June 12, 2023 - Beautiful deep scarlet robe, olive brine, sour cherry, salty smoked
salsiccia – fully mature and full of life. More emphasis on the savory characteristics in lieu of fruit but still excellent today, on its plateau of maturity and will probably fade out before long. Bought on release and stored in the same home cellar since (The Great Lakes Collector cellar)
August 12, 2022 - Stood the test of time and still holds up. Length and structure still there and quite good value for 43 year old wine.
August 23, 2020 - Still as good as the bottle I had almost 2 years ago
Amazing how smooth and fresh this wine is; no dust or chalkiness whatsoever. Some smooth red fruit and a slight hint of smooth pepper. Amazing stuff
August 13, 2020 - A small gathering at Jailbreak Brewing Co. (Jailbreak Brewery, Laurel, MD): Perfectly mature complex nose displaying generous slightly dry black fruit, blackberry jam, leather, smoked meat, cedar, light caramel, sweet spices and earth. Fully integrated harmonious palate, nicely layered generous black fruit, silky, round and warm, perfect amount of acidity and mineral, and a long sweet black fruit driven finish with leather and cedar at the end. I believe the fruit source for the Brune et Blonde was exceptional back then. This is a beautiful mature Cote Rotie.
June 8, 2020 - Next to the Hermitage, this comes across as a bit blocky and stodgy, but really it's quite nice with rich, black fruit, lots of loamy, cool, dark earth, and a touch of pepper. While this doesn't have the complexity or sophistication of the Hermitage, I'd drink it any time with pleasure.
December 16, 2019 - Great. Rich fruit. Menthol. Smoke. Delicious.
November 3, 2019 - Really beautiful. Still has an earthy nose and palate. Not such dense fruit at this age but softer with the acidity and complex secondary notes holding it together.
May 18, 2019 - Still holding in a great spot. Animale, and barnyardy earth on the nose. Sweet plummy fruit with just wisps of acidity holding. Initially, it felt like it was going to be a- hurry and drink this before it fades- but it kept unfolding and the acid seemed to come on as it sat open. Still very good.
February 1, 2019 - La Tablee: Legends Dinner w E. Guigal & after party (Daniel & SommTime): This was in a great spot right now. It's quite tasty. Still more of that animal and feral but with this underlying structure that keeps it feeling very balanced. Sweet black fruits - lots of plum. Touch of spice. Very enjoyable. Had heard it was worth looking for old vintages of this wine and I'd be inclined to agree. Another level of the 1999.
November 10, 2018 - Absolutely incredible wine - fully integrated and smooth yet still fresh and with good dark fruit notes. Perfect amount of pepper on the back end. Had with 83, 85, 90 and absolutely blew all of those out of the water
Decanted for about 45 mins prior to drinking. Came out with a bit of funk. Did not die too quickly but was also drank up relatively quickly...so unsure of how much more time this might have.
This was better than some of the less prominent years of LaLa I’ve had recently (e.g. 2004)