2016 Memento Mori Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras
Community Tasting Note
blarmston wrote:
Wednesday, August 4, 2021 - Decided to pop the cork on one of these last night to celebrate a mini career milestone. Since it had been a minute from the last bottle, I was fired up.
Decanted for about three hours and dove right in. The nose seemed a bit muted, with mouth drying tannins. It just didn't seem ready to rock, suggesting a much longer decant time at this point (5 hours+?), or several more years of slumber.
Unfortunately, while I decided to dive right in, a couple fruit flies (despite my best effort in placing a paper towel over the mouth of the decanter) decided to take a swan dive in as well.
I was horrified when I looked in and saw those two little FUCKERS swimming around in my pristine juice. After scooping them out (and hoping they were males since apparently they don't release those wine destroying pheromones), I just couldn't help but to think the bottle had been compromised.
For that reason alone I will withhold a score, but suffice to say that my expectations were not met.
It is what it is, and there are bigger things to concern oneself with these days, but it was a letdown for sure.
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9 comments have been posted
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (2,941 views)
Comment posted by WineBurrowingWombat:
8/4/2021 10:47:00 AM - Oh man LOL I'm sorry to hear!
Congrats on your milestone though!
Comment posted by RayT:
8/4/2021 2:00:00 PM - I hate when I crack a good bottle to treat myself and it falls flat.
Comment posted by Mark1npt:
8/4/2021 2:06:00 PM - I have had limited experience with MM, but I have not been won over by this maker as others have been. Sometimes seems much ado about nothing?
Comment posted by csimm:
8/4/2021 2:07:00 PM - WEAK! The capriciousness of Las Piedras strikes again! I swear that site is the love of my life and the bane of my existence. It can be moodier than a locked-up frigid white Rhone. So sorry you encountered it when it was in a sour mood. When LPV shuts down, it SHUTS DOWN. Time for some zzzzz's for a few years until it decides to blossom again.
Comment posted by blarmston:
8/4/2021 2:31:00 PM - Yeah. it was less than ideal.
The previous 3 bottles (consumed 2019 or earlier) were all singing, so this is clearly in the Gandalf "you shall not pass" stage.
Good thing I have some other juice to drink while I wait for the tannin brick wall to soften a bit.
Comment posted by #1Winelover:
8/5/2021 5:29:00 AM - I learned a bunch about fruit flies at least. One tip that you might want to try is decanting 1/2 of the bottle. That way, if you go all in, you can refill the decanter. If not, you can re-cork the bottle and try again the next day. Structure et al is still there in the bottle.
Comment posted by blarmston:
8/5/2021 7:31:00 AM - Hey #1- usually I'll decant the entire bottle, then pour what remains into a 375ml and suction the air out of it. Into the wine fridge for the next day and voila.
Comment posted by MJP Hou TX:
8/5/2021 8:16:00 AM - Brutal. Hate catching a bottle in slumber.
Comment posted by NickRut:
8/19/2021 5:11:00 PM - Not sure if this is good or bad news but I popped one of these tonight and it had to be one of the better cabs I’ve had this year after about a 30 min decant. Outshined a 2013 Vice Versa LPV poured next to it by quite a bit.