8/22/2022 - Purple Grillz wrote:

I was so afraid to pop the cork but unfortunately I have made the decision to educate my palate in how to recognize age worthy wines from other wine makers whom no one may no about. I would love to build a world class cellar of wines people do not know about! One strategy could be not breaking the bank, but another would be maybe I find a diamond in the rough and end up with some sleeper collector's items.
That being said, I was right, this wine sadly has no business being open right now. It is incredibly powerful, chewy, wave after wave of tobacco, black cherry, saddle leather, licorice, peach pit, and the peach pit is problematic, the tannins really scrape the finish with this peach pit flavor and astringency. I could do with the volume turned down on everything a couple notches. Based on other vintages of LP, hopefully this will happen. In fact as I think about it, one of my initial tasting notes for this was beef stew and I just remembered that the 1982 LP I had a few years ago had a delightfully floral minestrone soup note. I have always been patient with BDX so I feel strange scoring this, I have never had an LP this concentrated so I cant say I know exactly where it is going. If it relaxes how I hope this is very near First Growth territory. If it remains so in your face, its a 92 point wine, however, if it knits together and stops screaming, 98. Ill go 95, in the middle, for now.
Edit: I decanted night before and immediately put everything back in the bottle and corked it, this tasting was done at lunch, so about 18 hours of slow ox. I took a sip upon opening and it was super tight with what seemed like a hint of Bretanomyces. That blew off overnight and it turned out the bret note was just massive tobacco concentration.

10/17/2018 - Purple Grillz Likes this wine:

This is a Baron to buy and hold. It’s drinking now but in 10-20 years when it sheds the rest of the tannin, the vivid wild strawberry and cherries are going to congregate with the celery seed terroir for an outstanding wine. I’ve had many vintages of this wine and it is #3. #1 is 1964, I assume they picked early enough before the rain bloated the grapes, that they still had a special wine on their hands. #2 was 1989, a different wine, Dark in color, rich. In comparison to Lalande, I see the 1989 Baron as the 1996 Lalande. And the 2000 Baron like the 2009 Lalande, of which both you can read a book through.
Most vintages of Baron are not as flamboyant, they hold the fruit in favor of focus. And unlike the more delicate and floral Lalande, you will never detect any VA with Baron. Patience will be well rewarded here. And like all great wines it gains weight in the glass. The Baron lover that has these needs to fight the urge to pull the cork.

8/18/2018 - Purple Grillz wrote:

Years ago, a family friend and I were talking about his experiences living in rural Vermont. He had barely anything to say except he kept arching his eyebrows and saying very slowly, "Its quiet". I understood immediately what he meant. This wine reminds of that moment. It comes in unannounced, polished, quiet. Its as if someone came in the room, said nothing and started taking care of their business without making a sound, no awkward glances, no shuffling paper. Just feels good to have company.

Same bottle from my last note via coravin.

7/26/2018 - Purple Grillz Likes this wine:

Surprising in a number of ways. Very open for business, don’t be afraid to pop those bottles. Very feminine, expecting something more along the lines of this estate’s 1989 or 1996, I would never have guessed this came from a spectacular vintage. It reminded me of a full bodied Barolo, within 30 minutes, the typical Lalande roasted herbs and menthol were in full display, accented by wild strawberries and even ripe nectarine. A very nice wine but not one I would pair with red meat. Duck, Mediterranean vegetable fishes are more it’s speed. It lost a lot of steam day 2 being open. Not sure how long this will live.

6/23/2018 - Purple Grillz Likes this wine:

Day 1 Coravin

Immediately upon pouring: Aromatics are much better than the drink. You can smell this from 6 feet away and its red candy and cream, once your nose is in the glass everything shuts down though. In the drink, a rock solid core of eucalyptus, strawberry rhubarb pie filling and braised beef, unfortunately some drying effects and some bitterness that seems to be fading.
After 20 minutes in the glass, everything coming together very quickly, red berry fruit and glycerin taking center stage. Bitterness receding. Covering it up to check in on tomorrow,

6/18/2018 - Purple Grillz Likes this wine:

Good wine to be sure but I am not as enthusiastic as many about this. It is ripe but its a baked slightly. The nose has a really fun red candy aspect to it that made me very excited to sip but once in the trap, there was too much stem for me. The tannins are forgiving for such a young wine but the stemmy green center of this is too distracting for my taste. It could just be me today, because I haven't seen anyone talk about this. It is long, it is well made but it seems more like Washington State than Pessac. This a pass for me at $50+. 2015 has many better values.

JS96 VN96 WE96 DC94 JD92 RP92 WS92

8/19/2017 - Purple Grillz Likes this wine:

I'm going 89 points but I will say this has bottle has plenty of potential to pack on a few pounds. it was served along side the 2006 version and with a special telescope Dr. Vindrinker made, we could tell this juice has potential. It's 21 year old brother was showing that the 2012 will soften up its tannin and let that bing cherry fruit and Dr. Pepper high notes start to shine. Not much here for the funk fans, it's a fruit show, which is fine for me and the Dr.

This puppy needs to not be opened for at least 3 years but if you must then let it breath for a minimum of 2 hours in a decanter, otherwise you will be drinking some strange concoction of hair spray, crushed grape seeds and anger. Also, serve between 63-67 degrees F. It makes as much difference as the breathing.

Very happy with this wine, if you can manage approximately $30 for this it's a good QPR. An excellent substitute if your jones for Beaucastel is bigger than your stack.

8/19/2017 - Purple Grillz wrote:

Birthday wine for my wife. Wow. This wine seems practically immortal. Open for 72 hours now, it hasn't budged. It is a beautiful clear, ruby red I can read the dictionary through. All sediment resides in black flakes at the bottom of the bottle. I could blather on about all the notes, but my wife said it best bluntly, it's salami. It actually tastes like some amazing liquid fruit/perfectly aged salami, it has that amazing leather/umami flavor that dirty cellars try to imitate with Bretanomyces. Bret sucks always and forever but the real funky feel is great when you get it.

The finish is long but jagged toward the end or this juice would be perfect for what it could be. I will be getting more of this before it completely dries up.

SIDE NOTE: This destroyed 1990 La Mission, 1990 Haut Brion and beat by slim margins 1996 Lafite and 1985 Cheval Blanc in blind tastings.

6/14/2017 - Jesus H. Christ wrote:

If you consider Rombauer Chardonnay 'Cougar Crack' then this is its counterpart. Would be quite good if bottled in a 375ml and sold as a dessert wine and embraced that expectation, but alas, it is trying to game the higher end Cab market. It's wines like these that gives ammunition to France to laugh at Napa's efforts. If you like flabby skittle notes and a long lingering finish of stewed raisins, this wine is for you.

5/24/2017 - liteagilis Does not like this wine:

Although I will probably like it, I don't like it now. It's pretty unpleasant. Face ripping tannins over dark fruit. Candidly a mighty, even great bottle, but not good to drink now. That said, everyone else in the room loved it. Thought it was the 'best ever' Etc. Also, someone had already told them how great it was.