Sierra Car Crash-Fraud in da house!

So, yesterday was Sierra Carche's big day to shine at Grapes The Wine Company. I hosted a lunch for about 12 people, some clients, some ITB, some interested parties to showcase the 2005 Sierra Carche, a 96 point disaster courtesy of Jay Miller of the Wine Advocate.

We BBQ'd lunch (sliders for appys, filet for the main course) and then it was up to the Grapes lounge to enjoy the filet and some Sierra Carche. I selected the lineup and all anyone else knew is that there was a btl of Sierra Carche in the group. Sierra Carche has been a hot topic in the wine business after Jay Miller scored it 96 points and the wine appears to be worse than crap.

Double blind for everyone (single blind for me)...poured in flights of 3 (one corked 2005 Pico Madama) so just 14 wines were served.

Not a bad lineup

4 btls 2005 Sierra Carche @ WA 96 points each
2005 Pico Madama (corked, never served) WA 95+
2004 Pico Madama WA 93
2001 Clos Fonta WA 94
2007 Panarroz (Unrated by JM, but RP gave 2003-2006 all WA 90)
2007 Telmo Rodriguez A1 Murvedre unrated
2005 Pasanau El Vell Coster WA 97
2008 Edgebaston Pepper Pot unrated
2007 Emilio Moro Resalso WA 90
2005 Espectacle (unrated, but 2004 was WA 99, 2006 WA 96)
2008 Oriol Unrated
2005 Mollydooker Carnival of Love WA 99

Mostly highly rated Jay Miller wines. Well, then why did everyone hate just about every wine? The Sierra Carches were easy to spot. Dreadful and undrinkable. Turn the 96 around? Not even, lets say 4 btls probably totally 96 points!

One of the things I wanted to see was whether Pico Madama 2004 suffered like Sierra Carche 2005. It was not as bad but it was univerally panned by the group. I am curious to see where the 93 point btls of this are? Maybe Robert Parker can muster one up from another bulletin board member and taste it with his wife.

Onto Espectacle...first read this...http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/sho ... espectacle

I had the 2004 and it sucked. 2005 was a decent wine...for $10, much like the 2004. This is another example of what happens when an importer whispers into a wine critic's ear about 100+ year old Grenache vines in Montsant. In the 45 seconds that Jay Miller presumably spent with the 2004, he called it a 99 point wine. With the 2006, it is 96 points. Assume the 2005 would be a 97-98 pointer based on that scale. This is really a shame. I have not yet heard of anyone (besides Robert Kenney) have a full btl of this stuff and call it great. It should be noted that Robert Kenney thought the wine was crap yesterday.

When it came time to vote, only 5 wines received votes...
Espectacle 3 points
Pasanau 7 points
Carnival of Love 25 points
Oriol 19 points
Clos Fonta 18 points

Blind tasting is very revealing. Critics at the Wine Advocate should try it some time. Something is wrong with Sierra Carche. As Jay Miller first said, there was fraud somewhere. It is a shame that Robert Parker has no interest in seeing where it happened. It is a shame that Jay Miller will apparently continue to taste the portfolio of wines from Well Oiled Wine Co, when they have shown no proof that they are, in fact, innocent in all of this.

Special thanks to Steve Manzi and Robert Kenney. I worked this tasting around their schedules. I think I did right by them and the wine consuming public. I would have loved to taste a good btl of Sierra Carche. That would have made for interesting debate. Instead, we tasted 4 btls of crap. More importantly, many of these wines were crap.

So, where is the fraud really being committed?

For some fun reading, see here...http://www.wineberserkers.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9735