Ch. Lafite Rothschild 1970 - Corked!

[Phil Ward]

Some dear friends and lovers of wines spent the weekend. Perfect time for the above, but after standing it up for 24 hours, extracting the cork slowly and decanting carefully, it was *&$#@ corked. I had been given this by my wife many years ago and she had bought it from a retailer in Brooklyn on release.

So much for that bottle. Thankfully, I still have two left but now am concerned. There is no way to get a credit from the retailer, importer, negociant or the winery. I did send a note to Lafite from their web site but am not expecting anything.

As an alternative, we did have a very nice bottle of Ch Beauregard 1996.

Oh, also had a phenomenal bottle of Leroy Puligny-Montrachet, Les Folatieres, 1993 as an aperitif. Perfect, lovely and still quite youthful.

All in all a wonderful snowy weekend in NJ with great friends.

Phil

[GordonCooks]

Some dear friends and lovers of wines spent the weekend. Perfect time for the above, but after standing it up for 24 hours, extracting the cork slowly and decanting carefully, it was *&$#@ corked. I had been given this by my wife many years ago and she had bought it from a retailer in Brooklyn on release.

So much for that bottle. Thankfully, I still have two left but now am concerned. There is no way to get a credit from the retailer, importer, negociant or the winery. I did send a note to Lafite from their web site but am not expecting anything.

As an alternative, we did have a very nice bottle of Ch Beauregard 1996.

Oh, also had a phenomenal bottle of Leroy Puligny-Montrachet, Les Folatieres, 1993 as an aperitif. Perfect, lovely and still quite youthful.

All in all a wonderful snowy weekend in NJ with great friends.

Phil

If you have an exceptional relationship with your wine guy - anything is possible. You'd have to be able to guarantee provenance which is a hard thing to do.

[Ruth]

Are you sure it was actually corked and not merely over the hill? Did you keep it in a wine cellar? We opened a bottle of 1970 Ch. Lafite for the Millenium. It had been in our cellar for several years before we installed climate control but had spent its last fifteen years at 55°. A couple of years before we opened it the people from Lafite came to New York and we had it re-corked. Alas, when we opened it we found it long gone - no fruit, no complexity, just flat. It could have been a $10.00 bottle - a terrible disappointment.

[marcus]

There is no way to get a credit from the retailer, importer, negociant or the winery. I did send a note to Lafite from their web site but am not expecting anything.

3-5% of wines are corked including first growths, it is essentially an "act of god", that is, it has nothing to do with storage or shipping, cannot be deterimined in advance, and its really no ones fault. It is far more common than people realize, and there is no reason to believe that there will be any problem with your remaining bottles. There have been debates in prior threads as to who should assume financial responsibility and it comes down to who built this risk into their price. In summary, the consensus as I remember was that restaurants should replace a corked bottle, retailers probably should, but this is not open and shut, and auction houses will not. I don't believe anyone yet has suggested that the problem should be put back onto the chateau.

Chateau Lafite 1970, although disappointing, should not be over the hill if stored properly.

Edited December 16, 2003 by marcus (log)

[bandregg]

I remember reading that a bottle of Petrus 2000 was found to be corked during a tasting earlier this year of 200 Bordeaux. I can't imagine 6000$ and a corked bottle.

[marcus]

I remember reading that a bottle of Petrus 2000 was found to be corked during a tasting earlier this year of 200 Bordeaux. I can't imagine 6000$ and a corked bottle.

Happens all the time.

What I can't imagine is wasting such a valuable wine which is so unready to drink and couldn't possibly yield any real pleasure at this point.

[docsconz]

What I can't imagine is wasting such a valuable wine which is so unready to drink and couldn't possibly yield any real pleasure at this point.

While you are undoubtedly correct that it is a probably a bit premature to be opening this bottle and that further aging may enhance it considerably, I would say that it is still entirely possible that "real" pleasure could indeed be had from the bottle even now even if it is not as much as it might be in the future

[tommy]

While you are undoubtedly correct that it is a probably a bit premature to be opening this bottle and that further aging may enhance it considerably, I would say that it is still entirely possible that "real" pleasure could indeed be had from the bottle even now even if it is not as much as it might be in the future

i don't know, but aren't tastings pretty much standard, even with young wines?

[docsconz]

While you are undoubtedly correct that it is a probably a bit premature to be opening this bottle and that further aging may enhance it considerably, I would say that it is still entirely possible that "real" pleasure could indeed be had from the bottle even now even if it is not as much as it might be in the future  

i don't know, but aren't tastings pretty much standard, even with young wines?

I'm not sure I understand your point, Tommy.

[tommy]

While you are undoubtedly correct that it is a probably a bit premature to be opening this bottle and that further aging may enhance it considerably, I would say that it is still entirely possible that "real" pleasure could indeed be had from the bottle even now even if it is not as much as it might be in the future  

i don't know, but aren't tastings pretty much standard, even with young wines?

I'm not sure I understand your point, Tommy.

no point. question. i'm asking if the wine tasting community routinely samples wines that are young. i would think so, so i wouldn't think that this tasting at which the corked bottle was discovered wasn't so much a bad decision or "waste" of wine, but rather routine. (my comment, although i quoted you, wasn't pointed towards your statement, but rather i was asking you - and others - the awkwardly phrased question. )

Edited December 16, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Mark Sommelier]

FWIW, Every time I have tasted '70 Lafite, it has been underwhelming.

[docsconz]

While you are undoubtedly correct that it is a probably a bit premature to be opening this bottle and that further aging may enhance it considerably, I would say that it is still entirely possible that "real" pleasure could indeed be had from the bottle even now even if it is not as much as it might be in the future  

i don't know, but aren't tastings pretty much standard, even with young wines?

I'm not sure I understand your point, Tommy.

no point. question. i'm asking if the wine tasting community routinely samples wines that are young. i would think so, so i wouldn't think that this tasting at which the corked bottle was discovered wasn't so much a bad decision or "waste" of wine, but rather routine. (my comment, although i quoted you, wasn't pointed towards your statement, but rather i was asking you - and others - the awkwardly phrased question. )

Young wines are probably "tasted" for several reasons. One, they can and do afford considerable pleasure on their own terms, especially the modern "internationally" styled wines and two, to provide a basis for a buzz with which to sell them.

[marcus]

My point was that Petrus is a particularly poor wine for tasting when it is too young.

[tommy]

all good points. thanks guys.

[Phil Ward]

To all who have posted thanks for your comments.

1) It was corked as I have been tasting wines for over 30 years and selling them professionally for close to 20 years. Corked is corked not over the hill.

2) As I had three bottles, I thought I would pull one to try with friends plus many tasting notes I have read say that the vintage would never be "ready" but I'm a gamer and love to try wines with good freinds.

3) Storage has been almost perfect since purchased

4) Life goes on when it comes to corked wines but it still p.... me off when it comes to wines I have held for 3 plus years. If I get them as samples or recent purchases, I don't much care. I just express dismay and concern and then pour it down the sink.

5) Still no word from the Chateau since my e-mail to them of Monday. Like I expected a response

Phil

Edited December 18, 2003 by Phil Ward (log)

[KatieLoeb]

<snip>3-5% of wines are corked including first growths...

I was under the impression that the corkage rate was approximately 1 in 16 bottles or about 6%. Can anyone name another industry where a failure rate of 6% would be not only acceptable but expected?? Car tires? Brakes? Glass? Elevators???!!!??? I think you can all see where I'm headed with this.

Is it any wonder that screw tops and synthetic corks are looking a lot more interesting than an organic product that's both in short supply and subject to "infection"?

[Scott]

To all who have posted thanks for your comments.

1) It was corked as I have been tasting wines for over 30 years and selling them professionally for close to 20 years. Corked is corked not over the hill.

Phil,

I don't follow your point then.

1. it happens, why hold the front page

2. you should know it's not very good wine.

[Phil Ward]

To all who have posted thanks for your comments.

1) It was corked as I have been tasting wines for over 30 years and selling them professionally for close to 20 years. Corked is corked not over the hill.

Phil,

I don't follow your point then.

1. it happens, why hold the front page

2. you should know it's not very good wine.

I am lost by your response as I don't understand:

"hold the front page"

and

" you should know its not very good wine"

Maybe I'm missing something?

Phil

[Scott]

To all who have posted thanks for your comments.

1) It was corked as I have been tasting wines for over 30 years and selling them professionally for close to 20 years. Corked is corked not over the hill.

Phil,

I don't follow your point then.

1. it happens, why hold the front page

2. you should know it's not very good wine.

I am lost by your response as I don't understand:

"hold the front page"

and

" you should know its not very good wine"

Maybe I'm missing something?

Phil

Phil,

sorry for any confusion. What I was trying to say is that under those circumstances, this instance just doesn't seem very newsworthy.

I could understand if someone had been expecting a great bottle, and wasn't sure what went wrong...

now if it had been Ducru or Palmer...