CWD: Disorderly Adjacent 2016 Bordeaux

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Even in the Boatloads of Cheap Crap price range (under $20), which I patrol for cooking wines, Your Friendly Cook often gets a slurp out of every bottle and there are occasional winners.
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how often do you cook with reds?
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I make a lot of stews and braises in the cool weather so, maybe, every other week, every third week. (For example, Boeuf Bourguignon two weeks ago, Coq au Vin tomorrow.)
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Today's wine: Ch.Sorbey 2016 Haut-Medoc. $16.99. Half cab sauv, half merlot. Made by Vignoble Meyre, who own several properties. This one is actually called Ch. Julien in Europe. It's a perfectly reasonable red Bordeaux with no nuance. Citrus? No. Minerality? No. Berry palate? Some. Perfectly good mixed with stock, brandy, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, and eventually beurre manie.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by Michael Lewis:
(before I am fully priced out of all great Jura wine).
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Only Jura?

But fear not, the cheap crap thread is conveniently adjacent.
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No, I have been priced out of everything world-class except Briords. It's a little boring to drink at my house these days. Your only choice is which vintage of Briords to drink. Briords is my cheap crap.
 
originally posted by Michael Lewis:
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by Michael Lewis:
(before I am fully priced out of all great Jura wine).
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Only Jura?

But fear not, the cheap crap thread is conveniently adjacent.
Click to expand...

No, I have been priced out of everything world-class except Briords. It's a little boring to drink at my house these days. Your only choice is which vintage of Briords to drink. Briords is my cheap crap.
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I'll be right over.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
Pavel, wouldn’t you say we don’t know if and how global warming will affect the aging curve of wines apparently (haven’t had it) structured like 2016 Montrose? I’d guess the 2036 experience will not be too different than today. We will see (hopefully).
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Haven't had Montrose either, so this is all pure speculation, VLM's note notwithstanding. Generally, it's hard to believe anything made with today's pH levels will follow an 86 ( let alone a 75 ) curve. Several 2016s have been excellent; nice don't-mess-with-me structure but the tannins are rounder. Also, just because the window may open sooner does not necessarily imply they won't stick around for a very long time.
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So I used to taste a lot of young Bordeaux back in the 1990s, including 86s, and those wines were much rougher if they were closed down. That's why I didn't really know what to make of the Montrose. Texturally, it was really refined but still closed down. I hope I get to drink a mature version.
 
tonight, with teh swabian spring lamb cutlets (cooked simple) and pan fried spuds (briefly parboiled and then cooked all aggressive in teh rendered lamb fat with garlic and rosemary) i popped a bottle of 1990 ch tayac, cotes teh bourg ... and am gently teleported back into a time when honest bdx was a twenty+ year proposition, and, when priced relative to the rest of teh economy, getting half that in a place one would go to feed teh fat face was often viable.

this isn't profound shit, but age has tamed the obvious merlot fruit into a discreet nod in teh direction of fancy shoes for dudes, while allowing the acid structure to keep a friskiness that raises an easy smile (and handles bits of garlic that were over/under cooked in teh process described above with remarkable aplomb).

what you get is a wine less aromatically interesting than old cab franc, but with a discretion and structural food friendliness that is many ways more versatile, and which is now only even vaguely viable* in teh old cab sauv / merlot when one is willing to plonk down serious roubles. or get lucky that some dude is being under rewarded for his efforts so he can make "better" hooch.**

teh food / bottle were a nice trip back in time.

fb.

*it isn't the same.

** how many folk singers does it take to change a light bulb?
 
I tackled the fancy pants 2016 cuvee jean gautreau from sociando mallet a couple of weeks ago, and honestly i don't know what to make of this new stuff. It seems like everything is in place and in balance, structurally and concentration-wise, with plenty of signs pointing towards adequate future complexity. As the wine airs out though, it separates into its building blocks but without a connecting tissue, texturally. At the end of the day it seemed soft-ish in the middle even in the context of vintages from the late 80s, but I want to be careful in saying it won't evolve nicely on that account; more likely it's that I am unfamiliar with this paradigm. All I can say is that it's certainly a very good wine that didn't come anywhere near evoking the kind of negative reaction young Jayson and I had to 2016 DDC, but I am not about to get on the phone with my broker anytime soon.
 
originally posted by fatboy:
tonight, with teh swabian spring lamb cutlets (cooked simple) and pan fried spuds (briefly parboiled and then cooked all aggressive in teh rendered lamb fat with garlic and rosemary) i popped a bottle of 1990 ch tayac, cotes teh bourg ... and am gently teleported back into a time when honest bdx was a twenty+ year proposition, and, when priced relative to the rest of teh economy, getting half that in a place one would go to feed teh fat face was often viable.

this isn't profound shit, but age has tamed the obvious merlot fruit into a discreet nod in teh direction of fancy shoes for dudes, while allowing the acid structure to keep a friskiness that raises an easy smile (and handles bits of garlic that were over/under cooked in teh process described above with remarkable aplomb).

what you get is a wine less aromatically interesting than old cab franc, but with a discretion and structural food friendliness that is many ways more versatile, and which is now only even vaguely viable* in teh old cab sauv / merlot when one is willing to plonk down serious roubles. or get lucky that some dude is being under rewarded for his efforts so he can make "better" hooch.**

teh food / bottle were a nice trip back in time.

fb.

*it isn't the same.

** how many folk singers does it take to change a light bulb?
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Chateau Tayac is still not expensive. Current vintages are under $40. From the little I can figure out on Google, the 1990 at auction price is between 20$ and $40, though I really can't glean very much. I don't know a thing about the wine, but, if I were 30 years younger, it might be worth seeking out.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:

Chateau Tayac is still not expensive. Current vintages are under $40. From the little I can figure out on Google, the 1990 at auction price is between 20$ and $40, though I really can't glean very much. I don't know a thing about the wine, but, if I were 30 years younger, it might be worth seeking out.
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in fairness, i should report that another bottle pulled from the same case last night was solidly doa. i mulled whether to twist and open another, and then copped out and cracked open some 2019 cabernet franc “vom stein” from weingut maier in schwaikheim in the remstal instead.

i mention it here because unlike many german experiments with bordeaux adjacent varieties this is neither over extracted nor overoaked, but is rather suave -- well fruited yet light on its feet and alarmingly drinkable. if you imagine swabian saumur, you'll be in the right ballpark.

fb.
 
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

Sounds intriguing, how are Swabian lamb cutlets cooked?
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much like spring lamb from any hilly, well grassed region i guess. liberal quantities of rosemary, salt and garlic, and plenty of heat for not too long. keep the juices for spud frying / using up the bread you bought for the cheese you forgot.

** how many folk singers does it take to change a light bulb?
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I give up, how many?
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[/quote]

i was shocked to find that there is little consensus on teh interwebz. but as i was told, the answer is three: one to change it, one to sing about how much better the old bulb was, and one to sing about the injustice of being a lightbulb in the first place.

i'll get my hat.

fb.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
I tackled the fancy pants 2016 cuvee jean gautreau from sociando mallet a couple of weeks ago, and honestly i don't know what to make of this new stuff.
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i used some 04 sociando mallet to wash down some steak a couple of weeks ago. i liked it a lot. stern and yet properly fruited at the same time. matched teh mallard on the cow with aplomb.

see my note about folk singers above.

fb.
 
right... we are far enough north for the steak to want to be chopped up into a stew, but my brief recent encounter with 2001 SM* suggested otherwise, so you may be on to something here

SM is the real deal for sure, and has been for a while. My comments about the 2016 need context: first, if you are not scarred by the emergence of the cuvee speciale on the right bank in the 80s then you are either a millennial or should stick with beer & vodka; second, it isn't clear, as stated, that i understand anything i've tasted since 2012/2014** in brdx

*the bottle was brutally young but 01 is just old enough for storage to matter, and someone definitely had put my bottle on ice
** hors de categorie shit like 2016 maison blanche does not count
 
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