4/13/2024 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine:

Eyes Wide Shut - Day 1 (A quiet place): Nose: Dark gold pineapples, deep fruitful grass, and subtle hay.

Palate: Rich fruits of deep pineapples with a bit of guava, providing a bit of unripe prickliness in a good way. While rich, this has a bit of elegance and good acidity to keep this moving. Spiced oak gets pronounced with a bit more time.

4/13/2024 - MN Wine Junkie Likes this wine:

This was opened for about an hour prior to tasting. It was in a line up of Chardonnays served blind (including some Burgundies). The wine was easily identified as CA Chardonnay by everyone. The wine was rich, buttery, with nice minerality (saline and chalk), citrus and pear notes and some oak and butterscotch on the finish. At 11 years old, this wine is nicely integrated and drinking quite well. Should hold up quite a bit longer, so no hurry on these! Solid 97 for me, and I feel that may be conservative. This is one of my all time favorite Chardonnays from anywhere, and my favorite American Chardonnay. I wish they would get to their next release!

4/16/2024 - Minnesota wrote:

Boy, this is not our style of chardonnay. Deep yellow with butterscotch, caramel, rich vanilla nose more reminiscent of dessert. Forced myself to continue drinking though did improve -- a bit -- over time. This is not the Marcassin of 90s and 00s.

4/13/2024 - rustyRudy Likes this wine:

Golden in color. Mature, smooth, subtle, had with crab cakes

4/6/2024 - Mrbuzz Likes this wine:

VINTAGE 2010 Dinner (Galletto Ristorante, Modesto Ca.): Love me some Marcassin! Sometimes you need a little wood spice in your life! After drinking all those Chablis and Burgs, I do miss drinking these. The 10 is wonderful! Rich and full of butter sauteed apples and apricots...lemon squeeze, citrus oil, pineapple, lifts it nicely. SO much complexities of smoked vanilla bean, toasted campfire marshmallows, butterscotch spice...plenty crushed rock minerality...flint strike...all well in balance, and a delectable mouthful of goodness!

3/25/2024 - daved Likes this wine:

extraordinary

3/16/2024 - rosenst1 wrote:

PnP. Medium gold. Intense nose of tropical and orchard fruits. On the palate this has excellent depth of flavor with pear, peach, and other stone fruits. Perhaps a bit soft on the finish to balance the intensity of the fruit. Lovely wine though perhaps not at the top of the Marcassins I've had.

3/2/2024 - rustyRudy Likes this wine:

Light lemon yellow. Lovely, rich, glycerin, lemon, with balance

3/2/2024 - brigcampbell wrote:

There was concern that this bottle might be overdue, one from the same purchase it was already smoked. Fairly deep gold colored with some browning. Thankfully this bottle was in decent shape and the fruit was holding up. Had a nice balance with the oak, which seems to be fairly aggressive originally, and that medium plus weight. Very slick on the palate.

I'd drink them up.

2/11/2024 - jshufelt wrote:

Pop and pour into a decanter - 30-60 minutes would have been preferable, but this was a last-minute decision to add to the evening's lineup. In the decanter, slightly cloudy pale gold; in the glass, clear pale gold. On the nose, Meyer lemon, followed by a shifting mix of spices - nutmeg, cardamom, thyme, and a hint of clove. On the palate, a mouth-filling oily texture, delivering a foundation of fruit (more Meyer lemon, apples), upon which the spices and herbs come in and out of focus. Class.

2/2/2024 - Remon K Likes this wine:

A perfectly developed wine. It's so beautiful. The mouth and nose are completely satisfying. It reminds me of DRC Montrachet.

1/27/2024 - pjhr Likes this wine:

Continues to drink beautifully! Delicious ripe fruit and floral notes on the nose and palate with silky smooth texture and oaky notes culminating in a long finish.

1/27/2024 - krhaugh Likes this wine:

Decanted about 30 minutes but drank slowly over the next hour or so. Did a blind side by side with a 13 Domaine Serene Recolte. In the glass, a beautiful medium yellow going towards fresh hay. The Recolte was much darker. On the nose, plenty of oak, lemon and tropical notes that continued to evolve with time in the glass. Beautiful juice and a long delicious finish. One of the best Chardonnay's I have ever had.

1/21/2024 - Sonoma-W Likes this wine:

Had in a restaurant over Xmas! Excellent - well balanced, some tropical fruit coming through. Less overtly rich than the 2013s we have had.

1/14/2024 - hanasowner wrote:

Decanted for two hours...an absolute stunner...pale to medium yellow in color...lemon, vanilla, buttered popcorn (?) on the nose...smooth...great finish.

1/15/2024 - JoeDwine Likes this wine:

With Dungeness Crab….
Much like my last review but a slight step back.
Followed over 2 1/2 hours. Great salinity, tension and acidity and worked well with food but has lost some fruit and become slightly bitter. Some Tarragon.The freshness saves this.1 bottle left. Drink up?

10/5/2023 - Sonoma-W Likes this wine:

Excellent! Great Burgundian taste. A bit cloudy. Very complex.

1/13/2024 - MLwine Likes this wine:

Just a phenomenal wine. Consistent with prior notes.

1/13/2024 - acemdin@yahoo.com Likes this wine:

Rumors of this wine’s death are greatly exaggerated. My bottle had been very well stored. It was certainly mature and might have been better a year or two ago. I see no reason to hold it further. But it was smooth and still had fruit. Don’t despair, but do drink up. Enjoy.

1/12/2024 - CWilliam wrote:

Served with appetizers (cheese / olives). Gold color with no real sediment. On nose, butter, lemon, floral and vanilla - not overdone. On palate, similar flavor profile to nose ex. vanilla. Medium body/acidity and no noticeable tannins (as expected). Long finish. Has aged beautifully. At this price point I'd prefer a Grand Cru Burgundy but this is a very nice bottle of wine. 93+/-

1/2/2024 - pjhr Likes this wine:

As delicious as the last bottle! Wow what a finish! Paired beautifully with Whitefish à la Meunière.

12/29/2023 - jshufelt wrote:

Consistent with previous tasting notes - we did the wine no favors by serving it with boldly seasoned vegetables and fish. Still clearly a wine of class, but, if I had to do it again, and having experienced this wine when it shows at its peak, I'd pair it with something milder, so that the full spectrum of floral, herbal, and spice aromatics and flavors present themselves clearly.

12/25/2023 - rustyRudy Likes this wine:

Bright shiny yellow, this is all about elegance with depth and complexity, pretty but subtle fruit and balance. Lovely finish.

12/23/2023 - sh6k Likes this wine:

Good balanced Sonoma Chardonnay — lightly buttery and creamy and fresh fruit notes and a hint of green that brings it together. That said … I don’t see what the fuss is. It’s a good Chardonnay but I don’t see the hype — eg Aubert wowed me a lot more (or the Marcassin Pinot, for that matter)

12/23/2023 - beezer6 wrote:

Johnny brought into Olio.
So good. Round and elegant, rich but not overdone. Lovely baking spice notes.
Long finish. Fantastic wine.

12/21/2023 - Benoit Hardy Likes this wine:

Helen Turley is undoubtedly the reference in California when we talk about chardonnay or pinot noir.

Incredibly rich nose of pear, beeswax, vanilla and hazelnut.

The mouth is exuberant. It’s a sort of Meursault on steroids. We take the Murisalian boldness and add Californian exuberance. This gives an obviously rich wine but its acidic structure gives spring to a kaleidoscopic whole which becomes almost ethereal. It is glycerinated, wet stone, candied pear, citrus, vanilla and honey. Everything is based on an impressive structure. Finish both glycerinated and saline with a length propelled by an acidic touch.

An impressive wine, an experience in itself for me who struggles to find happiness in white outside France.

12/8/2023 - VinoGeeko wrote:

Full disclosure: non-blind. And most expensive white I've tasted to date. And note taken on the memory of this pre-Thanksgiving dinner wine.

It was the most balanced chardonnay I've ever tasted. It was a hair less bold than a good Aubert/Kistler Chard (at a quarter the price), a tad more "French" in style, but equally as concentrated. And yet even the most devoted burghound couldn't call it overextracted. Its primary flavors are beginning to give way to secondary and tertiary- lovely. It was even good on day 2.

Might be worth the cost of admission.

To be short (though I've used the word hundreds of times) I think I now know the meaning of "elegant". Bravo! Will drink well thru at least 2030.

12/4/2023 - rosenst1 wrote:

PnP. Dark gold. No nose; a dead soldier. After a day this showed some signs of life but still the same verdict. Hopefully just bottle variation, as I have one more.

12/1/2023 - englishman's claret wrote:

Very ripe but now blowsy, tropical, verbena, a little reductive palate touch ABV

11/24/2023 - scott@asrestaurant.com Likes this wine:

2013 vintage. Overtly decadent, überripe and spent when tasting just after decanting. No sediment. Initial temp tasted was at about 60 degrees F. Rated an 8.8/88. Beyond golden color in the decanter. Prepared an ice bucket ice bath with double linen napkins atop the remaining ice and placed the decanter roughly 25% into the ice bath. Let sit for 20-25 mins. Retasted. Wine temp was closer to 45 degrees F. Completely different wine. Tasted like a top-notch, 10 year old Meursault with ridiculous amounts of vanilla bean and crème brûlée. Slight undercurrent of acidity wove the entire endeavor together. Now? A 9.4/94. Not my style but it didn't suck. 11.15.23.

11/23/2023 - cos65 Likes this wine:

Bright clear gold
Bright pineapple and golden apple flavors with a hint of wood and enough mouthwatering acidity.
This particular bottle does have some heat (14.3) poking through, so I would likely drink sooner rather than later. (But this actually continues to improve with air)

11/22/2023 - zimmy07 Likes this wine:

This is good, no where near the best Marcassin Chard I have had. started off orangish and after 2 hours brilliant gold, this needs time. I agree served cold or room temp changes this wine dramatically. At the end all the richness, butter and oak from a classic Maracassin but too damn flabby. No other way to say it. I like the leaner style and that is usually with vintage, but this was so over the top not the biggest fan

11/18/2023 - Dancelzard wrote:

past prime, dried cork, golden color, vanilla and biscuit, but little fruit left.

11/10/2023 - dbkitc wrote:

Lightly hazy, golden nectar. Roasted hazelnuts and crisp apple match gloriously with a fall evening. Weighty, ripe and long with a nice finish. Serious and just so special. (94)

11/6/2023 - DavidKehler wrote:

This was rich and very much open. No need to rush to drink this

11/3/2023 - awolffjr wrote:

Mourners Kaddish. Too old. Turning. No bueno.

10/19/2023 - rocknroller wrote:

Judgement of Eagan (Jason P's, St. Paul, MN): Light medium gold color. PNP, drank a glass over an hour plus. Perfumed on the nose, with candied pear, tropical notes, orange and lemon, orange blossoms. On the palate this decadent and rich, soft texture, pear, white pepper, savory, citrus, voluminous, and long. This was excellent, but not quite as good as a couple other even more memorable bottles from recent memory. Big stylistic differences, and I like both a lot, but the nod for me tonight clearly goes to the '10 Bonneau du Martray CC. Group vote was 5-4 for the Bonneau.

10/19/2023 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine:

Cracking the whip; 10/16/2023-10/23/2023 (Eagan, MN): N: The yellow fruits on this Marcassin are deeper and rounder having it next to the Corton, a touch of deep honey without weighing it down, and dried hay.

P: A pleasantly waxy note, yellow and white fruits, a core of honied fruits with the emphasis on the fruits. The honey tastes slightly intense but allows the fruit to still shine. Gorgeous.

I definitely enjoyed this closer to cellar temp as it provided more freshness. It got a little too heavy as it came to room temperature.

10/29/2023 - smurfmacaw Likes this wine:

Extremely nice. Very pure fruit with almost no oak evident and some tannins. Some caramel notes...Very pure fruit but not a fruit bomb. Everything you would expect from a boutique, high end California chardonnay. Not sure why I rated it a point lower than last time I tried it, maybe just a phase it's going through. Obviously mature and ready to drink...looooooong finish...stays with you forever.

10/29/2023 - smurfmacaw wrote:

Bottle was corked big time. Might be time to polish off the 2011 vintage as it's getting a little long in the tooth I think.

10/20/2023 - bsbrown05 Likes this wine:

Plenty of life remaining in this wine, as it was equally drinkable on the second day. I am very happy to have been offered an allocation of this wine, given its prices in the secondary market!

10/27/2023 - curtoro wrote:

Deceased. Sad. Hopefully our remaining bottles don't suffer the same fate. Also, as noted in several posts, cork crumbled.

10/19/2023 - I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine Likes this wine:

Judgement of Eagan Wine Tasting (Jason's House): PnP....What can I say....Marcassin is my favorite Chardonnay producer. I still cannot pay secondary market prices for it, but Marcassin does totally rock!

This flight paired this wine against a 2010 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne. Both wines were stellar, and favorites likely came down to individual palates. For me, Marcassin was the better wine, but it was pretty even for the group, with the 2013 Marcassin edging out the 2010 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne.

The nuts and bolts: Creamy mouthfeel, with baked pear, apple and some citrus and stone fruit, coupled with hints of saline, butterscotch and toasted oak. Always a pleasure to drink and never disappoints!
97+ tonight!

10/19/2023 - galewskj wrote:

Judgement of Eagan (Jason's house): Very similar to a bottle a year ago, just a touch subdued this time around. Maybe because it was paired with a 2010 Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne. This really was fantastic in a full-bodied california chardonnay well. Unctuous mouthfeel, spicy complexity and enough lime/acid to keep it balanced.

10/20/2023 - rosenst1 wrote:

PnP. Medium deep gold. Tropical and orchard fruits on the nose. Peach, pear, guava, mango touch of vanilla. The palate impression is superb great depth and unctuous texture - finish goes on and on. Perhaps a touch low in acid but that is certainly nitpicking. Best bottle yet.

10/4/2023 - GPFontenot Likes this wine:

A lovely explosion in the nose and mouth! Helen Turley is truly a master in the art of making exceptional wines.

9/25/2023 - Minnesota wrote:

Definitely past its prime.

9/21/2023 - rustyRudy wrote:

Golden yellow. Peach, pear, tropical fruit, on the nose and palate. Nicely balanced, hanging in there, still drinking well.

9/18/2023 - daved Likes this wine:

Scrumptious

9/2/2023 - RJWallis Likes this wine:

This is as close to perfection as it gets. Rich, luxurious, palate drenching with legs that go on forever. Opened 30 minutes before drinking and it improved significantly over the next 2 hours. Lived up to its reputation in every way, our guests were visibly, verbally and absolutely floored.