WTN: '95 Ch. Gloria

My wife and I had this with our Christmas dinner last night (standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding and various sides).

A fantastic bottle that, after almost two decades, is if anything almost too young to drink still. Color and clarity were spot on. Deep, bright red, tinged even with a bit of purple. Opaque, with color right to the rim. Very clear, with excellent medium legs.

Poured a half hour after decanting, the nose was somewhat muted but redolent of cedar and leather, with plenty of floral notes when you got your face down in the glass.

That muteness did not extend to the palate, though. Body was a real standout. Not heavy, just terrifically structured. Those same cedar/leather/floral flavors absolutely jumped out in the mouth. And a looooong finish afterwards. Really stunning. Extremely well balanced.

I hate to grade any of my babies, but if I had to...18/20. It really was one of the best bottles I've had in some years. Certainly the best Cru Bourgeois. Henri Martin should have a statue erected to him....

[Robin Garr]

Great note, Tom. Funny, Gloria used to be one of my favorites, back when Bordeaux was reasonably affordable. I'd buy it year in and year out, maybe in the $10 range during the early '80s, rising to the '20s and then out of my reach. But I still remember it fondly, and envy you the experience.

Great note, Tom. Funny, Gloria used to be one of my favorites, back when Bordeaux was reasonably affordable. I'd buy it year in and year out, maybe in the $10 range during the early '80s, rising to the '20s and then out of my reach. But I still remember it fondly, and envy you the experience.

Thanks, Robin.

You and I had a very similar decade in the 80's wine-wise, it would seem. I also discovered, and stocked up on, Gloria back then. At the time I preferred Beychevelle, but if I recall they wanted around 20 - 25 dollars for the omnipresent '76 vintage - outrageous! Lol. If only.... Anyway, at 10 dollars, and without really much difference in quality, like you I loaded up on Gloria instead. (It's why I had so much left when I met my wife, and why it was the first wine I served her.)

Don't envy me too much. I'm still pretty ugly.

[Robin Garr]

Don't envy me too much. I'm still pretty ugly.

A face made for radio?

[David M. Bueker]

2010 Gloria is $50. It's still a good $25 wine.

I was another Gloria drinker in the ole days!

A face made for radio?

You have no idea. Imagine Jabba the Hutt crossed with Susan Boyle. I'm surprised they even let me on radio.

I was another Gloria drinker in the ole days!

Seems I'm in a pretty big - and august - club!

2010 Gloria is $50. It's still a good $25 wine.

Lol!

Did you think the quality of older ones were more in line with their price, if you drank them before prices began spiking ridiculously?

[David M. Bueker]

2010 Gloria is $50. It's still a good $25 wine.

Lol!

Did you think the quality of older ones were more in line with their price, if you drank them before prices began spiking ridiculously?

I do. I have never found Gloria to be a star. It's a solid wine.

Gloria had a big reputation in the 60s and 70s amongst crus bourgeois but it seems to stand out less nowadays against the likes of Sociando-Mallet (officially unclassified!), Poujeaux, Phélan-Ségur, etc...... I haven't drunk enough of it to say whether this is because the wine is no longer so good.

Thanks for the note -- I think it says as much or more about the 1995 Bordeaux vintage than about Gloria -- a very good vintage (especially compared to the four dreadful vintages preceding it), but oh so backward and unyielding. I've yet to have a 1995 classified growth that is mature, and many are closed or unfriendly, even more so than 1996. I trust that more patience will reward owners of classified '95s, but much like the 1975 vintage, some wines will not get to the finish line intact. Some '75s are just terrific now (Pich Lalande, Beychevelle) while others are stripped of fruit (Lascombes, Branaire). I'll not be pulling the cork on my 1995 Ducru Beaucaillou any time soon.

--Gary Rust

I wouldn't call '94 dreadful, though there are some dreadful wines. But Haut Brion, Leo-Poy, Evangile, etc are nice wines (though not a "top" vintage for any). 91 and 92 are dreadful, 93 had some serviceable wines though pretty much all past it now.
I prefer RB in 75
Look forward to checking in on some 95s this year.