KPB
Posts: 4658
Joined: 11/25/2012
From: Ithaca, New York
Status: offline
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@wjs, you make a good point -- in fact although I've tasted very extensively in Napa (and elsewhere), and have tried a great many 100pt wines going by ratings from VM, WA, etc, I myself have only once gone above 98+ points for any Napa cabernet. Partly this is because I don't tend to score based on a theory about how those will evolve -- I can write in a TN that something might be heading for 100, and I would love for CT to allow me to input a range like (98-100?) for example, to express "98 now but might make 100 later". But it doesn't allow that. Until I actually try a wine at that ethereal peak I'm not going to score based on speculation.
But I have scored plenty of other (non Napa) wines 100 -- 7 so far, among scores I uploaded to CT. Another 8 got 99 pt scores, include one of Cory Empting's Bond bottlings -- his 2015 St. Eden.
One issue for me is that Jeb, along with many other professionals who taste in Napa, go kind of nuts for that sweet, thick style you find -- to me the most extreme was the 2009 Futo, which got 100pts from a number of critics. I gave it 91 and later felt I had maybe been too generous. Another thick 100-pointer (as perceived by others) was the 2018 Blankiet Paradise Hills. To me that degree of syrupy texture is a flaw. I gave it 92. Pancake syrup.
But the list of disappointing "100 point perfect wines!!!" is pretty long, and I've spent a fairly large amount to figure that out because wines at the upper end of the point spectrum are not cheap. I've learned not to buy wines based on 100pt scores from Jeb or anyone else (Tanzer would be an exception, but he stopped reviewing). So, I shy away from Colgin, Ovid, Screaming Eagle, Kapcasandy, Harlan, Bevan, many more. Some were incredibly polished yet dull (I like for mid-palate clarity and balance, not just aromatic intensity and sweetness... and to me a wine that lacks balance and clarity and fails to speak of a place can't possibly justify a super high score). Some were wildly out of balance (Colgin X., Bevan). Some were wildly expensive but not wildly amazing (Screaming Eagle).
Meanwhile, my favorites come from producers who rarely get 100pt scores: VHR, Greer, Kelly Fleming as well as a few that do: Verite, Promentory, Bond, Abreu, Macdonald. I don't understand how pro scoring is working in the 98+ range, basically.
At any rate we (or at least I) were partly just ribbing CranBurgundy, who deserves it because he gets a really big allocation off the Macdonald's list, which some of us will never see a bottle from. If he and Eduardo love Materium, that counts for me. And as I said, I've never tried their wines.
< Message edited by KPB -- 2/23/2024 2:05:40 PM >
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Ken Birman
The Professor of Brettology
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Jeb Dunnuck gives out ANOTHER 100 points! - 
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