WTN: Sucker Punch

[Jenise]

2000 Beaulieu Comtes de Tastes, Bordeaux Superior

About this, Parker wrote: "This is an eye-opening offering...dense, chewy, fleshy...cassis, fudge and espresso...deep, ripe and mouth-filling, this high quality offering is a terrific value...drink during the first 4-5 years...case purchases should be mandatory. 87-88 points." Then the guys at Wine Exchange in Orange, CA, assured me that "for ten bucks, it's a no brainer", so I minded papa. I bought a case.

And over the years I've opened seven bottles, one every six or nine months, and I have yet to have a single enjoyable bottle. The problems have been various, from tight and hard to pickle juice to last night's total brett bomb, but the point is that this wine is, and has always been, CRAP, and the rest are going down the drain.

Jenise, do you consider this a "bad wine" or just something that never hit it's stride or some such? And if the latter, how does one differentiate between the two? I was under the illusion that a winemaker does not make bad wine, just wine that doesn't always measure up, but that the winemaker did the best he could.

" ... rest are going down the drain."

Oof, I hate it when that happens, Jenise.

Sorry.

[Jenise]

Bob, until last night, I'd say this wine never hit it's stride, but the brett on last night's bottle was just bad wine. And perhaps that's what kept the wine from hitting it's stride in the first place--I don't know. I only know that the wine I own and the wine Parker tasted are not the same wine.

[David M. Bueker]

I have almost never liked his bargain Bordeaux picks. Lone exceptions were the La Prade and Cap de Faugeres. Now at the $20-$35 level he does well for me. It's the one area I can still rely on from RP.

Bob, until last night, I'd say this wine never hit it's stride, but the brett on last night's bottle was just bad wine. And perhaps that's what kept the wine from hitting it's stride in the first place--I don't know. I only know that the wine I own and the wine Parker tasted are not the same wine.

Ah, the winewriter's cuvee!

[Jenise]

I have almost never liked his bargain Bordeaux picks. Lone exceptions were the La Prade and Cap de Faugeres. Now at the $20-$35 level he does well for me. It's the one area I can still rely on from RP.

Interesting comment. I've paid so little attention to Parker (yes, I often look up his reviews, but that's after I taste the wine--despite what it looks like, I typically don't use his guide for buying purposes, and in fact I only have this one issue because the guys I bought the 15 cases of Bordeaux from that I mentioned in another thread gave it to me) that I can't think of any other bargain Bordeaux I have that I bought on his reccomendation. Oh wait, there's the 2000 Garreau Cuvee Armand, and that was a bust too.

Sue--yup, just what I was thinking!