3/17/2024 - P&F Likes this wine:

Typical left bank, good but nothing too special. We had a glass and opened something else. I've had better from a "lesser" wine in a good vintage.

12/19/2023 - P&F wrote:

It's "correct" and pleasant, above-average but not special Bordeaux. Went well with cap of ribeye.

10/11/2023 - P&F wrote:

Fine tannins, lovely dark fruit, leather - it could still go some years.

8/5/2023 - P&F wrote:

Needs a bit of a decant to let some funk blow off, and better at a not-too-cold temperature. With food, it brought the mildest note of honey and good balance. I like it but not enough to buy again.

5/24/2023 - P&F wrote:

Well balanced, but I'm not getting the tons of structure referenced in other notes. Stands up to food, somewhat off-dry. Pleasant but I wouldn't buy again. Not my taste.

2/27/2023 - P&F wrote:

Lean and taut - too much so for my taste. I can see a comparison with Northern Rhone, but the acidity is dominant. Maybe it will ease up in the future? The fruit is not compelling enough behind the acidity at this price point for me to want to get more to find out. Raw.

2/24/2023 - P&F wrote:

Really very good. Nearly unoaked, if any oak, it seems. Savory. Not complex but fine, especially with food. Balanced. I'd happily have more.

2/24/2023 - P&F wrote:

My favorite English writer said it best: "Fine but not exciting." A little oaky for me. Flinty nose, savory but not complex palate, short-moderate finish. No need to buy more. If Burgundian, village wine at very best, generic appelation moreso. If $35 is good for your everyday+ wine, here's your bottle.

2/19/2023 - P&F wrote:

Drink up if you have them. Still a lovely flavor profile but not very long, and not super complex. Bitter herbs and dark fruit. In my opinion, these are fading.

2/19/2023 - P&F wrote:

Cork was intact but bottle was a little oxidized. I poured it down the drain.

1/22/2023 - P&F wrote:

Excellent balance, just entering its drinking window, clearly not young but years to go ahead of it if you want. Excellent nose, good length. Perfect with steak/cognac sauce with tarragon.

1/4/2023 - P&F Does not like this wine:

This might have been great at some point but it's faded. Starting to taste aged, maybe a little port-like, and looks "bricked." We corked it up and opened something else. This is the second bottle with the same impression.

11/2/2022 - P&F wrote:

Good - well made - structure and balance - easy drinking with food - but waaaayyyyy overpriced for what it is. 4 of us tasted it side-by-side with a $10 bottle, and all agreed that the similarities were too great to merit paying $30 for it again.

10/31/2022 - P&F wrote:

I like an austere Bordeaux. Too dry for others at the table, somewhat more structure/austere than the 2009. It could be more fruited, and I would not call it complex, but at the $30 or so I paid for it years ago, it's just fine. There is no way this is worth the $76 Vivino has it for now - it's good, basic Bordeaux that won't likely improve.

10/31/2022 - P&F wrote:

I like an austere Bordeaux. Too dry for others at the table, somewhat more fruity than the 2010 (which has more structure and tannic grip). It could be more fruited, and I would not call it complex, but at the $30 or so I paid for it years ago, it's just fine.

6/29/2022 - P&F wrote:

My first wine course, years ago, said that Alsatian wines are different from German ones in that Alsatian ones are “typically bone dry.” That is emphatically not the case here. Semi-sweet, but balanced with good typicity.

3/26/2022 - P&F Does not like this wine:

Vegetal nose, poorly fruited palate, short finish. Nothing interesting, lacking typicity. You're paying for the place on the lable. Wouldn't buy again even if I found it in a closeout bin.

1/7/2022 - P&F wrote:

Rand says, “So you go visit your grandmother and in the bedroom where you’re staying is an old chest of drawers. You open one of those drawers and it emits a dusty, musty, cedar smell.” That is the nose. The palate is overwhelming, The 15.5% alcohol is obvious. We have trouble trying to think about what kind of food it could possibly go with. We are eating chicken, Italian sausage, and hot peppers, and it barely puts a dent in this wine. It competes with food more than compliments it. An alcoholic monster with tannins that are a little bit like chewing on a small piece of tree bark.

We certainly wouldn’t buy it again, but it is impressive if you like big, bold, overpowering, alcoholic, heavy wines that will conquer any food you put it in the ring with.

2/14/2021 - P&F wrote:

Lovely and dry, good every day wine. Takes on nuance with food.

2/14/2021 - P&F Does not like this wine:

Sweet fruit liquor. Plums and raspberries. I don’t usually care for wines to have obvious sweetness, but if you do, this is a good one for you.

1/6/2021 - P&F wrote:

Perfectly acceptable mid-week pinot at the $15-20 range.

9/20/2020 - P&F wrote:

Badly corked

9/20/2020 - P&F wrote:

Somewhere between old world and new. Drinkable on its own, nicer with food. A little steeliness that keeps it exciting and GV.

9/20/2020 - P&F wrote:

As someone else said, it’s good but not great. Tasty, balanced, probably OK to drink on its own, but nothing I would call interesting. Pleasant.

9/7/2020 - P&F Likes this wine:

A food wine, good but not great, hints of the “honeyed complexity“ my wine book said I should find. Seems like it could age for another three or so years, doesn’t seem like it has the structure/fruit to go much beyond that. Pleasant enough for now, however. I wouldn’t call it good value at $60 but I guess that’s Burgundy.

11/17/2019 - P&F wrote:

A little rich and modern for me. I like the regular Classico better.

9/28/2019 - P&F wrote:

Got three bottles from a north NJ retailer - all three with the most horrible example of reduction - the prick of sulphur and stench of rotten eggs when given some air. No amount of air or even the last ditch effort of copper pennies helped. A waste.

2/25/2019 - P&F Does not like this wine:

A bit like choosing to knaw on one of Home Depot‘s finest oak planks. The fruit is in there somewhere, hiding behind more oak than I have probably ever encountered.

10/28/2018 - P&F wrote:

Rough, young, still a bit tannic with pronounced alcohol. Will wait 2-3 years for next.

10/22/2018 - P&F wrote:

Decanted, given some vinturi, and rebottled on the morning of drinking (given other notes which suggest it develops). Aromatic, balanced, but one-dimensional. Not much grip, and not obviously young to suggest more room for development. Too bad, for the price.

1/27/2017 - P&F wrote:

Smells like marijuana and litter box. The palate matches the nose. We couldn't drink it. Avoid!

11/22/2016 - P&F wrote:

Jammy but with noticeable tannic structure - smells fruity and port-like. Good if you like high-alcohol, jammy wines, which I sadly do not.

10/22/2016 - P&F wrote:

Much as others have said - big, mineral, honey, lots of finesse, but also toward the end of its prime if not slightly past. It's starting to get an oxidized flavor to it. There's also a reasonable amount of bottle variation. I've had three bottles in the last couple of months and they've all varied in "freshness." I've enjoyed it but wouldn't buy more due to the variation and apparent stage in aging.

12/10/2015 - P&F wrote:

Marginally better than the McCrone vineyard of the same year, in terms of the presence of fruit. Still, light - light - light on the nose, palate, and finish. 2nd worst value for my $50 that I've ever spent. I've had $15 bottles that would blow this out of the water. A good everyday bottle if you don't care about the cash.

12/10/2015 - P&F wrote:

Light body, thinly fruited, faint but pleasant nose but not much on the palate apart from being (just) balanced. For $50, this is probably the worst value I've ever spent money on. This is so much less good than even his generic 2012 bottling (which was about $20). Shame!

11/13/2015 - P&F wrote:

After reading other reviews, I feel I got the only good bottle in the world. I had this with a kale salad w/mild lemon-mustard vinaigrette, topped with some sautéed trout. It isn't an obvious pairing but both brought out the best in each other. The wine has pronounced acidity that played really well with the meal - it is not nearly so good on its own. I'd gladly have it again.

7/22/2015 - P&F wrote:

Good, standard Bordeaux, more on the lighter/fragrant side (as I guess Margaux is supposed to be?). On day one, the nose was much more appealing than the thin palate; on day two, the nose was more pronounced and the mid palate gained some stuffing. Probably better in 2-3 years but pleasant now with a decant. Nothing great but it's competent if overpriced.

7/3/2015 - P&F Likes this wine:

Pretty well integrated, aging nicely. There is a lovely Semillon richness to an otherwise lean Sauvignon streak. I wouldn't say it is special but it is very pleasant. At half the price it could be a very nice everyday wine.

(Day 2 edit: a little more pungency and sauvignon character came out)

6/28/2015 - P&F wrote:

Big and alcoholic. Too much on its own, and it would need a really powerful food to go along with it, if such a thing exists... Steak au poivre? Something with a strong tapenade? Too much for me. But I imagine well done for people who like this big, alcoholic, thick style of wine. 14.5% alcohol.

6/19/2015 - P&F wrote:

This is pleasant enough... but basic Bordeaux for rich people, I think.

6/6/2015 - P&F wrote:

A decant would help, not for air but because there's a bit of sediment lurking. Mild nose of earthy pinot and very drinkable now. In good balance, but really nothing too special. If it were anything but Burgundy, this would be $20, maybe $25. The Burgundians are convincing me that Oregon might be the way to go for good pinot of this savory style.

5/28/2015 - P&F wrote:

A fresh, stony nose and fruit that is still vibrant - with savory acidity that isn't overpowering but present/refreshing. Good length. I'd gladly drink again.

5/3/2015 - P&F Likes this wine:

This is exactly what I think of when I think of Bordeaux. Not over-the-top, very balanced, and beautifully fragrant. A nice moderate finish. Not spectacular but very agreeable.

4/12/2015 - P&F Likes this wine:

Lemony, stony nose - Rand gets a "butter-creamyness" to the nose as well. A mild, mild lemon curd with a slightly honeyed finish - really lovely. If not at its peak, very close thereto. Still some lively acidity to keep things brisk. Drink within 1-3 years.

2/8/2015 - P&F wrote:

The one from last night was over the hill, or very nearly so. Flabby. I'll try another one this evening to see if this is bottle variation or just a wine maturing much more quickly than we'd have thought. Oh well.

1/27/2015 - P&F wrote:

Good, but great? One-dimensional at this point with good length but no obvious complexity. A decant and a 2nd day did not change it at all. I'll hold my $100 for something else. There is no CdP I've had so far that surpasses Rayas Pignan (not having had the full-blown Rayas).

1/27/2015 - P&F wrote:

We agree with everything Xenon said. Definitely a good wine, but not clearly worth my $120. I've had more impressive Vieux Donjons. Perhaps not worth drinking for another while? Even a decant and a 2nd day did little for it.

12/14/2014 - P&F wrote:

Others' recent notes aside, I'm afraid to say that, to me, it's beyond its prime. It was kept in a good cellar by the same owner since bought retail in the 90's. It did open some after an hour or so, but, still, the fruit seemed faded. It is/was obviously a fine wine and really needs food for any kind of pleasure, to get the last bits of savor from it. If pushed, I'd say it was stony, minerally, and after an hour, a bit of honeysuckle on the nose. Drink up. No rating because it just seems done.

11/30/2014 - P&F wrote:

We struggled with the wax on the bottle neck... the cork broke apart. After removing the cork, the sediment still clogged up our strainer as we decanted. Remarkably this didn't detract from what turned out to be a very nice bottle of clearly New World syrah. 15.1% alcohol. Sweet, juicy fruit on the nose, and I always think this kind of syrah tastes of chocolate-covered plums. Chewable, with nice length.

11/23/2014 - P&F Likes this wine:

Very pronounced nose, with tannins that became gradually more fine over an hour. Moderate finish… The seems perfectly ready to drink right now, but could probably go another couple of years. Very pleasant. Much better with food than without.