A duo of Thanksgiving wines, a treat & a disaster

[CJD]

The 1995 Gruaud Larose - a real treat. Perfect bottle. Real 1995 tannin & fruit combo. Boatloads of Gruaud personality a lot of secondaries: flowers, saddle leather, forest, potpourri etc. A 94 point wine with lots of life ahead & lots of character.
but then......
The Meyney 2014. wtf. What the hell happened here. Black as night. Some dead fruit flavors, ungiving, 14% in 2014 how & why? What happened to the lovely old world Meyney? The next day it’s actually more unbalanced a bit like the headache it induced. Awful & off my list from here out.

[AKR]

I had the 95 Gruaud a couple years ago with BillP and thought it was pretty credible too. When it was released it was underwhelming, especially in the context of what they had been putting out.

I thought in 95 and 96 that their stablemate Talbot did better in both years.

[Nicklasss]

The 1995 and 1996 Gruaud Larose are two good example or traditionnal Saint Julien. Nothing "ostentatoire" but excellent wines, very drinkable and more intellectual than some other.

For 2014 Meyney, the term "ostentatoire" fit well. But even if pushed a bit, it remains a very nice red Bordeaux that should bebetter with age, and show more Saint Estèpe attributes in let say 15 years.

Nic

[JimHow]

Nice report, CJD. I wonder if the 2014 Meyney is in a closed stage, or if you just think it is flawed winemaking.

[Comte Flaneur]

Sounds like Meyney has really gone over to the dark side.

There is really no excuse to make a wine on the left bank in 2014 with 14% alcohol.

Lafite was 12.6% in 2014.

[AKR]

They may not have had a picking crew available, and thus had to harvest a touch later than what might have been ideal.

I know people shit all over machine harvesting*...but in a world where vineyard labor is itself a factor that is difficult to handle...there can be some benefits to automation.

*including moi