The 2009 Gazin has been uncorked....

[JimHow]

Let's see what this beast is all about.

[JimHow]

Big, bruising, oaky, tannic. Black.

[JimHow]

Not real charming.

[JimHow]

He Who Shall remain Nameless rates this 96 points.

[Gerry M.]

Thanks for taking one for the team!

[JimHow]

I hope you got a bottle or two in NH Gerry! This is serious stuff.

[Gerry M.]

Sadly only one bottle. I'll have to live vicariously thru your notes

[Nicklasss]

I got delivery of my 2009 futures today. Prices were so high, that I only bought 3 different estate, a few bottles. I'm happy I got them at home, but I wonder when I'll open my first bottle? 15 years minimum?

Nic

[JimHow]

This Gazin will last 30-plus years. It is impressive with the chocolate whoopie pie. I popped and poured, no decanting, but it's opening up now.

[JimHow]

I have 4 bottles left, I'll uncork the next one in about 25 years.

[Nicklasss]

I really liked the 1998 Chateau Gazin that Stephan opened as an appetizer in your room, at BWE 2012 in Washington. It is at that same appetizer that DavidG made us tried the 2006 Screaming Eagle, blind...

Nic

[JimHow]

Indeed, Nic, that 98 Gazin is great. The 90 Gazin is an all time favorite. This puppy is going to be immense for three decades.

[Gerry M.]

I have 4 bottles left, I'll uncork the next one in about 25 years.

Let me know what retirement home your in and I'll come visit.

[JimHow]

yeah, I'll be drinking this when I'm about 84.

[Nicklasss]

What I did not understand about the 09 Pomerol, is that the Decanter magazine did not rated any wine 5 stars? All 4 stars or less... I only had the 09 Chateau Bel-Air and the Fleur de Clinet (2nd wine from Clinet), and both were excellent. So I would expect the better wine to be awesome.

Nic

[JimHow]

This Gazin is a wine of immense depth, but it seems Parkerized to me.

[JimHow]

Wow, has this puppy opened up. Tar. Licorice. Black raspberries. Chocolate. Wood. 14.5%, yet will age for 30 years-plus. Is this a 1947 Petrus?

[Nicklasss]

Well, I don't know if this 09 Gazin is similar to the 1947 Petrus, but I just bought a copy of Lisbon Street on Amazon. I'll try to read it before Christmas.

By the way, let me know if you'll send me a 1947 Petrus as special gift, because I bought copy number 1 000 000. .

Nic

[JimHow]

Wow! Tar, almost "port-like."

Well done, Nicolas, well done! When are we meeting in Quebec to drink a fine northern Medoc or two?

[Nicklasss]

Copy from another thread:

For my part, if in 2012, it has to be from now to mid-November. After that, I have Simone's birthday and a business trip to France the first two weeks of December (yes, I should stop in Bordeaux say hello to AlexR).

Early 2013, January is possible but cold. Things will go fast after January as MC is due for third week of February. And I'll be on a special task at the job until mid-May, so tough to get away. So June looks like a first possibility in 2013.

But let me know what would be your best schedule.

Nic

[JimHow]

This 2009 Gazin brings me to the traumatic conclusion that i am too old to be making serious investments in legendary vintage wines. I'm not even being facetious when I say I should be drinking this wine when I'm 84. He Who Shall Remains Nameless has this about right, I think: I won't give it the 96 he scored it, but I'll give it the 95 I gave to the 2009 Giscours. Two very different wines, of course. But both very profound. 2009 Gazin: An immense, sledge hammer over the head of a wine. What a nose, what color, it is a beast. Wow! I'm limp. 95 points.

[Claudius2]

Nic
One point about the Decanter tasting panels.
They don;t give 5 stars unless all tasters agree.
So if there are say 5 tasters, 4 give it a rating equal to 5 stars, one 4 stars, it only gets 4 stars.

Also when you taste a lot of wines together, like a big tasting od very yuong wines like this, the differences tend to show and not the quality of each wine.
You get a very good view of the overall quality but not the absolute quality of any particular wine.
Which I why I think point ratings are a bit silly when you taste 600 wines in a day (as RP does regularly) and then gives an arithmetic score to all.

Jim
I did not buy the 2009 Gazin as I was a bit put off by rather confusing ratings - some loved it others did not.
I have also decided that I am not buying any more indent wines.
At 55, and with a few significant health issues, I am having myself on buying wines that will not be ready for 30 years.
Well I did by Clinet 09 and numerous others and I doubt I'll live to fully appreciate that wine.

[DavidG]

I bought half-cases of 18 different '09s. A lot for me. As I am facing the same age issues as others have posted on, I tried to stick to early drinkers. Little wines that would be good from release, and lesser classed growths that would be drinking well within 10 years. But there were about a half-dozen that I just couldn't resist, like Pontet Canet, that I may not live to see in their full glory. This was all brought home in a crashingly, devastatingly stark manner when my younger brother Richard died this July at age 52. I was fortunate to have a few weeks with him before his sudden, unexpected death. There's a bottle of his birth year wine sitting in the cellar that I was saving for his 60th. Guess I'll open it for his friends and family.

[JimHow]

I'm sorry to hear about your brother, David, that is very sad news.

[Jay Winton]

Sorry David. Very sad news. I've bought one 09 classified so far-a mag of Branaire-Ducru. I will be happy to drink it with my fellow BWEs in whatever nursing home we reside.

[Houndsong]

We need a BWE tontine. Last man standing gets all the undrunk wine.

What you describe Jim sounds a lot like the 2008 Gazin. Big, tannic, hard oak and a touch hot. And while I don't think it received 96 points, it bested the 2009 in the hyperbole department, being called a "hypothetical blend of [its neighbors] Lafleur and Petrus." It's always nice, hypothetically speaking, to scratch Lafleur and Petrus off my spit bucket list, while being able to afford neither.

[JimHow]

I don't recall the old Gazins being like this.
I recall the 1990 and 1994 as being more balanced.
The 98 is a beast, and this puppy is over the top.
Interesting wine, though.