TN: 98 de Sales [Pomerol]

[AKR]

98 de Sales [Pomerol] Over a couple of days, cool. Nose has tertiary tea and mossy aromas. Lightening at the edges. A little mint on the nose too. I've drunk maybe a half case of this since release, and this might be one of the last bottles, although I'm not sure. This seems more evolved than others have been. It's more like the 00 than other 98 de Sales which were grippier. This is fully mature, sliding backwards. Finish is maybe 15 seconds. When it was younger it was kind of the house merlot, but this one wouldn't convince anyone of that choice. I'll give it a B-, and some of that is coming from memories of its more vigorous youth. Despite the decanting, a very light sediment is in the final glass. Surprisingly, the SO passed on this -- normally she likes this AOC. Functional for Monday night meatloaf.

[Comte Flaneur]

Does 'SO' stand for significant other?

[DavidG]

I thought it meant Superior Officer... <G>

[JimHow]

That 2001 de Sales I had in NYC this winter was a total dud.

[AKR]

I kind of wonder if this one got a touch of heat along the way.

SO is indeed "significant other", a common acronym in California where you never know if someone is bring a wife/spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend, gay/lesbian/transgender friend to a party.

de Sales is supposed to be drunk on the young side (10 or less) but I've had occasional surprises with tannic years.

[AKR]

We had another bottle of this tonight, nearly a year after the initial note, with rosemary lamb, roasted beets, and a red cabbage salad. This one showed pretty well, more like a B or a B+, but food/thirst could also have made everything better. It is mature, a hint of bricking, some coffee like notes, and mild fruit at this point. But its still very enjoyable -- we consumed the bottle from pulling the cork to last dregs in maybe 40 min. No sediment or particulates.

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

I never really thought twice about the term "significant other" until just now. Present use excepted and with full understanding that it is intended to convey and confer a sense of importance ... it is most bizarre."Other" seems very exclusionary. It hardly conveys a sense of joining. "Significant" ... well I guess as opposed to insignificant it works at some level but again it seems a bit short of the fullness one seeks or tends to impart to this apical and most important of relationships. Not sure of the origin of the term but it does smack of California viewed through the lens of a Woody Allen film.

[AKR]

I think its a way of Californians to advise guests that they can bring a sidekick -- whether its a spouse, girl/boyfriend, or evil incompetent henchman.

It could also have been an early cue that invitations were not meant to exclude those who were gay.

Although now at work we are supposed to be inclusive of GLBTAS.

These acronyms keep getting longer.

[JimHow]

Not sure of the origin of the term but it does smack of California viewed through the lens of a Woody Allen film.

LoL.
Hey, don't worry, we can walk to the curb from here.

[Chateau Vin]

Hmmm...I thought it's pretty old term, and in Southeast Asia where I come from, it is not uncommon if not prevalent to reference one's spouse. I thought it's of British origin...

[AKR]

I think the only time we ever had an issue with it was at our wedding, when one guest decided that, rather than bringing their wife as their date, they brought their mistress.

My soon to be wife wasn't very open minded about the whole thing.

[AKR]

Had a bottle of this over the last couple of nights. I thought we had finished them all up, but one lonely bottle had snuck away to hang out with some similar looking labels, thinking it could avoid its appointment in Samarra.

This one the cork was soaked about half way up the sides. I don't recall that in the others, but I suppose at this age, cork variability/permeability will be diverging, and there will be some outliers.

It was "ok", very evolved, the same tertiary notes mentioned above. De Sales is generally best by age 10 I think, except for a few freak years. 1998 was one of their best, but even those aren't going to make two decades. From what I understand, this is a machine picked Pomerol, so the quality of grapes is fundamentally going to be more problematic in any but the ripest vintages, when that aspect of selection matters less.

Our local TW has the 2009 and 2010 on the shelves, at ~ $25 net, which is probably what they're worth.

[stefan]

'09 or '10 de Sales for $25 is a steal. Maybe you have a misprint? I see it for $40 at TW in Sacramento. That is a fair price.

[AKR]

d

[AKR]

The TW website prices diverges from what they will offer on the store shelves, at least in my market, for many things. I suspect some of that is because they are trying to respect the producers/distributors desires to look like they are not languishing on the discount racks. And a lot of young BDX has gotten 'orange tagged' in our sector. 09 & 10 are $30 special tagged, and then eligible for stackable discounts -- 15% coupons are plentiful and 20% come by often too.

Normal people don't wander into stores to survey prices/selection -- they have some purchasing objective.But when a vendors web sites are unreliable for prices, it seems like it defeats much of the purpose.

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The best part of my local TW is that there is a local BevMo nearby (which is basically garbage, there is no fine wine there) but for some reason the two hate each other and have nasty signs all over their stores like: "Why PayMo at BevMo? Their Veuve Cliquot $60, ours $50, SaveMo than $10!!"

[AKR]

I finished our final bottle of the 2000 with a cousin and siblings last night. Casually quaffed with some Mediterranean food. It was ok, but better years ago. My cousin really liked it though. He's not really into wine, but suprisingly, has a Coravin system, and seems to use it!

I told him I thought it sounded interesting, but expensive, and this idea of not finishing a bottle anyways is not a current problem. (Cousin's wife doesn't drink wine though, so I guess it appealed to him)