TN 2002 Ch. Gloria, St. Julien

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AlohaArtakaHoundsong
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TN 2002 Ch. Gloria, St. Julien

Post by AlohaArtakaHoundsong »

This may have been the last of my modest stash of these and it definitely was the best. At 14 or so this wine seems completely relaxed and fattened. This had an effusive bouquet of oak, coffee and some waffle-like something. In the mouth, round, no rough edges, plenty of sweetness, good acidity, medium bodied; expansive but not heavy. Mature but not aged (pronounced a-ged) -tasting, this probably has some yet different phase left in the bank but it really seems in a good spot now. Of note, the "coolness" of the vintage has morphed in a warmer, richer disposition and the radish note (sounds weird but was complementary) I found in other bottles seems completely gone. Not sure why this vintage consistently makes the "worst of" list for its decade. This wine is very worthy.
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JimHow
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Re: TN 2002 Ch. Gloria, St. Julien

Post by JimHow »

I checked on my cellar tracker note:

5/14/2016 - I LIKE THIS WINE: (Edit) 93 Points
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.
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Blanquito
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Re: TN 2002 Ch. Gloria, St. Julien

Post by Blanquito »

I am quite high on this wine as well. Of course, our 2016 Convention heist at MacArthurs, when I reloaded on this wine at release pricing, doesn't hurt!
Last edited by Blanquito on Fri Dec 02, 2016 2:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Racer Chris
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Re: TN 2002 Ch. Gloria, St. Julien

Post by Racer Chris »

JimHow wrote: I'm sure it is 87.2 or some such nonsense.
88.8 right now. :D
The only reason the average is below 90 is two outlier scores of 73 and 83.
I found it in Wine Searcher for $40 per on Long Island.
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DavidG
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Re: TN 2002 Ch. Gloria, St. Julien

Post by DavidG »

A minor pet peeve of mine is that Eric uses mean rather than median as the default display for community scores on CT. You can get the median with a couple of clicks. I guess the typical user understands mean better but it does allow outliers to distort. Not that 1.7 points means anything, or that a CT score is going to be an indication of whether or not any given individual will like a wine.
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