WTN: 1981 Chateau Gloria

[note: copied from my cellartracker review]
It's tough to find good wine from my birth year. This bottle is a rare success.

Completely alive. Bottom neck fill; no evidence of seepage and cork soaked to within 1/2 inch of the top. Still relatively opaque; brick red, fading to yellow at rim. Sweet red fruit on the nose, with forest floor and a pleasant touch of green bean (in a good aged-cab way). Wet leaf and earth.

Tannins completely resolved, with plumminess and earthiness. Structured, but fruity. Noticeably low in alcohol (listed at 12%)

Purchased at retail on sale from Chambers Wine for $25, 6/2008. I don't know where they got this, but someone treated her very well over the years.

Addendum: Because it's my birthday week, I've been going through some of my better bottles: a 1990 Mondavi Reserve, a 1993 Morot Beanue Greves, and a 1986 Laurel Glen. Thus was, by far, the best of the bunch. What a pleasant surprise!

It's tough to find good wine from my birth year.

Whippersnapper.
First of all, not that hard, '81 is one of the great years for Rioja.
For Bordeaux, most are maturing and some are fading, but I've liked Chval Blanc. Gruaud Larose, and PLL in last couple years.
Gloria used to be a great underrated ager.
Thanlks for notes!

[David M. Bueker]

I remember when I was 27...I think...well maybe not.

It's tough to find good wine from my birth year.

Whippersnapper.
First of all, not that hard, '81 is one of the great years for Rioja.
For Bordeaux, most are maturing and some are fading, but I've liked Chval Blanc. Gruaud Larose, and PLL in last couple years.
Gloria used to be a great underrated ager.
Thanlks for notes!

Indeed. I've had the library-released 1981 Lopez de Heredia as a birthday wine, I think 2 years ago, and it was wonderful. The problem is finding those wines for sale- since I'm a babe, I'm reliant on Acker, Chambers, and the other usual suspects to provide me with older wine. Finding Cal Cabs and Bordeaux is easy; finding Rioja is not (my favorite Rioja producer is Murrieta, and I'd love to try any of their 1981s).

It's tough to find good wine from my birth year.

Whippersnapper.
First of all, not that hard, '81 is one of the great years for Rioja.
For Bordeaux, most are maturing and some are fading, but I've liked Chval Blanc. Gruaud Larose, and PLL in last couple years.
Gloria used to be a great underrated ager.
Thanlks for notes!

Indeed. I've had the library-released 1981 Lopez de Heredia as a birthday wine, I think 2 years ago, and it was wonderful. The problem is finding those wines for sale- since I'm a babe, I'm reliant on Acker, Chambers, and the other usual suspects to provide me with older wine. Finding Cal Cabs and Bordeaux is easy; finding Rioja is not (my favorite Rioja producer is Murrieta, and I'd love to try any of their 1981s).

Finally, someone I can share my quest for 81s with! Our birth year does have some gems if you've got the money: the ones on my radar are the Coutet Cuvee Madame, Penfolds Grange, and Margaux. The regular edition of Coutet is supposed to be good, if you can find it. And I've had an eye on Raymond-Lafon as well. I've seen the Heredia various places but simply haven't ha the money to try it. And Unico is supposed to be a great one too. I believe that it was a generally successful year for Napa too. The only 81s I've had are Pavie, and the Louis Martini La Loma Napa Cab. Both were quite good. And I'll very likely get to taste Rieussec early next year. Thanks for the note on Gloria - I've seen it for good prices various times, but when doing some research the prospects always seemed unencouraging.

[Robin Garr]

Happy birthday, whippersnapper!

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I just loved 1981 Gloria ... around 1983.

I'm not surprised that it's still alive, though, assuming good storage. It was a fine vintage - really, 1979 and 1981 and even the somewhat lighter 1980s were all good - before 1982 came along and changed everything.

The '81 Ducru-Beaucaillou is one of the very best wines of the vintage with Pichon-Lalande not far behind (both tried in the last year and both holding well, particularly the Ducru - WOTV IMHO). Margaux, Leoville-Las-Cases, Lafite, La Mission Haut-Brion were all very good but I haven't tried them for some time now. Although I don't recall trying any of the right-bankers from this vintage, I've read that quite a few Pomerol Chateaux (Conseillante, Certan de May, Petrus, le Pin, Vieux Chateau Certan) performed reasonably well; St Emillon, on the other hand, apart from Cheval Blanc, was less successful. A rainy harvest was the killer for this vintage. The fantastic thing for you guys - the prices for these '81 Bordeauxs are way down (as a rule) on vintages like '82, '83, '85 and '86. Hope this helps.

David, I enjoyed a 1959 Gloria a couple of years ago. It reminded me of the legendary 1961 Ducru-Beaucaillou. It was fabulous. As Dale Williams said, Glorias can be remarkably long agers. This last weekend, my wife and I compared a 1996 Gloria with a 1996 Talbot. To our taste, the Gloria was about as good as any Bordeaux I could imagine anywhere’s near its price point. Very, very good – but you have to appreciate lots of earth. The 2003 (the overripe year) Gloria is fantastic as well, to my taste; I would say outstanding. I am jealous and wish I had seen the 1981 sale.

..... the ones on my radar are the Coutet Cuvee Madame
..... Penfolds Grange
..... The regular edition of Coutet is supposed to be good, if you can find it.
..... And I'll very likely get to taste Rieussec early next year.

the ones on my radar are the Coutet Cuvee Madame - tried this a few years back - was "good", looked very fragile, cannot recommend, but provenance may have been an issue here. Don't rely on Parker's very old tasting note on this one.

The regular edition of Coutet is supposed to be good, if you can find it. - bought half a dozen of these from a very well-kept cellar and the wine is Outstanding - far better than the '82 and '83 both of which can be very good to outstanding (the '83 has got a split personality). Again, Parker's tasting notes are out of whack with what's in well-kept bottles.

Penfolds Grange - this is a very good wine but no better - somewhat simple and monolithic with quite hard tannin in the finish - is probably holding but the last bottle I tasted was flat out 85 points (circa 2001). This from Jeremy Oliver in 2003 - Fullish red, this sweet and rather spiky, confection-like red lacks Grange’s customary depth and balance. Simple red and black berry aromas and varnishy coffee/chocolate oak precede a plump, juicy and straightforward palate whose green-edged fruit is bound by sappy, but very astringent tannins. 16.5, drink 2001-2011. Price may be attractive on this if you can find any.

And I'll very likely get to taste Rieussec early next year - haven't had the 1981 Rieussec for 5 years or thereabouts but it is as good, or even in some instances, has been "much" better than '81 D'Yquem. Probably rate the Rieussec 90-92 points in the period 1995-2003 - never had a bad bottle which is another good sign.

has been "much" better than '81 D'Yquem.

The impression I get is that 81 was not a successful year for Yquem, and that several other Sauternes estates (Coutet, Rieussec, Raymond-Lafon) did much better.

Finally, someone I can share my quest for 81s with! Our birth year does have some gems if you've got the money: the ones on my radar are the Coutet Cuvee Madame, Penfolds Grange, and Margaux. The regular edition of Coutet is supposed to be good, if you can find it. And I've had an eye on Raymond-Lafon as well. I've seen the Heredia various places but simply haven't ha the money to try it. And Unico is supposed to be a great one too. I believe that it was a generally successful year for Napa too. The only 81s I've had are Pavie, and the Louis Martini La Loma Napa Cab. Both were quite good. And I'll very likely get to taste Rieussec early next year. Thanks for the note on Gloria - I've seen it for good prices various times, but when doing some research the prospects always seemed unencouraging.

My experience with the 1 or 2 1981 California wines I've tasted is poor ( one wine which I forget and a tiny taste of a Phelps Insignia that was clearly dying) ..but I've yet to have the '81 Monte Bello, which I would absolutely kill to try.

Chambers Street Wines in NYC has the '81 Mission Haut-Brion and Mouton on sale for $180, and I've seen the bottles and they're in beautiful condition ( I believe, though I'm not certain, that they come from the same cellar that kept the 1981 Gloria in such great shape). Lord knows I've been tempted to spring for the La Mission- but that would double my most-dollars-spent record. Even for a worthy birth-year bottle, I can't bring myself to do it.