WineLovers Discussion Group

Cheapest wine I like

$2 buck chuck Chardonnay
$7.99 Las Rocas
$8.99 2005 Domaine de Fontsainte (case buy IMHO)
$8.99 Luvodicus

Most expensive wines I hated (strong word...but that does reduce the list down......)

$140 1995 Dom Perignon (perhaps bad bottle??)

How about most expensive bottle that I liked

$1200 1997 Harlan Estate
$350 1994 Vega Scilia

I don't buy ultraexpensive wines (very often), but...

Somewhat pricey bottles I've hated:

2003 Tamber Bey (Yountville) $60. Cab-caramel oak milkshake. Bleh.
2003 Stryker (Alexander Valley) E1K Bordeaux Blend $60 Utterly nondescript and bland.
2003 Hartwell Estate Merlot $60. Over the top fruit and jam bomb. Bleh.

Good cheap stuff Don Sebastiani "The Other Guys" Aquinas Cab-$11. Yum.

Barricas Argentina Malbec and Cab $5.99 Varietally correct and enjoyable.

Harlan Estate 1995.

Hated is not the right word. Rotten QPR is more like it. My WTN is somewhere in the archive.

There are many that I wasn't terribly keen on (some vintage or other of Opus One which tasted like a decent 10€ Merlot) but since they were drinkable, I won't say that I hated them. Maybe I'll say Montrose 2003 (well north of 100€ but don't know how much exactly) since it was sickeningly sweet and confected and smelled like banana bread. Shudder.

-O-

As being discussed in the "trophy" thread, young Grange is right up there! And, among the cultish California wines that have failed to impress my taste buds, Marcassin and Sine Qua Non rank close to the top.

Not that I'd ever buy any of that stuff myself, mind you ... Probably my least happy experience when I was buying was a Zind-Humbrecht Clos Windsbuhl Gewurz, purchased 15 or 20 years ago for a Thanksgiving dinner, a major step in my realization that "Parker 100" does not necessarily mean nectar.

[quote=

How about most expensive bottle that I liked

$1200 1997 Harlan Estate
$350 1994 Vega Scilia[/quote]

I've got a couple of 97 Harlans that I'll sell to you much cheaper.

Good cheapie: Baroja Seleccion Rioja (sometimes on sale for about $7 or so)

Not my style although very pricy: high end reds from Jumilla, Spain.

Also disliked a very barnyardy or bretty Chateauneuf du Pape (I can take a little Brett.)

I still don't know whether I like Barolos or not because the ones I have had the opportunity to try were too young and tannic. I suspect I might liked a properly cellared one just as I like some mature Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

Dear Randy,

Great question! I rarely drink wines over $40 or so, but sometimes I get a taste. I guess it would be the 1985 Groth Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. California. That was current retail $400 bottle of wine that I probably would have finished if I had paid $10 for it. Simple, too minty, though good fruit especially for its age. I'm supremely happy to have tasted it, though, it gives you perspective that there's way more variation in personal taste than absolute quality.

The 2005 Two Buck Chuck is well above just "drinkable," as have been numerous $2 wines I've picked up at the Grocery Outlet.

Walt

I've got a couple of 97 Harlans that I'll sell to you much cheaper.

Thanks for the offer but I actually did not buy that wine. It was a good friend that offered me a pour. I'm not in the practise of tasting this type of wines but it was very nice. Thanks for the offer though.

Michael K wrote:

I've got a couple of 97 Harlans that I'll sell to you much cheaper.

Thanks for the offer but I actually did not buy that wine. It was a good friend that offered me a pour. I'm not in the practise of tasting this type of wines but it was very nice. Thanks for the offer though.

Damn, I thought I had found a pigeon that would pay some outrageous price for that wine.
Well I guess I'll just have to sit down with Hoke some night & light up a good cigar with a 20 dollar bill and drink the 97 Harlan. Damn again, neither one of us smoke cigars.

1990 Pichon Lalande anyone?

Robin Garr wrote:Probably my least happy experience when I was buying was a Zind-Humbrecht Clos Windsbuhl Gewurz, purchased 15 or 20 years ago for a Thanksgiving dinner, a major step in my realization that "Parker 100" does not necessarily mean nectar.

Robin,

Sorry to hear you had to pay for that awful experience. I had the misfortune to taste another Parker 100 Z-H Clos Windsbuhl Gewurz (might even have been the same vintage), but fortunately on someone else's dime. It is one of very few wines I've ever tasted that was so deficient in acidity that it was a downright fault. The wine was an absolute fruit bomb--all the volume knobs turned to 11--but completely devoid of acidity. It was beyond cloying. Trying to drink it was an unpleasant chore.

I've drunk many a Sauternes or BA or TBA or Tokaji Eszencia that was unbelievably sweet and fruity, but with balancing acidity that made it dance on the palate and just throw off bright sparks of brilliant flavors, and just go on and on and on in a finish that you don't want to end.

In contrast, the Z-H was like a sumo wrestler doing a belly flop on the palate.

100? I'd rate it 55, and that's being charitable.

-Paul W.

None that I can think of. I've had expensive wines other people have bought which I haven't liked. Usually, if I'm shelling out big bucks, it'll be on something I pretty much know I'll like.

I don't really hate many wines that I try, and now I avoid those wines that I probably would hate. So, the most expensive wine that I actively disliked was probably a corked bottle of Perrier-Jouet Fleur du Champagne at a big tasting 1-2 years ago.

Mark Lipton

Within the last couple of weeks, a very late guest to dinner brought maybe 600 ml of a 2005 Ramonet Montrachet from a tasting. I don't know how much it costs--$1200 for a 750?

But I didn't really want to finish my glass, and neither did most of my guests. When critics compare high end California chardonnay to Montrachet, this was the wine they had in mind--oaky, structureless, bleh.

A great relief. there is no need to save up.

Quote:

I've got a couple of 97 Harlans that I'll sell to you much cheaper.



Thanks for the offer but I actually did not buy that wine. It was a good friend that offered me a pour. I'm not in the practise of tasting this type of wines but it was very nice. Thanks for the offer though.


Damn, I thought I had found a pigeon that would pay some outrageous price for that wine.
Well I guess I'll just have to sit down with Hoke some night & light up a good cigar with a 20 dollar bill and drink the 97 Harlan. Damn again, neither one of us smoke cigars.

Damn, Thats the nicest thing anyones said about me today...

I think that when the authorities are warning us young people about worrisome lurkers on the internet, they may have been referring to you

Tht I actually HATED? Maybe :
'02 Marquis Phillips Integrity
El Nido
Pride Cab Franc
All around $100.

In the "wouldn't buy if they were $40, unless I could re-sell them":
1998 Pavie
1997 Bryant Family

In the "hey, this is pretty decent, but it retails for $1000+!!"
1979 Lafleur.

Michael K wrote:

Quote:

I've got a couple of 97 Harlans that I'll sell to you much cheaper.



Thanks for the offer but I actually did not buy that wine. It was a good friend that offered me a pour. I'm not in the practise of tasting this type of wines but it was very nice. Thanks for the offer though.


Damn, I thought I had found a pigeon that would pay some outrageous price for that wine.
Well I guess I'll just have to sit down with Hoke some night & light up a good cigar with a 20 dollar bill and drink the 97 Harlan. Damn again, neither one of us smoke cigars.

Damn, Thats the nicest thing anyones said about me today...

I think that when the authorities are warning us young people about worrisome lurkers on the internet, they may have been referring to you

I have plenty of candy, just follow me into my wine cellar.

The palm in white goes to Nicolas Joly's Savennières Clos de la Coulée de Serrant (never had one I didn't find musty and faulty), in red to Biondi-Santi's Brunello (never had one that wasn't deprived of fruit and showed a level of acidity some ZH's Gewurzes would dream of).

1996 Peter Michael Les Pavots. Opened this earlier this year. The wine just literally dies in the mid-palette, clipped with no aftertaste at all. There was nothing wrong with the initial taste as long as you are o.k. with the bigger Cal Cab flavor profile. Not worth the $60 I paid for it years ago much less the $160 it goes for today.

I have one bottle left and not sure what I will do with it.

Ye gods, the amounts are staggering!

Almost any contemporary "Bordeaux" (the quotes are necessary, since I believe proper Bordeaux is rarely made in that region anymore). Dishonorific mentions to Pavie since 2000, Pape-Clément since 1998 (The horror! The betrayal! To think that this house, maker of one of the greatest clarets of yore, is now a Rollandized den of spoofulation!), anything made by anyone calling him or herself (or being called by any number of rags) a garagiste, but especially the loathsome Valandraud... I could go on. But you get the picture.

Harlan. Screaming Eagle. Any number of other California Cult Cabs. Almost all California "Pinot Noir", with a special dishonorable mention to... Well, never mind. Remember http://www.wineloverspage.com/user_submitted/wine_notes/tn_280587.html? It's only gotten worse. There's Kosta Browne now. And some other winemakers admitting they've picked Pinot at 33 Brix...

Termanthia. And while we're at it, Pingus. And the new Vega Sicilias. Sorry to the guy above who liked it, but that '94 is no longer "Único", but rather a nasty drop of point-seeking oak juice. IMHO, of course. And that Aro stuff from Muga. And Aalto PS.

Any number of "Modernist" Baroli. Crapoli.

I won't even go into Australia, or any of those pricier varietally-correct (as long as we're talking varieties of oak) Argentinians and Chileans.

Man, I hate a lot of the stuff that passes for "wine" these days!

Now, how many good people did I offend with this?

[quote="

Now, how many good people did I offend with this?[/quote]

None! You don't know any good people. Now go back to watching your children.

Lou Kessler wrote:[quote="

Now, how many good people did I offend with this?

None! You don't know any good people. Now go back to watching your children.[/quote]

That is heartening, Lou. Of course, I meant those I don't know. Since becoming a father, I've been so removed and so many fine new names have popped up all over the wine internet that I can't help but wonder...

SFJoe wrote: 2005 Ramonet Montrachet.

Do you feel that way about Ramonet in general? Or just this Montrachet.