I ordered a mixed case of several different wines, and didn’t inspect it until I drove home an hour away. Instead of the 2019 Domaine De Beaurenard Chateauneuf Du Pape Boisrenard, I found a 1998 Beaurenard. That means it’s both 21 years older and also not their “Boisrenard” label.
I can’t find much about this wine online. The place I got it from is pretty knowledgable, but if they did this intentionally I’m a little surprised they didn’t say anything. The fill level looks good. I guess I won’t know for sure unless I open the bottle, but does anyone have reason to think this is a happy accident, or maybe an over-the-hill substitution?
by DJ_Learned_Hand
5 Comments
GOOD (unless it’s bad)
Seems as though they have made a costly mistake. Enjoy it 🙂
One of the top vintages for CdP from last century. With good storage, should be good, maybe great. Without, you never know till you open it. But the potential is there.
Absolute swill, send it to me for proper disposing.
Depends on how you feel about aged wine, really.
If you’re just going by price comparison between cuvées, you got stiffed—the ‘Boisrenard’ is a significantly more expensive wine than the regular CdP, at least by the time it gets to where I am in Australia. (Australia being as far from France as it is, it doesn’t take much of a change in price upstream at the winery to have some pretty big downstream impacts.) Even factoring in the vintage, you got stiffed, because the last time K&L sold the 1998 Beaurenard CdP it was $45 or so and the current release Beaurenard is $63 or so (although this ignores whatever price inflation may have occurred between now and then).
But if you like aged wine, then this should be a treat—a strong vintage for CdP. It really all hinges on how confident you are that the wine has been properly stored, and also how you would feel about potentially having to lie to the store if the wine is corked or you just don’t like it. (“I swear I didn’t notice the vintage until after I opened it! I wondered why it tasted so … developed …”)
Personally I’d contact the store to discuss the issue. Unless they’re exceptionally shady operators, it would have been an innocent mistake, and they can discuss a range of appropriate remedies to fix the situation. Play your cards right and be a G with them and you might end up with a bottle of the ‘Boisrenards’ to cellar and a bottle of 1998 Beaurenard to drink now … 😉