Ch. St Michelle Merlot - Corked Problem?

My only CSM Merlot was the Reserve, and it was fine (well, I didn't actually like a lot, but not flawed). I just looked at Cellartracker, and no one posted a note re a flawed wine. But not everyone posts on off bottles.

In article , snipped-for-privacy@aol.com says...

In the first case sited, there were actually three pourers at issue. The first was the bartender in the exercise suite bar. I got a glass, noted the problem and whispered that he needed to take that bottle out of service, which he did. The next was a bar at the pool area. This time I made the same statement, but asked to be directed to the event coordinator/catering manager. I told her of the two bottles at the two location. I am not sure that she understood, or maybe didn't believe me. As I was a guest at the party, I was trying to save our host (who actually had a live-in sommelier in his cadre of domestics, chefs (two), butlers (2), and assorted servers of various ranks. The event, however, was catered by an outside source, though the sommelier was giving tours of the Bdx collection, and the two chefs were working with the caterer in the kitchens. At my suggestion, she pulled the second bottle from service. We opened another bottle, I gave it the OK, and went to circulate. In a few moments, the catering manager found me, and "topped up" my glass, from what I assume was yet another bottle. This one was also corked, and I pointed it out to her. I also took her aside, and had her taste this bottle, pointing out the obvious flaws in the wine. We tasted another bottle, for comparison, so she could note the differences. She claimed to now know what I was talking about. I can only assume that we were dealing with three *different* bottles here, and that the earlier ones were not put BACK into service. Over the course of the evening, I sampled from two other bottles of the same wine, from different stations, and all were good. Now, good was a relative term here, and *not flawed* is probably a better desctiptor.

It was not until the recent event, now 5 years later and in Seattle, that I came across the same problem with the same winery's product, the *normal* Merlot. It still seems odd.

I know of the problem that BV and a few others (Bdx included), have had with barrel rooms, etc. and wondered it this was a pattern, or just circumstance.

Hunt