4/29/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Amazing CA syrah. Maybe the best. Big frame, deep fruit, brightness and still very early in its drinking window. This could get better. Long finish. Not too funky or meaty like some US syrah, but elegant while powerful.

4/29/2024 - Winevestor wrote:

Well made and big red. Big tannins and structure from the tannat, not tamed quite enough by the 20% cab. These wines are educational but enjoyable?

4/29/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Well made and well priced. Hard to go wrong with Alsace. Easy to drink

4/29/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Good Howell Mountain cab. Well made, softer tannins than expected but this is just getting going in the drinking window. Plum, and a little bramble.

4/29/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Great big CA chard - best in the business. Great acidity, full of fruit, citrus, peach, and great structure. Amazing drink - drinking well but good for a long while.

4/12/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Very good Pinot Blanc given the trocken treatment. More complex than expected with great acidity and medium body and citrus and stone fruits. Very good QPR.

4/12/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

A little muted, but still a good trocken wine showing the pinot gris character. One of the further flung Kracher offerings.

4/12/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

OK, this is the end of an era for me. This wine was how I was introduced to the big Aussi Shiraz. It was made by the Marquis husband / wife duo. And was absurdly big and fruit and smooth. You have to be in the mood and this is not in style any more. But here we are 23 years later and it is still drinking beautifully, giving the big leather and meat vibe. My last bottle. I've tried the more recent vintages (not Marquis) and although good, they are not quite the 'experience'.

3/27/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

I lost this in the cellar, but although at end of its drinking window it was still fun to drink. The Sicilian reds all have that medium body feel and are light on their feet, but give good flavor and complexity. Interesting looking at my old TN: the wine has developed, lost its cola, and gained some weight. Interesting.

3/27/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

So good. Well aged and throws a large amount of sediment - almost vintage port like. Deep black fruit, with rustic edge, leather and tobacco. Deep in its drinking window.

3/27/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Good wine for easy drinking. Makes you think a little. Well made Rhone white.

3/27/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

A good, enjoyable, well-made wine. Not as great as the hype, but still good. Medium body, good acidity, some oak and medium finish.

3/18/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Petrol on the nose (I'm very sensitive on petrol and smell it on a fair few German Rieslings). Fuller bodied than most, good acidity. Citrus and honeycomb. This will go for several more years, interesting to see how it improves. Not particularly complex at present.

3/4/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Good wine which reminded me more of NZ than some of the other Loire SB. Nice drink.

3/4/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

You can't go wrong with these Auberts. The benchmark of US chard. The viscosity and oak (more subtle these days) with the delineated flavors and acid. Just amazing.

3/4/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

I used to buy the Keller GGs. No longer - they've gone up so much in price. The basic Keller Riesling trocken - I love. Bracing and such a great wine. So I thought I'd try the RR. Wonderful wine! This has the acidity of the basic Riesling with a little bit of RR. It makes for an interesting wine to sip and ruminate on. Like the other TNs, I think this has a long way to go, but is still drinking beautifully now.

1/23/2024 - Winevestor wrote:

Well made. A little syrupy. Black brambly fruit. Ready to drink.

1/22/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Better than my last bottle which may have been off. Lovely classic Aubert, seems to be more restrained with the oak, but still has the Aubert precision. Great drink.

1/22/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Surprised to see this was a screwcap German Riesling. Maybe I'm behind the times. This was delicious. Very unctuous (RP term) for a Kabinett. Big body, citrus but peach also. Drinking well and may get better still.

1/22/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

I had the 2017 just recently, which was good, but this was a lot better. Great precision and dialed back on the oak. Lots of stone fruit. Complex and long finish. Just great.

1/22/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Great drinking wine. Not much tannin, but black fruit and a big hit of black pepper.

1/22/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Very well made and tasty number. Good red fruit, with mid tannin and long finish. Its good for a few more years, but I don't think will get better.

1/22/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Its interesting people are all over with their TNs on this one. I really enjoyed it. Great fruit, citrus and stone fruit. Hi acidity which gave it a pop for a chard. Delish.

1/1/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

I look over my previous TNs and I would replicate my last one. Lovely wine!

1/1/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

More and more Sancerre is becoming my go-to restaurant first course wine. This was a good example, good acidity, citrus but the herbaceous notes muted in this old world wine. Great.

1/1/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

I'm not sure how they do this. A big wine, with good tannin and black fruit. Really young but definitely ready to drink. And a little complexity. Great QPR

1/1/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

I'm trying some of the other grapes and the Bonarda was great. Good quick drinking wine, but with bright black fruit and more heft than I expected. Nice!

1/1/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

I'm a big Alto Adige fan and this did not disappoint. Lots of the great acidity and delineated flavors. Citrus. Yum.

1/1/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

My first Chave and did not disappoint. Big wine but integrated and surprizingly elegant. Lots of meat, and black fruit. Drinking well now, but more to go.

1/1/2024 - Winevestor wrote:

I'm looking for Gavi these days on menus. Its a straight forward white, with good acidity and a medium body. Citrus and stone.

1/1/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Cayuse is such a distinctive wine and at the top of the range, the Frog is wonderful. Very integrated, good funk, lots of plum with earth and soy in there. Right in the middle of the drinking window.

1/1/2024 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Lovely viscous wine. Medium to full bodied, but I thought it would be more so. Maybe it will put on weight with more age - its got many years to go. Pear and peach, and stone. Lovely drink.

11/13/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

A revelation! A very acidic tart SB - just my style. It could have been a German trocken if not for the SB grassy and lemon flavors still there. I'm now going to look for other Leyda wines. And amazing quality for money.

10/30/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Maybe I was off this day, but this wasn't as good as other Auberts I've had. Still great, but not the precise flavors I've had recently. Still a wonderful drink. I won't score it and say it was me.

10/30/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

I lost this in the cellar. I was sure it would be dead as a dodo. But no - it was certainly near the end of its life, but actually in great shape. Plum and prune, full bodied, leather - lots of tertiary flavors. Great!

10/24/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

One of the the benchmark Torrentes for me. Very floral honeysuckle, elderflower. Intense nose and flavor. Medium acidity, and good finish. Best on its own. Love it!

10/9/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

This is my last bottle and it is a sad goodbye. Lovely wine. I have a first world problem comparing the PM to Aubert and after a couple of attempts I prefer the Aubert by a hair. The PMs are more subtle and lighter. But both are fantastic and I enjoy my problem.

10/9/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Just a great and consistent wine of this style. I love the Baron wines. Big and fruity, but with funk and barnyard. These are less wild than the Cayuse, but make up for it with complexity.

10/9/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

This was a revelation after the last bottle. This has now come into its prime. Amazing Grenache - unlike anything else I've had. Delineated and oh so tasty. A big grenache, all cherry and just ripe raspberry. I see in the TNs that this is a polarizing wine and it is definitely big and new world. But what a wine. I've had more of the HP Syrah which I also love, but I'm now going to run to the cellar for more of this. Mmmmh.

10/9/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

In a half bottle. This was a little disappointing. I'm a big Keller fan but know his trocken wines better. This was a well made wine, but it wasn't exciting. Good fruit, medium acidity and not complex. It will be interesting to see how this ages.

9/25/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

Not as good as my last bottle, and I question how much longer this vintage will go. However still great CA Syrah. Not as crazy as WA, smoother, but still with that great Syrah fruit and earth. Nice wine.

9/25/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

My first Lavoro. Lovely wine! However I had it over 3 days and it was like a different bottle each night. The first night was not great - it seemed disjointed. I would decant this in the future. The second night was great, much smoother with integrated tannins and big plum fruit. Third night it had lost some of the fruit but was still bright. Interesting wine and I'm looking forward to tasting more.

9/25/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

This is probably the best Aubert I've had. I havent had the Eastside before. A little more fuller than others, more complex fruit (some tropical notes). The oak there but now overpowering. Just an amazing Chard of this big, oaked style. Amazing wine making and wine.

8/27/2023 - Winevestor wrote:

This wine perplexed me. So much so, I'm not rating it. Over 3 (coravin'd) nights it varied so much. The first night it was not in my bailiwick, it had some oxidization, which is a big turn off for me, and not what I would expect. Different wine on night 2 - it had filled out a lot and almost had an orange hit about it - again not what I was expecting. Then third night was the most like a good Wachau rieslilng. I've got a couple more bottles and will be leaving them for a while. I've no idea where this wine will end up!

8/27/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

An easy drinking Chard. Not yet complex, maybe it will get more so. Lot of good ripe fruit. A well camouflaged acidity. Just easy drinking now.

8/13/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

This is a hot vintage, but at this age it was no problem. This was fairly straight forward, but there is nothing like a well made 20 year old Bordeaux from Pauillac! I recently went to Bordeaux and went to a number of great chateaux. I tasted some lovely great wine. But..... no 20 year old wines - for the general public they are only in your cellars. And this was better drinking than any of the young wines that I actually had in Bordeaux. Deep plum, drinking beautifully and will last longer, but probably not drinking any better. Not terribly complex, but just delicious.

8/8/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

This was a delicious Grenache (Cannonau). I will now look out for more from Sardinia. Great nose and then delicious in the mouth. Clean flavors of plum, garrigue. Long finish. Drink well now but good for a few years. Excellent QPR.

8/7/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

A great Mourvedre! Beautiful bouquet and then subtle in the mouth. Cherry, soy. Light tannin and good acidity. Lovely drink,

7/30/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

I've had this for several years, and I love it. It is consistent also. It is ad different wine - very Sylvaner. For me this is a gooseberry taste which is not for everyone. Big wine, strong fruit, hi acidity. I had this early, and this can go on for a few years. Yum. They have other wines, but this is my favorite, which is not something you can always say about Sylvaner.

7/30/2023 - Winevestor Likes this wine:

I had it over 2 nights. The second was better than the first. It will be interesting to taste this again in a couple of years. A more robust pinot noir with cherry and plum. Light tannins.