The 2015 Gruaud Larose has been uncorked....

[JimHow]

Got a couple bottles for $53 recently....

[JimHow]

This is smooth and easy, like the Sunday morning in a Commodores song....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DSVMDmzCcA

[JimHow]

I want the outfit of that bass player...

[JimHow]

Sail on, honey/
Good times never felt so good....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg-ivWxy5KE

[jckba]

$53/btl sounds like a very sharp price for the 2015 Gruaud Larose and 20% less than Wine-Searcher lows, very nicely done! So what’s the verdict on this?

[stefan]

Great price on the Gruaud. But you should save the others for drinking at 70 - 75.

I'm drinking 1999 Gouges NSG Pruliers tonight. These 1er Cru 1999 Burgundies have finally come around, at least those that I stored in the low 60F's. It would be better to Blanquito this Gouges, but it is very good now: great grip, good staying power, and typical NSG toughness. Lucie is abstaining tonight and I have to decide whether to Repour the bottle or finish it by myself while watching the Rockets blow out the Pelicans.

[JCNorthway]

You're not watching Houston vs. Boston?

[Racer Chris]

I can get 2015 Sarget de Gruaud Larose locally for half that price ($27). The grand vin is $76.50.
I'll get a bottle of the Sarget and report back.

Edited to add: Xavier Auerbach gave the Sarget a 90 point score just this week.

[JimHow]

Go Sox.
Tomorrow I will tell you about my $53 purchase.

[stefan]

Couldn't have been worse than what I did watch, Jon.

[JimHow]

Wow what a game last night!
This Gruaud was a beauty, I personally thought it was elegant and so smooth.
Medium bodied, drinking beautifully now.
This wine may be like a good Ducru, where it ages seamlessly for decades.
Loved it. This wine was accidentally priced as a Gloria at $53.
I want more!
Rating: 93 points.

[danzur]

Nice-just recieved some half bottles of this, I'll need to open one soon.

Thanks for the note Jim.

[JimHow]

I feel I liked this even better than the Leoville Barton, I didn't think it was "big" like the LB and all those Margauxs I've been drinking.

[DavidG]

I want the outfit of that bass player...

I figured he got that outfit on the cheap from renowned lawyer, philanthropist, fight promoter and gadabout Jimmy "L.B." How after the falling out between How and his superstar fighter.

[DavidG]

That Gruaud sounds really good. Not sure it’s $85 good, which is what it goes for around here. At $53, I’d be in for a few for sure.

So what do you all do when you find a wine that appears to be clearly mis-priced? I always ask them to double check. I’ve had responses ranging from "it’s right" to "it’s wrong but you can have it at that price" to "it’s wrong, sorry but we’ll have to charge you the correct price" to some variant of "I’m just an employee and it’s easier to just ring it up than check with the manager."

[JimHow]

Yeah, I know, we've asked that question a few times, David.
Obviously the right thing to do would have been to point it out to the cashier.
I don't even know what the Gruaud is selling for on the NH site, the 2015 is not listed there.
I'm guessing it's probably in the $85 range. if it were much more of a savings I don't think i could have done it.
The cashier looked long and hard at the label, i thought she was going to pick up the error, because the name of the wine appears on her computer when it is scanned.
That was why I only bought two, i thought I'd be charged the higher price.
The wine is a beauty.
Zachy's has it "on sale" right now for $69.99.

[JimHow]

The 1979 Gruaud that Tom and Gail brought to my house last week was in such a great place.

[stefan]

I try to correct errors when shopping at a privately owned store. Strangely, I have more often been undercharged than overcharged for wine (it is the reverse for everything else). Not sure I would at a state store as I am outraged by government owned, government protected monopolies.

Not exactly the same, but once I returned from Houston to find that Specs had loaded a case of 1998 La Mission Haut-Brion into my trunk when I had bought on futures only a three pack. I called Bear (in charge of wine for Specs) and offered to buy the other nine bottles, but he said that they were already sold. So I returned them when I drove to Houston a couple of months later. That hurt. Bear did give me a pretty good deal on something else, but, oh, would I love to have had those nine bottles at the futures price.

[jckba]

Haha I knew something was up with that price as futures wholesale costs were ~$57/btl

About 10 years ago I purchased 6 btls of some St Urbans-Hof rieslings from a local shop split between 3 of the Kabinett and 3 of the Spatlese and the old part-time guy rang it up as 6 of the Kabinett. I noticed the pricing error as soon as I got home and the next day, I returned to the shop when the owner was in and explained to him what had happened so that his inventory would not be off. And while I got stuck paying the difference of some $20 more, the owner then extended me a part time job offer, a decision he probably still regrets to this day (we are still friends though now I work part-time wine elsewhere). So the gist of my story is; sometimes doing the right thing pays off.

[AKR]

The Turkish have an expression, that translates poorly, as "When drinking the wine, it is impolite to ask if the grapes were stolen"

I am glad to hear positive comments on G-L.

For so long that was the longest running, and most acrimonious thread, on the very old MSN BWE board: What is Wrong with Gruaud Larose

[DavidG]

I like that Turkish saying. It's a good thing I wasn't drinking wine when I posted...

Some of my favorites:

A full case of 1996 Pride Reserve Cab went missing en route to me. Shipper was unable to locate the box. I called Pride, they sent another case. About 6 weeks later, the original case showed up. Apparently sent to MA instead of MD and sat around somewhere until someone at the shipping company figured it out. Called Pride back, they said I could keep it unless they were short on fulfillment. Said they'd send a return shipping label if they wanted it back. Apparently they didn't need it as I never got a return shipping label.

Ordered 2 half-bottles of a hard-to-find 1992 Muller Catoir BA from Zachy's. Two half-bottles of the TBA, quite rare and about 4-5 times pricier, showed up. Called Zachy's, they said "Oops, our bad. Keep it on us and enjoy!" Not sure which is rarer, the wine or a screaming deal like that from Zachy's.

And just last month, 2015 Canon for $91 at a local store. Manager said "Yes, it's priced correctly at $140, and yes, it's included in the 35% off sale."

[Nicklasss]

The 2015 Chateau Gruaud Larose looks excellent. Jim, was it having a good core of fruit? I guess you never go wrong with my favorite aoc, Saint-Julien.

I also think their 2015 second wine is available here. Maybe i will give it a try in the coming weeks.

My best steal in term of wine price was in an obscure store in the USA where I got some 1974 Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve for 150$, some 1978 Chateau Léoville Barton for 70$ and finally 6 bottle of 1978 (great vintage in Bourgogne) Pernand- Vergelesses 1 er Cru from Doudet-Naudin or Guyon for... 20$/bottle. All of these have been great.

Nic

[JimHow]

The 2015 Gruaud Larose is a Jean Nicolas Maltais kind of wine....

[Nicklasss]

I don't know that Jean Nicolas Maltais guy, but if he is like that 2015 Gruaud Larose, i'm looking forward to meet him. I guess even Marie-Claude would like him!

Nic