2003 Tinto Pesquera

[Joe H]

At the Spanish wine event, sponsored by Wide World of Wines two weeks ago, I felt that dollar for dollar one of the two or three best values in the Madison conference room (out of 125 or so red wines) was 2003 Tinto Pesquera. Calvert Woodley takes delivery of this tomorrow, Thursday, and will have it on sale through Saturday for $24.80 which is 20% off of the $31.00 list price. Wide World of Wines takes delivery of this the first week of July and is selling it as a "future" for $279 a case with a six bottle minimum. This translates to $23.25 a bottle which is 25% off. If you want to sample a bottle you can do this starting tomorrow at C/W. If you really like it and want to buy a case you can either do this and take immediate delivery at C/W for $24.80 or call Wide World of Wines and take delivery a week and a half later for $23.25. Your deadline, then, is Saturday for C/W and June 30th to place the order at Wide World.

Having said all this I believe this is an incredible bargain, well worth the full price of $31.00. A number of other people also liked this wine a great deal at the Madison tasting. To the best of my knowledge it has not been formerly reviewed yet by Parker or the Wine Spectator. My expectation is 92 or 93 points when they get around to it.

[CrescentFresh]

Sir Loin of Beef may choose to correct me, but I believe I enjoyed this wine at Ray's the Steaks for a reasonable price.

[Joe H]

To the best of my knowledge the 2003 has not been previously released in the D. C. area. The 2002 was a step or two down from the '03.

[Joe H]

THE WINE SPECTATOR GAVE THIS 90 POINTS AND CALVERT WOODLEY TOOK DELIVERY TODAY.

[deangold]

THE WINE SPECTATOR GAVE THIS 90 POINTS AND CALVERT WOODLEY TOOK DELIVERY TODAY.

JOE... Just to play devil's advocate.... suppose the wine Spectator gave it an 80 instead of a 90. Or a 99. Would this change your opinion of the wine? Woudl you buy more or less of it?

From reading your posts, I feel that I have some insight as to your tastes and I am able to calibrate my tastes to yours. In other words, you have painted a portrait of what the wine might be like and I can react to that as I see fit. But the Spectator score adds nothing more to your description.

[Joe H]

I bought two cases of it based on tasting it at the Madison. I bought two cases of 2004 Font de la Figueras which will not even be released until September. Also a case of Clos Figueras. And one of'04 Leva Daniels. Until I found the WS rating on a website I had no idea of the ratings of any of these. Or six other bottles that I bought at C/W this week using their 20% off to taste some new wines. As a result of that I picked up a case of '03 Pago de Carravejas which is actually very similar to the Font de la Figueras. I still haven't seen a rating of this.

I say all this, Dean, because I may use ratings as a guide to trying new wines but when I buy more than a bottle (i.e. a case or more) it's because of what I think of it-I don't need the confirmation from another source. The rating could mean less to me. Still, I'll include them in some of my posts because for some there is a bit of credibility associated with them. And, at times, they are interesting. But beyond an initial bottle they play no role in my purchases.

By the way, I (and several neighbors) have now opened three bottles of the Pesquera. All three had corks which were unbelievably difficult to extract. I hope this is an exception.

[B.A.R.]

I heart tight corks.

wish I knew how to make a heart clickie

[deangold]

I say all this, Dean, because I may use ratings as a guide to trying new wines but when I buy more than a bottle (i.e. a case or more) it's because of what I think of it-I don't need the confirmation from another source.

By the way, I (and several neighbors) have now opened three bottles of the Pesquera. All three had corks which were unbelievably difficult to extract. I hope this is an exception.

I agree that this is the way to buy. your passion for the wine shone thru and that is why I was surprised at needing to predict a score for the wine. There is only one reason to buy a wine... because you like it. One of my favorite California Pinots are by Iron Horse. They do not get great scores as they are lacing in the unctuous texture and loads of oak so common among high scoring Pinot's. I neither take pride nor am disheartened by their scores. I generally ignore tham. I wouldn't know about them at all if not for a gift subscription to the spectator from Zachy's. The iteresting point I have found in the scores, is that when they rate a winery with several bottlings, invariably my favorite wine, the one needing mre cellar time to reveal all its glories, is lower rated than the simpler readier to drink bottling. This correlation has an r value of well over 95%

As to the tight corks, not unusual in a newly corked wine. 10 years from now it will be a blessing!

[DonRocks]

As to the tight corks, not unusual in a newly corked wine. 10 years from now it will be a blessing!

Maybe not. I'm not current on this bodega, but Pesquera had (and perhaps still has) major cork problems, supposedly because they refused to coat them with paraffin wax. I saw firsthand the decline and fall of the 1994 Janus in just a few short years, and it was absolutely because oxygen had penetrated the corks. Other Pesqueras from the mid-to-late 90s fell apart as well, and it was obvious when you opened them that wine had escaped, and oxygen had introduced itself - the entire length of the corks, including the tops, were purple and drenched. The paraffin coating provides for a more slippery, waxy seal between cork-and-bottle, but also fills in pores and micro-cracks in the cork, producing a more impervious barrier between wine and atmosphere - at least that's the theory behind the use of paraffin. If Pesquera still isn't lining their corks, this could explain the increased tightness and friction, and might also be a harbinger of future problems.

Cheers,

Rocks.

[jparrott]

I hate cork.

More than Bjork. More than Mork (and his brethren on Ork), the top quark, shitty modern pork, Robert Bork, PJ O'Rourke, the noble Duke of York, roads that fork, most kinds of dork (present company excluded), pickup trucks with insufficient torque, waterlogged shoes that chork, and don't think for a second that I've forgotten about the word spork.

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. It's an anachronism, it's not better for wine aging (I think a lot of people don't know what aged wine tastes like, but rather, oxidized wine), it requires a tool, it's more expensive than screwcaps, it has apologists that apparently enjoy tainted wine. Sure, screwcaps aren't perfect when held to the higher standard that they engender ("I should be able to bang the bottle over the head with a hammer and not break the seal!"), but we should be spending all our time and energy perfecting them, because the return (the end of 15% tainted wine--and one Austrian impoter tells me his rate of at least minor taint is closer to 40%) would be so great.

[Barbara]

I hate cork.

More than Bjork. More than Mork (and his brethren on Ork), the top quark, shitty modern pork, Robert Bork, PJ O'Rourke, the noble Duke of York, roads that fork, most kinds of dork (present company excluded), pickup trucks with insufficient torque, waterlogged shoes that chork, and don't think for a second that I've forgotten about the word spork.

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. It's an anachronism, it's not better for wine aging (I think a lot of people don't know what aged wine tastes like, but rather, oxidized wine), it requires a tool, it's more expensive than screwcaps, it has apologists that apparently enjoy tainted wine. Sure, screwcaps aren't perfect when held to the higher standard that they engender ("I should be able to bang the bottle over the head with a hammer and not break the seal!"), but we should be spending all our time and energy perfecting them, because the return (the end of 15% tainted wine--and one Austrian impoter tells me his rate of at least minor taint is closer to 40%) would be so great.

I just received a variety of wine from Ace yesterday and two kinds came with screwcaps--Avondale pinotage from South Africa and a German rieseling.

[Joe H]

'04 Marquis Phillips has screw caps. I'm a huge fan of MP. I'm not a huge fan of screw caps. Could you imagine Dal Forno or Masetto or Petrus with a screw cap? The presentation in the dining room with the sommelier unscrewing the cap before it is decanted over a candle or poured through a filter?

Still, it was a real bitch to open those bottles of Pesquera.

[Michael Landrum]

I hate cork.

More than Bjork. More than Mork (and his brethren on Ork), the top quark, shitty modern pork, Robert Bork, PJ O'Rourke, the noble Duke of York, roads that fork, most kinds of dork (present company excluded), pickup trucks with insufficient torque, waterlogged shoes that chork, and don't think for a second that I've forgotten about the word spork.

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. It's an anachronism, it's not better for wine aging (I think a lot of people don't know what aged wine tastes like, but rather, oxidized wine), it requires a tool, it's more expensive than screwcaps, it has apologists that apparently enjoy tainted wine. Sure, screwcaps aren't perfect when held to the higher standard that they engender ("I should be able to bang the bottle over the head with a hammer and not break the seal!"), but we should be spending all our time and energy perfecting them, because the return (the end of 15% tainted wine--and one Austrian impoter tells me his rate of at least minor taint is closer to 40%) would be so great.

Plus, just as importantly, the ecological issue.

[deangold]

Plus, just as importantly, the ecological issue.

Actually cork is a renewable resource. Cork production keeps old growth cork groves alive. When cork usage drops, the trees are cut down and industrial farming of grains is often the result.

Screw caps are not reliable for aging of wines. So for most wines that wont see aging, a screw cap is just fine. But for wines made to last, cork is the best available, if imperfect, closure right now.

Also, I find that corkiness does not run at the 1 bottlle per case or more level so frequently quoted. In our expereince we get far less than that. I am constantly checking bottles and I put the incidence much lower. Now the incidence of bottle variation or just crappy winemaking is much much higher!

[mdt]

Screw caps are not reliable for aging of wines. So for most wines that wont see aging, a screw cap is just fine. But for wines made to last, cork is the best available, if imperfect, closure right now.

I am too lazy to search right now, but is this really true? Have there been bottles of age worthy wines corked and screwed, then put down to rest and they tasted side by side? I would have to believe that someone has done this.

And do people really feel that a screw cap instead of a cork would dimish the experience because of the lack of a service performance?

[jparrott]

I'm not a huge fan of screw caps. Could you imagine Dal Forno or Masetto or Petrus with a screw cap?

Yes.

The range of air permeability of cork (yes, even the long, schmancy ones, which, of course, have more capacity for holding TCA) is much, much broader than the range of quality of well-kept, aged wine. The polymerization of tannin (the key component of red wine aging) is an acid-catalyzed, electroneutral process.

I am too lazy to search right now, but is this really true? Have there been bottles of age worthy wines corked and screwed, then put down to rest and they tasted side by side? I would have to believe that someone has done this.

Yes. Google "Tyson Stelzer." Also Margaux has done this.

And do people really feel that a screw cap instead of a cork would dimish the experience because of the lack of a service performance?

Edited. I think most of you know how I feel.

[Jacques Gastreaux]

I am too lazy to search right now, but is this really true? Have there been bottles of age worthy wines corked and screwed, then put down to rest and they tasted side by side? I would have to believe that someone has done this.

And do people really feel that a screw cap instead of a cork would dimish the experience because of the lack of a service performance?

Actually, as I understand it, the jury is still out on this issue. Screw caps have not been applied to age-worthy wine long enough for anyone to develop any meaningful data on whether screw caped wines age any differently than cork closures.

[jparrott]

Actually, as I understand it, the jury is still out on this issue. Screw caps have not been applied to age-worthy wine long enough for anyone to develop any meaningful data on whether screw caped wines age any differently than cork closures.

It's not easy to develop good evaluation criteria for such a trial, because so many people equate oxidized with aged.

[Joe H]

I am too lazy to search right now, but is this really true? Have there been bottles of age worthy wines corked and screwed, then put down to rest and they tasted side by side? I would have to believe that someone has done this.

And do people really feel that a screw cap instead of a cork would dimish the experience because of the lack of a service performance?

Hmm....most expressively written which, by implication, may introduce a totally new and much appreciated perspective especially after a taste or two by those participating.

[Chris Cunningham]

Screw caps scare many people beacause they are new(actually been arounfsd for years) and different. Will it diminish the quality of your wine experience? NO, unless you have already made up your mind that it will and things must be done the old way. Sometimes, change is good, and I think cork sucks. It serves it purpose, but it is more trouble than its worth. With the Stelvin(screw cap)closure you have less chance for spoiled wine and broken corks. But Hey, what about aging my wine? Well you know, that's a crapshoot anyway! Most wine is meant to be drunk now. Yes, yes I know many a wine ages well and changes and that's half the fun, but really, do you know if your number is going to be up on Tuesday? I'd rather drink that special wine now than wonder if I'm going to be around 15 years down the road. Life is too short, drink whatever wine you can financially enjoy, forget about the fucking pretense of GOD Forbid a Screw Cap on My Brunello/Pommerol/Dal Forno/Margeaux...etc its just grape juice...albeit good, grape juice. And yes there should be quality stemware to drink from, but please don't get me started on the bullshit of the specific glass for each varietal....

[jparrott]

I won't buy first growths with my own money until they are under Stelvin.