10/26/2018 - Gabriel Geller Likes this wine:

Château Le Crock, Saint-Estèphe, 2016: This is the mevushal version available in the USA. Let me start by admitting to never have been a fan of this estate before. I always found their wines to be somewhat monolithic, uninspiring. Not bad, just not at all memorable. The 2012 is well-made but also nothing exciting, IMHO. The 2015 which is also only mevushal in the states has more to it and is enjoyable but also did not impress me so much. The 2016 is a whole different story. Now we are talking! And this is the mevushal we are talking about! This is a game changer. Dark, impenetrable cherry red with a royal purple rim. The nose showcases an opulent bouquet of ripe cassis, blackberries, cherries, lavender and loamy dirt. Medium, leaning to full-bodied, with a juicy, rich texture, pretty common to most red Bordeaux 2016. The palate showcases beautiful purity of fruit, with notes of crunchy ripe blackberries and wild blueberries, licorice, wet earth, fresh pipe tobacco, crushed rocks, with medium acidity and gripping tannins, as well as notes of dried flowers on the long and plush finish. If the vintages of the past 18 years are any indication this is likely the best Le Crock ever. Impressive effort. I would be very much interested in trying the non mevushal version. Drink 2021-2030. 13% Abv. 91-92

6/14/2014 - Gabriel Geller wrote:

Aged 18 months in stainless steeks, mevushal. Bright garnet in color with on the nose screaming green bell pepper as well as scents of plums, cherries and tobacco. Medium-bodied with on the palate loads of bell pepper, acidic plums, currants, blackberries and cherries as well as spices and tobacco with good acidity and soft tannins that rise on the moderately long finish. This wine is very green, overly green. I like green characteristics, especially in Cabernet Franc but when those green notes are part of the wine, inside it if you like. Here the wine is overly green in my taste, it's like if the wine was "imprisoned" in a raw, green bell pepper with its flavors struggling to go past the pepper and make themselves felt. Not for me. 13.5% Abv.

4/16/2014 - raccah Likes this wine:

This wine is 100% Syrah from Alder springs in Mendocino county. The nose on this wine is ripe and rich with blackberry, strawberry, boysenberry, and root beer. The mouth on this medium bodied wine starts off almost hollow, but with a few hours the wine opens up and shows lovely nice extraction and good spice, with blue and black fruit, red berries and lovely mouth coating tannin that grips to the mouth. The finish is long and spicy with rich leather, tobacco, sweet fruit, and coffee. This is a lovely wine and one that needs time to open, but it is a lighter wine than previous vintages, but 2011 was a hard year. The wine is 13% ABV, not your classic Weiss Brothers number :-)