| Wine Type | Vintage Name Variety Locale | Date Posted Score Helpful Comments Comment Date Community Score More... |
|---|---|---|
| Red |
2019 WillaKenzie Estate Pinot Noir Estate Yamhill-Carltonmore |
2/12/2024 - Giggs wrote: 89 pointsLots of oak, which needs a couple years to integrate. Drinking it today with a couple hours decanting, the oaky brioche and bourbon notes do eventually blow off to reveal ripe cranberry and brown spices. There’s a lot of quality to the presentation but not much complexity, or at least the oak is concealing any complexity that might be hiding underneath. Drink 2026-2030. |
| White |
2019 Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountainsmore |
11/18/2022 - Giggs wrote: 87 pointsWines You Dream Of (Miller Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio): Simple, with lemon-butter creamed corn sort of profile. |
| Red |
2019 Venge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon SilencieuxNapa Valley more |
4/28/2023 - Giggs wrote: 87 pointsHuge CT averages for this wine in every vintage. It tastes like a sweet candy shop—Sweet Tarts?—styled like every grocery store super Cab deemed worthy of an anti-theft neck lock. Imagine a company dinner at the all-American steakhouse chain and the sales director guy orders it with his well-done porterhouse, then passes a glass around the table, “Ya gotta try this!”
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| Red |
2016 Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona Brunello di Montalcino PianrossoSangiovese more |
11/26/2022 - Giggs wrote: 97 pointsSpicy cedar, crushed currants, mushrooms, and olive tapenade on the nose. Medium-bodied palate delivers damson plum jam framed by balsamic and salty, flinty mineral notes. This is not big and brooding—it’s elegant, complex, and precise with good acidity and fine tannins that blend into the background. Ready to drink. 2022-2027
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| Red |
2017 J.L. Chave Sélection St. Joseph OfferusSyrah more |
9/2/2022 - Giggs wrote: 89 pointsOpens with a minty, almost garrigue-like herbality to the nose, then you get pencil shavings and buttery chocolate cake aromas that come across as, initially at least, over-manipulated. More air adds incense and floral potpourri. The medium-bodied palate has a plum-skin extract component that gradually evolves into wild plum and black currant. Finishes somewhat rugged and austere—but authentic, which is interesting given how the nose had suggested mass production. Definitely keeps improving with air but hard to pick as a long-term ager. Drink it now.
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| Red |
2016 Keplinger Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Ranch Vineyardmore |
8/13/2021 - Giggs wrote: 94 pointsSensational. Confident yet unpretentious winemaking.
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| Red |
2009 Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir Hyde VineyardCarneros more |
8/15/2014 - Giggs wrote: 93 pointsDecanted 45 minutes. Beautiful but tannic. Blueberry and blackberry liqueur nose, ground black slate and graphite mineral, great concentration, presenting more like a Shiraz than a Pinot. The palate picks up some coffee grounds and mocha notes, sweetly ripe purple fruit, yet very dry with a gripping, green, tannic finish. Probably best to wait a couple more years on this. Drink 2016-2020.
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| Red |
1999 Luddite Cellars ShirazBarossa more |
7/13/2014 - Renot Likes this wine: 91 pointsStill very good, but this bottle was not as rich as the last.
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| Red |
2004 Forest Hill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Block 5Mount Barker more |
1/13/2012 - Giggs wrote: 87 pointsBottle purchased in Sydney, 4/2011. Light-framed Cabernet opens with heavy graphite and black olive, black currants, nougat nose. Herbal palate lacks depth of fruit, tea leaf, salty acid, anise, dry wood spice. Biting astringency from 2/3-palate onward. Good complexity but not much flesh to it.
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| Red |
2001 Gralyn Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 'SBR'Margaret River more |
11/15/2013 - Giggs wrote: 94 pointsDecanted briefly. Straight out of the bottle this is heavily marked by oak barrel notes, but fortunately this is less apparent in the glass. Instead, there's strong menthol on the nose with a mix of cassis and chocolate. The palate is herbal, with concentrated red cassis, tangy cranberry, and a some cola. Finishes with cottony tannins. A fun wine to drink. Drink now-2018.
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| Red |
2000 Château MonbousquetSt. Émilion Grand Cru Red Bordeaux Blend more |
11/1/2013 - Giggs wrote: 94 pointsBreeders' Cup XXX; 11/1/2013-11/2/2013: Decanted 4 hours. Very masculine nose, lots of Merlot character, alluring, deep black cherry, coffee, and clay. Expansive palate has features similar notes, nice texture to the fruit, still youthful but certainly in its window. Excellent.
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| Red |
2004 Bodega Numanthia Toro NumanthiaTinta de Toro, Tempranillo more |
11/1/2013 - Giggs wrote: 91 pointsBreeders' Cup XXX; 11/1/2013-11/2/2013: Decanted 4 hours. Spicy, cedary nose, the expected heavily-oaked profile, but it doesn't bring the anticipated power. Same on the palate: lacks the power you'd associate with this label. Up front there's good dark fruit edged with black licorice and smoke, but the fruit concentration falls off considerably in late palate and finish. While I don't think this is in a dumb phase, I do think a few more years will improve it by letting some of the oak integrate.
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| Red |
2001 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La LandonneSyrah more |
7/9/2013 - NostraBacchus Likes this wine: 99 pointsTasted blind. OMG!!! Mind-blowing nose of blackberries, black currant, licorice, flowers, tobacco, graphite/earth and pepper. On the palate, there are again waves of fruit and an incredible aromatic complexity. Full-bodied, but with no impression of heaviness at all, medium-high tannins and medium-high acidity. Incredibly long. This is one of most complex wines I have had in a long time. It's huge, but at the same time stunningly elegant and has tons of finesse. I absolutely loved this wine!
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| Red |
2005 Zanzibar Cellars Sandra Alder Creek VineyardHorse Heaven Hills Red Blend more |
3/4/2013 - LexTom Likes this wine: 89 pointsSecond time around for this wine, with somewhat different nose and palate. ... Still very grapey to nose but fruit seemed more bitter. ... Nose of chalkboard, wood fire, and eucalyptus. ... Strong palate sweeter than nose with a very even finish. Slightly lower rating this time but still a nice drinking wine.
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| Red |
2005 Clos ApaltaRed Bordeaux Blend more |
4/14/2013 - Win-E Likes this wine: 93 pointsN: fresh ripe black cherries and currant, licorice
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| Red |
2004 SeñaAconcagua Valley Red Bordeaux Blend more |
12/12/2007 - win wrote: 93 pointsIf you truly want to get a sense of this wine, read the prior reviews by vinho and losvinhos in Spanish. I wish my 4 years of Spanish in school served me better. Amazing wine -- very surprised by it. Carlisle meets a refined Bordeaux. Not sure how it will age, but my guess is that is has quite a bit of time in front of it. I'm buying in a little quantity to find out. Hold for a few years.
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| Red |
2001 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo CicalaNebbiolo more |
3/26/2013 - pikemasterflash wrote: 92 pointsQuite tannic upon opening and throughout. I felt like this could use more time to mellow, if that is possible. There was definitely an underlying grapy fruit nose that was immediately evident. I might be a bit biased on the downside here but I probably prefer a BdM.
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| Red |
1998 Wild Duck Creek Shiraz SpringflatHeathcote more |
11/2/2010 - Screameagle wrote: 92 pointsWow, this bottle was drinking great. The previous poster is right on. I've consumed some good and some not so good '98 Wild Duck shiraz. Happy to have one bottle left.
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| Red |
2000 Cartoixa de Montsalvat Priorat MontsalvatRed Blend more |
1/13/2008 - SacredCow wrote: 88 pointsSame rating as the last bottle. The middle has filled out, and there is now some spiciness throughout the wine. A little more tar on the palate this time.
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| Red |
1998 Romano Dal Forno Amarone della Valpolicella Vigneto di Monte LodolettaCorvina Blend, Corvina more |
1/15/2013 - rjonwine@gmail.com Likes this wine: 99 pointsWhite Burgundy, Barolo, Brunello, Amarone Feast (Caffe Macaroni): Opaque red violet color; rich chocolate, dried fig, chocolate syrup nose; rich, delicious, chocolate, chocolate syrup, hazelnut, licorice palate; very long finish
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| Red |
1992 Yalumba Shiraz The OctaviusBarossa Valley more |
6/4/2012 - Gazonator wrote: 97 pointsAre You Kidding Me!!.....Yalumbas third ever vintage of Octavius....20 years old and WHAM. 8 is Enough wine tasting group had just swirled down a 2002 Yalumbe Reserve and were in Nirvana. The Octavius was also decanted for 2 hours. The nose was incredible, a powerful, spicey plums and black berry aroma Cigar Box,oak and cloves...WOW. Then the tasting...well, this is where GOD lives!. Yep... sitting in a barrell of 92' octavius. Powerful fruit with smooth balanced tannin and oak. This is a Masculine wine...full bodied and fully ripped...but yet elegant and soft with a long finish...how the winemaker achieved this is a true reflection of his ability. Cripes it was gooooood
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| Red |
2001 The Standish Wine Company Shiraz The StandishBarossa Valley more |
12/22/2012 - mcubed Likes this wine: 94 pointsJust an outstanding wine. Needs a long time to breathe. Once open, there are layers of flavors from nose to finish.
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Comment posted by Giggs:
4/5/2024 5:13:00 AM - Maybe I should have said try in 2026-2030. The oak needs at least that much time to integrate.