An interesting bit of information, and no doubt I'll be curious to know what prompted it. I haven't been following Malivoire's Old Vines Foch too closely in the last couple of years, mainly because I found the 2003 example to be surprisingly thin and lacking in the traditional body that the wine used to display in its first few releases. I remember with great fondness how the first OVFs produced at Malivoire by then-resident-winemaker Ann Sperling had this amazing inky blackness to them and simultaneously a lithe, acid-defined structure and a full, meaty mid-palate. For whatever reasons, I was put off by the 2003 and, given the wine's upward-creeping price, with every vintage it seems, I preferred to look elsewhere for my Foch.
With the 2005 vintage having been very good for reds in Ontario, I have once again taken an interest in this flagship wine. What's interesting right from the beginning is that the winery has gone back to natural cork after using screwcaps for the 2003 vintage (I don't know about the '04). The closure itself doesn't say anything about the contents of the bottle, but I do wonder about the reason for the reversal (click here for the '05 OVF technical info page).
With the price for Malivoire's Old Vines Foch now at $24, I sure hope that the style of the wine is back to where it was in '98 and '99 ('98 was the inaugural release). I have traditionally prized this wine as being the standard bearer for Marechal Foch in Ontario, and wine writers have also taken note of it over the years. Having said that, I think that if it's possible for the '98 to have retailed for a mere $18.95 per bottle, the price really shouldn't be much above $20-21 today. I will buy the '05, but if it doesn't meet my expectations, well ...