TN: Cellar doings (Sept. 28, 2013)

[Jeff Grossman]

The much-anticipated focus of the day, as advertised in several rounds of email (and mentioned in Ted Cruz' blab-fest, right after Dr. Seuss and before Bemelmans) was Jay Miller's Clean-Up-A-Thon. We sat on bleachers absent-mindedly munching "nose to tail" wieners with Demeter-certified sauerkraut while we wait. I did a little warm-up but really just to grab a few bottles for home and a bottle for a Loire wine dinner on Sunday.

And... the show was cancelled. Excess of sloth. Darn.

But not entirely unexpected so we opened some bottles:

Ch. Giscours 1971 Margaux - OTH, tired, tinny, heat-damaged, bleh

Dunn 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon "Howell Mountain" - youthful, bright and clear and crisp, no blowsy overripeness here, just cool-climate fruit barely into its adolescence, nice stuff

Roumier 2001 Chambolle-Musigny - great bottle of this, perfumed (the perfume of fruit, not oak), drinks above its pay grade

Bachelet 2000 Gevrey-Chambertin - less lush than the '01, meaty, I only got a quick slurp of this as I was headed out the door

Felsina 1999 IGT "Fontalloro" - rumored to have been opened after I left

...and another wine was queued up to be a practice bottle for the Coravin.

Jay, Chris, Craig... more notes?

 

[MLipton]

Too bad about that '71 Giscours, Jeff. The '66 is still rockin'

Mark Lipton

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by MLipton:
Too bad about that '71 Giscours, Jeff. The '66 is still rockin'

Mark Lipton

And bottles of the '71 in good condition are also great. This is from a disappointing 4 bottle K&L auction lot. Still have one left that I should probably just bring home, open, and toss.

Out of consideration for Mr. Grossman I didn't open La Bota #40 Manzanilla Pasada until after he left. Gorgeous wine, in my top 5 La Botas.

In the mood for something sweet and with my '01 Sauternes buried (my foresight in making in inaccessible is impressive) I pulled a 2001 MC HB Spatlese 2134. Still youthful it was borderline thrilling, much better than some tired bottles I had purchased from HDH a few years ago.

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

Roumier 2001 Chambolle-Musigny - great bottle of this, perfumed (the perfume of fruit, not oak), drinks above its pay grade

Above it's old pay grade before Roumier wines became part of the 1%.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

Roumier 2001 Chambolle-Musigny - great bottle of this, perfumed (the perfume of fruit, not oak), drinks above its pay grade

Above it's old pay grade before Roumier wines became part of the 1%.

Yes, right. I paid $45, it's on auction for $180, the 2010 is $140 or thereabouts.

 

[MLipton]

Yeah, my only Roumiers are from '99 and '02. Dedicated bottom feeder that I am, I am sure that I paid no more than $40 for either. Those days are surely long gone (I do recall a comment by SFJoe at the time of the '99 purchase: "You're living large." Little did I realize how right he was)

Mark Lipton

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by MLipton:
Yeah, my only Roumiers are from '99 and '02. Dedicated bottom feeder that I am, I am sure that I paid no more than $40 for either. Those days are surely long gone (I do recall a comment by SFJoe at the time of the '99 purchase: "You're living large." Little did I realize how right he was)

Mark Lipton

I have 2 bottles of the 2001 Bonnes Mares that I paid about $90 for on release. I see winebid has it for $600 now and the 2010 is going for $740 - $1000. Scary stuff.

 

[SFJoe]

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by MLipton:
Yeah, my only Roumiers are from '99 and '02. Dedicated bottom feeder that I am, I am sure that I paid no more than $40 for either. Those days are surely long gone (I do recall a comment by SFJoe at the time of the '99 purchase: "You're living large." Little did I realize how right he was)

Mark Lipton

I have 2 bottles of the 2001 Bonnes Mares that I paid about $90 for on release. I see winebid has it for $600 now and the 2010 is going for $740 - $1000. Scary stuff.

It's hard to know what to do with that sort of thing, isn't it?

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by SFJoe:

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by MLipton:
Yeah, my only Roumiers are from '99 and '02. Dedicated bottom feeder that I am, I am sure that I paid no more than $40 for either. Those days are surely long gone (I do recall a comment by SFJoe at the time of the '99 purchase: "You're living large." Little did I realize how right he was)

Mark Lipton

I have 2 bottles of the 2001 Bonnes Mares that I paid about $90 for on release. I see winebid has it for $600 now and the 2010 is going for $740 - $1000. Scary stuff.

It's hard to know what to do with that sort of thing, isn't it?

Yes, I try to ignore it but then a thread like this makes me curious to check. Ditto my few bottles of Verset, Truchot, etc. I love the wines but ...

 

[Asher]

I had the 1999 Felsina Fontalloro within the last two weeks. I found the fruit to be waning and was disappointed. My take away was that this wine is for current drinking, not further cellaring. Curious what you gentlemen thought.

 

[MLipton]

originally posted by SFJoe:

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by MLipton:
Yeah, my only Roumiers are from '99 and '02. Dedicated bottom feeder that I am, I am sure that I paid no more than $40 for either. Those days are surely long gone (I do recall a comment by SFJoe at the time of the '99 purchase: "You're living large." Little did I realize how right he was)

Mark Lipton

I have 2 bottles of the 2001 Bonnes Mares that I paid about $90 for on release. I see winebid has it for $600 now and the 2010 is going for $740 - $1000. Scary stuff.

It's hard to know what to do with that sort of thing, isn't it?

Precisely. On the one hand, it's hard to justify hanging on to a bottle that could subsidize case purchases of both Foillard's CdP and Huet's LHL. OTOH, if you don't try these bottles of Roumier, when will you? I hardly need to add another name to my list of Gentaz and Trollat lost opportunities.

Mark Lipton

 

[Sharon Bowman]

I, for one, late to the game, am profoundly grateful for the chances friends have given me to taste such wines.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by SFJoe:
It's hard to know what to do with that sort of thing, isn't it?

No, it isn't: Pick a nice day and pop it.

(I once looked into selling a few bottles of this and that. Winebid won't accept just a couple bottles, and you'll lose a hefty %age going through an auction house. Fie on greed! Drink nice wine and enjoy your life.)

 

[SFJoe]

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

originally posted by SFJoe:
It's hard to know what to do with that sort of thing, isn't it?

No, it isn't: Pick a nice day and pop it.

(I once looked into selling a few bottles of this and that. Winebid won't accept just a couple bottles, and you'll lose a hefty %age going through an auction house. Fie on greed! Drink nice wine and enjoy your life.)

Oh, I do, mostly. But when they're up 10X it starts to feel a bit weird.

 

[Suzanne Camhi]

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by MLipton:
Yeah, my only Roumiers are from '99 and '02. Dedicated bottom feeder that I am, I am sure that I paid no more than $40 for either. Those days are surely long gone (I do recall a comment by SFJoe at the time of the '99 purchase: "You're living large." Little did I realize how right he was)

Mark Lipton

I have 2 bottles of the 2001 Bonnes Mares that I paid about $90 for on release. I see winebid has it for $600 now and the 2010 is going for $740 - $1000. Scary stuff.

I have 2 bottles of the 01 Roumier Bonnes Mares that I paid $115.00 for on the Squires commerce corner in 2004.

 

[Jay Miller]

originally posted by Suzanne Camhi:

originally posted by Jay Miller:

I have 2 bottles of the 2001 Bonnes Mares that I paid about $90 for on release. I see winebid has it for $600 now and the 2010 is going for $740 - $1000. Scary stuff.

I have 2 bottles of the 01 Roumier Bonnes Mares that I paid $115.00 for on the Squires commerce corner in 2004.

It was really with the release of the 2005 vintage that Burgundy prices started going insane.

 

[VLM]

originally posted by SFJoe:

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by MLipton:
Yeah, my only Roumiers are from '99 and '02. Dedicated bottom feeder that I am, I am sure that I paid no more than $40 for either. Those days are surely long gone (I do recall a comment by SFJoe at the time of the '99 purchase: "You're living large." Little did I realize how right he was)

Mark Lipton

I have 2 bottles of the 2001 Bonnes Mares that I paid about $90 for on release. I see winebid has it for $600 now and the 2010 is going for $740 - $1000. Scary stuff.

It's hard to know what to do with that sort of thing, isn't it?

I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about this type of thing as I consider thinning my cellar. I really should. Without wine storage companies, it really is a burden and when I look at all those boxes and realize what proportion of my net worth they represent, I feel a bit daft.

The thing is, I've sold all the BS. All that is left is gold. But, I do hit a certain point (and 10 fold is a decent estimate, although with some more expensive items, the absolute dollar amount may be more important) where I'm just willing to let someone else take the cork taint risk. I love Verset, but I might sell it.

It is very tough to figure out, at least for me.

 

[Michael Lewis]

Keeping my Verset for now, but while we are on the subject:

One bottle of 1982 Trollat for sale! Second of two bottles. First one was corked. Who wants it?

 

[Rahsaan]

originally posted by VLM:

It is very tough to figure out, at least for me.

I feel for you!

 

[Unknown]

originally posted by Jay Miller:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

Roumier 2001 Chambolle-Musigny - great bottle of this, perfumed (the perfume of fruit, not oak), drinks above its pay grade

Above it's old pay grade before Roumier wines became part of the 1%.

2001s from R are fairly extracted, but invariably seem to brush off that bit of inconvenience with air. We had 01 Musigny in November of '12, and this was no exception. You wouldn't suspect it'd show so much mineral, in the first 90 minutes.