France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
I liked this a lot more ten years ago, apparently. This is ripe and opulent, and carries weight from both Meursault and the vintage. Comes across a little phenolic, with relatively low acidity for a white Burgundy. Feels like it's getting long in the tooth, mostly due to the lack of acidity. Drink up.
Only had one of these lying around, and nature abhors singletons, so I decided to just pop and drink it. Probably should have bought buckets of this -- I think Keller really hit it out of the park with the 2015 vintage and this bottle is no exception. Typical Keller richness, but so very balanced with its lime zest, fruit, and minerality.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
This was likely from the same lot as my bottle from a few years back, but drank far better. Very dense and oaky, and air was needed to help round things off. This definitely has got the expected Montrachet weight and heft here. Still very fresh, if a hint low on acidity, especially for a vintage like 2004.
Served double blind. Immediately called it as aged chenin -- that classic wooly note was there in spades alongside some apricot and green apple notes. Quite sweet for a bottle where I couldn't find the Moeulleux designation on the label anywhere. Not quite the same complexity as Huet bottlings in general though.
Served double blind. (Fun story, the neck tag actually said 1979 but had a small '8' sticker applied over the '7'.) This didn't taste like the 1979 at all -- it was far darker and more opulent. Lots and lots of fruit, with just modest oak showing. It was a pretty easy guess to get to older Côte-Rôtie because it didn't have the weight and tannic structure of Hermitage, nor the rusticity of Cornas of that era. Wonderful nose of bacon, olive, and black fruit, which carried through to the palate. I ended up guessing 1990 Guigal.
Plugging one of the few remaining holes in the list of Chave vintages I've tasted. This was outstanding for what you would have expected for a wine from an ostensibly dogshit vintage. But of course Chave is Chave and manages to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Red fruited, light, and elegant, with lots of perfume overall. Relatively thin on the palate, but still plenty of delicate syrah aromatics overall. Best to drink up.
The last bottle I had of this, which I was incredibly excited for, was unfortunately corked. This one wasn't. It's a fantastic, drinking Chave right now, along the lines of the 1997. Takes a few minutes to really come into bloom, but you get all those old school, smoked fat notes with leathery black fruit and a modest amount of velvety tannins. I'm really loving how these earlier drinking 1990s vintages are right now, and will make a point of opening more of them.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru
Wonderful old Burgundy. Outstanding freshness and complexity; layers of autumnal leaves, earth, mushrooms, and fruit. Would probably have guessed something a few decades younger if served blind, really. Delicate and lifted, but with plenty of underlying weight all the same. Always a treat to come across a good bottle of old Burgundy.
Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino
I didn't really know what to expect from 1991 Brunello, but I also don't think I expected to find a wine that was as fruit forward as this was (though it's not like I even know what the weather was like in Tuscany that year). Anyway, I didn't expect a wine with this much fruit -- there was a modestly candied note to the fruit here, and that said, I'm not getting as much herbs and red fruit as I would have expected for sangiovese. Still an impressive wine nonetheless, especially for an obscure vintage.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Honestly, just too young. Intense merlot fruit here, with a bent towards black fruit. Sweet, opulent, and leathery, and modestly thick in texture. Feels like a late pick in a relatively cooler year. A wall of tannins on the back end makes you realize that this wine just isn't yet ready. Give it a decade? Two?
Served double blind. The vaunted Picasso bottle. The minty notes on the nose actually had me going to old school, 1970s-era Napa cab, Heitz Martha's for example. And with the fruit still very fresh, this did not immediately come across as the typical weedy, green wines of the era. In a damning with faint praise sort of way, this is one of the better bottles of Mouton I've had.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Still very young, but unmistakably Chambolle in character with its delicate red fruit profile. A touch crunchy, with a light, elegant profile. The tannins are quite dense and it's clear that this will benefit from more time as they soften, but this really hits a Burgundy sweet spot for me. That said, I have always found Jadot's iteration a better value...
1999 Maison Leroy Meursault 1er Cru Charmes 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
I liked this a lot more ten years ago, apparently. This is ripe and opulent, and carries weight from both Meursault and the vintage. Comes across a little phenolic, with relatively low acidity for a white Burgundy. Feels like it's getting long in the tooth, mostly due to the lack of acidity. Drink up.
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2015 Weingut Keller Hubacker Riesling Großes Gewächs 95 Points
Germany, Rheinhessen
Only had one of these lying around, and nature abhors singletons, so I decided to just pop and drink it. Probably should have bought buckets of this -- I think Keller really hit it out of the park with the 2015 vintage and this bottle is no exception. Typical Keller richness, but so very balanced with its lime zest, fruit, and minerality.
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2004 Marquis de Laguiche (Joseph Drouhin) Montrachet 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru
This was likely from the same lot as my bottle from a few years back, but drank far better. Very dense and oaky, and air was needed to help round things off. This definitely has got the expected Montrachet weight and heft here. Still very fresh, if a hint low on acidity, especially for a vintage like 2004.
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1989 Prince Poniatowski Vouvray Clos Baudoin 90 Points
France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Vouvray
Served double blind. Immediately called it as aged chenin -- that classic wooly note was there in spades alongside some apricot and green apple notes. Quite sweet for a bottle where I couldn't find the Moeulleux designation on the label anywhere. Not quite the same complexity as Huet bottlings in general though.
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1989 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline 95 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Served double blind. (Fun story, the neck tag actually said 1979 but had a small '8' sticker applied over the '7'.) This didn't taste like the 1979 at all -- it was far darker and more opulent. Lots and lots of fruit, with just modest oak showing. It was a pretty easy guess to get to older Côte-Rôtie because it didn't have the weight and tannic structure of Hermitage, nor the rusticity of Cornas of that era. Wonderful nose of bacon, olive, and black fruit, which carried through to the palate. I ended up guessing 1990 Guigal.
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1984 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 93 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Plugging one of the few remaining holes in the list of Chave vintages I've tasted. This was outstanding for what you would have expected for a wine from an ostensibly dogshit vintage. But of course Chave is Chave and manages to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. Red fruited, light, and elegant, with lots of perfume overall. Relatively thin on the palate, but still plenty of delicate syrah aromatics overall. Best to drink up.
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1994 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 95 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
The last bottle I had of this, which I was incredibly excited for, was unfortunately corked. This one wasn't. It's a fantastic, drinking Chave right now, along the lines of the 1997. Takes a few minutes to really come into bloom, but you get all those old school, smoked fat notes with leathery black fruit and a modest amount of velvety tannins. I'm really loving how these earlier drinking 1990s vintages are right now, and will make a point of opening more of them.
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1964 Maison Leroy Grands-Echezeaux 95 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru
Wonderful old Burgundy. Outstanding freshness and complexity; layers of autumnal leaves, earth, mushrooms, and fruit. Would probably have guessed something a few decades younger if served blind, really. Delicate and lifted, but with plenty of underlying weight all the same. Always a treat to come across a good bottle of old Burgundy.
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1991 Tenuta Greppo (Biondi-Santi) Brunello di Montalcino 93 Points
Italy, Tuscany, Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino
I didn't really know what to expect from 1991 Brunello, but I also don't think I expected to find a wine that was as fruit forward as this was (though it's not like I even know what the weather was like in Tuscany that year). Anyway, I didn't expect a wine with this much fruit -- there was a modestly candied note to the fruit here, and that said, I'm not getting as much herbs and red fruit as I would have expected for sangiovese. Still an impressive wine nonetheless, especially for an obscure vintage.
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2001 Château Ausone 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Honestly, just too young. Intense merlot fruit here, with a bent towards black fruit. Sweet, opulent, and leathery, and modestly thick in texture. Feels like a late pick in a relatively cooler year. A wall of tannins on the back end makes you realize that this wine just isn't yet ready. Give it a decade? Two?
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1973 Château Mouton Rothschild 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Served double blind. The vaunted Picasso bottle. The minty notes on the nose actually had me going to old school, 1970s-era Napa cab, Heitz Martha's for example. And with the fruit still very fresh, this did not immediately come across as the typical weedy, green wines of the era. In a damning with faint praise sort of way, this is one of the better bottles of Mouton I've had.
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2014 Joseph Drouhin Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru
Still very young, but unmistakably Chambolle in character with its delicate red fruit profile. A touch crunchy, with a light, elegant profile. The tannins are quite dense and it's clear that this will benefit from more time as they soften, but this really hits a Burgundy sweet spot for me. That said, I have always found Jadot's iteration a better value...
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