May 24, 2021 - Decanted for a couple of hours. Let it breath over dinner of Thai food. Paired well with the various spicy Thai dishes we enjoyed. The fruit is still there. It's showing its age, but still has a great flavor, from nose to finish. Clearly dulling with age. Definitely time to drink.
November 5, 2016 - Its all there, just muted. Starting to get tired. Drink up.
September 25, 2016 - Perfect food wine. Has all the flavors of a first rate bordeaux. Medium body. Delightful wine.
June 25, 2016 - Has all the stuff of an aged Bordeaux, just in smaller amounts. Nice classy claret.
February 19, 2016 - Pretty fantastic for what's apparently a shit vintage. Well, it's right up my alley, anyway. Deep only red color; medium amount of sediment. Took others' recommendations and decanted for about 3 hours (just enough to time to head over town, piledrive some sushi into my facehole, drive back home, kill a bottle of Billecart, and settle in for the evening). Nice nose, a balance of dank and fruit. Anise, wintergreen, loam. Palate is a nice smooth blend of many nuances, all very subtle. Tart pie cherries without the tart; cassis, leather, a dash of smoke. The K&L e-newsletter today was right - this is not for you big Cali Can drinkers!
October 26, 2015 - A while back, I bought a bunch of '97 Bordeaux. Although the vintage was not thought of very highly (panned is the term that comes to mind), every bottle of '97 I have had has been just fine -- this one included. St Julien tends to be lighter in character than some other left bank wines, and this one was true to form. Delicate, but flavorful. Wish I had another case.
No 90 because it is not that deep.
November 22, 2012 - Magnum from climatized cellar:
Weichselian, coffee, chocolate, ripe blackberries, bitter almonds, wet leaves, long finish, mouthfilling
first impression after 1 Hr decanting: a bit disapointing and not balanced but this changed to an perfect balance after another hour decanting
==> needs 2 hrs decanting to open
I love well-made wines from "bad" years if they ripe
August 7, 2012 - I was quite surprised at how lovely this is. Lovely fruit, nicely balanced, alluring. Hard to believe this was supposedly a challenging vintage. Punching above its weight class..
June 15, 2012 - Decanted for about 30 minutes. Disappointing, last bottle I had a couple years ago I would have put in the low 90s, classic old school Bordeaux. Gloria can go either way, RP loves the 09 and for the price it's a steal compared to inflated prices of the rest of the vintage.
Earth and barnyard aromas on the nose. Some eucalyptus in this bottle. Floral notes, maybe lilac. color is a medium red, some browning on the edges.
Dark fruit, earth, cedar, tobacco, tart blackberries. Weak finish.
Wine is past it's prime but still enjoyable. Gloria is generally very nice wine at the price point. My rating reflects a bottle that's faded, should have opened this a few years back.
December 23, 2011 - Somewhat flat, without much fruit or distinctive taste (coffee? Cedar?), but, somehow, still enjoyable. Perhaps it's the wine's structure (solid, architectured, crafted) or its finish (raw and tannic, but with a full and satisfying result) that made me enjoy it more than the 1997 Leoville-Barton, which appeared more pleasant at first. I don't expect it will improve with age, and will be something of an acquired taste, but a clever result for a difficult vintage.