Search Results - Save This Search

Wine Type Vintage Name Variety Locale Date Posted Score Helpful Comments Comment Date Community Score More...
Red

2014 Les Pagodes de Cos

 St. Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend more
Options

3/29/2024 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 94 points

Yes, a delicious juice it is. Forget about ratings and enjoy the ride. Creamy, silky smooth nectar with tomato leaf, cassis, black cherry, wet earth, smoke and dark chocolate covered red cherries. Tobacco as well.
Long finish, great balance. Lovely stuff. The wine is at its peak now, delivering primary, secondary and tertiary aromas and flavours. Go get some!

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    4/15/2024 11:33:00 PM - I do not think it is the wine that NEEDS air, but 30-40 minutes will be fine.
Red

2010 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas

 Syrah more
Options

9/13/2023 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 97 points

I guess this is even better than the fabulous 2009. The wine has the level of quality equal to the Premier Grand Cru Classe of the Left Bank. It smells and tastes of an essence of perfectly ripe bitter sweet wild blackberries, and also delivers massive waves of graphite, flowers, dark chocolate and smoke. The alcohol is perfectly integrated, the tannins are impenetrable yet the wine dances light on its feet like a ballerina (sorry for following yet another wine cliche). The overall impression is the one of freshness, ripeness, aristocracy and depth. At 13 years of age the wine is super young with a looooong life ahead, yet it can be perfectly consumed and enjoyed right away.
This is The Great Wine and I feel privileged to have an opportunity to taste it.
PS: putting the nose in an empty glass you smell waves of cedar and juniper, yet another characteristic that you get with the best of the best wines only.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    4/13/2024 7:59:00 AM - Yes, for sure, may be 6-8 hours, but no less than 3. Let me know how you find it, please.
Red

2016 Torbreck Descendant

 Barossa Valley Shiraz Blend, Syrah more
Options

3/24/2024 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 95 points

Black purple in color, the wine is full of plum sauce, roasted meat, cassis and syrupy blackberry. Quality new world Syrah, with lots of stuffing, yet elegant and precise.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    4/3/2024 4:03:00 PM - Nope, it is as per usual a PnP. Its hard to comment on the drinking window as I have little experience with these wines, but I think the wine is open up for business and has many (10-15 at least) years ahead of it.
Red

2015 Gaja Barbaresco

 Nebbiolo more
Options

8/26/2023 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 94 points

The 2015 Gaja Barbaresco resembles a young Pinot more than Nebbiolo. Medium ruby in colour, heavy on dark red and purple fruit aromas with some reductive notes as well. This strange reductive fruitiness while completely normal and even pleasant is not what I would expect of a top quality Nebbiolo from Barbaresco.
While the wine is really good per se, imvho it can’t be considered among the finest representatives of it’s region.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    11/16/2023 10:21:00 AM - I do agree with you, Dave. I also believe this particular style of wine is the result of not just the oak treatment but also the yeast cultures, tannins, inactivated yeasts and mlf bacteria used by the producer. This kind of enological approach to the winemaking while very beneficial in certain cases can be really detrimental when it comes to other wine styles, particularly those that are considered traditional.
Red

2016 Domaine Drouhin-Laroze Chambertin-Clos de Bèze

 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru Pinot Noir more
Options

11/16/2023 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 98 points

This is a wow wine that has the levels of concentration, ripeness, Purity and balance that are off the charts. Words fail to describe how good this wine is plus I only had one glass, so let me just tell you that there is everything here that should be and nothing that shouldn’t: Black Forest fruit, earth, cherry liqueur, chocolate, purple flowers, lavender, juniper and some super delicate hints of new oak (not like Mongeard-Mugneret).
Basically I believe this is a 100 pointer, it just needs time.
Pure Class, probably my wine of the year.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    11/16/2023 9:52:00 AM - Cheers, Dave! This was a Coravin pour. So no decanting/aeration.
Red

2018 Babich Pinot Noir

 Marlborough more
Options

8/27/2021 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 89 points

Somewhat thin, watery and simplish wine. Rhubarb, red berries, strawberries on the nose and palate.
However it drinks extremely well. I sort of like it, despite the low score.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    2/2/2023 11:51:00 AM - Got you, sir! We look at the scores quite differently. To me anything below 90 is not good.I believe this is how most people rate wines on CT.
    You follow a totally different rating scale definition.
    Still it doesn’t justify your 69;)

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    2/3/2023 11:30:00 AM - Fair enough! I am glad we clarified that. My apologies for any inconvenience I may have caused.
    PS: and still I strongly believe the wine in question is not to be avoided; instead it is a wine to be studied and admired whether or not this particular wine is to one’s personal preferences.
Red

2016 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin

 Grenache more
Options

7/20/2022 - Paul852 Does not like this wine: 69 points

I've had two bottles of this now I really don't get the scores here. For me this is an over-ripe, over hot fruit bomb that is nothing like CdP is supposed to be. It is the epitome of Parkerisation in the extreme. I've tried drinking when opened, when decanted for various times out to 48 hours and it doesn't get much more palatable. It's just about drinkable with 24+ hours of air, but if what you look for in a CdP includes elegance, complexity and sophistication then steer well clear of this wine. My ~US$100 spent on two bottles of this could have bought me 6 bottles of far superior wine.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    2/1/2023 2:01:00 AM - An inability to differentiate between your personal preferences and the objective merits of a thing (the wine in this case) is a sign of psychological immaturity. Just saying.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    2/2/2023 11:47:00 AM - Dear Paul, I do agree that wine is ultimately a matter of taste. But, in all honesty, a 69 is not a type of score that is used in the wine critics anywhere. Basically, anything below 90 means a sub-par wine, and the 100 point scale is meant to differentiate between the great and the greatest and not between the shades of crap. I do believe it is better to give no score to a wine that is not up to your preferences, than to come up with something as hilarious as a 69.
    After all, making a truly good wine (even if it doesn’t live up to your expectations) requires a great deal of labour, craft and art as well as years of hard work and experience. Please, be respectful of other people’s hard work.
    This is just my humble winemakers opinion, hopefully it doesn’t hurt you much.
Red

2015 Château Pavie

 St. Émilion Grand Cru Red Bordeaux Blend more
Options

1/22/2019 - wren460 wrote: 100 points

Impressive!!!! Bravo !!!!! Drinking this beauty while hearing Keith Jarret famous Kohln concert. I mean, this is pure hedonism that I don´t know how it could be better. Inky monster of pleasure that coats all your mouth without any restraint. I have never tasted $1,000+ wines but I don´t see how this can be beat. While maybe the Petrus and all the first growths are like the Himalaya, Pavie is the K2...more interesting, dangerous, foreward, and intoxicating. I wish I could buy 50 cases and drink this until I die.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    8/24/2022 11:44:00 AM - Man, I just loved your reference to the mountaineering. I am not sure it is appropriate as Pavie seems to be more of a crowd pleaser rather than a select few delight (hence Pavie might be more like Everest or Matterhorn rather than K2). Still your comment warms my heart.
Red

2016 Lingua Franca Pinot Noir AVNI

 Eola - Amity Hills more
Options

1/15/2021 - Stanrocks wrote: 89 points

Stiil on the oak side, a bit too much probably, needs more time in the bottle for sure. Still the Willamette are not recaching the expectations so Far, unless an old Archery summit, Cal Pinot are way ahead of them right now to me...

Blood orange on the oaky side of it, caramel, still oaky so far

Palate is much more encouraging for the future, nice tangy mid palate, with still an oaky finish, and a cool saltiness, quiet one... will certainly improve in the next 5 years or so.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    8/20/2022 1:46:00 PM - In my opinion Cali PN are indeed ahead of their Oregon counterparts.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    8/22/2022 12:43:00 AM - Thanks, saved your analysis to expand my knowledge.
White

2015 Peter Jakob Kühn Oestricher Klosterberg Riesling Trocken

 Rheingau more
Options

1/25/2022 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 95 points

This is my first experience with bone dry German Riesling. Glistening red gold color, incredible aromatics of petrol and tropical fruits, dry, lots of acids supported by immense dry extract, long finish. Grand cru levels of quality.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    1/25/2022 10:47:00 AM - If it had some 2-3 more grams of residual sugar, I would have liked it even more, to be honest….
White - Sparkling

2009 Dom Pérignon Champagne

 Champagne Blend more
Options

11/7/2020 - Deadhead wrote: 90 points

It was good. Very good, actually. However it did not live up to my expectations. It felt a bit simple. I was looking for more depth and complexity.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    1/9/2021 10:06:00 PM - I honestly believe you need to wait a few years, five, may be 10. Then it may live up to the hype actually.
Red

2013 Schrader Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon RBS Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

 Oakville more
Options

1/5/2018 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 98 points

A WSET note followed by a descriptive note.

Clear, deep ruby. Fat legs, suggesting high-alcohol, high-glycerol wine
Clean, pronounced nose of primary and secondary nature, highly complex. Primary notes include black and red super-ripe to jammy fruits: blackberry, prunes, black raspberry, boysonberry, raspberry, red currant, black currant. Eucalyptus, anise, licorice, wet slate.
Secondary notes: baking spices, nutmeg, coconut, milk chocolate, high quality coconut powder.
On the palate: dry, high acidity, high tannin, high alcohol, full body. The tannins are high, mouth-coating, fine-grained and ripe.
The flavors are very pronounced and highly-complex.
Primary flavors: jammy boysonberry, cassis, black cherries, ripe raspberry, black mulberry, figs, eucalyptus, mentol and licorice.
Secondary flavors: nutmeg, some chocolate and cocoa.
Long finish.
Can drink now, will improve with further ageing: the reasons for this are high tannins, high acidity, a lot of concentration and intensity of flavors.
Outstanding wine.

Descriptive note.
Well, this is a blockbuster and highly-parkerized wine. One may also suggest it's a pure hedonism in a glass. However you call it, you can't but agree that this one is a high-class thorough-bred powerhouse of a wine.
It is the second time that I am privileged to taste this bottling. The first one was during a comparative tasting (Bordeaux vs Napa) and back then it didn't impress me: after all it is made in a completely different style and seems to be overly heavy and luscious when compared to the likes of 2010 Ducru-Beaucaillou.
This time I tasted the wine as it is, without comparing it to anything.
Full-bodied, almost black in color, multi-layered and incredibly concentrated, this wine is so much quintessentially Napa in style, yet so distinctively Schrader. Not a generic new-world Cab for sure. I am a Napa Cab's fan and I am sure this is the wine I can recognize anytime at a blind tasting.
Being so thick and concentrated, with layers upon layers of boysonberry, fig, mulberry, creme de cassis, interspersed with sweet graphite (is there such a thing?!), wet slate, black licorice, bacon fat and (my wife says so) propolis, this wine preserves it's nerve and structure with an aristocratic spine of super-ripe, tooth-dusting, silky tannins, fresh acidity and beautiful notes of red-currants, anise, eucalyptus and menthol.
The quality of the oak shines through in every sip, as it is ever present, yet so harmonious.
The wine resonates on the palate for some 40 seconds and, however strange that may sound, leaves you with an impression of freshness and, certainly, craving for more.

PS: I can't logically explain the reason I gave this wine 98 points instead of 100. I do think, it will improve on the palate in terms of flavor harmonization in the next 7-8 years. This is the wine to try in 2025.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    1/14/2018 10:00:00 AM - Yes, I certainly agree with you. I am pretty sure, I would enjoy any vintage of this beautiful wine, not just 2010.
    Would love to see how this wine behaves at 15 years or so. The reason is that while perfectly drinkable, the 2013 didn't have much fresh fruit flavors, which makes me think whether it is a good wine for laying down for more than a decade.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    1/1/2021 12:53:00 AM - Hi, Dave. I had one a year ago and it was stellar as ever, however I didn't notice much development. With this style of wine I don't think it is needed either. I would say, go for it and let me know what YOU think.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    1/1/2021 1:21:00 AM - I am in Russia, Moscow. It's around noon now.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    1/1/2021 11:03:00 AM - Sheboygan, ah, sweet memories...played Whistling Straits, stayed in a shabby room in Holiday Inn as far as I can remember. Beautiful course and the guy at the reception said he was scared of driving in Chicago lol.
    We got plenty of cult wines here, Napa ones as well.
    Love Bordeaux of course and I develop more and more respect for Barolo and Burgundy.
Red

2016 Domaine de L'Arlot Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Clos des Forêts St. Georges

 Pinot Noir more
Options

8/3/2020 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 95 points

I just checked my note on the 2013 vintage of this wine, and I have to admit the winemakers at the domaine are pretty consistent: the same freshness, ripeness and purity. The fruit is extremely cool, vibrant and ripe with notes of earth, sous bois and a strong floral component, think violets and lilacs. The finish is long , fruit filled and fresh.
The wine probably needs 3-5 years to hit its prime but is already very enjoyable.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    8/4/2020 1:05:00 PM - May be, I haven't tasted enough vintages to confirm this. But the overall impression is the same: ripe, cool, fresh, long, weightless and concentrated - that's for sure.
Red

2015 Bodegas y Viñedos Alión Ribera del Duero

 Tinto Fino, Tempranillo more
Options

11/30/2019 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 94 points

This is a really special wine in my view as it is quite impressive for a wine produced in Spain (you bet I don't hold the spanish wine in the highest regard).
This is almost Bordeauesque in it's concentration, density and balance. Very dark and saturated, dusty perfectly ripe tannins, powerful but not intrusive oak. Dark fruits, blackberry, black cherry, licorice, some ripe raspberries, earthy graphite-like notes as well. Baking spice, cocoa, vanilla from the oak. Acidity is moderate and in check, the alcohol is high, but not to the point of being unbearable.
Definitely drinkable, but not ready. Give it another 5 or 10 years and it can probably hit a 95 point mark.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    1/31/2020 9:51:00 AM - Hello, thank you for taking time to read through my notes and posting your comment.
    Let me explain the rating thing. The fact is that, when I rate a wine I give a score that isn't absolute in it's weight. That is I rate a wine relative to it's price and status. A score of 94 would be a level par (or slightly above) for eg La Mission Haut-Brion but way below for Alion. So both wines get the same score, but for obvious reasons a 94 point LMHB is a better wine than a 94 point Alion.
    The Spanish wines, based solely on my personal experience tend to be on either coarse rustic side (think Toro wines like Thermantia) or oxidative (old style Rioja). The exception to this rule are Priorat wines and the likes of the Alion.
White - Sparkling

2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne

 Champagne Blend more
Options

1/1/2020 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 99 points

DCWINO has said it all down below. Perfection.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    1/2/2020 9:33:00 PM - Needs more time, so in its current state I rate it at 99.
Red

2004 Harlan Estate

 Napa Valley Red Bordeaux Blend more
Options

5/16/2018 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 98 points

It is really hard to figure out where to start with this one. The most obvious first take suggests to characterize this one as a pure sweet liqueur like treat of a wine. At the same time it doesn't do any justice to this bottling, so let's elaborate a little bit.

1. The wine is huge, the concentration is really painful. The finish literally lasts more than a minute. And I mean it does last, that is you feel exactly the same tastes and flavors you felt at attack. Super ripe black and red fruit, licorice, smoke, bbq, scorched earth, toffee, caramel. You get it!
2. The character of the wine is largely influenced by the idea of super ripeness without being overly heavy, that is the wine is indeed super ripe and super concentrated but not to the extent where the fruits become diluted, flabby and lacking individuality. Mulberry preserve, blackberry jam, figs are some of the fruit flavors you will encounter in this wine. There is definitely some cassis but in the form of liqueur and not fresh berries.
3. There is a beautiful super ripe (how many times did I mention it?)) tannic spine and acidity that give some lift and structure.
4. There is a fair share of Merlot, the earthy/animale hints are more than obvious
5. The downside to this one, is that it lacks elegance: underbrush, forest floor, floral. It could have been improved with more Cab Franc in the blend.

Conclusion: a unique wine, even by Napa Valley standards. Extremely ripe and full-bodied, unbelievably complex, pure hedonism of a wine. Slightly short of perfection as it lacks elegance and aristocracy that you may find in the best vintages of the best Bordeaux wines.
Try it at least once in your life!

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    11/2/2019 2:39:00 PM - Nope, it was a quicky PnP, took us about an hour to finish the deal))
Red

2013 Saxum Heart Stone Vineyard

 Paso Robles Red Rhone Blend more
Options

7/26/2019 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 98 points

I have tasted this wine 7 months ago and now I am lucky enough to give another try, this time having recently drunk Terry Hoage and Broken Stones from the same vintage. I must confess, I believe the Heart Stone is a superior wine among the three at the moment. Let me explain why.
A higher percentage of Grenache makes it easier to drink: it is basically an unbeatable combo of the black and red fruit spectrum - plums, blackberries and cassis from Syrah and strawberries and raspberries from Grenache. The latter gives the blend an extra sappy, thirst-quenching freshness. And, yes, again there is that watermelon rind note that gets even more pronounced with the time in the glass.
There is also less oak compared to the other two, thus more primary fruit, freshness and precision.
It drinks like magic right now and definitely has more to unveil. As for the long term, I can't say which of the three will show better, but there is no doubt it is the HS cuvee that is the most ready to drink as a PnP at the moment this note has been taken.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    7/26/2019 12:58:00 PM - PS: it is important to drink it from a Bordeaux glass rather than Burgundian. Although it isn't uncommon for the Rhone Red Blends to taste better from the latter in this case it is the former that provides with a better tasting and smelling experience.
Red

2015 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia

 Bolgheri Sassicaia Red Bordeaux Blend more
Options

6/3/2019 - IvanLi Likes this wine: 95 points

The wine shows trademark Sassicaia aromas of sweet flowers and fresh Cabernet stems as well as notes of blackberry compote, plums, licorice, hints of classy oak as well as future promises of leather, earth, cigar box and tobacco. In the mouth it is rich, fresh, succulent and totally drinkable. As with all wines of this caliber you would better wait another 10 years to let it round up and develop even more complexity and grace.
All that being said, it is still not on par with the best Bordeaux stalwarts.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    6/4/2019 5:16:00 AM - True. But my comment refers to the discussion whether Sassicaia is the italian equivalent of French First Growths. Which in my opinion it is not.

  • Comment posted by IvanLi:

    6/17/2019 1:04:00 PM - Nothing in fact.

Loading wine details...
loading

×
×