Community Tasting Note
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e-r.portzline Does not like this wine: 88 points
September 4, 2019 - At a private tasting at JP, tasted this and the 2016. This is a really uninteresting and flat wine. Tannins nearly gone, no fruit, no depth. Nothing engaging that would give any hope that it will be worth drinking in 15 years. Had been decanted and shaken by staff two hours before tasting. Deep deep crimson color, long slow legs.
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15 Comments
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Mark1npt commented:
9/5/19, 8:10 AM - I've not had my '13 yet but recently opened a '15. It was stupendous on opening but within an hour started to go 'flat'. Lost most of its nose and fruit. I guess one could argue it was closed down, I guess but not on original opening. Very strange and not at all expected by me. It was still a pretty decent wine but not at all the 98-100 scores some have given it. I will let the others sit 5 years at least and try again....
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wildmang666 commented:
9/18/19, 10:03 PM - This wine is not even close to being ready to drink. It is probably closed down. Very unfair review rating.
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Mark1npt commented:
9/18/19, 10:20 PM - wildman, killer reviews and ratings just 1-2 months before by many fellow CT'ers......I guess it could shut down that fully and that quickly. I suspect the staff at the tasting knew something was up with all the shaking and decanting they were doing for the 2 hours before the tasting this guy had? Then again, maybe they aren't very good at the wine business and didn't know enough to recognize they got a bad bottle or the wine was just in a bad place. No amount of decanting or shaking is gonna change that.
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e-r.portzline commented:
9/19/19, 7:07 PM - wildmang666, there is nothing at all in my review that is unfair. The bottle had a known provenance, was opened by a senior member of staff at the JP winery, and was described as a proper representation of that vintage. The tasting notes stand as an accurate review of what the winery determined they wanted to showcase for that vintage. That’s not in any way unfair.
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wildmang666 commented:
9/19/19, 8:36 PM - Sorry, I disagree. For one thing, you do not shake wine unless it is Mollydooker. Good luck next time.
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Mark1npt commented:
9/20/19, 5:24 AM - Wildman, it may just have been a bad bottle he had, or maybe the staff thought they could help rush it along by shaking, etc and it only made it worse? We have a high end wine shop here that actually uses a Vitamix blender on medium speed for about 20 seconds to open a sluggish wine if they don't have 2 hours of time at one of their tastings to let it occur naturally. So people do all kinds of things with wine! I've generally seen it help a wine, not hurt it. I do suspect this Bard was shut down and some people just don't recognize it when it happens.
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e-r.portzline commented:
9/20/19, 6:27 AM - I don’t believe any wine should be shaken. I didn’t shake the wine. They did.
My review stands as a quality and qualified review of the wine. I actually tasted it. Have you?
I see no comments from you, hence I suspect you’ve never tasted it. Do that first please and then write your own review. Otherwise I’m left to believe you either work for JP or have lots you wish to sell (if so, sell now), -
Mark1npt commented:
9/20/19, 9:52 AM - Obviously I meant 'Insignia' was shut down in my last note. ER, your points are well taken. If this is where your bottle was at the time you drank it, thanks for the timely review. Others on here, like myself will appreciate it and wait til more people pop these in the future and report on their goodness! I appreciate getting viewpoints from all sides on these wines. That's why we're here and helping each other out on these drinking windows, etc.
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e-r.portzline commented:
9/20/19, 12:23 PM - @Mark1npt; thank you. I buy a lot of wine to cellar as long as needed until it is ready. Unless the wine is in its drinking window when I taste it, none of my reviews are focused solely on how the wine is drinking in that moment. Rather, I review based on what the wine is currently showing regarding its promise for the future. I expect there to be complexity in a wine like the Insignia, even though that complexity is likely to be disjointed, messy, conflicting, one-sided, etc. In the case of this wine, there was nothing- no tannins for the long haul, no acidity, no fruit, etc. For other vintages, this complexity did exist. It is worth noting that others have rated the 2013 with a lower score than I did, some for the same reasons. I don't believe this was a bad bottle. I think this is not a good wine.
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Mark1npt commented:
9/20/19, 12:35 PM - ER, you are most welcome! As I noted in my first post above, I had a '15 recently that was absolutely beautiful on opening, nose, flavor, everything! Within an hour, the nose was gone, the wine had no energy and flattened out, I'm talking a flatline! It was strange. I gotta think both the '13 you had and my '15 will be better somewhere down the line. The pedigree says so. The 'experts' say so. I just don't know where that line is! I was always amazed at Parker and how he seemed to be able to call a window with ridiculous accuracy. I'm not sure the pundits today have that same ability. Still, good to know where YOUR bottle was at the time you rated it. That's why I gave the details I did on my '15. Now, we have to wait for others on here to open theirs in 3-5-7 years and tell us when it's really ready and firing on all cylinders, I guess! Take care.....Mark
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bookert commented:
10/1/19, 5:30 PM - I have just tasted this wine at the vineyard and the tannins were obviously there, to the point of being chewy and mouth coating. Not sure your experience is representative of the norm.
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RPatching commented:
12/23/19, 5:46 PM - I agree with the last commentator. I have tasted several bottles of this wine and vintage over the last 6-9 months, the last just 2 weeks ago. On each occasion its beautiful fruit and impressive power shone through. This wine was anything but closed. It very clearly benefits from careful handling and patient decanting. Definitely a wine for the future and I can attest to it being an absolute delight at the present.
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Mark1npt commented:
12/23/19, 6:35 PM - Very interesting RP.......I've got to wonder if there's just a lot of bottle variation going on? His '13 was flat and my bottle of the '15 while rich and ripe in the first hour open went flatline after that. Very strange.
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RPatching commented:
12/23/19, 6:42 PM - I’m embarrassed to admit that I offered my comments thinking I was responding to comments on the 2014 not the 2013 vintage.
My apologies for the misstep. -
Mark1npt commented:
12/23/19, 6:47 PM - No worries RP, I've done the same thing here, even called it a Bard once and later had to correct it to the Insignia! Too much wine some nights, I think!