4/23/2024 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Last bottle of 10. Surprisingly young red fruit on open. Decanted about 6 hours by the time it was consumed. No new notes to add to the community, but I did enjoy the wine. It did go against an '04 Leoville Barton at dinner which was enjoyed more. Onward. M

4/22/2024 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Last bottle of this. Still pretty delicious. It's light and lively with a lot of the fruit other notes have called out. There definitely is a toasted oak finish. Given all the above, this wine can definite go a few more year. For all the CT peeps who still have this wine, hold for a fun occasion. Cheers.

3/14/2024 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

I know this is early, but I wanted to try it as I only have 1 bottle. Decanted for 2 hours. Great bottle of wine. I don't drink a lot of Margaux and this was pleasantly surprising for me. Tons of soil in the mid palate and the fruit was very present also. Shared blind with my somm buddy called out 'sneaky oak' after tried the wine with food. I thought that was a good comment as there is a lot of tannin at the end is probably masking the oak. If you have a few bottles of this, I think it's fun to try it a bit early and assess the wine. I liked it and just purchased some more tonight.

I'll go with the crowd on the rating. 93. Cheers.

2/18/2024 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Quality Napa cab enjoyed over a fantastic dinner. I have 2 more bottles that I’ll save for a meal with friends given how well the bottle was received.

1/27/2024 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

NR - Purchased recently from KL recently when they were selling a number of past vintages. Opened D1 with 3 hours of decanting. Tried the wine on opening and immediately regretted opening the bottle. It's too early to open this wine. Drank half of the bottle D1 with my somm buddy. Lots of tannins. Definitely high quality and got some 'maple syrup'. D2: settled down a bit. mix berry syrup and some vanilla with the oak. Again, too early to enjoy in my opinion.

Small side note: our brown bag included an '82 3 Palms and an '12 Pape Clement. Palms was excellent and Pape was excellent D2.

I have at least one of every Backus vintage going back to 1997 and I've only opened the 2004. Wait 20 on these. There are not many opportunities to enjoy and the wine needs to integrate.

Cheers.

1/8/2024 - sfbikeguy wrote:

NR because of my late note. Opened a few months ago from a recent purchase. This is the 2nd time I've tried this wine. The first was the 2013 with my brown bag group and they thought the '13 was excellent with great floral notes. 6 months later the same group thought the '16 was missing the floral notes of the '13. I agreed. I have a few bottles of each left. We'll revisit. For now, I'll hold off one buying more. I did purchase a 6 pack of the '20 Pape Clement that I'm looking forward to trying soon.

11/17/2023 - sfbikeguy Does not like this wine:

Wow. This is my third vintage of this wine. I loved the '19 and enjoyed the '20. I opened 1 of 12 '21 to try it out. I'm super disappointed with the wine. It is suprisingly sweet. Almost Caymus-like. My comments are from Day 2, where I had about 6 ounces yesterday and stored the bottle overnight in my wine fridge. I doubt it's a single bottle issue. I think I'll pass on this wine going forward. I've been moving to old world wines for a while now and this is just not enjoyable to me. Not rating the bottle as I'm total confused what happened in '21 compared to '20 and '19.

Looking forward to seeing some more commentary on the wine from others.

11/11/2023 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Scoring 94 to increase the overall CT score. :)

The '10 ClG is an excellent wine. In my opinion it needed 4+ hours of decanting for the drinking experience to catch up to the bouquet experience. I purchased this bottle on auction from the local big shop, but it was worth it. Lots of green and chocolate notes and a massive wine per my good somm buddy. I have other year of ClG, but keep coming back to the 2010. I'll need to pace myself as the '10 seems like it's in its early drinking window. Cheers.

11/1/2023 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

From magnum. Just an excellent bottle of wine. Sharp upfront notes upon opening. Also needed to be cooled a bit further. Beautiful after 30 min and cooler further. The wine was used to toast a close friend’s 24th anniversary of being cancer free. Perfect in all respects.

8/13/2023 - sfbikeguy wrote:

Last bottle of a few I purchased in the last year in NorCal. Agree with the recent notes from MGDM and others. I'd call out current prices are creating a lot of mis-priced wines in today's market and there is going to be a reckoning. Hurray for Capitalism and get ready for the swing to the other side. I drank this over a steak myself (my wife was out) and I would chose something more interesting if I was hosting a friend. Net net, drink sooner than later if you have some bottles left. I do not agree with the 2032 end window. Cheers.

7/15/2023 - sfbikeguy wrote:

From a recent 6 pack purchase. Slow ox opened for 5 hours. Mocha and minerals on the nose. Once my somm buddy and I started drinking, the wine needed about 30 min to settle down and for the fruit to flesh out fully. In my opinion this is a elegant and feminine wine. Just excellent. I know this can last for decades, but with 202x Bordeaux prices what they are today, why buy those?

Cheers

7/11/2023 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Excellent bottle of wine. I'm going to describe this as feminine and elegant. Was fortunate to find this at Costco of $53. Excellent QPR. Cheers.

7/6/2023 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Nice bottle. Much more enjoyable than my last one. Moderate red color, not the auburn of the last bottle. Started drinking after an hour of air and enjoyed it. Hoping my remaining bottles are similar. I’ll finish the bottles I have soon to make room in my cellar.

6/13/2023 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

A great example of a CA Cab. Decanted for about 90 min to get some air and had with filet tail. At the moment, this is in a great spot. Still has plenty of time left. The tannins are reasonable the fruit is very enjoyable. After dinner I brought the bottle over to my somm buddy to share as a reference. He said the wine used a used a high quality oak and was pleasantly surprised it was Phelps. Congrats Ashley and team. I have one bottle left and I've marked it for 2027. Cheers.

6/10/2023 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Notes are from Day 2, stored in a 375 filled to top.

Nice wine. Agree, you're not going to guess Bordeaux. Lots of fruit. Lots of minerality/graphite on the finish. Lots of tannins. But somehow easy to drink and it is way too early to drink. I'm holding my two other bottles until at least 2027 to see what it becomes. I will look for the 2019 and 2020.

6/10/2023 - sfbikeguy wrote:

Purchased in 2017 and held til now. Drank with a somm buddy blind about an hour after opening. This is a bid of an awkward wine. The acidity is clearly there, but he called out the fruit as a mashed apple. I also thought there was no richness to the wine. As a side note, the bottle had the price tag on it. $60 marked down from $80. I purchased in 2017.

3/11/2023 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Definitely a big wine. I decanted for 4 hours. Brought to my somm buddy's garage to share via brown bag. He called out a lot of oak and its darkness of the color and guessed CA Cab. My thoughts were the wine was young (too early to enjoy now as it was very primary) and bright. I left the bottle with him for Day 2. His Day 2 comment was "It's massive. It smells like the 05, but it way, way bigger. It's got a cooling menthol thing."

I love hanging with people in the wine industry.

So great wine that you can still purchase for pretty high price. We're both in the camp this needs 10-15 years. Cheers.

3/9/2023 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Our last bottle of this wine. Enjoyable as always. Some wonkiness wrt to the balance of acidity, body and minerality, but enjoyable none the less.

2/3/2023 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Solid, interesting wine especially for the price. Definitely benefits from extended airtime of a few hours to open it up. I recommend this. NR since I don't have any reference points to similar blends.

12/31/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Enjoyed at a NYE dinner with a 2019 Kistler. I preferred the DuMol, but both wines were nice. Everyone enjoyed the DuMol and the magnum went surprisingly fast with 9 people. Cheers.

12/31/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

First time enjoying this vintage. Purchased from local retailer and the bottle came from a private collection. Previous experience is 2010 and 2015. Enjoyed next to a '07 Monte Bello and '05 Hillside Select. This is relevant because all 3 wines are in very different quadrants and the ClG was the most enjoyable/interesting by far for me.
Tasted at 90 min of decanting. The fruit appears much younger than its actual age. Made the glass look like stained glass after swirling. Some forest floor. Definitely chocolate. I didn't sense any green notes like the 2010. Agree on other's notes about the firmer tannins. My som buddy tried it blind at 90 min and guessed St. E, but said the signals of a more modern fruit style conflicted with his guess on age. Said it could be an early small producer but didn't guess a vintage. I did disclose the producer after. :)
Decanted about 6 hours by dinner. Net net, I'll enjoy my next bottle in a few years to see how the tannins integrate more. My style of wine. Cheers.

12/4/2022 - sfbikeguy wrote:

No Rating. Opened another bottle this evening and I knew I was in trouble immediately. The nose was way too rustic. I don't know how to describe it except to say it was way past its prime. I did open another bottle of this a month ago and that one was very enjoyable. (I forgot to post a note). So recently, I'm 2 of 3 that were drank too late. I have 4 more in storage and I'll pull of them to drink in the next month and report back. Looking back, it looks like I made 3 separate purchases of this wine, so I'm hoping if I had a bad batch, I'm done. Cheers. :|

11/25/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

From a magnum. Great wine for an Xmas style dinner the Friday after Thanksgiving. A 17 year old Insignia is very different from a younger Insignia. It may be considered a bit monolithic at this stage of my palette as I now search for nuances in a wine, but it’s very enjoyable for a ton of reasons. Decanted for 4 hours which is short for me. I prefer 8 hours and it would not have hurt the experience. As usual, a lot of comments that the wine improved over the time we enjoyed it and everyone wanted more after it was gone. Definitely a winner. Thanks to Ashley and the JPV team.

10/10/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Surprisingly / Unsurprisingly excellent. 2nd to last bottle. Years ago I talked to Kerry on the phone and he said the whites were not meant to be held long. I said they did great with some age. Here's a 10 yo Chard and it is thoroughly enjoyable. Counter to that: I have a few bottles of the 2019 Chloe and they are definitely brighter.

I'll save the last bottle for a brown bag tasting with my technical friends, pair it up with a 2019 also and see what they think of the two.

Full disclosure, the real reason I still have the 2012s is that I 'found' a six pack unmarked in storage. Winner!

Cheers!

10/9/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Solid. Enjoyable for a Sunday dinner. Definitely had some tartness and acid, but it worked well with our food. One bottle left.

10/2/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Unfortunately I had to open one of these for the weekend because my selection at home was limited. Poor planning all the way around. Enjoyable on Day 2. Fortunately my local store has more 2018s arriving soon. I'll buy a case and put them down for a year or five.

9/29/2022 - sfbikeguy Does not like this wine:

NR First time trying this wine. Not a good bottle. Just tastes way past where is was supposed to be enjoyed. It's been open an hour. I'll see where it goes, but I'm concerned. BTW, this is not tainted and has been properly stored. Just not enjoyable. I have 6 additional bottles....

9/26/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Excellent as always. In a great spot right now. I have two bottles left and I’ll enjoy these in the next 6 months.

9/11/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Enjoyable for the price. I'll wait another year before I try another one.

9/4/2022 - sfbikeguy wrote:

More ‘present’ than the 2015. I can see where the 2014 is appropriate where you want a softer red.

8/21/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Last bottle and it was great with a dinner at friends that ordered Snow's bbq. Decanted for 4 hours to get some air. Highly recommend this based upon my prior notes. Note on bottle prep: this wine has tons of fine sediment, so useful to do some decanting. Also rinsed bottle before refilling and transporting.

Sometimes a wine lands great with certain food, and this wine did that both before dinner and with bbq. I have some of the more recent years of the Phelps Cab. Hopefully they'll be as enjoyable. Cheers.

8/27/2022 - sfbikeguy wrote:

I pulled this wine when reorganizing some of my storage today. Auburn in color when poured into the glass. Decanted for 3 hours. Had with swordfish for dinner and afterwards. This wine is not in my quadrant. It was not really interesting with the fish and afterwards. Not sure what I'm going to do with the other two bottles. I did pull some other 2010 BdMs, so maybe I'll open a few and compare. I have so many more interesting wines coming in, it's time to clear the ones I don't enjoy.

7/19/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

After enjoying my first bottle a few weeks ago, I brought a second bottle to a friend’s for a steak dinner. I opened the Malartic a few hours before dinner and we decanted for an hour at his place. He opened a $100 2013 CA Cab that was very floral and nice before dinner. Once we started enjoying dinner, the Malartic won the night. It was a much more enjoyable wine with the steaks. Since the 2015 is available now, I’ll purchase a bottle this weekend and if it’s similar to the 2012, I’ll purchase 6. I highly recommend trying the wine, especially for the reasonable price. Cheers.

7/17/2022 - sfbikeguy Does not like this wine:

Hmm… decanted and drank over 3 - 5 hours. Without food it was unremarkable. At 5 hours with a steak it was dark and brooding. Not much fruit. In my mind I’m picturing a grumpy guy chomping on his unlit cigar. So maybe it was better in the first two hours??? Not for me.

Small update to add there is some fruit there, but it’s lurking in the background.

7/4/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Really nice wine. I’m pretty sure this is my first time enjoying a Pensacola-Logan. I was rushed on the first day as we decided to have steaks last minute. The wine was very approachable on opening, but was much better after 90 min and 3 hours. Kept 1/4 of the bottle to the next day and both of us thought it was more enjoyable the 2nd day. I have 3 more bottles, so I’ll stagger these the next 5 years? I also like the wine enough that I’m considering buying some late 2015 arrivals. The local NorCal store has the 2015s for $65, so start enjoying in 2025? Maybe. Looking forward to enjoying the next bottle with friends to see what they think.

6/10/2022 - sfbikeguy wrote:

Enjoying at 2010 Insignia and 2010 Groth Reserve with friends this evening. Opened both at 10am at the office to get them breathing LOL. After two hours, the nose on the Insignia is beautiful. The Groth is still a bit tight. My kind of aroma therapy. Won't be tasting until this evening. I'll report back tomorrow.

6/10/2022 - sfbikeguy wrote:

Enjoying at 2010 Insignia and 2010 Groth Reserve with friends this evening. Opened both at 10am at the office to get them breathing LOL. After two hours, the nose on the Insignia is beautiful. The Groth is still a bit tight. My kind of aroma therapy. Won't be tasting until this evening. I'll report back tomorrow.

4/23/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Thoroughly enjoyed this wine on recommendation of the somm at Locanda Verde in TriBeCa in NYC. I asked for something Italian with some age, fruit and barnyard funk. This was spot on and it was great to try something new. I’ll look for the wine in retail. He mentioned they normally sell younger vintages. Cheers.

4/1/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Nice wine. More enjoyable the 2nd day. Didn't help that I rushed the first day.

3/3/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Just a great bottle of wine. My observations are consistent with the recent notes from others. Decanted for 4 hours before dinner and brought the bottle to a steak house opposite a 2013 Sinegal (Napa Cab with a lot of fruit).

My buddy said it the best: "I need to be drinking more of this type of wine."

I'll look to buy some recent vintages of this wine and in some quantity so I can try over time. 1 bottle left of the 2013.

1/18/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Agree, great wine for the price point. I'll add that the wine seemed flat on Day 2. Definitely less enjoyable.

3 bottles left. I'll try in early 2023.

1/3/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

I opened this bottle about a month ago and forgot to enter notes. I can say the wine was surprisingly enjoyable. If you've seen the movie Rataouille, tasting the 01 took me back to that moment I first tried Montelena in the early 2000s at the winery and it put a smile on my face. I'll stay with the pack and rate this wine a 92.

I have one bottle each of the 97,99,01,02,03,04,05. I'll try to find a chance to pair up the bottles in a tasting with other wines from the same vintages. I'm familiar the winery's challenges in these vintages, so it'll be an interesting compare where I'm able to do it with friends.

1/20/2022 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Just fantastic. We love DuMol, especially the Chloe. I can't see this getting any better, so please enjoy soon. Small side note on this wine, I was inventorying my storage when I came across a 6 bottle box without a 'bin' number on it. Looking at Cellar Tracker, I realized it was not in my inventory! Better than finding a $100 bill in a pair of pants.

1/20/2022 - sfbikeguy wrote:

Agree with other notes. Still young and tight. I'm commenting as I drink a glass on Day 2. It's difficult to justify buying and holding more than 3 years at this price. Seems like this needs another 2-3 years for the wine to evolve to the experience I was looking for.

1/9/2022 - sfbikeguy Does not like this wine:

Disappointing. It took the expected 2 hours to open up on Day 1. There is just not a lot going on here. On Day 2, it was almost flat. Focusing, I can get the profile of the wine, but this wine is just not worth the $60 I paid in June of 2016 and held in storage until today. If you balk at that statement, the same $60 invested in TSLA is worth $1,026 today (22x).

It's experiences like these that cause me to question the buying and holding of moderately priced wines. It's a tough game and it does not help when my local wine shop is ringing the bell on the wine and today offers it for $90. Sometimes is all Marketing.

I do have one bottle left. I've set a note to 'wait' a few more years to see if my comments are off.

12/31/2021 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

opened and started decanting at 1pm for NYE dinner at friends serving Beef Wellington. Have not tasted yet, but the bouquet is very nice. I'll post notes tomorrow.

12/31/2021 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Enjoyed this last week after a 2 hour decant. This was my last bottle. I don't have many 2010's remaining and I had pulled my last 2010 Phelps and Larkmead to do a comparison with friends. So the Ridge won't be in that contest. I can tell you this was a solid bottle for the price and you won't regret enjoying it now. HNY Ridge. Thank you for your wonderful wines.

9/24/2021 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Opened 4 hours before dinner. Did not have an opportunity to decant. Brought to a steakhouse for dinner with friends. Everyone liked the wine but I was expecting more. One bottle left. I’ll give it a try in a different circumstance.

7/20/2021 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

Great bottle of wine. If you don't have some Paloma in your cellar, you are making a mistake. Seriously. This bottle had plenty of time to go. Opened 4 hours before dinner. This wine is really under priced.

7/9/2021 - sfbikeguy Likes this wine:

I'm drinking my first Backus with a friend tomorrow over steaks. I have one of each bottle from 1997-2016. Planning on giving it 4+ hours of airtime. I'll probably open the bottle around noon and start a decant around 3. Open to thoughts ahead of time! I'll post after.

- Punted dinner to next day.
- pulled cork @1. Noticed cork was very soft on putting in the cork screw. Despite being very careful, cork broke.
- The immediate nose on this thing is MASSIVE. I won't taste yet. Just going to enjoy the bouquet the next few hours as I work some work done. :) I'll taste and consider decanting around 3.