Community Tasting Note

• Jeff Leve wrote: 80 points

  September 7, 2021 - Well past its prime, tart, lean and with a distinctive olive and herb character to the overly crisp, peppery cranberry and strawberry on the nose and palate.

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12 Comments

• cfk49 commented:

  9/8/21, 12:18 AM - Given that your experience was so different from those of others who have tasted the wine recently and posted here, it sounds as though you had a bad bottle. What was its provenance?

• Jeff Leve commented:

  9/8/21, 8:37 AM - I do not think it was an off bottle. It was simply past its prime IMO.

• cfk49 commented:

  9/8/21, 8:44 AM - So, then, if you refuse to recognize the possibility of bottle variation, which of the following do you think is true:
  
  1. Those other three people who have tasted the wine in the past year didn't know how to recognize a wine well past its prime;
  
  2. The wine has declined precipitously since they posted their notes.

• Jeff Leve commented:

  9/8/21, 8:50 AM - Honestly, I do not give it thought. What was in the glass, was in the glass, and that is what it is. What others think is not of interest to me. There are other wines I think are old and others are waiting for further aging and wines I find open, others think are tight.
  
  There are numerous wines I am the highest score on, and others I am on the low end.
  
  Everyone has their own taste. With over 23,000 notes, I am comfortable thinking I know when a wine is over the hill. But YMMV.

• cfk49 commented:

  9/8/21, 8:54 AM - I was not challenging your judgment of the wine in the glass before you -- I suggested it was not a representative bottle. But you rejected that possibility. Accordingly, your judgment of the wine is radically different from that of three other people who have tasted the wine in the past year and posted on cellartracker. If you reject the bottle variation possibility, which you do, there must be some other explanation. What is it?

• Jeff Leve commented:

  9/8/21, 8:59 AM - I did not take your question as anything other than a nice conversation, which I wish I had more of.
  
  IMO, it is simply personal taste. I am not going to knock other tasters that disagree with me. They saw the wine differently than I did.
  
  Did you post a note on the wine I should read?

• cfk49 commented:

  9/8/21, 9:06 AM - I did not post a note. I have the wine in my cellar, so I am interested in what people think and when I should drink the wine. My question was innocent and not accusatory. But your answer makes clear that of the two choices I presented above, you think it is number 2, i.e., the other drinkers did not know how to recognize a wine that in your opinion is well past its prime.
  
  So that raises the question again, going back to my original comment in this thread, how are you able to be sure that the bottle you tasted was a representative bottle and not a bad bottle?

• Jeff Leve commented:

  9/8/21, 9:20 AM - I see. In answer to your query, experience. It was not faulty, just past its prime.
  
  FWIW, in those days GG was not producing great wine for long-term aging in most vintages IMO. I am sure it was a better wine in its first 10-15 years of life. That is just my opinion. Not every Bordeaux is meant for multiple decades of aging.
  
  Why not pop that cork?

• cfk49 commented:

  9/8/21, 9:30 AM - I will pop the cork and post a note -- but that will be several months until I'm again near the cellar where the wine is.

• Jeff Leve commented:

  9/8/21, 10:16 AM - Drop me a note when you do.

• cfk49 commented:

  8/12/23, 10:26 PM - So I drank this tonight and everyone at the table was mesmerized by its beauty. I have to say either your palate is even more different from mine than I thought or you had an off bottle.

• Jeff Leve commented:

  8/14/23, 12:34 PM - I can assure you the bottle was not off, or poorly stored. This is simply personal taste. This is why they have more than chocolate and vanilla :)

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