A few wines in San Sebastian

[Claudius2]

Folks
Been on the road for 9 days, from Paris to Bordeaux and now San Sebastián, or Donostia is you are Basque.

2006 Muga Prada Enea
Don’t think the provenance was so good as it was stored in a cardboard box. Pulled the cork and it snapped in two and got the last part out with the Ah-so. Nice dark red, seemed young. Nose was dark, brooding and powerful. Some oak and earthy, mocha characters.

Palate was powerful and fruity. Typical Tempranillo flavours with acid and tannins, the latter were still there. Tight though the finish was a bit spiky. I liked it but this bottle was not exactly well kept. The Prado Enea is generally better but this bottle was still enjoyable.

2014 Ch Fonroque St Emilion GCC.
I like this. The nose shows nice mineral characters, red and black fruit and well integrated oak. Palate is quite firm and the alcohol (13.5% ABV) was in balance and the wine offered freshness and lots of flavour. The finish is firm and I’d say keep for at least 5 yrs. Few signs of ageing so far.

2018 Ch Corbin St Emilion GCC
A sense of panic hit me when I saw 15% ABV on the label BUT I have heard lots of good things so here goes.

This wine tells me everything that is wrong with hi alcohol St Emilions. The nose hit me with spirity alcohol, then hot fruit characters. There is a weird varnish/solvent like character on the nose that seems to throw the wine out of balance. There is a lot of black fruit and oak, though with not enough acid and minerality to keep my interest.

The fruit is too over ripe. Wendy said it tastes like new world wine of no great repute, and whilst the varnish blew off and some tobacco and undergrowth characters emerged but never added up to much. Okay it is powerful and rich but lacks freshness and balance, it is rather cloying and if I never drink it again I won’t miss it. I’m done with 2018 and won’t buy it again.

As I write, it has been in the decanter a few hours. The phenolic characteristics have softened but the wine just does not suit me. I Checked cellar tracker and it got 93 points on average and several rave reviews. If you like it that’s fine and you can have my share.

2018 Lalume Domino Do Bibei.
Spanish white wine with some floral, mineral and citrus characteristics on the nose and palate. Some firmness and chunky fruit in the mouth, a bit rustic but offers plenty of flavour. A clone of Albarino and a few minor white grapes. Interesting wine but one I’d drink only occasionally.

Mystery 1980 wine
Our SS based Spanish friend gave me an old bottle dated 1980 of a wine that was completely unknown. It looked like it was a disaster with a dirty, unlabeled bottle but it turned out to be Sherry and was quite dry and firm. I didn’t like it much but he said he will use it in cooking.

The Fonroque edged out the slightly out of condition Prado Enea as the fav wine. Wendy thought I was a bit hard on the 18 Corbin but she didn’t like it much in any case.

Cheers
Mark

[greatbxfreak]

I'm quite surprised by your bashing of Corbin 2018.

My impression is different from yours, but we all have different taste.

[Claudius2]

Izak
The Corbin just isn’t my idea of right bank St Emilion. I checked on Cellartracker and it got an av. Of 93 points and many positive notes. We purchased it at a well to do wine shop in Bordeaux and it was not out of condition.

The St Emilions I have most enjoyed - and there have been many - showed a different fruit profile and not the heaviness of this wine.

I felt a bit mean making the comments I wrote but I have written much worse about Australian high alcohol wines in the past. I kept thinking why not rope in the ripeness a bit but it is also the vintage.

Wendy said it tasted to her like an Australian red blend from the Barossa or similar. It wasn’t hot the day we opened it yet it seemed overly alcoholic and slightly stewed. I know some BWE members like it but the 2018 vintage seemed to produce uncharacteristic wines.

The aromas I initially got of varnish are probably phenolic characters and I’ve noted this is various Australian reds particularly the Hunter and most show judges in Australia would see it as a fault.

Cheers
Mark

[Comte Flaneur]

I agree with Mark.

I wouldn’t say the half bottle - of the 2015 - that Alex, Patrick and I shared a year ago in the Dominique restaurant was a disaster but it was a disappointment.

When we visited in 2015 we saw Michel Rolland’s fingerprints - eagle-eyed Howard spotted it.

Disappointing to see Corbin going over to the dark side.

[greatbxfreak]

Ian,

You've every right to mean what you like about Corbin but I'm getting sick and tired of your vendetta against Corbin and Domaine de Chevalier.

Going over to the dark side - I'm throwing up. Give me a break.

Anabelle was the best student in Michel Rolland class but she hasn't worked at Corbin directly with him but with one of his associates, Jean-Philippe Fort. To my knowledge, he only has been helping her with time of picking grapes. She's fully qualified oenologist herself. Since 2021 vintage, she are not using external advice from other oenologists.

You tasted 2015, OK. And how many other vintages?? How much do you know about Corbin? Probably 0.05%

I visit this property every year, retaste the last 3-4 vintages and therefore I know a lot more about the work Anabelle does there than you ever will.

Claudius2 - 15% alcohol in 2018 and so what? Overextracted, cloying (it's not a f... Sauternes wine!), unbalanced? Rubbish all the way in my honest opinion. This wine is typical 2018.

My Tns:

Tasted four times - last time in April 2022. Consistent notes. 90% Merlot + 10% Cabernet Franc. It was fleshy and corpulent wine with more concentration than usual for this property, seductive nose of dark berries, elegant and sublime, splendid complexity and long aftertaste. Labelled with 15% alcohol, but these percent were absorbed by creamy fruit! Among the best vintages, Anabelle Cruse Bardinet has produced. As impressive from the bottle as from the barrel!

Try 2016, 2019 and 2020 and you will learn.

☹

[Musigny 151]

Have you been or are you going to Rekondo. One of the best well priced lists in Europe. And a brilliant Somm.


I have not tasted the 2018 Corbin, so won’t comment about that specific wine. My experience of previous vintages were entirely positive.

I wish Izak, you would stop the personal attacks. People are allowed to disagree; you can make your point having tasted the wine, without denigrating the person tasting it.

[greatbxfreak]

Thanks Musigny151,

At last one who likes Corbin.

I just get sad reading Comte Flaneur comments about several properties. I've too some foes but I don't write about them publicly, I keep my thoughts for myself. You just can't judge the wine by only tasting 2-3 vintages of it.

You probably asked Claudius2 about Rekondo.

If I may, I would just like to add my experience from dining at it back in April this year:


My friends and I had big expectations coming to the dinner on Saturday the 30th of April 2022. Especially me, who was told by winemakers from Bordeaux how excellent this restaurant is.

We were early and were the second group who came to the restaurant. Despite that, we waited for half an hour to get a waiter/sommelier to come to our table. We sensed that this evening would certainly not be a perfect one. And it got worse!

I ordered a white wine from Burgundy, and the sommelier let me taste it. It had room temperature. A sin number one!

Later, the female sommelier came up with a bizarre explanation: white wines should not be put in the fridge because they would suffer from this kind of storage?! Crap to say and major sin number two.

Dish one was a speciality of Rekondo, carpaccio of red prawn, nicely arranged on the plate but tasteless, despite using the one slice of lime served with the dish. Where were salt, pepper, balsamico, vinegar and olive oil?? Sin nr. three.

For the main dish, my friend and I ordered another speciality of this restaurant, grilled turbot, which was perfectly seasoned and tasted fine. However, the arrangement on the plate was so so, and four halves of baby potatoes just accompanied the turbot. No other vegetables were served, and there was no possibility of buying vegetables as a side dish! Sin number four.

Dessert didn't get me excited, and I suspected that the cake on my plate wasn't baked by the restaurant and probably came from the local supermarket.

Expensive dinner it was. One good thing was to tour the restaurant's impressive wine cellar.

The day before, we ate at the restaurant Ikaitz, which for half the price, provided dinner at least four times better and with much more attention from the waiter.

[Musigny 151]

My own experience was very different. I might agree with you on the food; it was far from the best meal I had there,it was simple and well cooked. However, there were eight of us, and we took the most extraordinary dive into older Spanish reds going back to the twenties. The somm kept going back to the pull more treasures, many not on the list. Part of it might have been that half the people there spoke or were Spanish, one was a Bordeaux winemaker and one was in the trade. Just a memorable evening.

We have a restaurant nearby which has been a Grand Award winner for decades. An unbelievable list, although it is getting picked through. But the food varies from poor to mediocre. One friend suggested it should be BYOF. But once a month, we would go for a Friday lunch, drink well and feat on cheeseburgers.

[JimHow]

I wish I could find the 2018 Corbin but NH didn't seem to carry it this year like they usually do.
I've enjoyed these wines since back in the early 2000s when we first met Annabelle and she really seems to have brought it to a next level in my book. The 2015 and 2016 are both outstanding for my taste, they seem very different from Mark's description of the 2018, I wonder if that's more just a function of the vintage than the winemaking.

Got together with my law school buddies in Boston last night for our annual first Friday of November reunion and dinner.
I brought a number of wines, including 2019 Tour St. Christophe, 2012 Jadot Clos des Ursules, 2019 Beaucastel, 2016 Sociando Mallet, 2016 Brunello Altesino, 2014 Stony Hill chardonnay, and a couple of champagnes. We celebrated with the son of one of my buddies who just passed the bar in Mass., he and his girlfriend brought a 2000 Sociando I gave them a few years back for a special occasion, it was really singing upon being popped and poured. I really liked the 2019 Tour St. Christophe from what I could tell, I think I'll uncork a bottle later in the week and give it a closer look.

[greatbxfreak]

Coming back to Corbin,

I brought a bottle of Corbin 1964 in April this year from Copenhagen to Bordeaux to taste together with Anabelle. We did taste it at Perse's second restaurant, L'Envers du Décor. Anabelle was immensely thrilled to taste it, it was my second time and I remember restaurant's sommelier praising the wine with superlatives. Alex was with us, but I haven't really heard since then what he thought about it.

I've tasted 1945, 1955, 1959 and 1964 Corbin and can assure all of you that the taste of soil from then hasn't vanished and is well present in the younger vintages.

[stefan]

1964 Corbin--I drank quite a few bottles in the 1970s. It was quite good and a terrific bargain.

[Musigny 151]

The oldest Corbin I have had was 1994. From an off vintage, it was lovely with the leather and spices I find as hallmarks of the chateau.

[greatbxfreak]

Stefan and Musigny 151,

Great comments!

[Claudius2]

Guys
I think this discussion is going from opinions about wine to emotional reactions to them. Not sure why this is necessary.

Those having read my comment on the Parkerisation of many Australian wines will know that I don’t appreciate heavy, high alcohol wines. I am happy that if others like them, that is fine. I can’t stand offal yet some others live it. Similarly I won’t eat mutton or lamb as I hate the smell and cannot easily digest the meat. Wendy likes it and will happily eat it on her own.

Many Australian producers have ended their love affair with heavy and overtly alcoholic wines after consumers stopped buying them and auction prices collapsed. Yes there are many who still love them and I have no issue with that. Similarly wine show judges started marking them down and opted for cooler climate styles, which has partly driven the interest in Tasmania as a vineyard site.

I have tried earlier vintages if Corbin and do have a case of the 2010 which so far I have not opened. I must pull it out of the storage unit some time.

The vintage conditions in 2018 are not typical of Bordeaux on a historical basis but may be going forward. So maybe we can now start planting vines in Greenland, Siberia and Antarctica.

The main points I made about 2018 Corbin were the solvent/varnish like nose which is typically a batch and not bottle character. The next was the heaviness of the wine which seemed to mask the character of the region and the property. Again I take no pleasure in being critical but the wine was what it was.

[Musigny 151]

Prior 1998, I used to drink a fair amount of Aussie wines. Many were ageworthy, and relatively well priced. I remember a 1984 Norman’s something or other, which was ten years old and I bought five cases. It was our house wine that year, and I think cost $5.95.My wife remembers it fondly.

1998 was the year things changed, and the wines were so shockingly alcoholic, I know there is some good stuff being made, but with the exception of Clonakilla, I have not been back. I have been blind tasted on an Elderton and Rockford, and neither were very lovable.

So I will look for aged Hunter Valley Semillon, but it’s hard to find. I know I should look again, but the truth is, I am afraid I will waste money on one of the monsters, and have to run out a find some short ribs that needs an expensive cooking wine.