The 2002 Chateau Gloria has been uncorked….

[JimHow]

A bottle from the famous MacArthur's 2002 heist.
I started to take the sale sticker off but I figured I'd better leave it on for posterity….

[JimHow]

mmmm this is a beauty, you are right, Patrick, it is a lot like the 2002 Branaire. Very St. Julien, cherry, 2002-styled, I love this style!

[JimHow]

13% alcohol, restrained, cedary, drinking very lovely at the 14 year mark. This just hits the bullseye for me.
And of course… Kicking myself that I only bought 5 bottles of this at $24.99.

[JimHow]

I don't even want to look at cellar tracker to see what the average score is for this wine. I'm sure it is 87.2 or some such nonsense. Look, I'm Jim How, I know I have a palate that doesn't overlap with everyone's. But I'm telling you right now. This 2002 Gloria is… Glorious! Absolutely beautiful. Medium bodied. Cedary. Chocolatey. Beautiful black cherries. A restrained, under control 13%. As at least some of us know by now, the Medoc did extremely/under-ratedly well in 2002, north to south, from Graves, through Margaux, through St. Julien, up through Pauillac, and St. Estephe, and, by the way, in and around the Haut Medoc. In that post 9/11 vintage, when Parker's wife wouldn't let him fly over for the tastings. I'm telling you right now, with the exception of 2010 (which is a much longer story), 2002 was the truly last great vintage of Bordeaux. As that great bard from some early sixties UCLA hippie art class said so eloquently: "Here she is in my room! Oh boy! Hey what's your name? How old are you? Where'd you go to school?":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPv12pjykVk

I can't think of anything bad to say about this wine. I mean, what, that it is medium bodied? Okay… It's medium bodied. So was Sugar Ray Robinson. So was Sugar Ray Leonard. Marvin Hagler was a middle weight. You gonna tell him he wasn't the shit? You be my guest. okay. Okay. If Gloria weren't medium bodied. <rolls eyes> If it were a, um, "heavy"-weight… Ok. If Gloria was a HEAVY-weight… It would be… drum roll… It would be… Leoville Las Cases… Ok. Ok. I'll give it to you… 2002 Gloria is NOT Leoville Las Cases…. Then again, I scored this recently at MacArthur's for $24.99. And I have scored LLC at $25, even in 375 format, like… never. At least not in my lifetime. This 2002 Gloria is stunning in its classic-ness. (Probably not a word.) My friend Patrick Martin says this is like the 2002 Branaire. 2002 Branaire is an excellent wine, I think this even tops it. This is Bordeaux at its best. Black cherry, cedar wood, lead pencil, chocolate, "extreme St. Julien-ness" (read: balance), drinking beautifully at the fourteen year mark. When will the so-called experts finally come around to the classic greatness of the "lost" vintage of 2002L? I'm probably rating it low at 93+ points.

[stefan]

I wish I had gambled on shipping and bought all the '02s that MacArthur's had by the time I saw them.

Funny that you are drinking an almost mature wine while I am Howing another 2010 Italian wine. This one is Marchesi di Barolo Barolo, the first 2010 Barolo I have tried. Lucie loved it immediately with the pizza she cooked and asked why we bother drinking Zinfandel when this kind of wine is available. I also like it very much even if the wine is jail bait. The nose is far from developed, but the fruity taste is very appealing. The tannins are firm, but not bothersome even when drinking the last glass after dinner. It surprises me that I like such a young Barolo.

[JimHow]

Indeed, Stefan, that 2002 offering was so unexpected, I wasn't fully processing what was happening in real time. And of course they didn't put everything out on the floor when we were there on Friday. I mean, if I had known they had Leoville Barton and Clerc Milon at $29, and Palmer at $39, I literally would have bought every bottle in stock. Luckily, I was able to get good quantities of Calon Segur, Montrose, Pichon Baron, Gloria, Malescot, and, the next day, six bottles of the outstanding 2002 Cos d'Estournel at the sick price of $39. (The first I knew something was up when I saw that pristine just cracked open case of 2002 Calon Segur marked at $29 per bottle.). It's hard to believe this vintage is fourteen years old. This Gloria will go on for quite a while longer. Well done on the young 2010 Barolo!

[Nicklasss]

I did not have that wine, but the 2002 Cos in Nashville was for sure glorious.

I agree, we want more 2002. I remember the nice (not astonishing, but very nice) 2002 Chateau Talbot i bought in the US for (drumrollsssssss) 20$. A great 91-92 points Saint-Julien (like you said, probably rated 86-87 on Cellartracker), quality and price you can't find anywhere else.

The Gloria seems nice.

Nic

[JimHow]

There you go… A 91-92 point St. Julien classified growth for $20… That about says it all about the 2002 vintage.

[Blanquito]

Great note and commentary, Jim. I concur wholeheartedly. I think my bottle showed a touch more primary than your MacArthurs one, not surprising as the bottle I opened in January was from my original stash stored at 55-57F since release... I paid the 02 Gloria my highest compliment when I immediately tried to find more online after finishing the bottle (without success), so when you told me on the way to the Friday night dinner that there was more of this still at MacArthurs, I instantly got on my phone and ordered a 6 pack (silly me, 2 cases would have been much more sensible).

Here's the January thread on this wine, I went to 92 pts on my bottle, and like your score, that was probably too conservative especially for when these reach full peak:
http://www.bordeauxwineenthusiasts.com/ ... ria#p48089

[AKR]

I've always liked Gloria, but haven't had any recent vintages. Drank just boatloads of the stuff until maybe 2010 when I must have finished most of my stocks. We had an 82 maybe back in 2012 or something, still doing great.

I'm glad this old standby is still solid.

[Blanquito]

Arv, try some 2009 Gloria if you get the chance. Killer juice, in a different gear than earlier vintages, much more tannin, more concentrated, perhaps due to the vintage. I tried one on release and bought a few more (my first bottles were purchased as futures around $36). I remember posting on this puppy here and the Wine Doctor chimed in saying the 09 and 10 Gloria were the best he'd ever had from them, and he'd been a fan all along.

[AKR]

I think I bought 2010, but missed 2009. Thanks for the color, I'll add it to my watch list.

=====

At the same time that so many of these regular standby Bordeaux are making good/great wines, there are some estates who are falling behind. Look at poor de Sales. Maybe because I had good stocks of their solid vintages (95,98,99,00) regularly, I didn't realize that they really haven't gotten critical regard in almost 15 years. That's a long stretch. I'd like to reload beyond a token bottle in recent years, but all the critics suggest something has gone watery/herbaceous.