Decent enough champagne, with a little more autolytic character than I like. The vintage's character doesn't seem to show through as prominently (though the fruit is consistent with the whiter tones), and this is just a touch creamier than I'd like.
Mise tardive. Absolutely incredibly chablis that far exceeds the vintage reputation. There's no question this is quintessential chablis, with tons of salinity and just a squeeze of lemon. The fruit is surprisingly subdued, and this is a wine all about the minerality and salinity. The acid isn't too sharp, but there's enough to provide balance. An outstanding effort, and one of the better 2015 white Burgundies I've tasted so far.
Half cider, half malt beverage. This is outstanding -- the apple flavour here is so well-delineated and clear, but there's almost no sense of sweetness here. This is just the essence of apples. The palate has a slight funky malt quality, but the way the fruit is highlighted here is incredible. Clean, mineral, and crisp.
It's a Californian chardonnay, so the inevitable richness is here. But it's nicely cut with a slight bit of reductive winemaking and there's also a good amount of acidity preserved here. Nonetheless, the fat fruit in chardonnay isn't my style, but this is pretty balanced for that weight.
LC16. I think I've written this over and over again at this point; I wish these could get a little more dosage and a little more age on the lees. Overall, this is a wine that is just a hair too thin and the acidity too sharp. The overall material here is quite good, and there's a very mild hint of mushroom as well as some high-acidity white fruit on the palate. I just wish the palate wasn't dominated so strongly by the acid.
Served double blind. Very pretty red fruit and perfume, and the tannic structure had me going straight to nebbiolo; the somewhat lighter style made me think this was a Barbaresco of some sort. It certainly had enough stuffing for that. However, the finish is marred slightly by alcohol that's a little more prominent than I'd like. Nonetheless, a very nice entry-level wine.
Always try to make a point of killing one early just so I can check in on it. This is very much a product of the vintage, showing a stunning nose chock full of perfumed red fruit and minerals. The palate falls off a little bit; it's a touch thin and shows a very slight leafy/green edge that seems a hair out of place. Not too intense, but certainly pretty enough. All in all, I think the Cappellano style is most successful in the very ripe years (see 2011), and this edition doesn't quite reach the heights of the best bottles.
Much better than my last note; or at least, I enjoyed it more today than last time. There's no overt green character here, but I've also found that those elements tend to change into somewhat odd brown spice flavours with time. Those I did pick up a small amount of here. Nonetheless, a nice red fruit and spice perfume on the nose, though I wish the palate had a little more weight to it.
Still consistent with my last notes on this -- it's clearly a young syrah with tons of juicy red fruit. Open-knit with this beautiful red fruit on the palate that shows no signs of clamping down. Very complex, with lovely fresh acidity that gives this lift. One of my perennial top northern Rhones, and the cheapest one too!
France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune
A fine, entry level pinot. A bit of crunchy red fruit, but a little astringent and high acid. This also has some of the typical PYCM reduction, but not to the same level as the whites.
Incredibly open and giving for a 2015; this didn't need air, and didn't change over the four hours we tasted it. It's got that solar black fruit and a massive helping of spice. A hint of olives and a generous plate of smoked meat on the nose as well. Tons of fruit and structure on the palate; not shut down nor intractably dense, and perhaps to a slightly troubling degree just damn drinkable. A fantastic wine to drink now (still!) but will age effortlessly too.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
Exactly what you would expect given the producer and style. A generous amount of lemony acidity, as well as a mildly reductive nose. Slightly thin on the palate too, but overall good minerality and raciness.
Needed a serious shake to get rid of all that fizz. This is a really wooly and wild bottle; the nose shows far too much animale and not enough of anything else. The palate is a bit better, with some clean acids, but there's still too much funky animale stuff going on here. I don't think I've ever really liked the Pepe wines; this is no exception.
From half-bottle. Unknown batch number. Yeah, I guess the tasting note should just say black currants and a lot of them? This is very dense, concentrated, and sweet, but fully balanced with the bitterness of the seeds of the currants serving as a counterweight to the massive amounts of sweetness. Absolutely delicious, but it's a hard call to consume a very large amount of this, given the immense concentration.
The nose has a bit of a funky quality, but it seems to dissipate with air. It's not quite reduction, even though there's a slight skunky thing here. The palate has a touch of fruit that's quite sweet, but this is mostly an acid-driven wine and it's the acid that washes all of this straight to the finish.
Awesome stuff; this was a better showing of this wine than the bottle we had a few months ago. Incredibly aromatic with some herbal tones on the nose, followed by a bit of petrol and some yellow fruit as well. The palate is fairly herbal, and the fruit isn't prominent. Very well integrated with softer acidity and a nice earthy element too.
Like a field of flowers. The nose has this stunning set of complex floral aromatics to supplement that musky, slightly foxy, muscat smell. The palate has a hint of residual sugar. There's a good richness and breadth here, but the acidity's lower than I'd like and this feels a little oilier than I like. Nonetheless, the nose alone is worth the price of admission.
The one bottle out of six that was just brilliant. The nose was really off at first, but it seemed like it was the kind of off that would blow away with air, so we put it aside and revisited it around three hours later. If anything, the wine got lighter, and it picked up some serious freshness. There's citrus and tart apples, heaps of minerals and salinity, and with fully balanced acids. An absolutely splendid bottle, though I'm not sure it's worth the six bottles you had to buy to get the one sound one...
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
Just a bit too much reduction going on here; it's hard to drag any more details out of this wine right now. Tons of acid and mineral, slightly smoky, and without much fruit. This is the kind of white Burgundy that I think is pushing a bit too heavily on the reduction side.
Like all Hill Farmstead, awesome. The nose is tropical with a distinct pineapple character, but also with some floral/honeyed things and a delicate amount of hops. Acidic, but fully balanced. I love the purity and acid here; this is really beer as it should be.
2008 Jean Pernet Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 88 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Decent enough champagne, with a little more autolytic character than I like. The vintage's character doesn't seem to show through as prominently (though the fruit is consistent with the whiter tones), and this is just a touch creamier than I'd like.
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2015 Domaine Pattes Loup Chablis 1er Cru Butteaux 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
Mise tardive. Absolutely incredibly chablis that far exceeds the vintage reputation. There's no question this is quintessential chablis, with tons of salinity and just a squeeze of lemon. The fruit is surprisingly subdued, and this is a wine all about the minerality and salinity. The acid isn't too sharp, but there's enough to provide balance. An outstanding effort, and one of the better 2015 white Burgundies I've tasted so far.
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2019 Off Color Brewing Reine des Renards
USA, Illinois
Half cider, half malt beverage. This is outstanding -- the apple flavour here is so well-delineated and clear, but there's almost no sense of sweetness here. This is just the essence of apples. The palate has a slight funky malt quality, but the way the fruit is highlighted here is incredible. Clean, mineral, and crisp.
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2014 Hartford / Hartford Court Chardonnay Far Coast Vineyard 88 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
It's a Californian chardonnay, so the inevitable richness is here. But it's nicely cut with a slight bit of reductive winemaking and there's also a good amount of acidity preserved here. Nonetheless, the fat fruit in chardonnay isn't my style, but this is pretty balanced for that weight.
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NV Jérôme Prévost Champagne La Closerie Extra Brut Les Beguines 90 Points
France, Champagne
LC16. I think I've written this over and over again at this point; I wish these could get a little more dosage and a little more age on the lees. Overall, this is a wine that is just a hair too thin and the acidity too sharp. The overall material here is quite good, and there's a very mild hint of mushroom as well as some high-acidity white fruit on the palate. I just wish the palate wasn't dominated so strongly by the acid.
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2013 Roagna Langhe Rosso 90 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC
Served double blind. Very pretty red fruit and perfume, and the tannic structure had me going straight to nebbiolo; the somewhat lighter style made me think this was a Barbaresco of some sort. It certainly had enough stuffing for that. However, the finish is marred slightly by alcohol that's a little more prominent than I'd like. Nonetheless, a very nice entry-level wine.
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2014 Cappellano Barolo Piè Rupestris Otin Fiorin (Gabutti)
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Always try to make a point of killing one early just so I can check in on it. This is very much a product of the vintage, showing a stunning nose chock full of perfumed red fruit and minerals. The palate falls off a little bit; it's a touch thin and shows a very slight leafy/green edge that seems a hair out of place. Not too intense, but certainly pretty enough. All in all, I think the Cappellano style is most successful in the very ripe years (see 2011), and this edition doesn't quite reach the heights of the best bottles.
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2011 Domaine A.-F. Gros Vosne-Romanée Aux Réas 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée
Much better than my last note; or at least, I enjoyed it more today than last time. There's no overt green character here, but I've also found that those elements tend to change into somewhat odd brown spice flavours with time. Those I did pick up a small amount of here. Nonetheless, a nice red fruit and spice perfume on the nose, though I wish the palate had a little more weight to it.
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2016 Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 93 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage
Still consistent with my last notes on this -- it's clearly a young syrah with tons of juicy red fruit. Open-knit with this beautiful red fruit on the palate that shows no signs of clamping down. Very complex, with lovely fresh acidity that gives this lift. One of my perennial top northern Rhones, and the cheapest one too!
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2015 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Rouge 85 Points
France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune
A fine, entry level pinot. A bit of crunchy red fruit, but a little astringent and high acid. This also has some of the typical PYCM reduction, but not to the same level as the whites.
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2015 Giovanni Canonica Barolo Paiagallo Flawed
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Very intense red fruit on the nose here, but underneath it a hit of TCA that was even worse on the palate.
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2015 Jean-Luc Jamet Côte-Rôtie Les Terrasses 95 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Incredibly open and giving for a 2015; this didn't need air, and didn't change over the four hours we tasted it. It's got that solar black fruit and a massive helping of spice. A hint of olives and a generous plate of smoked meat on the nose as well. Tons of fruit and structure on the palate; not shut down nor intractably dense, and perhaps to a slightly troubling degree just damn drinkable. A fantastic wine to drink now (still!) but will age effortlessly too.
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2013 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Clos de la Chateniere Blanc Vieilles Vignes 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
Exactly what you would expect given the producer and style. A generous amount of lemony acidity, as well as a mildly reductive nose. Slightly thin on the palate too, but overall good minerality and raciness.
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2010 Emidio Pepe Trebbiano d'Abruzzo 85 Points
Italy, Abruzzi, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo
Needed a serious shake to get rid of all that fizz. This is a really wooly and wild bottle; the nose shows far too much animale and not enough of anything else. The palate is a bit better, with some clean acids, but there's still too much funky animale stuff going on here. I don't think I've ever really liked the Pepe wines; this is no exception.
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NV Schramm's Mead Black Agnes
USA, Michigan
From half-bottle. Unknown batch number. Yeah, I guess the tasting note should just say black currants and a lot of them? This is very dense, concentrated, and sweet, but fully balanced with the bitterness of the seeds of the currants serving as a counterweight to the massive amounts of sweetness. Absolutely delicious, but it's a hard call to consume a very large amount of this, given the immense concentration.
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2013 Arterberry Maresh Chardonnay Maresh Vineyard 90 Points
USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills
The nose has a bit of a funky quality, but it seems to dissipate with air. It's not quite reduction, even though there's a slight skunky thing here. The palate has a touch of fruit that's quite sweet, but this is mostly an acid-driven wine and it's the acid that washes all of this straight to the finish.
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1979 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile 93 Points
France, Alsace
Awesome stuff; this was a better showing of this wine than the bottle we had a few months ago. Incredibly aromatic with some herbal tones on the nose, followed by a bit of petrol and some yellow fruit as well. The palate is fairly herbal, and the fruit isn't prominent. Very well integrated with softer acidity and a nice earthy element too.
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1994 Zind-Humbrecht Muscat Goldert 93 Points
France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru
Like a field of flowers. The nose has this stunning set of complex floral aromatics to supplement that musky, slightly foxy, muscat smell. The palate has a hint of residual sugar. There's a good richness and breadth here, but the acidity's lower than I'd like and this feels a little oilier than I like. Nonetheless, the nose alone is worth the price of admission.
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1996 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru
The one bottle out of six that was just brilliant. The nose was really off at first, but it seemed like it was the kind of off that would blow away with air, so we put it aside and revisited it around three hours later. If anything, the wine got lighter, and it picked up some serious freshness. There's citrus and tart apples, heaps of minerals and salinity, and with fully balanced acids. An absolutely splendid bottle, though I'm not sure it's worth the six bottles you had to buy to get the one sound one...
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2014 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Sur le Sentier du Clou Blanc 88 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
Just a bit too much reduction going on here; it's hard to drag any more details out of this wine right now. Tons of acid and mineral, slightly smoky, and without much fruit. This is the kind of white Burgundy that I think is pushing a bit too heavily on the reduction side.
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NV Hill Farmstead Anna Honey Ale
USA, Vermont
Like all Hill Farmstead, awesome. The nose is tropical with a distinct pineapple character, but also with some floral/honeyed things and a delicate amount of hops. Acidic, but fully balanced. I love the purity and acid here; this is really beer as it should be.
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