11/9/2021 - csimm wrote:

Halloween in the Vice Versa Cave: The best young wine I’ve had from across the Atlantic and the absolute show-stopper of the night. The concentration, sophistication, and complexity, even at such an infant stage, are so compelling and palate-grabbing that the dark fruit literally arrests every other sense and forces one to be completely enveloped in the Lafleur’s mesmerizing dose of black and blue berries, graphite, charcoal, black ink, fresh soil, bitter chocolate, peony, and molten lava Kīlauea-meets-Netherlands black licorice obsidian notes. At 54% Cabernet Franc and 46% Merlot, it is a tower of power that is effortlessly balanced and focused. The chiseled frame does everything with exacting resolve to fashion the total physique of this wine so that its fruit core and tannic edging become one. It’s juicy and all at once a tight drum that strikes perfectly with every beat of the stick, finishing defined and sustained.

What happens with air you ask? Well, heck my friend, it makes ya even happier than peeling a whole Cuties clementine in one bust of the skin. It’s just so persistent and thrilling, with more gloss than a pro bowler and his favorite oiled-up ball. The mediaeval gravel component is dark and wet, but also uber-polished. The Lafleur is the 1% of the goth crowd who actually turned out cool and managed to jet off to Paris Fashion Week, hit the runway, and then hang out in Morocco for a week just to work on the perfect tan, being mindful not to dull the foot-long tattoo of Jack Skellington on her shoulder.

Between the 2018 Lafleur and the 2018 Bryant (one of the best Napa wines I’ve ever had), the “Quasi-War” between the Frenchie Armée de Camembert and the Yankee Cheddarhead Cowboys was a straight draw. “And YOU get a hundred; and YOU get a hundred….” The Lafleur was slightly chewier than the 2018 Ausone served next to it, with the Ausone finishing considerably drier than its Pomerol competitor. In fact, when a wine crushes the company of Ausone, Abreu, Pomontory, Lokoya, Pavie, etc, etc all in one sitting, it’s time to call K&L and sell your cellar just so you can afford a couple bottles of this magical juice.

To the yacht and island owners, venture capitalists, sultans and princes, financiers, popes, and all the things I will never be, I say to you fine people: Buy the Lafleur. Buy a lot of it. Cram your bathtub full of it and swim in the spoils of the best grape juice on the planet. To a peasant like me, this is a wine that is an experience, not just something to pour down your jughole. If I had another bottle, I’d treat it like the princess it is, nuzzling up to it next to a warm fireplace, reading it poetry all night, playing with its locks of hair into the wee hours as we giggle and reminisce about times begone. (What…? Oh, sorry. It just got weird didn’t it… Anyway…)

100,000 points for now, with potential to reach infinity to the second power after a decade of cellaring, though realistically, I don’t know that you need to wait until your kids get married and then get divorced before tearing into these. Epic wine.

6/14/2023 - Hugo Hilde wrote:

Perfection (Tøyen, Oslo): Wow, wow, wow.

After a superb bottle of Cheval 47 did not compell me to grant it a perfect score, I feared I would never be moved to sign off a 100 points to any wine.

This wine, however, defined the word flawless. Immediately after pulling the cork, it was clear I was in the presence of greatness.

An explosion of a nose, I could smell it clearly 25 cm away from the glass. It featured blackberry, blackcurrant, so much mineral, sous bois, umami notes, freshly picked stone mushroom, clove, white pepper, shoe polish, leather and vine smoke. My god, I literally smelled this in silence for hours into the night..

Full-ish bodied, at first bitter, then a growing sweetness before an intense coda of forest floor and nuts.
Perfectly integrated tannins, still a small bite, countered by on point acidity, keeping it so balanced and fresh. Not at all heavy, power and intensity without any heaviness.
Also here blackberry, as well as plums, a crazy mineralité, wet soil. The finish is literally endless with sweet orange rind and cherry pits.

This was firing on all cylinders until the bitter end, (2AM, as I and my co-host sat 2 hours after the guests had left, drinking the sediment from the bottle, never wanting to let this experience end..) not at all worried it's going to fade, but for me, absolute perfect maturity now.

What an experience, quasi religious..

7/17/2023 - Hugo Hilde Likes this wine:

This is just so great for its classification.
Pure nose of blueberries, wild strawberries with pronounced acidity.
Vey fresh and light palate with a long strawberry-sweet finish.

Significantly more advanced than last bottle, perhaps not a wine to sit on forever..?

4/3/2022 - Cailles wrote:

Wow, a great call by William Kelley (93 pts). This is clearly punching above its weight (or above the reputation of the the appellation). Quite intense, layered, great structure. Probably just a touch too ripe to get to the 95 pts. Amazing quality/price ratio.

TN: Very fresh nose with dark red berries, cherries, herbs, smoke and minerality. On the palate this shows very fine with a wonderful creaminess, superb freshness, ultra fine tannins. Ripe, pure fruit core, some minerality, smoke notes around it. Superb from start to finish.

Decanting: This was sitting in the glass for at least 30 minutes. Didn‘t need more air, good from the go.