4/25/22, 8:04 PM - See above.
4/17/22, 5:37 PM - Harley is right. Just a baby now. Wait 20 years if you are young enough to do so.
4/16/22, 8:53 AM - Bet the main problem here is not bottle shock, nor a bad specimen, but simply that you drank it too young. F. Cotat Caillottes of ANY vintage needs 3-5 years to start revealing itself. Shock undoubtedly a contributing factor in this case. Bad bottle very unlikely. I have drunk this wine in quantity from all vintages released in the past 15 years and NEVER had a bad specimen.
4/29/20, 5:41 PM - Quite possible, yes. I bought both original release and more much later, after tasting. All are racked without reference to acquisition date. Thanks for noting this fact.
4/29/20, 6:36 PM - Thanks for the detail, which I will bear in mind. Unfortunately, tonight's example was #45,415 -- a comparatively low number. I will admit that it's voluptuous. Who knows, 20-30 years, it may show refinement as well. But by then I would be drinking only the 2001 CVNE Imperials and LRA 890s.
5/2/20, 11:52 AM - Good point. Next bottle I will decant and leave overnight. 19 years is still way young for any traditional 2001 vintage gran reserva.
8/5/19, 1:45 PM - When tasting vins de garde (collectable wines), you are necessarily projecting the future, since these wines are made, sold, and stored entirely for FUTURE drinking. All of the world's greatest wines taste terrible on release because they need 20+ years in bottle to develop into what they were built to become. Your job as critic/collector is to make your best guess concerning just WHAT they will become.
9/24/19, 2:38 PM - I am writing for collectors and you are looking for advice on present consumption. OK, I strongly recommend this particular wine for present consumption. Since it's a 100-pointer today, go buy some and drink it up and thoroughly enjoy yourself.
2/12/19, 9:01 AM - This is said to be declassified Volnay.
7/17/18, 7:48 PM - That's an understatement. Yesterday I claimed the only 3 bottles of the 2016 known to me, apart from the three at Sepia in Chicago, that is, for which I have also spoken. With a total production of 267 bottles per vintage for the whole world, I'd say you're being wildly optimistic.
12/23/16, 8:26 PM - Ardanzas need 30 years, 904 40 years, 890 50 years, and Arana and Alberdi 20+ years. Fudge all you want, but that is the bottom line.
10/4/15, 10:02 AM - Definitely drunk too young. Needs another 5-15 years to develop its finished profile.
10/23/14, 5:42 PM - Don't be surprised that Gran Reserva Riojas in the traditional style are youthful after many decades with very little sediment. That's just typicity -- no faking, no special cellaring. These wines mature for many years in old oak before bottling, dropping sediment in the process. Their slow oxygenation in youth produces near-immortality after bottling. Your experience is not unusual, but the norm. Only question is whether you like the style or don't.
2/9/14, 7:08 AM - You and Richard J. must have sat at different tables. Bottle variation!
1/3/14, 11:15 AM - You have committed infanticide. Wait ten years before tasting again and it will blow your socks off. Wait another ten after that and you will understand the rating.
8/3/13, 8:24 AM - It's time for "Harley" to put up or shut up. "Fake?" Does this mean some of us have been drinking counterfeit '01 Ardanza GRE? If so, when did this problem become known? Has "Harley" discussed the matter with his friends at LRA? Or is "fake" simply a disembodied pejorative, tossed out to mean nothing in particular? "Overproduction," says "Harley" is an "excuse." Whose excuse? Is it an excuse for selling bad wine, or for drinking it? How many purchased grapes did LRA include in the '01 blend? From vines of what age? How much pruning was done? Why is every wine shop on the planet drowning in the stuff? Or did LRA simply seize the opportunity of a highly touted vintage, serving the genuine wine to visiting critics while flooding the market with the dross? I don't know the answer, but neither, apparently, does "Harley," who gives us all bluster and no substance.
8/3/13, 9:58 AM - For your information, Harley, I have visited and tasted at all the grand traditional bodegas of Haro and many in the Alavesa. Drunk through the wine list at Rekondo. Love traditional Rioja, which is why I own deep stocks from vintages 1947-2004. And I know all about the 2001 vintage, thank you very much. Every top Rioja from that year so far released is in my cellar, and the others, like the 890, will be added when available. So enough of your ho-hum generalities. Is there or isn't there counterfeit '01 Ardanza on the market? You don't tell us. Did LRA overcrop that vintage, at least for the Ardanza? Again, no information. When asked specific questions about your basis for using specific words, you respond with a gratuitous tour of your garage and a lecture on manners. Just as we've learned to expect from you: all feathers, no meat.
8/13/13, 7:43 PM - Well, JJ, let's see. "Overproduced" means, specifically, overcropped -- too much juice per hectare to maintain quality. True or false? You don't seem to know. "Overhyped" means, specifically, that its early press exceeds its performance in the glass. Would you, personally, really call this a 94-point wine, as professional critics did, having tasted Gran Riojas from top houses that couldn't reach that mark? I thought not. As for "mediocrity," just ask yourself where this '01 Ardanza stands among Riojas of its level you have ever tasted for QPR. In my experience, among hundreds of midrange reservas, it's mediocre -- drinkable, but nothing special. "94" means memorable. Finally, as for denigrating traditional Riojas, do you even bother reading? As written above, I own and treasure hundreds of traditional Riojas. It's simply that this particular one does not meet expectations, and this is noteworthy, given its gushing praise. Oh, and my stuff came not from one source, but three different ones at different times, so it's not a matter of buying a bad lot. Period.
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