Color has started to fade, quite easy to see through the light red color. Nose is just delightful and continually changed over the course of 5+ hours. Plenty of bacon, pepper, old coffee grinds on the nose at first. Later on in the night, olives made an appearance on the nose and then at one point, it smelled like an ashtray. Just really interesting how this changed. The wine itself was very enjoyable. Plenty of fruit was still there with red currant, dark cherry, and pomegranate playing the major roles. Fruit started to fade around hour 4.5 in the glass, but at 29 years old, this wine is still kicking.
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Sweet cherry and blueberry nose with distinct chocolate notes. The color was much lighter than the 98 Cosme Gigondas Valbelle I was drinking by its side. Tannis were very well integrated into this wine, and i feel like it's drinking in a really nice place right now. Sweet cherries, dust, chocolate and burnt herbs were the key components of the wine.
Very closed nose and tight wine upon opening. Very dark color too. The underlying compenents of blueberry, currant, baking spices, and cherry began to express themselves later on in the night. This is a very masculine wine that's not messing around. I would love to revisit this in 5-7 years as it's somewhat closed down at the moment. Easy to tell that there's definite class here - definitly a "wait and see" wine.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Very nice wine. Ruby in color, with a dried tobacco and sour cherry nose. Mouthfeel is really great, just pure silk. I hadn't had much experience with 1998 St. Emilion, so this was a nice first taste. The wine is in a really nice place right now, but could see this continuoing to evolve positively over the next decade.
Loads of chocolate. Just immense chocolate. Wonderfully smooth and dense at the same time. The balance of this wine is remarkable - by far the best Valpolicella I've ever had.
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
I was floored with this wine. Easily, the WOTN for me. Come to think of it, probably the best Napa Cabernet I've ever had. The nose was full of chocolate, mint, dust, and pine needles. Wonderfully smooth, but at the same time overpowring. Just a wonderful bottle.
Very big wine. Would like to try this again with a longer decant. Regardless, this showed very well. Cooked meats, coffee, and tar were the key compenents of the wine to me. The finish was a tad bitter to me, so I think this would probably do well with another 3-5 years of slumbering. All in all, a great bottle.
Are you kidding me? A sub-$30 Cote Rotie from 2003? WTF? Anyways....this was a great wine. Very dense nose of raspberries, sour cherry, dark chocolate, medium-rare lamb, and pepper. A really nice example of how poewrful the 2003 vintage from the northern rhone can be. The finish of this wine lasted for 60+ seconds too. One of the better QPR's of 2009 for me.
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Wow. Hello big boy! This wine is very ripe and full of dark red fruits. It also had a tantilizing nose of pepper, cloves, baking spices, and pepper. One of my first times having "aged" CA syrah, so it was really interesting to see how these big dense wines can mature over time. Honestly, it was a real eye-opener for me! Sick bottle.
1980 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 92 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Color has started to fade, quite easy to see through the light red color. Nose is just delightful and continually changed over the course of 5+ hours. Plenty of bacon, pepper, old coffee grinds on the nose at first. Later on in the night, olives made an appearance on the nose and then at one point, it smelled like an ashtray. Just really interesting how this changed. The wine itself was very enjoyable. Plenty of fruit was still there with red currant, dark cherry, and pomegranate playing the major roles. Fruit started to fade around hour 4.5 in the glass, but at 29 years old, this wine is still kicking.
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1998 Domaine Paul Autard Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée La Cote Ronde 90 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Sweet cherry and blueberry nose with distinct chocolate notes. The color was much lighter than the 98 Cosme Gigondas Valbelle I was drinking by its side. Tannis were very well integrated into this wine, and i feel like it's drinking in a really nice place right now. Sweet cherries, dust, chocolate and burnt herbs were the key components of the wine.
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1998 Château de Saint Cosme Gigondas Valbelle 90 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Gigondas
Very closed nose and tight wine upon opening. Very dark color too. The underlying compenents of blueberry, currant, baking spices, and cherry began to express themselves later on in the night. This is a very masculine wine that's not messing around. I would love to revisit this in 5-7 years as it's somewhat closed down at the moment. Easy to tell that there's definite class here - definitly a "wait and see" wine.
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1998 Château Larcis Ducasse 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Very nice wine. Ruby in color, with a dried tobacco and sour cherry nose. Mouthfeel is really great, just pure silk. I hadn't had much experience with 1998 St. Emilion, so this was a nice first taste. The wine is in a really nice place right now, but could see this continuoing to evolve positively over the next decade.
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1998 Tommaso Bussola Valpolicella Classico Superiore Tb 91 Points
Italy, Veneto, Valpolicella, Valpolicella Classico Superiore
Loads of chocolate. Just immense chocolate. Wonderfully smooth and dense at the same time. The balance of this wine is remarkable - by far the best Valpolicella I've ever had.
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2003 Dehlinger Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Bottled 95 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
I was floored with this wine. Easily, the WOTN for me. Come to think of it, probably the best Napa Cabernet I've ever had. The nose was full of chocolate, mint, dust, and pine needles. Wonderfully smooth, but at the same time overpowring. Just a wonderful bottle.
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1999 Fontanafredda Barolo Lazzarito Vigna la Delizia 90 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Very big wine. Would like to try this again with a longer decant. Regardless, this showed very well. Cooked meats, coffee, and tar were the key compenents of the wine to me. The finish was a tad bitter to me, so I think this would probably do well with another 3-5 years of slumbering. All in all, a great bottle.
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2003 Domaine Duclaux Côte-Rôtie 91 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Are you kidding me? A sub-$30 Cote Rotie from 2003? WTF? Anyways....this was a great wine. Very dense nose of raspberries, sour cherry, dark chocolate, medium-rare lamb, and pepper. A really nice example of how poewrful the 2003 vintage from the northern rhone can be. The finish of this wine lasted for 60+ seconds too. One of the better QPR's of 2009 for me.
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2001 Martinelli Syrah Hop Barn Hill 91 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Wow. Hello big boy! This wine is very ripe and full of dark red fruits. It also had a tantilizing nose of pepper, cloves, baking spices, and pepper. One of my first times having "aged" CA syrah, so it was really interesting to see how these big dense wines can mature over time. Honestly, it was a real eye-opener for me! Sick bottle.
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