Chateau Croizet Bages 2001
未成年請勿飲酒，飲酒過量有礙身體健康
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Croizet Bages, one of the 5th crus in Bordeaux 1855 classification. The name Croizet is from the owner in 18th century, the Croizet brothers. The record showed that vines were grown from the 16th century in the Bages village. Bages, in the Pauillac plateau, neighbor to Pauillac downtown to the north, and St.-Julien town to the south. The majority soil in Bages is gravel, which are good for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chateau Croizet Bages has 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc.
In 1942, the estate was purchased by Paul Quié, and then his son Jean-Michel in 1968. In 2001, the 3rd generation, brother-sister duo Jean-Philippe and Anne-Françoise. Jean and Anne hired oenologist and technical director Jean Louis Camp, vineyard manager Lucien Cintrat and cellar master Philippe Dorbessan to improve the unstable quality. After thes revolutions, the quality of Croizet Bages has some improvements (especially comparing with the terrible 2001 vintage).
Most critics think the unstable quality is due to the machine harvest. Besides, some people think they do not select berries very well after harvest. However, there's one thing very weird. Croizet Bages sorts the berries manually and prune unqualified berries before the machine harvest to prevent the harvest machine hurts the vines. However, I have no idea why they can do these manual sorting works, but not will to perform manual harvest?! In my opinion, the unworthy quality is due to both machine harvest and the unreliable berry selection. Because, it's not easy for berry selection of massive grapes after the machine harvest, and manual sorting time must be also short or they would miss the "best" machine harvest time.
Anyway, this WS 78 Ch. Croizet Bages 2001 is definitely impressive, but not a "brilliant" experience. XD
Medium garnet appearance, looks nice. Pronounced green pepper, smoky, leather, burning plastic, and burned wood stock. After about 10 days, shows some aged soy sauce flavors, personally think much better than when I just de-corked (but still unpleasant). The flavors in palate is also strong with medium+ body. However, I do not like the "too-over" green pepper, burning plastic and smoky notes. The palate is very short, I think that's the main reason why Wine Spectator gave it 78 callousedly. Honestly, this ~NT$1000 5th growth chateau wine (well, I bought it due to my curiosity) is more worthless than many jug wines in hypermarkets.
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Croizet Bage 是法國波爾多1855年分級當中的五及酒莊。Croizet 這個名字是來自18世紀時擁有該酒莊的家族姓氏，而 Bages 則是 Pauillac 中的小村落名稱。該酒莊的葡萄種植記錄可以回溯到16世紀。目前主要種植60%的 Cabernet Sauvignon, 32%的 Merlot, 其他則是 Cabernet Franc。
1942年時，該酒莊換手到 Paul Quié 手上，然後 1968 年傳給他兒子 Jean-Michel，然後在 01 年再傳給第三代 Jean-Philippe 和 Anne-Françoise。在第三代手上開始有一些改革，聘請 Jean Louis Camp 來當顧問，以及 Lucien Cintrat 管理葡萄園，Philippe Dorbessan 管理酒窖。也因此 Croizet Bages 的品質開始有一些進步（特別是跟很糟糕的2001年份比較）。
許多品評都認為 Croizet Bages 的品質會如此不堪是因為 Quié 家族採用機器採收的緣故，而有些則是認為他們的選果做的並不確實。但，奇妙的是Croizet Bages在採收之前會用人工先將葡萄藤做整理，以免採收時傷到葡萄藤，或者採到品質不佳的葡萄。這點實在令人納悶，都已經可以使用人力作這樣的整理動作了，那為什麼不乾脆採用人工採收呢？至於前述品質不堪的原因，我想兩者應該都有影響，畢竟機器採收後大量的葡萄在榨汁之前並不會有太多的時間再來做挑選的動作；而採收之前的整理與去除不良果實的時間我想應該也是有限，很難做到很確實，要不然會錯過「大部分」葡萄的最佳採收時間。
無論如何，這款WS給了 78 分的 01 年份確實令人印象深刻，不過不是好的那種就是了。 XD
中等石榴石色澤，外觀看起來很正常。相氣勢很濃重的青椒、煙燻、皮革、燃燒的木頭混塑料的味道，著實令人不舒服。放個約十天之後出現老醬油的味道，但我覺得這比剛開瓶時的可怕味道要讓人更容易接受。酒體中等，入口的味道很強烈，但是跟香氣一樣是令人不太舒服。另外值得注意的是在口中的味道非常短暫，我想這是 Wine Spectator 給了這樣殘忍低分的原因。老實說，這瓶因為「好玩」花了一千塊買的五級酒莊比起大賣場許多便宜貨更不值。
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