| Wine Type | Vintage Name Variety Locale | Date Posted Score Helpful Comments Comment Date Community Score More... |
|---|---|---|
| White |
2013 Weingut Dreissigacker Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling TrockenRheinhessen more |
5/21/2024 - MuddyBoots wrote: NRPale gold. Beautiful aromas of ripe and slightly bruised apple and some lime and orchard fruits with a hint of petroleum. White flowers. Similar on the palate. Quite textural and full. Simply explodes with flavor - concentrated in a good sense. Constant interplay between a sensation of quite ripe fruit and bracing acid which carries the wine to a really long finish. This was strikingly good when i was first introduced to this wine on its release and has lived up to expectations. A wine of stature and presence, meriting something special at the table. Will keep of course. Bought on release. |
| White |
2021 Julian Haart Riesling MoselleMosel Saar Ruwer more |
10/15/2022 - Putnam Weekley Likes this wine: 93 pointsFeinherb. 11.5% abv. AP 02. Aromatic at arm's length. A cataclysm of apricot, almond, tangerine, chamomile, and molten salt. Senses adjust and elucidate delicate threads, of lemon zest, basil, chalk, green strawberry, and mirabelle plum. A mouthful begins broadly glycerin, before a campaign of systemic acidity seizes control of the event. Sharpness closes from all sides, seeping from the pores of its mineral fabric, roasted and hissing. Some of this energy is a blur of action; some is fluid as glass block. Pull away to admire the composure. Blanched bedrock extract. Amusing bud break, mocking iron truffle. Brittle to chew (al dente.) Perfumed of savory, scrabbled earth. Needs time. Drink 2024-2034.
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| Red |
2021 Fattoria Selvapiana Chianti RùfinaSangiovese Blend, Sangiovese more |
1/30/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRPretty and high-toned. Good freshness. Maybe not as “gutsy” as other vintages, but fine flair and bright acidity. Excellent with a roast chicken with salsa verde (the Tuscan kind) and a salad of arugula with a chicken fat and sherry vinaigrette. A useful wine for the table and at this stage that’s a virtue. I’ll look for a couple more bottles. Very good if not the ultimate in complexity.
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| Red |
2016 Caparsa Chianti Classico Caparsino RiservaChianti Classico DOCG Sangiovese Blend, Sangiovese more |
3/2/2022 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRI think in my mind I have this picture or pictures of Chianti Classico, which are filtered through both village and producer. Monte Bernardi in Panzano is lifted and precise—nervy and taut with a pungent mineral core, that leads with elegant, pure fruit fanning out from the structure. Montesecondo in San Casciano boasts ripe red fruits and florals with deceptive structure lurking within and just enough iron and forest floor emerging from within to reveal the classic Chianti character that comes with time in the bottle. And perhaps one of my favorite expressions of Chianti Classico is the vibrant and wild Caparsa in Radda in Chianti. Especially the Caparsina Riserva, which far from exhibiting spoofiness or overt polish, seems to joyfully embrace its sauvage, wooded glen, bumptious nature. Does this display the wild/Morello cherry, forest floor, ferruginous/bloody character of Radda? Enthusiastically. But it also seems to dance to the wild song of Pan with abandon and seem assured in its lack of overt polish or worse: deracinated civility. Sure, this will shine with bistecca at a shiny trattoria, but perhaps this will be more confident on a rough-hewn farmhouse table with a ragu of freshly gathered wild mushrooms with polenta or grilled sausage fashioned from that pesky wild boar that has been devouring the precious grapes from the vines since veraison. And lest I relegate this to the rustic country cousin to so many more polished wines, one would be hard-pressed to find a more honest, forthright, soulful wine from the region. And based on prior vintages, it’s hard to imagine a contemporary Chianti that will blossom more with age, if one is patient to sock away a couple (or dozen) bottles. Re-buy? I question if the 12 bottle purchase was sufficient. Highly recommended.
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| Red |
2020 Giulia Negri Langhe Nebbiolo Pian delle MoleLanghe DOC more |
11/24/2023 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRI like the wines of Giulia Negri a lot. Real finesse here and she’s charming in person. With that in mind, the 2020 Langhe Nebbiolo is a fun little bottle that fulfills its role as a wine for the pasta and the table. Save the Barolo for the brasato, enjoy the Dolcetto with salumi and carne cruda or vitello tonnato, and maybe savor your Barbera with tajarin and truffles or your maialie al latte. Rose, rose hip, and bruised violets on the nose with a faint stank of the barnyard in the background. Finely-etched structure framing the palate—nimble acidity, powdery tannins, and just enough reserve to make one lean in and listen. Red plum, high bush cranberry, apple skin, and wild raspberry fruit, dance across palate and while displaying ripeness also show fine aplomb and lift. This isn’t brooding nor is it some sort of flibbertigibbet, but sings joyfully while knowing some things. Probably would benefit from a bit more aging, but shows admirably with some air and a bowl of Amatriciana with some braised broccoli. Enough so, that I’m scouring the internet for more bottles. Re-buy? I’d re-watch that telenovela.
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| Red |
2004 Salvatore Molettieri Taurasi Cinque QuerceTaurasi DOCG Aglianico more |
10/13/2023 - MuddyBoots wrote: NREarthy dark cherry fruit on the nose. I got some volatile acid on the nose but it is modest. Surely also some new oak ? There are some barrique here but I don't know if any was new. Broad in the mouth. Juicy fruit. Ripe. Full of flavor - licorice and cherry. Bright acid. Grippy tannins still - fine grained but quite drying. I doubt they will ever really fully come around. I noticed the oak more as time went by - as I always do. A long decant and a steak would help.Holding up well.
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| Red |
2013 Clos du Rouge Gorge Côtes Catalanes Jeunes VignesGrenache more |
9/27/2023 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NROh, to be young and dumb and in love with Chambers Street Wines! Cyril Fahl’s wines were just sitting on the shelves waiting for someone to drink ‘em or in rare cases cellar them. I did both; I’m indiscriminate in love, it seems. The whites were textured, violet and honey-scented, and just a bit flamboyant—as Southern whites should be. The reds were exuberant and concentrated, if a bit inscrutable. The was structure beneath all the zazzy fruit and and Cistercian reserve lurking within the dry extract. And lo all these years later, there is a finely knit, if still wild character to the 2013 Clos du Rouge Gorge 2013 Jeunes Vignes. Bosky wild berry fruit, a woop woop (Insane Catalanes Posse?) of spicy plum skin, and vine smoke frame the nose with a hint of game and stank lurking in the background. This is ripe, but not extravagantly so. The midweight palate reiterates these sensory notes with more emphasis on the earth character—is it granite or is it schist? And things shade toward the mineral and herbaceous rather than overt fruit here. But there’s admirable length and not a little breadth and one wondered if the structure will outlast the fruit over time. As it stands, this is a punchy glass of of Côtes Catalans and pairs well with polenta and lamb neck ragu, though I imagine a bit of smoked brisket and BBQ beans from the ol’ Salt Lick in Dripping Springs might just shine here, as well. Re-buy? Well, not at the current tariff for this vintage. I still have some 2013 Ubac to get thru. Still, a treat to drink. Good job, 2014 me! Thanks for buying a couple bottles.
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| Red |
2008 Domaine Michel Lafarge Beaune 1er Cru GrèvesPinot Noir more |
7/7/2023 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRI’ve made the observation that I’ve never had a bottle of Lafarge that’s “ready to drink” on many occasions in my wine career. And for the most part this has been true (same for Barthod if I’m being honest). For Kevin Smith fans I’ve compared it to the fat guy in “Mallrats” who can’t see what’s in the 3-D poster. And much like him (figuratively) I’ve brought my lunch and a soda and I’m still staring. Which brings me to this 2008 Beaune Grèves. On opening there is a fine strawberry lushness with and undercurrent of finely wrought stone and a touch of sous-bois fine aromas of roses too. Great energy and a lifted finish. Then 20 minutes it’s as if a steel gate shut. Roses are rose-hips, all that strawberry fruit beat it out of Dodge and everything is showing all pinched and inscrutable. And once again, I’m standing with my lunch staring in vain at a 3-D poster, not quite knowing what I’m looking at. First half hour was magnificent, tho.
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| Rosé |
2022 Bedrock Wine Co. Ode to Lulu Old Vine RoséCalifornia Rosé Blend more |
6/30/2023 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRFrom 3L BiB: fine tension savory character with pretty underlying red fruit and melon flavors. Racy, mouthwatering, good length. Fine ratio of freshness to satisfying depth. Glad the Bedrock team released Lulu in bag-in-box. Certainly has to decrease the carbon footprint. Re-buy? Well, I’ll confess to having bought a bunch and feel vindicated. Very good indeed.
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| Red |
1998 Louis Jadot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les BoudotsPinot Noir more |
6/5/2023 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRJadot often gets a bad rap for making workmanlike, foursquare wines relative to any number of domaines and a couple of their négociant peers. In my experience, this a only partially true: you drink em young and they will express their Jadotness over site more often that not. That said, they are perfectly satisfying if not quite “transparent.” However, if you show some (okay a lot of) patience they transcend Jadot and articulate terroir and vintage quite fluently. This is the case in this bottle of Jadot 1998 Les Boudots 1er. From the Vosne side of the village downslope from Damodes and adjacent to Malconsorts, this shows more spice and red fruit nuance than rough hewn Nuits St. Georges burliness. There is some of the tannic and acidic ‘98 edge here, but red fruit of the pomegranate, wild raspberry, and cranberry character dominate the nose and palate. Some game and a fine dusting over Asian spices add nuance. And astride a finely etched mineral core (for Nuits St Georges) are some blood orange peel and sous-bois flavors. I don’t get the sense that the fruit has been overtaken by the structure and there’s plenty of expressiveness left depending on just how resolved you prefer your Burgundy. This is showing admirably with a ragu of leftover short rib over polenta—okay grits. And given the chance, I’d purchase more well-stored bottles. This is really tasty in its way and very satisfying on a rather raw midcoast Maine evening. Re-buy? Wish I had. Last bottle a few years ago was marked by producer, this bottle is very much of a place (and vintage) and shines because of it.
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| Red |
2016 Domaine de TrévallonAlpilles Red Blend more |
6/5/2023 - Putnam Weekley Likes this wine: 91 pointsClassically proportioned and soulful. Morello cherry liqueur meets a fine cigar. Animated, bright action, on top, draws inspiration from medicinal little spring twigs. As the cheeseburger pairing fades from memory, the wine's tannins accumulate—they are the most salient mark of its nobility, like devastating seizures of mineral grip. Adhesive acids arrive in time to balance and pump the object with freshness. Threads suggestive of archival sap, mint, and resinated baked soil are wound into an impenetrable spool of promise. This drink is architecture as perfume. 92+
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| Red |
1998 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La CrauRed Rhone Blend more |
4/30/2023 - MuddyBoots wrote: NRI wanted to check on this again because my last experience with this wine - February 27, 2022 - was very discouraging. Decanted 30 minutes. Very solid cork, not penetrated by the wine at all. Appropriate pale red hue - hints of browning. Restrained nose of small red fruits / very pleasant. Unexpectedly austere on the palate - more acidic - and without the generous silky fruit one associates with CNP. But this is nothing like as severe as the prior bottle. There is complexity. Herbal notes. Tannins one senses just beginning to settle down after 25 years and integrate into the wine. Ends with a persistent pleasant sweetness. Perhaps there is some bottle variation here. Was better after an hour. I would wait another five or ten years on this. On this showing with time it might even become something very special. Bought on release - and aging slowly. After two hours in the decanter this has softened quite a bit, but will always be a serious and brooding CNP.
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| Red |
2016 Roagna Barbera d'Albamore |
5/3/2023 - bevetroppo Likes this wine: 91 pointsI opened this and was surprised by a somewhat meh initial impression. It took no more than 10 minutes of air to completely blow open the doors of perception. This is a terrific barbera that perfectly straddles the line between sheer drinkability (at 13.5%) and serious contemplation. Better yet, it gets more complex by the minute and rivals a lot of more exalted Piedmont appellations (yeah, I mean you nebbiolo) in the process.
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| Red |
1991 Yarra Yering Pinot NoirYarra Valley more |
4/24/2023 - MuddyBoots wrote: NRFairly solid cork - moist almost but not quite to the top. This wine was a complete upside surprise. Still a good red with less brown than you might expect. Nose shows just slight forest floor aromas but also a complex array of small red berries. Fruit flavor on the palate has depth and concentration and real complexity, married to some sweetness and a sensation of oak. Balanced by very correct acid and tannins that are now fully resolved. A little short on the finish. Labelled at 13%, which seems about right. I don’t drink 32 year old Australian Pinot Noir too often, and this was something of a revelation. The more so given Burgundy Al's unflattering note from 2005. Bought in Australia in about 1997, and stored perfectly since, except this went in a steel container through the Panama Canal in 2000. Will hold 5 years more. Sometimes it seems, you just have to wait....
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| White - Sparkling |
NV Chavost Champagne Blanc D'Assemblage Brut NatureChampagne Blend more |
3/18/2023 - LW31 wrote: NRunderwhelming. Hot new natural champagne producer. Nice gulp of fruit but otherwise lacking definition and style.
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| Red |
2021 Jean-Claude Rateau Beaune Les Beaux et BonsPinot Noir more |
3/6/2023 - bevetroppo Likes this wine: 91 pointsWhat do good Burgundy producers have in common with the US Postal Service? All that stuff about neither snow nor rain nor heat etc. Everything I've read about the 2021 vintage makes it sound like all hell broke loose and growers were lucky to emerge with their lives let alone their livelihoods intact. Yet here we are, there is wine to be had, and judging from this bottle, some of it is damn good and even broadly affordable.
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| Red |
2018 Fratelli Alessandria Barolo del Comune di VerdunoNebbiolo more |
12/15/2022 - MuddyBoots wrote: NRAppropriately pale. Beautifully expressive nose. Already complex and interesting. Balsamic/tar and roses. Medium plus weight. Plenty of fully ripe darker red fruit flavor - especially cherries. Initially tingly acid. Silky smooth texture on the palate. The elegance of Verduno fruit. Structure shows up on the back end with youthful grippy and slightly drying tannin in fair proportion. Good length. Balanced and ultimately quite easy going for so young a Barolo. This is extremely good and although personally I would wait ten years this has considerable early appeal. And a really good value still. To be bought in quantity.
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| Red |
1988 Bouchard Père et Fils Beaune 1er Cru Grèves Vigne de L'Enfant JesusPinot Noir more |
5/21/2022 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRI've been blessed by a few bottles of this vintage of the Baby Jesus over the years and this may have been the best yet. Hauntingly pretty aromatics and a beautiful, mostly resolved palate. Perfumed and spiced on the nose with little whiffs of underbrush, game, and sandalwood. Fine fruit and resolving structure and a luxuriating, lingering finish to the palate. There's splendid inner mouth perfume and a fine bit of the peacock's tail. Bottle courtesy of SH.
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| Red |
2016 Domaine Jamet Côtes du RhôneSyrah more |
1/17/2023 - JohnMcIlwain wrote: NRGiven that expectations are the bugaboo of “fine” wine enjoyment, please view this note with that particular jaundiced eye. The name Jamet inspires a lot of emotions for Rhône fans. Benchmark Côte-Rôtie! High premium! Fantastic terroir delineation! Dealing with avaricious distributors (and sometimes importers back in the day). So, what to think about the 2016 Côtes-du-Rhône? The verdict is mixed—at least tonight. Opened an hour in advance of drinking and decanted off (not negligible) sentiment.
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| Red |
2014 Château Simone PaletteRed Rhone Blend more |
1/1/2023 - Putnam Weekley Likes this wine: 94 pointsAfter a tall drizzle straight into the drinking bowl my first impression of this thing is that it's remarkably composed and primary. An easygoing musky plum aroma, suggestively rising from buried stone, is an example of accessible, appetizing drinking. It unfolds. Even before taking the first drink I'm taken back to Santa Cruz' Bates Ranch, with that maddening mockery of cherry pulp. Also: licorice, Louisiana coffee, and casually foraged spring herbs. A mouthful portrays various familiar lines of tension—glad and guarded; appealing and profound. A geological column of reference material spills from its wide open pages. Balsam. Breakfast tea. Inconsolable red prunes sobbing with sugar. The texture is brisk and punctuated. Retral sensations of intaglio ink, slate, blueberries, and Musigny.
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| White - Sparkling |
NV Corbon Chardonnay Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut Avizemore |
11/24/2022 - Gargantua wrote: NRImpressed all who tried--somewhat regal, elegant. This brutally outclassed a Calsac Echappée Belle magnum opened directly afterwards.
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| Red |
2005 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-PapeRed Rhone Blend more |
11/23/2022 - MuddyBoots wrote: NRIn an attempt to revive a joy for Chateauneuf that seems to have deserted me for the last five years I opened this for our dinner the evening before Thanksgiving. Decanted an hour. Beautiful soft red with hints of garnet. Is there some oak on the nose ? Brambly red fruit. Some leafy notes. Herbs. Leather after a few more minutes in the glass. Silky on the palate - similarly flavored beautifully complex fruit - almost austere - framed by quite present acid. Rests confidently on the palate before progressing to an impressively long finish. Ripe but substantial tannin show up on the gums, leaving a slight sensation of dryness. Overall shows more elegance and restraint than I expected though neither does it lack for power. Reassuringly wonderful but in a really serious style. This may in fact be quite special. I find with CNP you need to know what to expect since it comes in so many different styles. I have two bottles left and will try and keep my hands off these another five years. Bought on release.
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| Red |
2019 Domaine Des Vignes du Maynes (Julien Guillot) Bourgogne Clos des Vignes du Maynes Cuvée AugustePinot Noir more |
11/4/2022 - bevetroppo wrote: NRThis is the second bottle of three I purchased from CSW because, I mean, who can resist the story? No chemicals in the vineyard since something like the 10th century and no sulfur in the past 70 years, with all the other Trappists, I mean trappings, of natural wine farming and elevage (I might break my hand patting myself on the back for that pun).
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Comment posted by JohnMcIlwain:
5/24/2024 7:16:00 PM - Was just eyeing this. Will add to the queue. Thanks for the note.