[Claudius2]

The shame is how much wine is treated like this, and people drink it, thinking that taste is normal/expected/correct.

And they are turned off from fine wine forever after that.

Arv
That's one reason why 90% of my Bordeaux purchases over the years have been en primeur.
Both in Australia and here in Singapore, storage is a big issue.
I think in Europe or North America, it isn't so pressing but it is so easy here to completely destroy wine without even trying.
I bring in my own Burgundy from time to time and literally wait for it to be unloaded from airfreight and grab it straight away to avoid it being cooked in the hot sun or tropical storms.
I think in both countries at least trade storage has improved somewhat though going back a few decades, it was a high risk buying at auction or retail.
I sometimes wonder how any wine can reach here in good condition, noting the distances involved and changing climates.

The first delivery I received in Singapore (early 2010) arrived on the back of a completely open little truck - just a tray table at the back.
The driver was quite confused when I showed some degree of horror that half a pallet of French wine was baking away in the afternoon sun.

The above is also a good reason to never bother buying wine at food service in Asia unless you are entirely sure it has been properly handled, and I rarely see that. So when the customer gets a faulty wine, the producer is held to blame by most customers. Oh well.

cheers
Mark

[Claudius2]

Guys
Last night we opened another of these salvage wines.
What a disaster.

2001 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon. This a one of the very best Margaret River Estates and makes what is arguably the very best Chardonnay in Australia, and their CS is not quite in the top drawer, but pretty close. It costs around $A80 or USD60.

Cork disintegrated when trying to open it.
Wine smelled of merde and the tiniest sip sad it was completely dead.
Oh well.
My disappointment is not related to the cost (all free) it is that many of these wines were completely ruined and went down the sink.
With care it should have been a fine mature Cab.

[Ambrose]

Had a (well stored) 02 fairly recently of the art series cab and it was seriously good. Not a label I’ve paid much attention to over the years - never been taken with a young example for some reason but it was gorgeous. Also it seems like whenever Leeuwin get a new winemaker in their first job is to ‘fix the Cabernet’.

On a side note I’m slowly becoming frustrated with these screw cap wines that taste about 3 years old a decade on. Had an entry level ten-year-old Coonawarra last night that had barely evolved. Some of the top stuff might need 30 years to show that blanquito goodness - makes storing it all quite a challenge.

[AKR]

Hmm. I suppose that is better than 3 yr old wines showing as if they have a decade on them though...

[DavidG]

Seeing the same with a lot of cork-sealed Bordeaux that aren’t anywhere near as mature a decade out as their forefathers from the 70s and 80s were at the same stage. At least with screwcaps they can choose how permeable they want the seal to be.

[Claudius2]

Guys
I think the 2001 Leeuwin may have been better with a Stelvin cap - The cork was wrecked as the wine had been standing up for up to 20 years.
At least having the wine standing up for so long gave the appearance of high fill and no leaking. The cork simply collapsed.

My reason for preferring Stelvin is based on experience with Australian wines from the 60's and 70's.
Buring Rieslings were trialled with Stelvin and I tried the mature wines - both under Stelvin and cork - at a tasting hosted by the winery.
The cork sealed wines at 30 or so years were variable. Many corks, despite careful storage, were leaking and some wines were corked.
The best wines were very good, but there was so much variation even from the exact same case of wine, that it clearly showed the limits of corks.
having said that, Australia does not always get the best quality corks but the makers said that a high proportion of corks are already rejected before bottling.

The Stelvin sealed wines were uniformly better than their cork sealed counterparts. There was one leaky bottle which seemed to have been caused by handling damage, but the Stelvin sealed wines were the equal of the very best cork sealed wines, and clearly better overall.

One issue with some Stelvin wines is that they can be slightly reductive when opened.
They can have a dull, slightly eggy character that should blow off.
Recalling my University Chemistry lab work, you can correct reduction (with is an electron gain in Lowry-Bronsted theory) with oxidation - the two are technically opposites - with oxidation being an electron gain.

I have sometimes noted the reductive characters in both reds and whites, but they generally do correct themselves. Had a McLaren Cab on the weekend and Wendy didn't like the nose, but it cleaned up with a half an hour in a decanter, ended up being richly fruity.