TN: Gloria mini-vertical, meeting Mark S.

Happy B-day, Dale (you young whippersnapper! ;-))

Nice tasting notes (per usual). The Campuget and Mas de Guiot are long-time house wines Chez Liptoneski. And you get all the luck with visitors, you dog. No one ever comes through Indiana :(

Mark Lipton

Hey Mark, next time I come through the Hoosier State, I'll be sure to give a ring. Of course, the last time was several years ago...For what it's worth, nobody likes Central New York either :(

Mark S

Happy Birthday.

Have you opened the 2000 recently? That's the only one I have, though haven't opened one yet.

Not recently. I have 6 sleeping. I had one right after release, thought it a fine example of a medium-bodied claret, not a bruiser that needs long-aging like some other mid-tier 2000 Bdx. Though I don't think this is a 25+ year wine, I prefer my wines with some age. As some (most?) 2000s are closed down now, I'm holding off for a while. If you open now, I'd suggest some decanting to give it a chance to awaken. Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

As I avoided first (second, third and fourth) growth 2000's because of price, I wonder if any I have are really "long haul" wines.

Oh well, at least I have my vintage ports!

I'll let them sit for now.

I want to buy a 2003 Bordeaux for a belated wedding gift. At least I can afford to spend a little more because it's only one bottle. I'm still too cheap for the 300 dollar+ first growths.

Does anyone have a suggestion of a good midrange priced Bordeaux (2003) that will stand up to 20 years or so of storage?

Well, from the 5ths, I'd guess (with all the caveats mentioned in the aging thread) that Lynch Bages, Pontet-Canet, Grand Puy Lacoste, Dauzac,Clerc Milon will almost certainly do 20+, and Cantemerle or du Tertre might. Ditto cru bourg. like Sociando-Mallet, Chasse-Spleen, etc.

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

I have the 2000 Lynch Bages (1 bottle) and Grand Puy Lacoste (6 bottles). I wish I'd have bought more Lynch Bages, but I was miffed that I missed costo's 52 dollar bottles and had to pay $95.

But are you talking about the 2003's (for a wedding gift) too?

I haven't had any 2003 tastings. I think Michael Pronay did some barrel tastings? Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

I think we're still at the point of buying futures for 2003. You're right, kinda hard to judge what we can't taste.

Maybe I'll wait till next year and see if they're still married!

Some of the bigger places around here get Bdx importers bringing barrel samples. By this time 2 years ago I had tasted some 2001s. But haven't seen any '03 samples yet. Barrell samples are of course pretty unreliable. Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Hi, Michael -

Thanks for that, but what about the 2003 Pavie? That's the wine that has inspired so much controversy IIRC. Have you tasted it yet? If so, what do you think?

Tom S

Excellent, as usual, but it did not blow me off my feet. I rated it 93 (tasted blind). Ausone probably is slightly better.

M.

I asked about the 2003 Pavie because of the apparent controversy over it. Parker loves it; Robinson _hates_ it. I'd like to know the reason for such disparity of opinion between two experts.

Tom S

Parker rates it very high (96-100, iirc), Robinson & Coates damn it, wrongly imnsho. You might use the search function of Mark Squires' Bulletin Board on eRobertParker.com - this has been discussed extensively.

M.

Thanks for the reference* Michael, but it was _your_ nsho I was most interested in. :^)

Could you please expand a little on why Coates & Robinson disparage the wine so strongly, and why you think they are incorrect in doing so?

Tom S

• I'll look at this later.