WS1 wrote:Hi Andy, [...]
regards
WS1
Wolfgang is rolling, folks.
I think the producers have been very honest in their assessments of their successes and failures, especially the period from 1975-1985. I don't think I've heard many of them boast about their 85s, and I know a few that have openly acknowledged lower production standards as a culprit to a weaker wine.
Based on this thread, I am happy to learn that I seem to have had atypically bad performances. I have had flawed bottles from nearly all shippers (certainly Noval, Niepoort, Churchill, Dow, Warre, Croft, and Taylor, in approximate order of frequency%). In the extreme cases, I've had at least as many misses as hits (Noval, springs to mind). Now, in Noval's case, I'm not sure I ever called it 'VA,' so if we wanna get to that level, I think that only for Talyor and Niepoort did I write or allude specifically to VA in my notes. Instead I have said "cloudy," "murky," "offputting" "smelling like the intersection of awful and stink," etc. From a buyer's perspective, the vintage is suspect, generally on a shipper-specific basis, akin to 1977.
1985 Graham, on the other hand, has consistently provided pleasure and is developing nicely. I am pleased to have a small arsenal of magnums.
1985 Fonseca has been (and may for the moment still be) the king of the vintage (or at least I think that would be the TPF consensus). While I had been of this view for some period, the last....2, maybe 3 years of F85 have felt it recede a bit into its shell. Happy to check in later, but I suspect the Grahams may overtake it and not look back. Happy to own this wine, and look forward to tracking the next ....+ decades of development
The rest, I would generally not seek out, but would take a flyer ~$50.