I thought I would try a more expensive wine this month,
so I wonder if you could pass judgement on it for me,
and answer a couple of questions.

Label says Saint-Emilion
Chateau Haut Simard
App. St. Emilion Contr.
1990
C.Maziere Prop.
St.Emilion (Gironde)

This is the propaganda that sold me the bottle:
"Rare, 15-year-old Merlot masterpiece from classic Saint-Emilion - supreme
quality claret.

Clarets with so much age are exceptionally rare - making this 15-year-old
masterpiece from France's famous Saint-Emilion a definite must-have for fans
of plummy, smooth Merlot-dominated reds. This would impressive the most
fussy of guests.

Lovely, evolved cigar-box and leather aromas followed by wonderfully mature,
gamey red fruit flavours. 12% Vol. Drink to 2011 but stock up while you can.
"

What is a claret?
Is it another name for Red Bordeaux?
Would you expect it to be dry? I ask as it is a long time since I
tried a "claret" and then it was as dry as dust, to my pallet.

Would it be best to drink it now?
Is the wine a good buy (17 English pounds)? (includes 17 and a half percent
tax)
(I always feel French wines below 10 pounds range are overpriced)
--
Interested

"interested" > skrev i melding
...
>I thought I would try a more expensive wine this month,
> so I wonder if you could pass judgement on it for me,
> and answer a couple of questions.
>
> Label says Saint-Emilion
> Chateau Haut Simard
> App. St. Emilion Contr.
> 1990
> C.Maziere Prop.
> St.Emilion (Gironde)
>
Not in my (short) dictionary...
But it received good comments in August 2002by wine taster Rogov
"Darkening now, but still showing good integration between now well
integrated tannins, wood and fruits. On the first attack plum and black
cherry compote, these followed by somewhat powerful overtones of licorice
and earthiness. Drinking well now but not meant for much longer cellaring.
Drink up. Score 88".

Your price seems pretty OK.
hth
Anders

Claret is the English term for Bordeaux. I personally tend to use it
more for rather classically-styled Bordeaux rather than fruitbomb
modern styled ones. But that's just me.

I've never heard of Haut-Simard. But Claude Maziere owns Ch. Simard, a
St. Emilion (must be large, as there's alot of it!) that tends to
release about a dozen years after vintage. My experience is there's a
lot of bottle variation. I was recently told that Maziere is related to
the Vauthier family (Ausone).

1990 was an excellent fruit-forward vintage, many lesser properties
overachieved. Please let us know what you thought!

In ,
interested > typed:

> I thought I would try a more expensive wine this month,
> so I wonder if you could pass judgement on it for me,
> and answer a couple of questions.
>
> Label says Saint-Emilion
> Chateau Haut Simard
> App. St. Emilion Contr.
> 1990
> C.Maziere Prop.
> St.Emilion (Gironde)
>
> This is the propaganda that sold me the bottle:
> "Rare, 15-year-old Merlot masterpiece from classic
> Saint-Emilion -
> supreme quality claret.
>
> Clarets with so much age are exceptionally rare - making this
> 15-year-old masterpiece from France's famous Saint-Emilion a
> definite
> must-have for fans of plummy, smooth Merlot-dominated reds.
> This
> would impressive the most fussy of guests.
>
> Lovely, evolved cigar-box and leather aromas followed by
> wonderfully
> mature, gamey red fruit flavours. 12% Vol. Drink to 2011 but
> stock up
> while you can. "
>
> What is a claret?
> Is it another name for Red Bordeaux?


Yes.


> Would you expect it to be dry?


Yes, definitely.


> I ask as it is a long time since I
> tried a "claret" and then it was as dry as dust, to my pallet.


With rare exceptions (mostly cheap wines marketed to those who
know little about wine) almost all red table wines are made bone
dry.

However, don't mix up sweetness (the opposite of dryness) with
fruitiness. Wines can be bone dry and still show lots of fruit.
Depending on the particular Bordeaux Chateau and depending on the
vintage, the amount of fruit can vary very greatly. If you had
one that you felt was "dry as dust," my guess is that it was not
only dry, but also lacking in fruit. It may have been that lack
of fruit that you perceived as "dry as dust."


> Would it be best to drink it now?


I don't know the wine specifically, but it's apparently a
relatively minor Chateau in St. Emilion. Although 1990 was an
excellent vintage, it's unlikely that a minor Chateau will have a
very long life, and it's probably a good idea not to hold it
long.


> Is the wine a good buy (17 English pounds)? (includes 17 and a
> half
> percent tax)
> (I always feel French wines below 10 pounds range are
> overpriced)


That's around $30 US? Again, without knowing the wine, it's very
hard to comment on its value. It doesn't seem terribly
unreasonable, but I don't think I'd personally be willing to
spend that much on a Chateau I've never heard of.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

"Anders Tørneskog" > skrev i melding
...
>
> "interested" > skrev i melding
> ...
>> Label says Saint-Emilion
>> Chateau Haut Simard

Ugh-- I missed the Haut part... my answer was for Ch. Simard.
....
The price then probably is not all that special, and you'd want to drink up
now, I think.
Report, please!
Anders

Claret is a British term for Bordeaux. You'll hear it a lot in old
Brit movies.

You paid how much? Hmmm. Just for yuks, put 1990 Chateau Haut Simard
into wine-searcher.com and see what you get. Prices range from £15.31
($26.54) to £421.48 ($733.03) for a bottle!

1990 was an excellent year in St. Emilion, but so was 2000, and you
probably read my recent review of the Costco 2000 Grand Cru. I'm not
familiar with Chateau Haut Simard specifically, so someone else needs
to ring in on it. However, I should think a wine anywhere near the
midrange of 1990 St. Emilion would be priced well above £20.

If it's any good let us know. It may be a real bargain. Here's the URL
you're refering to:

http://www.laithwaites.co.uk/product...37883&mscssid=

But the identical promo blurb also shows up on the Sunday Times Wine
Club web site.

JJ

In message >
"interested" > wrote:

> I thought I would try a more expensive wine this month,
> so I wonder if you could pass judgement on it for me,
> and answer a couple of questions.
>
> Label says Saint-Emilion
> Chateau Haut Simard
> App. St. Emilion Contr.
> 1990
> C.Maziere Prop.
> St.Emilion (Gironde)
>
Ignoring the write-up which seems to me a little extreme, especially
as to keeping to 2011, this should be a good straight Saint Emilion.
I have not drunk the 1990 but the 1995 was good of its kind. The
vineyard is well placed, lying as it does between La Gaffelière,
Canon-la-Gaffelière and Pavie but either is never put forward for
Grnad Cru status or never achieves it, even in a year like 1990,
though blessed with apparently good terroir. Notwithstanding that,
Bernard Ginestet, whose views on this area are always worth
considering, gives it three stars out of five. The vineyard is large
for the Jurisdiction — 10 hectares — and 70% merlot, 30% bouchet. I
would have thought it a little overpriced, when good 1998 Grand Crus
can be bought for less than £12.00 (12GBP) and Grand Crus Classés for
less than this bottle, but, as the blurb says, 1990‘s are not often
seen now. The only hope, as other posters have said, is to try it
and see.


Timothy Hartley

Salut/Hi interested,

Just a thought, before you ask here, a very quick google will give you a lot
of information.

I typed Chateau Haut Simard into French Google and got several references,
including this one.

http://www.vinsdiscount.fr/s/38007_Chateau_Haut_Simard/

They sell it at ‚¬29, so your £17 is a fair price. For a 15 year old wine, a
lot depends upon how it was stocked.


le/on Tue, 26 Jul 2005 15:05:10 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

>I thought I would try a more expensive wine this month,
>so I wonder if you could pass judgement on it for me,

My feeling is that you should pass YOUR judgement on it and tell us what YOU
think!

>This is the propaganda that sold me the bottle:
>"Rare, 15-year-old Merlot masterpiece from classic Saint-Emilion - supreme
>quality claret.

Humph. The estate isn't in the VERY top rank (implied IMO by the use of the
word "supreme"). In fact it's not really in the second rank IMO. However it IS unusual
to find clarets with that kind of bottle age outside the auctions. I don't
know where you live - though your quotation of a price in sterling implies
the British Isles. If you care to search through Sotheby's and Christies (UK
on both counts) wine auctions you will see not only that many prestigious
wines are sold, some with many more years under their belt.


>What is a claret?

English word for a red Bordeaux, dates from the days before bottles when the
wine was imported in barrels, and was very pale in colour - almost rosé.
They still make a wine in the area called "Clairet" but it's not of great
merit.

>Would you expect it to be dry?

Absolutely as are nearly all reds from France. However you may be confusing
"dry" (as in without any residual sugar) with "tannic", which dries out the
sides of the mouth, like strong tea or banana peel.

>Would it be best to drink it now?

See ads as quoted. An honest price. A "supreme red bordeaux" (which wouldn't
in fact be ready for drinking IMO) from 1990 could easily cost in excess of
£200 a bottle, so don't expect too much. However a minor St Emilion with 15
years bottle age should be pretty tasty served with a nicely roast leg of
lamb. Decant 1/2 hour to 1 hour depending upon the air space between the
wine and the cork.

Laithwaites (yes I also did a Google.co.uk search) are pretty respectable,
so I'd expect the wine to have been well stocked at least. However, you
might like to tell them (from me) that calling a minor St Emilion "Supreme"
is a little like using that epithet to describe a Toyota Camra!! I'd reserve
it for a Lamborghini or a top Porsch.
--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

"interested" > wrote in message
...
>I thought I would try a more expensive wine this month,
> so I wonder if you could pass judgement on it for me,
> and answer a couple of questions.
>
> Label says Saint-Emilion
> Chateau Haut Simard
> App. St. Emilion Contr.
> 1990
> C.Maziere Prop.
> St.Emilion (Gironde)
>
> This is the propaganda that sold me the bottle:
> "Rare, 15-year-old Merlot masterpiece from classic Saint-Emilion - supreme
> quality claret.
>
> Clarets with so much age are exceptionally rare - making this 15-year-old
> masterpiece from France's famous Saint-Emilion a definite must-have for
> fans of plummy, smooth Merlot-dominated reds. This would impressive the
> most fussy of guests.
>
> Lovely, evolved cigar-box and leather aromas followed by wonderfully
> mature, gamey red fruit flavours. 12% Vol. Drink to 2011 but stock up
> while you can. "
>
> What is a claret?
> Is it another name for Red Bordeaux?
> Would you expect it to be dry? I ask as it is a long time since I
> tried a "claret" and then it was as dry as dust, to my pallet.
>
> Would it be best to drink it now?
> Is the wine a good buy (17 English pounds)? (includes 17 and a half
> percent tax)
> (I always feel French wines below 10 pounds range are overpriced)
> --
> Interested
Many thanks for the responses. I will get back with a brief
report in about a week's time.

--
Interested

In ,
Ian Hoare > typed:

> calling a minor St Emilion
> "Supreme"
> is a little like using that epithet to describe a Toyota
> Camra!!


Or a Pentax Camry. ;-)


--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

Salut/Hi Ken Blake,

le/on Thu, 28 Jul 2005 08:53:11 -0700, tu disais/you said:-

>In ,
>Ian Hoare > typed:
>
>> calling a minor St Emilion
>> "Supreme"
>> is a little like using that epithet to describe a Toyota
>> Camra!!
>
>
>Or a Pentax Camry. ;-)

Yeah (;-)) That too.


--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 08:53:11 -0700, "Ken Blake"
> wrote:

>In ,
>Ian Hoare > typed:
>
>> calling a minor St Emilion
>> "Supreme"
>> is a little like using that epithet to describe a Toyota
>> Camra!!
>
>
>Or a Pentax Camry. ;-)


Or a Chevy Camera. ;-)

> wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 08:53:11 -0700, "Ken Blake"
> > wrote:
>
>>In ,
>>Ian Hoare > typed:
>>
>>> calling a minor St Emilion
>>> "Supreme"
>>> is a little like using that epithet to describe a Toyota
>>> Camra!!
>>
>>
>>Or a Pentax Camry. ;-)
>
>
> Or a Chevy Camera. ;-)

Oh jeez, if you're going to indulge in this nonsense at least spell the name
right! The Chevy is a _Camaro_. Even we Ford guys know that. ;^/

Tom S

"Tom S" > skrev i melding
.. .
>
>
> Oh jeez, if you're going to indulge in this nonsense at least spell the
> name right! The Chevy is a _Camaro_. Even we Ford guys know that. ;^/
>
I did wait for someone not getting the fun of it all...!!
Anders