Hosting Dinner for friends at home. This is still relatively youthful. Capsid and pepper on the nose. Very classic and restrained and none of the "chocolatey" opulence I would naturally associate with the higher end Guigals and especially the LaLas. It must be that the oak has largely integrated. I did not find either the lifted and floral aromatics imparted by viognier. This was opened at the end of the night and it is entirely possible this did not receive the attention. It deserved.
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Medium brownish garnet color. Sediments. Bricking.
Scents of violet, licorice, clove, and forest floor. Kirsch-like liqueur note. A distant hint o Brett(smoke and leather). Black berry fruit is very dark, fresh and elegant. Cured meat sensation in midpalate. Long savory finish with black pepper and tobacco leaf.
Good intensity and wonderful nuances. The fruit is getting mature, but not fading at all. Tertiary complexity emerging.
Going strong. Can go for another 7-8 years easily.
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Sunday lunch (Porcine, Oxford Street): Dark berry fruit, is fresh, smidge of peppery and charcuterie is joined d by a little leather and earth. This all translates to the palate which proves juicy and, considering the age, surprisingly fresh, tannins here; a slightly chalky burr, but are integrated, a little dark fruit, leather and pepper, joins on the finish. Yum.
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Primary red, darker core. No brick. Soft, lightly fragrant , dark berries and spice, char and licorice. Red berries, raspberry, sour cherry zest with a seam of dark spice, hint of leather, soft and supple mouthfeel. Delicious now. Soft fine tannins.
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Wine Night at TCC (Timuquana Country Club): Very enjoyable wine and fun to drink next to the '03. General consensus is this was the better of the two. It had a bit more age from a year that was warm but perhaps not quite as hot as the '03. A bit of a floral note to it. Darker fruit. Drinks nicely. Had been double decanted before coming over and I expect that helped a lot with the wine versus the last time I had it.
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Still going very strong; was good in the glass 4hrs after opening. Have 3 bottles left and don’t feel rushed to drink it but also wouldn’t necessarily buy more
Moving to secondary notes but still has some good fruit / freshness for the first hour or so.
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Finally reaching full maturity with a 3-hour decant, this shows gorgeous smoky flavors with dark fruits and superb spice-driven complexity. The texture is all silky and savory with good acidity to keep it fresh. The finish is fabulous with layered notes of campfire embers and slate minerals. Wow and peaking now but will still last for years.
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PNP and needed 60 minutes but with air this is a very nice northern Rhône that showed a very nice mix of fruit and complexity and as good as an ‘06 La Mouline tonight. A-
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My 3rd bottle from the same perfect case within a year. I seem to reach for it when I am indecisive between a Burgundy and a Bordeaux and it then just hits the sweet spot for me. Like it from Zalto Bordeaux served with fillet and ribeye steak it totally did the trick melting tannins, good cherry liquor fruit concentration, sappy mid palate, tiny bit grainy long finish, deft kiss of sweet oak still well integrated but I am so curious to see how the wine shows when the oak is much further pushed back which is why I just bought a case of 12 and plan to keep it for 5-10 years as this for my palate is in the very early drinking plateau and I would think the middle of the plateau is going to be 2030-35 but the wine will be in superb shape till age 50.
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Although I typically don't like to use the word "Burgundian" when describing any wine that isn't actually from Burgundy, especially a Syrah, I couldn't help but the utter the word to describe the style currently being exhibited from this wine. What is initially surprising is the amount of energy here. Lighter-bodied and lithe, almost the exact same color as two actual bottles of Burgundy at the table, this Guigal offers interesting garrigue and red/black cherry notes that are complimented by earth and pine notes.
If you're into Mollydooker milkshakes or blackberry neutron bombs, this is so left of center from that style you might as well scratch the d'Ampuis completely off your list. This was an excellent food wine, and was a perfect pairing with Mediterranean fare. Score higher if you prefer more airy versions of this varietal. Score lower if you prefer to chew your purple juice until your braces chafe off.
Hypnotic nose, lovely long plush mouthfeel, medium bodied, fresh acidity, crushed violets and saline tang, plummy fruit, deliciuos. 1 hr decant. Improved at 3 hour mark, plenty of life left.
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Decanted for two hours. Attractive nose of black fruit and smoke meats. The wine is full bodied, decent balance, showing black currant, black cherry, herbs, smoke meats. Overall very classic aged cote rotie.
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Thought it was passed its peak as some seepage noted but it just needed time to open up. Quite heavy colour, almost ruby. Slow ox in bottle for 3 hours. Last glass was the best. Leather, pencil, black fruit notes. Some acidity and tannins almost fully resolved. Lalala is clearly a large step up
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Q4 2021 Wine Club: The Return with Aged Rhone (Our apt): Wine #2: I think this might have been helped with a double decant as it was a bit chunky and that detracted some from the experience. It’s more fruit with a background of the more mineral notes. Drinks well (2 pennies)
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From a perfect case in bond. Very young with a one hour decant hitting you with bags and bags of fruit - akin to a young-ish Pomerol with intense cherry liquor and crushed rocks. Guigal always has a hefty oak treatment which is now coming integrated and shows like cashmere and silk interwoven with this great 99 fruit. Such a great pairing with the venison dish but I would say this is still drinking on the primary side. Can go 20-30 years easy and some more pepperiness and meatiness should come through over time.
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Bloodmeat, white pepper, menthol, discrete lavender-like floral scent, that is for the nose. Spheric midpalate , fully resolved tannins and good interwoven acidity that provides long lift before final brings some sweetness and muted blue fruit expression. No fireworks on the nose but a very harmonious end-to-end aged Cote Rotie expression.
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While this doesn't quite have the complexity of the La La's, it's a fabulous perfumed Cote Rotie with a great savory texture and a layered refined texture with classic flavors of aged black fruits, minerals and violet spice. The finish is long and satisfying with notes of campfire embers and dark spices. Awesome and still drinking youthfully. At King, NYC.
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6 of 12 Opened at 2:00, decanted at 4:00, served at 7:00. As recent TNs acknowledge this wine is in a wonderful place and drinks very well indeed. Tonight was no different, although the 1987 La Mouline it was paired with was excellent this more than held it own delivering great value and runner up for WOTN
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Wow, this is fantastic tonight with marinated skirt and what a pairing! Fully mature now but still so vibrant with succulent acidity to go along with the deep flavors of black fruits, warm asphalt (I actually tasted it once), campfire and eucalyptus. Very silky on the palate with a layered, juicy effect and the finish is grippy and complex with notes of violet spice, char and stony minerals. Wow!
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Wow. A beautiful expression of Cote-Rotie. In a great place now with plenty of life left. Opened 6+ hours before, decanted 2 hours before drinking. Could have used a bit more.
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Slow ox for one and half hours. Terrific nose of blackberry, roast meats and olives. The wine is fully mature, medium bodied, showing a great balance of fruit and savoury elements and a long finish. This wine was terrific and only a step or two between the la la’s in quality.
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This needs time; oak very present, this is all about winemaking even at this point, 21 years on, kirsch, blueberries and chocolate. Tasted over three days, and while it does get a little bit better on the last day, there really is'nt much change. Wait ten years and it ccould come around.. #IB
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Absolutely loved this wine. 3+ hour decant. The early fruitiness on the nose gave way to an earthier and smokier bouquet with the decant, and it opened up beautifully. Silky finish and notes of blackberry, tar, and leather, but oh so subtle. A great wine. Looking for more...
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Deep Smoky dark raspberry Nose. Thickly-textured with rich black fruit flavors and strong notes of campfire and smoked meats. This has great acidity and freshness to go along with the maturing notes of dark spices and smoky minerals. Captures the essence of Cote Rotie.
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Served blind, thought cdp, thought 08 or 09, fairly young still, lovely pretty nose, bit more floral than the 05 Pegau Laurence drank alongside, char nose, rich, full bodied but great balance, at least 10 years left, hasn’t budged much from the last bottle 2 years ago
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1999 Northern Rhone Tasting along with 67 Pall Mall Philippe Guigal Masterclass (Line up: E.Guigal La Landonne '99, E.Guigal La Mouline '99. E.Guigal La Turque '99, Chateau d'Ampuis '99, Rene Rostaing Cote Blonde '99, Rene Rostaing La Landonne '99): Nose of kirsch - took some time to open up but was worth the wait. Black fruits, kirsch, figs, spices on the palate - resolved tannins and velvety. This still have legs. Would drink this any night. Good stuff!
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Dark ruby with bricking. Complex aromas of smoky bbq meats, blackish red fruits, olive tapenade, charcoal and pepper. Mature palate shows savory dark berries/meat stock, hint of licorice and pepper, good acidity, no tannins and a long smoky/charcoal tinged finish.
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On the nose: Stable, leather, smoke, chark, forest floor, truffel On the palate: Smoke and meat, tar. High wine acidity. starting to decline Medium + finish
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This just smells like a campfire after cooking. On the palate, it's layered and delicious with smoky dark raspberry fruit along with classic CR flavors of smoked meats and black asphalt. In fact, it almost feels like warm, sweet asphalt just rolling over the tongue. The finish is intense and complex with good acids and a wonderful floral lift with notes of violet spice and graphite minerals. Just gorgeous and best after about 2 hours in a decanter.
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Perfect fill - perfect cork - perfectly mature and delicious - rose petals on the nose - fully resolved tannins - great length... goes on for 20 secs - powerful but elegant - plenty of life left - so glad I have two more - outstanding!
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Northern Rhône Dinner (semi-blind) (AB' house, Keizersgracht Amsterdam): Classic expression of Côte-Rôtie with that typical haunting perfume. In Guigal-style; technically well-build, focused and elegant. Complex nose reveals the Syrah-pepper, fresh prunes as well as notes of tobacco, grilled bacon, meat and mineral. Full-bodied, silky and elegant on the concentrated palate with dark fruits and 'band-aid' in the finish. Tannin not fully resolved. Might well further improve with time and gain point(s), now: 94+
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From prior notes:"Dark ruby color. Nose was red fruits, spice, licorice, Palate of blackberry, blueberry liqueur, strawberry preserve, pepper, savory and herbs. Rich mouthfeel, secondary characteristics on the mid palate. Long and nuanced finish...."
Mostly consistent, picked up a bit more savory/game, spice and tapenade with this bottle. In a great spot, should last some time, but...I think it's fully mature at this point and may risk decline. Would drink within the next 5 years to get the full experience (IMO)
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My last bottle and perhaps its best showing. A bit alcoholic and oaky when first poured, but after some air, this really came together. Fully mature, aromatic, silky and long. Great texture and breath on the palate. Went great with cassoulet.
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PNP and enjoyed over 2 hours. Consistent with previous notes, this is ripe, balanced, and in a great spot right now. You could argue about the complexity of the wine, but still if you are a Northern Rhone fan and are okay with the ripe character of '99 this is really good and a great buy. A-
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Dinner at Le Comptoir, San Rafael, CA. From 750ml.
Popped and poured, this was accessible from opening and blossomed over the course of the evening. Classic cote-rotie smoke and wild game/damp fur aromas, with a core of dark red fruit and complicating cracked tellicherry pepper and purple flower aromas. Very nice and definitely entering its drinking window.
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Not quite as strong as other recently tasted bottles, but not flawed. Still drinking well with good depth. The nose was dominated with red fruits, pepper, herbs, and floral notes. Still very smooth and nicely balanced on the palate.
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Dark amber-purple; smok, touch of V.A., aged meat, thouch sweet like cherry candy powder like pixy sticks, with earth, shrooms, tarmac; elegant, tannins mostly resolved, really nice. Dirty Dozen N. Rhone tasting at Taylors.
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This bottle was an experience. Even after 20 years it was fresh, floral, and vibrant. Classic northern Rhone savory notes and beautifully made all around.
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I feel like I shouldn’t rate this wine until tomorrow. First time I’ve tasted and I’m guessing it’s just starting to reveal its full potential at age 20. This is not a blockbuster, rather it is a balanced wine with some underrated qualities shine through. Wet saddle leather on the nose though not over done. In the mouth, there is medium ripe Syrah fruit without the alcohol, Carmel and ripe pepper that can turn me off.
This is a Cote rotie with finesse. No big fruit, no graphite or pencil led - just elegant, cool climate Syrah with good acid that pairs well with food and should age 20 more years. Special stuff from a special place.
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(Tasted blind) Complex, mature nose. Dark fruit, bramble, herbs. Then very Côte-Rôtie aromas of bacon, meat, smoke, coconut, coffe and haunting perfume. Lovely. Full, rich and generous palate. Oaky, but who cares with this concentration and richness. Splendid acidic spine. Fully mature tannins. Smoke, sausage, violets and pepper. And long. Very good grip. Actually guessed right on this one.
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Exquisite Cote Rotie with a perfumed nose of smoked meats, dark raspberry fruit and a wonderful floral note. Quite full and intense with juicy acidity and that streamlined graphite/mineral silkiness that Cote Rotie develops with age. The finish is still tannic but showing sublime and complex notes of minerals, charcoal, violet spice and sweet char. Still should develop further and gorgeous tonight with beef stew. I think the Ampuis is very, very close in quality to the La La’s. 95+
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Quite a bit better than a bottle I drank four years ago. This bottle was purchased on release and perfectly stored, so provenance might explain the difference. Ripe strawberry and plum fruit, with a nice smoky/meaty note. There is quite a bit of sweet vanilla oak flavors still present; while not too off-putting, it seems to mask what is obviously quality fruit underneath. I will try to continue cellaring and cross my fingers the oak integrates.
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Pre Chistmas Dinner at The Papies (The Papies, Elizabeth St, London): Keeps getting better and better and this is now well int he 94-95 score range for us and has easily another 10yrs or so. Required a good hour+ of decanting , please don't rush it as on open is on the muted side. But once it starts to sing its a super beautiful and elegant cote rotie. Dark fruit, textbook smoky, roast meat nose, good rich profile on the palate and with lots of depth. Very Very good wine. 95
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näsa med vitpeppar, ålder, mörk frukt, tobak, körsbär och liten hint av fat.
smaken är ändå bättre än näsan, ganska taninig och känns faktiskt yngre än 1999. Mycket chark, tokbak, mörk frukt och lite stall i smaken. gillar verkligen detta vin. svinsnyggt!
stor skillnad i denna notering mot vad jag tyckte senast jag provade vinet. känns som de kanske lagrats olika och utvecklats åt olika hål.
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Requires decanting and once it hits its stride its a class act. Lovely smoky, roast meat, interlaced with a herby touch nose. Good fruit, still vibrant and barring the color the rest of the wine felt very much alive and youthful. Dark fruits on the palate, good feel of oak which is a bit of a Guigal signature, light mocha feel. This is a super wine just hitting its proper stride and really this will mature and evolve for another 15 years easily. Gladly given we have a few we will participate in this journey. 93-94
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Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened and decanted for 1 hr prior to serving.
After decanting this was in a beautiful place. All the components were integrated and alive, evolving constantly and positively over the course of the evening. Fully expressive wild Cote Rotie nose combining power and finesse, followed through with a palate of mature syrah flavors of game, pepper, wet fur and cracked pepper intermixed with strong mineral and floral notes. The palate was open but still with sufficient youth to suggest this will continue to evolve positively in bottle.
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Bonus bottle after Dominus tasting. Very nice and suitable choice with a slightly americanized (Parkerized) European after a long vertical with top Napa's with a European touch.
Beautiful wine, perfectly mature, rich and meaty nose. Smooth and soft mouthfeel with blue fruit and lovely maturity notes.
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Outstanding! P&P, bu sur environ 2 heures. Il a évolué sans cesse et sans aucune fatigue. Le nez est passé par plusieurs dimensions classiques du terroir, avec l’ombre de quelques arômes secondaires mais si peu. La bouche impressionne en particulier, ample+, acidité bien droite, tanins encore charnus et de grain très fin, légère prise minérale, tout en équilibre, très belle longueur... Il a encore beaucoup de temps devant, mais il est si bon à boire maintenant avec cette homogénéité de sagesse doublée d’une ossature qui le fait vibrer encore... Difficile de résister! 94-96+?
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BUD IS 75! (Abbot Street, Ngaio, Wellington, New Zealand): Drunk next to a less-evolved and less-expressive Turley Petite Sirah. This is a beautiful example of the modern Guigal style, and it is absolutely ready to drink at the moment. Excellent varietal expression, bacon fat, bottle age, and nuance. Great balance. Will go a long time....
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YAWG Rhone vs. Grange: Restrained nose. Quite ripe, streaky bacon, a little thin on the mid-palate. Medium+ Tannin, good acid on the finish and well integrated. Dry, herbal component.
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Dinner with Dave (Mathilde, San Francisco): Really lovely nose with black pepper, white pepper, musk, black fruit; palate is medium bodied, medium acidity, medium palate, black fruit, nose more complex than palate, fresh medium acidity; medium to short-medium finish. Nose was exceptional, with the palate good but falling a bit shorter than the nose promised. Still a lovely wine. 92
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At Lalimes in Berkeley. Decanted for 4 hours. Almost purple in color. Powerful nose of dark fruit and roasted herbs. Blackberries and cassis in the mouth along with savory herbs, licorice and a hint of allspice on the mid palate. Some leather and certainly black pepper. Good finish. An outstanding Cote Rotie. Wonderful to drink bow, but I suspect it will last for a goodly number of years.
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Greek Easter Sunday at The Papies (The Papies, Elizabeth St, London): Decanted for a good hour. Still very dark and vibrant and is holding strong. Quite a herby side, less smoky this time and Andreas who tried this blind thoguth of it as having some Cab Sauv in the blend and struggled to place it as a Cote Rotie, Trevallon was the guess. Dark fruited, vibrant, well round and is ageing gracefully. Very Solid once again. 93
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Fully mature, light bricking. Focused, concentrated Côte rotie with flavors black fruit, garrique, roast meats, olive, spice. Nice nose but a little flat in the mid palate. Full bodied with still pretty full tannins but they are well integrated. Overall showing quite well.
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Crémaillère chez Oana et Adam (Saint-Bruno): Vin élégant qui se boit si facilement, il en paraît presque superficiel. Il ne faut pas en sous-estimer la profondeur. C’est un vin aérien, finement poivré, sensuel. Un délice! 93 pts
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Wasn't nearly as complex or expressive as some of the younger vintages I've had of this wine. May have just been a slightly off bottle. Still great wine though and paired beautifully with dry rub BBQ ribs.
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Dinner at the Papies (The Papies, Elizabeth St, London): A much more muted expression here than a year or so ago when we tried this usually superb wine (Papies 95). Maybe its because we had it after the excellent Chave 1995 ( Papies 94-95) or that this bottle was not behaving it gave us only glimpses of its greatness. Luckily we have a few more bottles of this. Will not rate this time but felt like a 92 at best.
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Very nice Syrah , aged but not old . I thought this was better 4/5 years ago , but this is nice . Good amount of fruit to taste , which was better than the nose.
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Muted smoke, blueberry, hints of animal hide and toasted almond; poised, mouth-filling, expansive, balanced, gradual rolling development and completion, long finish and hints again of muted smoke; not overly complex but noticeably poised and quite delightful
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Medium ruby. Blackberry and grilled meat. Medium weight, some glossy wood present. Beautifully fresh fruit, some herbaceousness, smoke, and meatiness. Remaining round tannin. Drinking very well now but this bottle could have gone on another 5 years.
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Popped and poured and this was great. Was looking for a nice, rich, Northern Rhone and this hit the spot. Great concentration, length, finish, and drinking really well right now. A-/A
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Light ruby to tawny rim. Textbook Côte Rôtie nose-bacon, smoked meat, camphor. Medium weight, real restraint and elegance. Beautiful red/blue fruit and fine acidity. The tannins did not intrude but provided some spine. Tremendously sexy wine, persistent sweetness in the mouth. My experience with this wine has been all over the map; this bottle was a winner at a perfect stage of maturity.
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Final bottle of the evening, a late decision to open this after an 03 Rudd Oakville Cabernet. Last tasting of this 3 years ago...splash decant, drank over an hour.
Dark ruby color. Nose was red fruits, spice, licorice, Palate of blackberry, blueberry liqueur, strawberry preserve, pepper, savory and herbs. Rich mouthfeel, secondary characteristics on the mid palate. Long and nuanced finish.
This is in a really great spot, even more depth than last tasting. I didn't decant this time, would do so next time if I have time. Should continue to drink well for 7-10 more years...
Côte-Rotie & Hermitage 1999 - chez moi (Frederiksberg): The style is the same as in La Mouline, but this is the better wine, more structured, better acidity and balance. Too young, certainly, still oak here to be integrated.. Grand Vin. 95+
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Steak Dinner with Great Wine (RPM Steak - Chicago IL): Black berries on nose and palate with licorice and black peeper. Excellent weight and concentration with same fruit and spice. Very fresh for its age. If blind, I'd have thought much younger.
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Misc Tasting - Terkel Style (Birkerød): Very complex with notes of aged meats and blood but also raspberry fruit and game meat. It does show a little bit of cheese and oak influence but everything is knit together very nicely. The aftertaste is just stunning and packed with spices and intensity. A hugely impressive wine and it has developed a lot better than I would have expected! Stunning!!
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No notes taken but on recall this bottle was singing. Secondary flavors, complexity of flavor profile and weight and palate texture of the wine were the stars.
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Classic nose of warm asphalt, dark smoky fruits and baconfat. Delicious flavors that echo the nose along with good underlying acidity and notes of smoke, game and truffles. Medium-bodied with excellent intensity and a certain animal quality that is quite intriguing. Finishes concentrated and complex with minerals, animal fur and tar. There is a lovely underlying sweetness here and kind of a meaty texture. Approaching maturity but will surely last and perhaps grow more complex. A simply fabulous Northern Rhone. 95+
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Amazing wine. My first Ampuis from Guigal. wonderful nose of dark fruit, leather, smoke, and game. Lovely acidity with delicate tannins, all very nicely intergrated. At its peak now, but I guess there are some years left for this beast of a wine!!
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Decanted for a good 25 minutes. Needed. The wine now is in a great place. Well evolved yet still fresh, well assimilated oak. Still dark in colour, smoky , roast meat on the nose, light spice. Well round and silky in the palate yet with a tension and gives you the feeling this has a long way to go. A beauty of a wine. 95 easy
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A Côte Rotie Evening (San Francisco): Still deep ruby. Pure confiture on the nose. Round, ripe, background wood. A lush, New World style Côte Rotie with plenty of character-char, smoked meat, wonderful amplitude and sweetness of fruit. Fleshy and definitely not for lovers of a more restrained style.
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My current favorite vintage of d'Ampuis. Drinking extremely well, with so much depth on the palate. The nose is absolutely mesmerizing, with its ripe red fruits, garrigue, white pepper, herbs, and fresh flowers. Beautifully balanced on the palate. A lingering finish. Everyone at the table absolutely loved this wine.
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Tasted blind. Yes, yes, yes — I love it! Finally, a truly great French wine in my blind wine tasting experiments. Surely it’s French. Indeed, this must be Northern Rhone (Hermitage or Cote Rotie).
This wine offers incredible smoked meat, olive, and pepper aromas. It is wonderfully smoky and minerally, but it has great fruit too. Can’t be too old with all this fruit, but the tannins are very approachable. I love the way this drinks right now and would love to drink it 20 years from now.
I’ll be totally embarrassed if this isn’t Northern Rhone, but I’ll still post it. It’s amazing that fermented grapes can taste like this.
Rating: 96
Non-blind p.s.: I was wrong about the "cant be too old" part. Wow, great wine.
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Beautiful nose of smoked meats, black pepper and violet spice. This has evolved into a classic expression of Cote Rotie terroir with deep flavors of black fruits, charred meats, animal fur and woodsmoke. Still a bit gritty with firm acids and tannic bite but it continues to soften and show great floral lift. Finishes complex now with notes of dark spices, slate minerals and succulent smoky fruit. Guigal's top wines are too often drunk young and judged on that basis but if you give the Ampuis 15+ years and the La La's 25+, they show as classic expressions of Cote Rotie in every way. This is delicious now but should still continue to age beautfully and probably improve. 93+
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This wine was singing from the get go, and is a clear step up from my last bottle (Sept 2015). Bouquet was all about pepper, dark fruit, bacon fat and tar. Great texture, balance and structure, truly in a great place
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Popped and poured at Wood Tavern, OAK. Wildly expressive and complex nose right out of the gate whose elements shifted and resorted continuously over the course of dinner. Not nearly as evolved on the palate, with youthful tannins and a solid core of fruit suggesting more time in the cellar would be beneficial.
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A small impromptu dinner with Trip B (Eddie V's - Tysons Corner): Explosive nose displaying intense youthful black fruits, blackberry liqueur, crushed black cherry, lavender, charred steak, black pepper and mineral. Exceptional concentration, beautifully layered fruits, bright acidity, sweet tannins and very long black fruit and mineral driven finish. The best showing of this wine. Unfortunate, my last bottle. This will improve with further cellaring but drinking fantastically in a very primary way. This ain’t Jamet but that doesn’t mean that it is a monolithic wine.
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My last bottle. Opens clean and classy, no bottle stink or need for long decant. Mature, elegant syrah.......harmonious, reasonably nuanced.
For my tastes though - I find it just a bit too boring. Straight laced, polite, upright.....good manners. Easy to admire.......... and easy to grow bored of after a glass. I think I'm prefering the good rusticity of Cornas or a nice funky bordeaux. Such are the first world problems of mine...
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Even medium ruby. Very complex aromatics-menthol, green olive, some smoke, dark red fruit. Poised, medium weight, very nice feel. Ripe, gentle sweetness of fruit, herbal complexity, fine acidity, and round tannins-this was real Côte Rotie in its elegant facade. Much better than either of the 2 previous bottles over the past couple of years. Notably, the wood which seemed so dominant did not intrude at all. Excellent showing.
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Powerful nose of black fruit, baconfat, charcoal and slate minerals. Still rather firm and young but definitely showing secondary flavors of black pepper, slate and Asian spices. The finish is complex with somewhat rustic tannins but in a good, raspy way with notes of charred beef and smoky minerals. Really benefits from being decanted for as long as possible and while this is showing great now, I think there is more to come here down the road. 93+
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Beautiful nose of liquid slate, smoky black fruits, campfire and smoked meats. Really opened with a 1-hr decant and then showed intense dark fruit flavors with notes of wood-smoke, slate and violets. Quite structured with lots of fresh acidity and as a result, really at its best with food especially roasted meats. Quite a steely, silky texture along with a fine density. This is beautiful, authentic Cote Rotie that needs a bit more time to reach peak but it's getting there. 93+
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As with the bottles earlier this year, this wine is youthful in all respects, dark color, black fruits, integrated maturing tannins, quite energetic and engaging.
This wine represents an excellent value point in the Guigal family, priced just above the Hermitage and Cote Rotie Blond and Brune and less than half the price of La-La's, bravo!
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Decanted 45 minutes, this is still very young. Concentrated fruit, some leather, and noticable tannins (but ripe tannins) on the finihs. Showed really well at about the 90 minute mark, but still then it begs for a bit more time. Should be quite good in a few years. A-/A
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Lovely wine with expressive nose and soft long finish with nice earthy component but clean fruit profile. Starting to come in to its own, yet no rush on this wine.
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Easter with McG Family; 4/3/2015-4/5/2015 (Gerroa): Silky, balanced, lovely texture. Med wt dark fruit and soft spice flavours. The weight is soft to medium, with age most likely having softened it up. Pleasingly refined but not overly expressive flavours.
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Deep ruby almost to the edge. Cedar/pine wood and just a smidgeon of florality. Medium weight. Diffuse black tinged fruit is overpowered by acidity and the chocolate/cocoa quality of the oak which leaves an unpleasant dryness at the end. Where is the rich, fruit-filled wine that others describe? This is entirely consistent with a bottle I had 5 years ago; no noticeable improvement whatsoever. More smoke and mirrors than real substance here, I'm afraid, at least for the bottles I've had.
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Decanted for 2 hours. Dark, brooding but very refined nose of black fruit, with hints of tobacco, spice and game. Full, firm and robust on the palate, with subtle tannins that melted into a velvety finish. A very fine example of mature Cote Rotie
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Decanted for an hour, should have been for 5+ hours. Dark dense appearance, very Syrah nose of dark - almost blue fruits, dense and young. Earthy and meaty, full bodied, pure dark primary fruit core. Smooth and thickly textured with broad shoulders and a medium finish. This is still a very young wine just barely at the early maturity point of what will surely be a long life
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This is a fine Cote-Rotie, properly mature, but with a long life to come. It certainly benefits from a good decant, which has been well expressed here. Earthy and meaty, medium to full bodied, pure dark fruit. Very smooth, a good acidic backbone, and delicious soft tannins providing impressive length and a tactile and chewy mouthfeel. dg
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Nice nose of ripe berries with leather, earth and spice. On the palate nice acid level with tart cherry and red berry notes with gamey overtone. This is just in the beginning of it's drinking window. I think this will get more complex with more time.
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Provades blint mot 9 andra viner, ceder stall, lätt frukt, choklad, tobak är de korta noteringarna jag gjort vilket fick mig till Paulliac, viner är ritkigt gott och fint utvecklat. växer under kvällen. riktigt kul vin att få prova.
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I doften början till mogna stalltoner, ceder, läder, lite rökta charktoner, körsbär. I smaken mogna mörka körsbär, tobak, choklad, kött och början till elegant mognad. Fin balans med bra syra och fin frukt och bra struktur. Provades blint och från början var jag inne på Bordeaux. Ett riktigt bra vin.
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Rather mature nose with smoked meat, herbs, mint, tobacco, dust and leather, barnyard, red berries, touch of smoked oak and minerals. Palate shows beginning maturity, medium ++ acidity, tart red berries, dark cherries, good concentration and length, fine tannins and a touch of spice and pepper. Fine, in its first stage of maturity. (93 – 94 p)
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On the nose, Stable, leather, liqourice, meat, cedar, chocolate On the palate, Tobacco, stable, leather, meat in the aging the fruit is slowly fading. Medium finish
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This is the style of Cote-Rotie I was expecting filled with ripe fruit and leather and spice. It was along with the Guigal La Mordoree the favorite of our IGG tasting.
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I was hoping the 15 years of age would provide complexity and tame the rich oak notes... but this came across as very ripe and anonymous with noticeable oak and lacking in complexity. Not a bad drink, but not an interesting wine. A bit simple, with only dark fruit and creamy vanilla flavors coming through for me tonight.
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there was some user error here. i think this needs a very long decant and we gave it maybe an hour. last sip was by far the best, was a bit closed, fruit a bit muted. the bottle and cork were perfect.
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Dark and vibrant color, showing plenty of age ability left. Nose was classic and crisp - wet stone, underbrush, herbs and tart red fruit. Palate showed strong acidity, with notes of dark cherry, mint, and earth. Needs time.
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Balanced and approachable. Soft tannins but still present. Nice fruit but more savory than anything. Over the evening some meatiness developed but not over the top intense. Really nice.
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At 15 years of age, this is in the perfect spot. The fruit is still young, lively and energetic. The secondary aromas are in bloom and the tannins have softened. If you have a bottle, open one. You'll be glad you did.
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At Bistro Jeanty, drank among a table of big wines (mostly European) Palate cleansing exercise after three days of big Cabs. This is a great and knowledgeable crew of wine friends, brought to drink next to a 2000 Pegau.
Dark, inky/ruby color. Nose had raisins, red fruits, spice, bacon fat. Palate was red cherry, blackberry, strawberry, pepper, licorice, dried herbs. Good concentration - Would benefit from a longer decant, great wine but felt like it needed more air time to really show, may be up a few points on next tasting...
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With a beautiful sense of purity in the sweet, ripe, red cherry, black raspberry and strawberry fruits, the wine is fresh, zippy, peppery and concentrated. Drinking in the right place, the lively, red berry finish is long and clean.
Deep dark red. Youthful. Ripe red/black berries, smooth, hoisin, spice, licorice, graphite and violet. Silky, med wt, long rich palate. Lovely blend of dark spice and fruit, fruit dominates, blueberry and ink. Not much pepper, some dried herbs, plums, tar, licorice. No gamey chars, fruit dominates. Quite a few years ahead.
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Really coming into its on since the last bottle I had 4-5 years ago. This wine is wonderfully balanced and yet had a nice assertive fruit profile. Just wonderful.
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Still somewhat stiff after a 4 hour decant, and probably still too young. Dark burgundy in color and restrained nose. I am still hoping this will some day open up. Very enjoyable, but not amazing. Be patient.
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Opened by Jcubed last weekend. Ruby red color. A medium bodied wine with fine tannins. Notes of raisins, red berries and bacon fat. Extremely fresh character for being 14 years old. I liked this better than the 2000 vintage which I had back in 2004; but then 1999 was such an outstanding year in the Northern Rhone that it is not surprising. 93-94 points.
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Opened by J3 at Anvil. This did not have the awful barnyard that I've come to hate in Northern Rhones. Meaty notes with some bacon fat and white pepper. I don't think there is any hurry here.
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Post-holiday dinner w/eyesintime (Anvil Club): Aromas of bacon fat, dark fruit, pepper, mineral and red berries. Complete and balanced, with roasted game, pepper, spice, red currants and herbs on the palate. Lingering finish with red fruit, bacon and spice tones. A terrific bottle- thanks jcubed.
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Guigal Château d'Ampuis - complete vertical tasting of 1995-2009 (Stockholm): Medium red, rather compact colour, slightly faded edge. Nose with dark berries, spice and pepper, violets, animal notes, slightly herbaceous, mint and mineral, slightly developed notes with barnyard aromas and leather; elegant. Palate with cherries, blackberries, good concentration, some mint, mineral, medium(+) tannins, aftertaste with berries and acidity/tart notes. Fine balance, starting to mature, should be allowed more time in the cellar, 93+ p. Less developed than the 1998, slightly lighter and more herbaceous nose, but more elegant.
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With spanish food at Donosti. Came after a well decanted Aalto PS 2004 (written up separately). This was PnP unfortunately. Came out quite primary on first few tastes. Nose was muted for the first 10-15 minutes. Very syrah, very french cote-rotie, very good. Much better half an hour later. Certainly lots of time left on this one and will get better. Glad I have a case+ to see the evolution. Could see this getting at least a couple more points in the future.
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Well this was rather wonderful. Just starting in on prime time too. No rush here. The magic of the moment was serving it on the salad course -- kale, buttermilk and garlic dressing, then smoked beets. A perfect match and a shebang to the beginning of the meal.
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Beginning to hit its stride. Rich, dark and full of fruit, yet silky and coming together. Not exceptionally complex but very enjoyable and a nice effort. (92)
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This was not bad out of the bottle because of the lush fruit, but better with some air. Certainly not a classic in style, but this is really concentrated with plenty of game and a long finish. A-/A
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Bacon fat, floral, boysenberry, earth, kirsch, pepper and garrigue pop along with the cork. Silky, rich and filled with layers of sweet, ripe, delicious red and dark berries, this Cote Rotie is moving full speed ahead on all cylinders.
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Oh yum. Serious yum. Smoke, smoke, more smoke, and the some roast beast with a heavy dose of beef blood. This screams of Syrah. Clearly modernist and well-endowed, luscious and yet satisfyingly savory as well. I didn't really want to like this wine as much as I did, but it was an absolute stunner. My last bottle of 5 and utterly singing. Grip 'em and rip 'em. This wine is screaming right now.
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very hedonistic right now showing boysenberry syrup covered rusty iron fence with cinnamon dusted funnel cake. juicy and plush, this thing took a couple of hours to open up...i like where this is drinking right now, and i will be anxious to see it again in four or five years...
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Right now this just very, very good. Needs a bit of air (it is old syrah after all), but not overwhelmingly much, it is actually quite showy; still a lot of primary fruit here, a lot of pepper, olives, black berries etc, while secondary, more animal notes are just beginning to show. The wine is quite polished as to be expected from Guigal (and in such a mature year), but the oak is fully integrated. I think it is like this with the 99’s: They have been good all their life and will live happily ever (almost) after.
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Holy cow, this is good juice. Not sure I could really tell this apart from some theoretical mixture of the various LaLas, and at 1/6 the price, a huge winner. Go Find More!!
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Some decanting is advisable but not too much as it affects the nose. And what a lovely nose of roast meat and fruit with a touch of spice.on the palate very much firm, vibrant with silky tannin and good length. Well in its drinking window now. 94
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Fresh,reach,youthful,dark-colored,intense. Great balance,elegance and finesse. The tannins are starting to soften and bring delights. Red and black berries,blackcurrant,meaty,earthy,spices,herbs,a bit floral and all in all complex and charming. Mascular body,generous with a fresh and persistant finish. Will definitely profit longer aging.
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Dark purple color, long legs and little rim. Once opened tha tannins are very dominating, but wihen airaited the dark fruit takes command. This wine has all the right elements, bramble and boysenberries, spices, olive and bacon fat. But there is also a green/herbal note that disturbs the picture ever so sligthly. Still on the young side I will leave my second bottle a few years in the cellar.
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I like wines young, old and in the middle. I prefer finding them finding them in the sweet spot. Coming up on 14 years of age, this is the sweet spot. The perfume with its spice, earth, kirsch, black raspberry, bacon fat and pepper pop the moment the wine hits the glass. In the mouth, the lush, polished, ripe berries and cherries are in full force. There is not a hair out of place. If you cannot afford the famous La La's, (and who can?) this is a contender for the best value in a high end Cote Rotie from a legendary vintage in the marketplace today.
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2009 Cote Roties (and a few others) (Trent's): This was opened after the tasting was over to see how well Cote Roties can age. Pop and pour. This is still very youthful and not yet at peak. Purple/ruby in color. The nose is expressive with black raspberries, black olives and very deep. It is amazingly smooth. Drinks so easily. Great depth and complexity but packed very tightly. Black raspberries. Not the acidity that the 09's have but well balanced in its own right. Beautiful wine.
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Drank at Ned Towle's tasting, and was the overall favorite of the evening, though not mine. This wine was very chameleon-like. At first, I thought the wine was about to die in the glass, but it kept changing as it sat and it got better and better. I think the fruit in this wine has subsided quite a bit from its peak drinking window, but what's left behind is a very earthy, smoky, savory wine, with loads of tertiary flavors (Ned said he tasted bacon fat--perhaps). The wine still has a decent acidity level which is integrated nicely with the remaining fruit, and the end product is a very lovely cote rote. I must try this one again soon.
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Smoke, earth, charcoal, kirsch, wild strawberry, bacon fat, floral and spice box scents make up the perfume. Silky textures, freshness, purity of fruit and concentration of flavor are found in every sniff and sip. This is drinking perfectly today. I'll probably try drinking my remaining bottles over the next 10-12 years to retain the beautiful array of fresh fruits. If you're not familiar with Cote Rotie, while not inexpensive, this is a good bottle to see what the fuss is all about.
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I think I might've had a slightly off bottle here, and not representative. While it was drinking well enough, everything about it was subdued and lacking the qualities described by others. Light nose, smokey oak, tobacco, flat palate, short finish. Disappointing!
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Décevant vu le pedigree de la bouteille. Beaucoup moins de charme qu'il y a trois ans. Peut-être dans une période de fermeture. J'attends quelques années avant d'en ouvrir une autre.
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A surprisingly dark ruby color with no signs of age. A interesting nose of cranberry, red cherry and black fruits with a subtle bacon note on the finish. A surprisingly concentrated core of fruit with tart cherry balanced by bacon fat, supported by a fine tannic structure. The concentration gives the flavors an incredible length which softened a bit with air. This is a great wine, showing even better than anticipated, but may also continue to improve over the next 3-5 years...
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This wine really suprised me with how great it was. Initially quite primary, but given enough air it became a truly fine wine with lots to offer. Very complex with great fruitiness, soil tones and meats. Wonderful balance. I think almost any other C-R producer would be proud if this was their luxury cuvee. A great wine.
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Stunning bouquet with herbs and spices, beautiful fruits, meat, smoke and a pleasant touch of barnyard. Same on the palate with a touch of pleasant and elegant sweetness balanced by perfect acidity. Soft and round tannin and good bitterness in the finish. A superb and juicy wine; ready now and a future of several years.
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Game and Rhone Tasting @ Peggy's (Villa Reynart, Opoeteren): This wine shines because of its amazingly harmonious and effortless presentation. Generous and open, pure Northern-Rhone-essence. Not overextracted but beguiling and complete. An absolute joy to drink and, when compared to other Cote Rotie's, good QPR too! Sweet and ripe red fruit basket, acidity and tannines are nice and rough. Total balance. Buy and drink now or in 5 years. 18,5/20
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Cote-Rotie 1999 tasting (Glostrup): Incredible and powerful vanilla, cherry/blackberry nose with plenty of vanilla. Very intense and delicious full-bodied cherry flavors also with a lot of vanilla. A powerful and intense wine but still maintaining a solid and impressive balance. Beautiful wine.. 96-97p
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Impromptu tasting @ Peter Z. (Belgium): Directly after pouring: horsey stable impressions prevail..., but this blows off after awhile and then black fruits like cassis and blackberry jumps from the glass. This is a very serious glass of wine ('serious' in both senses), deep, dark and multi-layered. First bottle of a joint purchase and we were very happy with this! Re-buy. 18,5/20
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93+. Probably not my preferred style of cote rotie, but terrific nonetheless. Deep, rich, ripe, concentrated and racy. Explosive on the nose and the palate. Both red and black fruits (berries), tending towards the former, perhaps due to the soaring (sometimes almost searing) acidity. Black pepper, smoke, some leather, hints of espresso, mocha and underbrush. Super spicy. Good length. Oak is integrating well, but still far too dominant for my tastes, which is my biggest complaint. Don't get much of a mineral or herbal component, nor even the classic bacon/black olive aromas I've grown accustomed to with northern-rhone syrah. Overall, seems to me lacking in secondary, terroir-evoking characteristics. Very masculine compared to the few other Cote Roties I've had. Even some hard edges. Maybe a bit hot. This decanted for 2.5 hours at the restaurant (wedding dinner @ gd), and was showing well when we started in on it, but undoubtedly could have used much longer aeration. Was tiny bit left at bottom of bottle which we brought home. Tried the next afternoon, and was terrific. Softer and far less aggressive. Drank young. Long, long life ahead of it. Would be nice to try again in 5 years, but probably wouldn't seek it out. Still, there's no denying the quality of the wine and the winemaking.
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This is just great! Beautiful barnyard bouquet which is fading quite quickly. Fruits, herbs and spices and a touch of sweetness on the nose. Enormously mouth filling and concentrated. Beautiful juice. Round. Great acidity. Still before its prime. A truly great wine.
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Double decanted and then drunk over 2 hours. Quite precise at first, softening a little with some air. Again, whilst smoothe and a pleasure to drink, a little sombre and lacking in much complexity.
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Double decanted and drunk over 2 evenings. Dark fruited, blackcurrants with some sweet, dark caramel. Slightly spikey, grainy tannins on the first night but beautifully smooth and supple on the 2nd, by which time, the nose was also very powerful and expressive. Still, the wine was quite serious and lacked a little complexity or joie de vivre.
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Opened for 2 hours, not decanted, but should have. Classic Cote-Rotie character of bacon fat and black pepper. Still a bit oaky, so when tasted blind many people guessed new world. Lots of dark fruit on finish. Better and better with mo e time in glass.
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I agree with psmith’s and Jeff’s tns. Still pretty opaque, smoked meat, dry herbs starting with bold blue fruit but ending in red fruit that is feminine. Excellent concentration, bright acidity but slightly dry finish perhaps coming from new oak. Although the wine has excellent concentration I felt the wine is not drinking too well as most primary fruit expression has dissipated and the concentrated not too expressive fruit is masking the tertiary flavor. At least for me it needs a few more years. 95 potential but 92 current drinking.
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Licorice, dark cherries, cassis, bacon fat, herbs and hints of juicy plums open to a powerful, concentrated, fresh wine. With rich, silky textures and a long finish filled with ripe berries, pepper, vanilla and earthy flavors, this is a knock out Cote Rotie that keeps improving. Still young, this should continue to evolve for at least another decade or more. While not cheap, for a Cote Rotie of this quality, this is the wine to buy.
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Saturday Tasting Group (Knightsbridge Wine Shop (Northbrook, IL)): Earth, pungent funk, spice and some creamy winter green on the nose. Some light sulfuric action as well with some fig. Palate shows massive grip. A touch austere. Nice depth. Drinking well now.
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Meaty and dark up front, with a feminine streak and subtleness that I don't normally find with Guigal. Dark, spicy, classy wine, while still with great depth. Not the flashiness of recent vintages (which I also really enjoy). Very nice - will last, but no shame in opening now.
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I really don’t like this bottling typically as I feel it is over oaked and under-wined. That said, the 99 is in a different league from many other vintages. This great year has resulted in a complete wine. Good depth behind the make-up. Drunk at the end of a long night so I don’t remember all the nuance, but left a good impression. (93)
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Tavola di Perpetua e Felicità (Palena - Washington, DC): Dark color with a boisterous nose of red fruit, warm baking spices and roasted coffee. Palate was decidedly bright, and when drank alongside many other Cote-Rotie's seemed almost "new world". There was really nice flavors of plums, blackberries, subtle sous bois, and minerals. I didn't think this came across as typical for the region, but it was certainly enjoyable.
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94+ Such a great wine and very consistent with our note from a year and a half ago. The roast meat nose is coming out and its such a a deep and layers wine . Great.
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The showy nose expresses notes of fresh pepper, chocolate covered cherries, herbs, fresh earth and wild strawberries with a tiny hint of vanilla, ending with smoky bacon fat. Thick, rich, sophisticated and elegant, this wine feels great slipping over your palate. Ripe, strawberry, cherry and black raspberry flavors fill your mouth with an exciting bolt of flavor with the perfect amount of lift. The long finish lasts at least 35/40 seconds. This is drinking beautifully today.
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Deep brooding color. Really potent nose of iodine, charred beef and something green and minerally that I can't put my finger on. On the palate, it's really fresh and young with deep classic Cote Rotie flavors of roasted stuff and spicy red fruits. A big-boned wine but totally in balance and in need of many more years of aging. Compared to the La La's, this is not far off in terms of quality but doesn't quite possess the silky texture and complexity. There is a hint of greeness but it still wouldn't surprise me if this wine aged into something spectacular. Talk about terroir-this wine couldn't be from anywhere but Cote Rotie. 93+
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Slow-oxed for 2 hours before serving - needed much more air. Black colour with a hint of purple. Dark fruits, iodine, beautiful balance but way too young. Will be sensational in 10 years.
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Drinking very well. This is a ripe, yet elegant N. Rhone with a lot of potential for the future. Extremely well made. Glad I have another bottle. Held up reasonably well vs. the 95 La-La's and a bunch of young SQN reds.
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INCREDIBLE NOSE, BLACK CHERRIES, LICORICE, ALMOST PINOT LIKE. RICH FRUIT IN THE FLAVOR, DEEP BERRIES AND BLACK CHERRIES. ELEGANT WINE WITH NICE COMPLEXITY AND A LONG LINGERING FINISH.
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Had to celebrate the passage of the health care bill in the USA. Dammit it was corked. So opened up a 2006 Lillian which was spectacular, if too young.
I have two more, and hope they aren't corked too.
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Good youthful color. For the first 2 hours out of the bottle, all one could smell here was green, cedary wood that called to mind badly overoaked Temparanillo. After that, riper blackberry tones crept out. Good acidity, medium body. Honestly, it never rose above seeming like generic Syrah since it has none of complexity or seductiveness of Cote Rotie. Not a fraction of what this should be. Terribly disappointing after waiting years to try one.
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Oh yeah, textbook nose of bacon and blood, absolutely stellar. Tight and reticent when first opened but after 90 minutes this has really settled down. Singing acidity, smoke, cherries, and bacon. Still tannic but starting to show awesome secondary notes.
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Popped and poured. Terrific nose - herbal grass and mint with underlying berry and cassis. The herbal notes quickly blew off and I was impressed with how smooth this wine was - the tannins are integrated and it grew increasingly complex in the glass. I think this would greatly benefit from decanting - drinking very well now but no sign of decline.
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Dinner with friends (My place): Black color with a red hue. The full-throttle aromas jump out of the glass, great intensity and very inviting nose with notes of black, ripe fruit, cherries, black berries, creamy chocolate, licorice, coffee grinder, roasted oak, air-dried meats, olives, campfire and oil barrel. Wildly intense on the palate with layers of dark fruit, cherries and blackcurrant, but all cool, fresh and refined. There is also lots of sweet, roasted oak present on the midpalate and finish, together with an exciting broad spectrum of smoky meats, olives, oil barrel, campfire and gunpowder. Great, great length. Velvety texture, but lively, fresh acidity keeps you reaching for another sip.
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Very impressive and opulent nose with buttermilk, dark olives and light vanilla with a minor touch of black pepper. What a palate!! Olives, pepper, raw meat and sweet dark plum fruit. Nice and tight backbone with a good amount of harsh tannins and bright acidity but still it is very easy to drink now. Full-bodied and a great intensity. Simply put, it is just a sexy wine..
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A truly nice wine. Deep red colour, nice body and long finish. Blackberry, cherry and violet at the back (thanks to Le Nez du Vin for the help). Decanted for45 minutes. Drank on a nice lazy sunday afternoon. How fitting. Nics gave this 96 but she is a sucker for cote rotie.
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A bit of an enigma – lovely blackberry fruit mixed with smoke and animal fat. Super fruit purity. However, this wine is wrapped in a cloak of new oak. It invades everything about the wine. A Laurent version of Northern Rhone. Significantly more pronounced than in other vintages of this wine (and that is saying something). I still enjoy this as the interaction is interesting, but I can only imagine how wonderful this would have been with less dressing. The ’97 and ’98 seemed better balanced to me. Will be interesting to revisit in 5 years or so. (90+?)
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This was an excellent wine, although consumed a bit early. Would be interesting to taste it in 5 years or so. Definitely had a bit more stuffing and age potential than the '99 St. Cosme we had alongside, but wasn't showing the fruit as nicely and this still has some rough edges to work out. I may actually be acquiring a taste, finally, for Rhone wines (vs. Rhone-style wines from the US which I already love).
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To my tiny experience of Guigal and Rhone, this bottle of Guigal impressed me the most. Started out with herbal scent but not very Rhone-like. Then it changes all night with dry leave, damp stone, strawberry, crushed reds. Long and silky finish
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Blockbuster !! Tour de France again !! Clean&Elegant, not like any other vintages, texture is superb, aftertaste is deep and long. The promising Cote Rotie !! I drink this wine quite often, maybe too much but still waiting to test 2003 soon.
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Surprisingly unexciting, and reserved. Tastes like Syrah, but relatively new-world and without the olives, herbs and acididty I would have expected. Maybe a case of catching this at the wrong time, as a bottle two years ago was quite delicious.
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Violets, bacon fat, licorice and jammy fruits are easy to discern in this Cote Rotie. Supple entry. Still tannic. Good concentration and depth of flavors. A long bright, red fruit dominated finish pleases the palate. With 60 minutes of decanting, this still seemed young. It fleshed out after about 2 hours.
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Nose of scorched earth, blueberry, smoke, olive and floral The palate shows campfire, creosote, blueberry and olive tapenade The finish is medium with smoke and blueberry......nice, but overated in my mind
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Blind night- MY house (My house): what an incredible nose- olive, grilled meat, dust, earth, dark berries. nice mouth with good acidity, cherries, some nice complexity and a medium long finish. still with some resolving tannins.
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double blind. simply lovely. a wine of finesse and complexity which drank beautifully tonight. drink or hold...this wine will evolve and change it's complexion like a the woman of your dreams, never letting you down.
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Your Happy Wine (Mark): Intoxicating perfumed dark berry nose. This wine would be 99 points for me if I were rating it purely on the bouquet. Tastes of black cherry, raspberry, earth, anise, white pepper, charred French oak and leather. Incredibly well balanced with gorgeous acidity. Long elegant finish that lasts for over a minute. An absolutely wonderful showing tonight. My contribution for the night. 13% alcohol.
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Jemrose in New York City: Very restrained nose but the intense floral character of the viognier comes through the otherwise tight smoky nose the grows in the glass revealing fairly intense notes of sassafrass and quinine by the end of the night.. Offers lots of blackberry fruit in the mouth with notes of wood spice and hard red candy offering some contrast but the wine remains a bit ungiving and tight. Solid potential for improvement here but give it another 3-5 years.
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Tasting Group Dinner (Craig's House): Intense core of dark cherries and earth, with perfumed layers of flowers, smoke, and black pepper. This has gorgeous flavor intensity and a meaty, savory character that builds in the midpalate and culminates in a long, mouth-coating, ripely tannic finish. Terrific balance. Ethereal stuff that reminds me of a baby LaLa. Co-WOTN for me.
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Uncorked DK BYO (Restaurant Nouveau - Copenhagen): Dark red. Nose of buttermilk, sweet dark fruit, herbs, christmas spices, white pepper and smoked bacon. In the mouth it has mouthwatering acidity and good intensity combined with an elegant feel. The smoked and meaty flavors danses elegantly over the tongue. Guigal rules!
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Now it's Tour de France ( only last bottle from Japan, testing in Feb. is far different ) it's begun with typical d'Ampuis with many layers, go to Burgundy, step to St.Emilion, back to Cote Rotie and ends with Burgundy in the final. That's charming !!! I always stick my nose into the glass for a long time.
Full-bodied, Great structure, quite heavy but seductive. 4 hours of happiness ??
...Big and long aftertaste...Now I'm waiting to see how 2003 is gonna be...
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Dinner at St Jacques with Todd & Lisa, Wes & Terry Ann and Bill K. Dark ruby in color this wine clearly showed the greatness of the 1999 Northern Rhone vintage but I rarely find Cote Rotie to be to my liking and this was no exception. Some richness and good body upfront but in time the funky side of Cote Rotie reared it's head and lost my interest. Judgment reserved.
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G7 (Jock): Very expressive nose. Cherry jello, pencil lead, violets and caramel. Showing extremely well at this point. Rich finish. Quite nice. 13% alcohol.
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young, dense, oaky, but starting to show some cote rotie promise. 5 more years before i open another one. still, a good drop if you don't mind some 'international style'
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South. Quickly double decanted and opened 4 hours later. Dark ruby color, medium bodied Cote Rotie. Lots of viognier inspired aromatics. Smooth mouthfeel. Red fruits, nice balance and finished with some acidic touches. Comes off as a pretty wine which picks up intensity in the glass. No overt tannin sticking out, but well structured. Nice wine, but I felt like it was holding back and we did not see all the fireworks. Picked up steam with air.
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Medium bodied ruby. Delicate nose offers floral tones (roses), dried cherries, leather, and hints of the classic bacon fat. Nicely balanced with a long, precise finish. Firm tannins and acidity -- drinkable now, better in four or five years.
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smooth and powerful at the same time; youthful and intoxicating. this seems to be a very fine year for guigal, and while i absolutely was thrilled to drink it, hold.
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Really closed today....not decanted.....nose was unavailable on the palate the wine had wouderful concentration of fruit and you can tell that the wine will be special in the future but I won't touch this for five years...the tannins were very smooth and not rough in any respect.
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Wow! I have limited experience with Cote-Rotie, so it's quite easy for me to say that this is one of the best ones I've ever had. Not quite as open as when I first tasted this wine on release, but still incredibly deep, full and complex. Aromas of smoke, animal fur, bacon - just about everything you'd expect. Loads of liqueur-like red and black raspberry fruit on the palate, along with chocolate, and an assortment of fresh herbs. Incredibly lush and seemless. The finish didn't quite live up to what preceded it, but I think it will with time. Amazing now, but this has tremendous room for improvement. Hopefully I'll be able to keep my hands off it long enough for it to mature.
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Northern Rhone tasting with the Lakeshore Boys (My house): At this point we/I definitely didn’t need anymore wine but this was already decanted, so WTF. Decanted 5 hours before and drank over the following 5 hours (I finished the last glass at 4:00am). This is the biggest young Cote Rotie I’ve ever had. I can just imagine how big those La La’s were at the LA tasting. Roasted meat, black fruit and sweet oak on the nose. Full bodied with cassis and sweet powerful tannins. Great balance and purity. Very young and will be better once the oak becomes more integrated in 5 or more years.
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sweet, fruit forward, superb balance. could have been a ringer, but, of course, it proved not to be. if you want to serve a wine that will just knock your socks off today, this is it. had some bacon fat and oak which ratcheted up the fun factor.
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Seattle Tasting Group does Syrah (Seattle, WA, USA): I would never recognize this from a prior taste. The nose is slightly citric with a hint of garrigue. On the palate this is much less giving than the other wines. This is tannic, acidic and tight with a distinct cherry profile, almost Grenache like right now.
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Dark red appearance. Dense looking core with purple hue. Scents of ketchup, vanilla, and spicy oak overtones gentle emerge from the glass. In the mouth the wine is strong, very tannic, large bodied and pakced with dense ripe fruit. The balance is excellent, and the wine never becomes over-powering or un-sophisticated in profile. There's a lovely forward, yet complex quality to this wine, and a superb, long chocolate-mochha-coffee aftertaste that I just adored. SUPERB.
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Seattle Tasting Group does Northern Rhône (Bellevue, WA, USA): This was my contribution to the red wine flight. It was clearly a powerful, meaty, painfully young Syrah. Somewhat sappy on the palate with a medium finish that gains in length and power. The group average was 91.875, #3 wine of the night.
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2/28/2024 - palfr2 wrote:
Hosting Dinner for friends at home. This is still relatively youthful. Capsid and pepper on the nose. Very classic and restrained and none of the "chocolatey" opulence I would naturally associate with the higher end Guigals and especially the LaLas. It must be that the oak has largely integrated. I did not find either the lifted and floral aromatics imparted by viognier. This was opened at the end of the night and it is entirely possible this did not receive the attention. It deserved.
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2/23/2024 - TheGreenFrog wrote: flawed
Corked
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2/22/2024 - Ruminator Likes this wine: 93 Points
Medium brownish garnet color. Sediments. Bricking.
Scents of violet, licorice, clove, and forest floor. Kirsch-like liqueur note. A distant hint o Brett(smoke and leather). Black berry fruit is very dark, fresh and elegant. Cured meat sensation in midpalate. Long savory finish with black pepper and tobacco leaf.
Good intensity and wonderful nuances. The fruit is getting mature, but not fading at all. Tertiary complexity emerging.
Going strong. Can go for another 7-8 years easily.
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6/18/2023 - chatters wrote:
Sunday lunch (Porcine, Oxford Street): Dark berry fruit, is fresh, smidge of peppery and charcuterie is joined d by a little leather and earth. This all translates to the palate which proves juicy and, considering the age, surprisingly fresh, tannins here; a slightly chalky burr, but are integrated, a little dark fruit, leather and pepper, joins on the finish. Yum.
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4/29/2023 - Vini Ciclismo Likes this wine: 93 Points
Primary red, darker core. No brick.
Soft, lightly fragrant , dark berries and spice, char and licorice.
Red berries, raspberry, sour cherry zest with a seam of dark spice, hint of leather, soft and supple mouthfeel. Delicious now. Soft fine tannins.
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2/4/2023 - wsammons Likes this wine: 95 Points
Great wine - decanted; really hit it’s stride two hours in to the evening. Went well with two rib-eyes
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1/7/2023 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Wine Night at TCC (Timuquana Country Club): Very enjoyable wine and fun to drink next to the '03. General consensus is this was the better of the two. It had a bit more age from a year that was warm but perhaps not quite as hot as the '03. A bit of a floral note to it. Darker fruit. Drinks nicely. Had been double decanted before coming over and I expect that helped a lot with the wine versus the last time I had it.
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11/24/2022 - wsammons Likes this wine: 94 Points
Still going very strong; was good in the glass 4hrs after opening. Have 3 bottles left and don’t feel rushed to drink it but also wouldn’t necessarily buy more
Moving to secondary notes but still has some good fruit / freshness for the first hour or so.
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10/28/2022 - dream Likes this wine: 95 Points
Finally reaching full maturity with a 3-hour decant, this shows gorgeous smoky flavors with dark fruits and superb spice-driven complexity. The texture is all silky and savory with good acidity to keep it fresh. The finish is fabulous with layered notes of campfire embers and slate minerals. Wow and peaking now but will still last for years.
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8/11/2022 - MC wrote:
PNP and needed 60 minutes but with air this is a very nice northern Rhône that showed a very nice mix of fruit and complexity and as good as an ‘06 La Mouline tonight. A-
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7/30/2022 - BenBlu Likes this wine: 94 Points
My 3rd bottle from the same perfect case within a year. I seem to reach for it when I am indecisive between a Burgundy and a Bordeaux and it then just hits the sweet spot for me. Like it from Zalto Bordeaux served with fillet and ribeye steak it totally did the trick melting tannins, good cherry liquor fruit concentration, sappy mid palate, tiny bit grainy long finish, deft kiss of sweet oak still well integrated but I am so curious to see how the wine shows when the oak is much further pushed back which is why I just bought a case of 12 and plan to keep it for 5-10 years as this for my palate is in the very early drinking plateau and I would think the middle of the plateau is going to be 2030-35 but the wine will be in superb shape till age 50.
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7/24/2022 - csimm wrote: 93 Points
Although I typically don't like to use the word "Burgundian" when describing any wine that isn't actually from Burgundy, especially a Syrah, I couldn't help but the utter the word to describe the style currently being exhibited from this wine. What is initially surprising is the amount of energy here. Lighter-bodied and lithe, almost the exact same color as two actual bottles of Burgundy at the table, this Guigal offers interesting garrigue and red/black cherry notes that are complimented by earth and pine notes.
If you're into Mollydooker milkshakes or blackberry neutron bombs, this is so left of center from that style you might as well scratch the d'Ampuis completely off your list. This was an excellent food wine, and was a perfect pairing with Mediterranean fare. Score higher if you prefer more airy versions of this varietal. Score lower if you prefer to chew your purple juice until your braces chafe off.
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6/30/2022 - jmoon Likes this wine: 96 Points
Hypnotic nose, lovely long plush mouthfeel, medium bodied, fresh acidity, crushed violets and saline tang, plummy fruit, deliciuos. 1 hr decant. Improved at 3 hour mark, plenty of life left.
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4/23/2022 - mclanew Likes this wine: 93 Points
Decanted for two hours. Attractive nose of black fruit and smoke meats. The wine is full bodied, decent balance, showing black currant, black cherry, herbs, smoke meats. Overall very classic aged cote rotie.
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1/29/2022 - cch1966 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Notes of dark berries, pepper, herbs and licorice. Smooth silky palate. Tannins well integrated. Long finish.
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1/2/2022 - Bullethead Likes this wine: 93 Points
Thought it was passed its peak as some seepage noted but it just needed time to open up. Quite heavy colour, almost ruby. Slow ox in bottle for 3 hours. Last glass was the best. Leather, pencil, black fruit notes. Some acidity and tannins almost fully resolved. Lalala is clearly a large step up
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12/24/2021 - Nothung Likes this wine: 95 Points
Consistent with prior notes. Opened for 6 hours and then decanted for another 2+ hours. Really opened up and was poetry in the glass.
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12/11/2021 - MC2 Wines wrote:
Q4 2021 Wine Club: The Return with Aged Rhone (Our apt): Wine #2: I think this might have been helped with a double decant as it was a bit chunky and that detracted some from the experience. It’s more fruit with a background of the more mineral notes. Drinks well (2 pennies)
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10/20/2021 - BenBlu Likes this wine: 94 Points
From a perfect case in bond. Very young with a one hour decant hitting you with bags and bags of fruit - akin to a young-ish Pomerol with intense cherry liquor and crushed rocks. Guigal always has a hefty oak treatment which is now coming integrated and shows like cashmere and silk interwoven with this great 99 fruit. Such a great pairing with the venison dish but I would say this is still drinking on the primary side. Can go 20-30 years easy and some more pepperiness and meatiness should come through over time.
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9/19/2021 - europat55 wrote: flawed
Corked
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9/2/2021 - SIMONFELL Likes this wine:
Delicious wine, still holding up for a 20+ year old wine. A few more years left in this baby. Wish I had more.
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8/30/2021 - SteelerFan wrote: 93 Points
Excellent bottle. Good structure and tertiary notes, but fruit remains. Classic northern Rhine profile and very enjoyable.
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7/9/2021 - palfr2 wrote:
Bloodmeat, white pepper, menthol, discrete lavender-like floral scent, that is for the nose. Spheric midpalate , fully resolved tannins and good interwoven acidity that provides long lift before final brings some sweetness and muted blue fruit expression. No fireworks on the nose but a very harmonious end-to-end aged Cote Rotie expression.
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6/4/2021 - dream Likes this wine: 94 Points
While this doesn't quite have the complexity of the La La's, it's a fabulous perfumed Cote Rotie with a great savory texture and a layered refined texture with classic flavors of aged black fruits, minerals and violet spice. The finish is long and satisfying with notes of campfire embers and dark spices. Awesome and still drinking youthfully. At King, NYC.
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5/12/2021 - paul195 wrote: 95 Points
Brought as a blind to a Rhone tasting
Guigal La Mouline 1987
Guigal d’Ampuis 1999
Domaine Jamet 1998/2005/2008
Allemand Reynard 2001
Allemand Chaillot 2004/2007
Allemand Reynard 2007/2011
6 of 12 Opened at 2:00, decanted at 4:00, served at 7:00. As recent TNs acknowledge this wine is in a wonderful place and drinks very well indeed. Tonight was no different, although the 1987 La Mouline it was paired with was excellent this more than held it own delivering great value and runner up for WOTN
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3/30/2021 - Burgundy Al wrote: flawed
Two Rhônes Diverged in a Wood.... ("Chateau La Grange" - La Grange IL): Double(ish) blind in Northern Rhône flight. Corked.
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3/24/2021 - dream Likes this wine: 94 Points
Wow, this is fantastic tonight with marinated skirt and what a pairing! Fully mature now but still so vibrant with succulent acidity to go along with the deep flavors of black fruits, warm asphalt (I actually tasted it once), campfire and eucalyptus. Very silky on the palate with a layered, juicy effect and the finish is grippy and complex with notes of violet spice, char and stony minerals. Wow!
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3/13/2021 - Nothung Likes this wine: 95 Points
Wow. A beautiful expression of Cote-Rotie. In a great place now with plenty of life left. Opened 6+ hours before, decanted 2 hours before drinking. Could have used a bit more.
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3/5/2021 - mclanew Likes this wine: 95 Points
Slow ox for one and half hours. Terrific nose of blackberry, roast meats and olives. The wine is fully mature, medium bodied, showing a great balance of fruit and savoury elements and a long finish. This wine was terrific and only a step or two between the la la’s in quality.
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2/20/2021 - Axone wrote: 91 Points
Le vin n'est pas encore prêt. A attendre 5 ans.
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1/9/2021 - wineisfinebwq Likes this wine: 93 Points
Wonderful! Eucalyptus spice kirsch blueberry ... opened up even more after 3 days
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11/26/2020 - beatles wrote: 92 Points
This needs time; oak very present, this is all about winemaking even at this point, 21 years on, kirsch, blueberries and chocolate. Tasted over three days, and while it does get a little bit better on the last day, there really is'nt much change. Wait ten years and it ccould come around..
#IB
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9/25/2020 - canan wrote: 93 Points
BYO (Michaels place): Spicy cherry fruit and a lovely acidity. Liqueur-style fruit but still juicy and impressive.
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9/20/2020 - Nothung Likes this wine: 95 Points
A sublime expression of Cote Rotie. Opened about 5 hours before drinking. Opened up beautifully.
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8/31/2020 - rraaffaa Likes this wine: 94 Points
Beautiful wine. Needs 2+ hours of decant. This is powerful, very classic North Rhone Syrah, Smoky, some spice, Olives, great pairing for a lamb roast!
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7/29/2020 - wstromb404 wrote: 94 Points
Absolutely loved this wine. 3+ hour decant. The early fruitiness on the nose gave way to an earthier and smokier bouquet with the decant, and it opened up beautifully. Silky finish and notes of blackberry, tar, and leather, but oh so subtle. A great wine. Looking for more...
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7/28/2020 - dream Likes this wine: 94 Points
Deep Smoky dark raspberry Nose. Thickly-textured with rich black fruit flavors and strong notes of campfire and smoked meats. This has great acidity and freshness to go along with the maturing notes of dark spices and smoky minerals. Captures the essence of Cote Rotie.
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7/17/2020 - ggj wrote: 94 Points
Press in St. Helena
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7/9/2020 - Claret & CdP Gang Likes this wine: 93 Points
Served blind, thought cdp, thought 08 or 09, fairly young still, lovely pretty nose, bit more floral than the 05 Pegau Laurence drank alongside, char nose, rich, full bodied but great balance, at least 10 years left, hasn’t budged much from the last bottle 2 years ago
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6/11/2020 - dnnk88 Likes this wine: 93 Points
1999 Northern Rhone Tasting along with 67 Pall Mall Philippe Guigal Masterclass (Line up: E.Guigal La Landonne '99, E.Guigal La Mouline '99. E.Guigal La Turque '99, Chateau d'Ampuis '99, Rene Rostaing Cote Blonde '99, Rene Rostaing La Landonne '99): Nose of kirsch - took some time to open up but was worth the wait. Black fruits, kirsch, figs, spices on the palate - resolved tannins and velvety. This still have legs. Would drink this any night. Good stuff!
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6/6/2020 - Burgundy Mitch Likes this wine: 95 Points
At Paul and Susan's in Frisco. From memory, beautiful and delicious, A'Pointe, sadly last bottle.
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5/30/2020 - devraj Likes this wine: 93 Points
Dark ruby with bricking. Complex aromas of smoky bbq meats, blackish red fruits, olive tapenade, charcoal and pepper. Mature palate shows savory dark berries/meat stock, hint of licorice and pepper, good acidity, no tannins and a long smoky/charcoal tinged finish.
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3/28/2020 - Patrik H Likes this wine: 93 Points
On the nose: Stable, leather, smoke, chark, forest floor, truffel
On the palate: Smoke and meat, tar. High wine acidity. starting to decline
Medium + finish
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3/28/2020 - dream Likes this wine: 94 Points
This just smells like a campfire after cooking. On the palate, it's layered and delicious with smoky dark raspberry fruit along with classic CR flavors of smoked meats and black asphalt. In fact, it almost feels like warm, sweet asphalt just rolling over the tongue. The finish is intense and complex with good acids and a wonderful floral lift with notes of violet spice and graphite minerals. Just gorgeous and best after about 2 hours in a decanter.
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3/13/2020 - Zitan wrote: 95 Points
Perfect fill - perfect cork - perfectly mature and delicious - rose petals on the nose - fully resolved tannins - great length... goes on for 20 secs - powerful but elegant - plenty of life left - so glad I have two more - outstanding!
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3/6/2020 - Ary Likes this wine: 94 Points
Northern Rhône Dinner (semi-blind) (AB' house, Keizersgracht Amsterdam): Classic expression of Côte-Rôtie with that typical haunting perfume. In Guigal-style; technically well-build, focused and elegant. Complex nose reveals the Syrah-pepper, fresh prunes as well as notes of tobacco, grilled bacon, meat and mineral. Full-bodied, silky and elegant on the concentrated palate with dark fruits and 'band-aid' in the finish. Tannin not fully resolved. Might well further improve with time and gain point(s), now: 94+
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2/18/2020 - walkerjfw wrote: 95 Points
5th Annual PNV Kick Lunch...didnt get notes on all the wines...w Tom/Jay/Jamie/Todd/Jeff/Tor/Greg (Farmstead, St. Helena, CA): One of my contributions to the event. This wine always kills (IMO) and a good chance to mix it up. Last bottle was 3 years ago.
Decanted for about 30 minutes, drank over 2 hours...the air time helps, was much better with some time in the decanter
From prior notes:"Dark ruby color. Nose was red fruits, spice, licorice, Palate of blackberry, blueberry liqueur, strawberry preserve, pepper, savory and herbs. Rich mouthfeel, secondary characteristics on the mid palate. Long and nuanced finish...."
Mostly consistent, picked up a bit more savory/game, spice and tapenade with this bottle. In a great spot, should last some time, but...I think it's fully mature at this point and may risk decline. Would drink within the next 5 years to get the full experience (IMO)
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2/2/2020 - Mr T wrote:
Mature and mellow...blood and sausage characteristics tamed
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10/9/2019 - mdefreitas wrote: 94 Points
My last bottle and perhaps its best showing. A bit alcoholic and oaky when first poured, but after some air, this really came together. Fully mature, aromatic, silky and long. Great texture and breath on the palate. Went great with cassoulet.
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8/31/2019 - d'Artagnan wrote: 93 Points
Nez fruit noir et côté fumé. Beaucoup de finesse, équilibre idéal, c’est délicieux, un peu moderne certes, mais très agréable. 93 pts
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8/29/2019 - MC wrote:
PNP and enjoyed over 2 hours. Consistent with previous notes, this is ripe, balanced, and in a great spot right now. You could argue about the complexity of the wine, but still if you are a Northern Rhone fan and are okay with the ripe character of '99 this is really good and a great buy. A-
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5/4/2019 - Ben F Likes this wine: 94 Points
Dinner at Le Comptoir, San Rafael, CA. From 750ml.
Popped and poured, this was accessible from opening and blossomed over the course of the evening. Classic cote-rotie smoke and wild game/damp fur aromas, with a core of dark red fruit and complicating cracked tellicherry pepper and purple flower aromas. Very nice and definitely entering its drinking window.
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4/28/2019 - DrinkBordeaux wrote: 93 Points
Not quite as strong as other recently tasted bottles, but not flawed. Still drinking well with good depth. The nose was dominated with red fruits, pepper, herbs, and floral notes. Still very smooth and nicely balanced on the palate.
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2/13/2019 - peternelson wrote: 93 Points
Dark amber-purple; smok, touch of V.A., aged meat, thouch sweet like cherry candy powder like pixy sticks, with earth, shrooms, tarmac; elegant, tannins mostly resolved, really nice. Dirty Dozen N. Rhone tasting at Taylors.
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2/9/2019 - Ianttuck Likes this wine: 96 Points
This bottle was an experience. Even after 20 years it was fresh, floral, and vibrant. Classic northern Rhone savory notes and beautifully made all around.
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2/2/2019 - jsebiri wrote:
Very smooth syrah, not as much character, but a fine juice. This wine had much more backbone and tannin the last time I had it.
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2/1/2019 - MC2 Wines wrote:
La Tablee: Legends Dinner w E. Guigal & after party (Daniel & SommTime): More floral in nature. More red fruits. This was nice, but not at the same level as the Brune et Blonde. I think mostly because missing some of those animal notes.
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1/29/2019 - AB16 Likes this wine: 93 Points
I feel like I shouldn’t rate this wine until tomorrow. First time I’ve tasted and I’m guessing it’s just starting to reveal its full potential at age 20. This is not a blockbuster, rather it is a balanced wine with some underrated qualities shine through. Wet saddle leather on the nose though not over done. In the mouth, there is medium ripe Syrah fruit without the alcohol, Carmel and ripe pepper that can turn me off.
This is a Cote rotie with finesse. No big fruit, no graphite or pencil led - just elegant, cool climate Syrah with good acid that pairs well with food and should age 20 more years. Special stuff from a special place.
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1/26/2019 - Nothung Likes this wine: 94 Points
Exquisite. Opened and decanted about an hour before drinking, which was enough.
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1/18/2019 - rmalloy wrote:
Great wine. Concentrated, complex, mature flavors don’t always turn out this delicious.
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1/13/2019 - SteveG wrote: 93 Points
From memory, tasted exactly of high quality Cote-Rotie, nothing more required.
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12/31/2018 - Argrath wrote: 94 Points
(Tasted blind)
Complex, mature nose. Dark fruit, bramble, herbs. Then very Côte-Rôtie aromas of bacon, meat, smoke, coconut, coffe and haunting perfume. Lovely.
Full, rich and generous palate. Oaky, but who cares with this concentration and richness. Splendid acidic spine. Fully mature tannins. Smoke, sausage, violets and pepper. And long. Very good grip.
Actually guessed right on this one.
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12/24/2018 - dream Likes this wine: 95 Points
Exquisite Cote Rotie with a perfumed nose of smoked meats, dark raspberry fruit and a wonderful floral note. Quite full and intense with juicy acidity and that streamlined graphite/mineral silkiness that Cote Rotie develops with age. The finish is still tannic but showing sublime and complex notes of minerals, charcoal, violet spice and sweet char. Still should develop further and gorgeous tonight with beef stew. I think the Ampuis is very, very close in quality to the La La’s. 95+
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12/19/2018 - mdefreitas wrote: 92 Points
Quite a bit better than a bottle I drank four years ago. This bottle was purchased on release and perfectly stored, so provenance might explain the difference. Ripe strawberry and plum fruit, with a nice smoky/meaty note. There is quite a bit of sweet vanilla oak flavors still present; while not too off-putting, it seems to mask what is obviously quality fruit underneath. I will try to continue cellaring and cross my fingers the oak integrates.
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12/16/2018 - Papies wrote: 95 Points
Pre Chistmas Dinner at The Papies (The Papies, Elizabeth St, London): Keeps getting better and better and this is now well int he 94-95 score range for us and has easily another 10yrs or so.
Required a good hour+ of decanting , please don't rush it as on open is on the muted side. But once it starts to sing its a super beautiful and elegant cote rotie. Dark fruit, textbook smoky, roast meat nose, good rich profile on the palate and with lots of depth. Very Very good wine. 95
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11/12/2018 - MWiking wrote: 94 Points
näsa med vitpeppar, ålder, mörk frukt, tobak, körsbär och liten hint av fat.
smaken är ändå bättre än näsan, ganska taninig och känns faktiskt yngre än 1999. Mycket chark, tokbak, mörk frukt och lite stall i smaken.
gillar verkligen detta vin. svinsnyggt!
stor skillnad i denna notering mot vad jag tyckte senast jag provade vinet. känns som de kanske lagrats olika och utvecklats åt olika hål.
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9/30/2018 - MJReb wrote: 90 Points
Chez MG: nice strawberry fruit, tannins present, but a bit rustic and drying.
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9/11/2018 - pilot360 wrote: flawed
Corked - purchased from Spectrum Wine Auctions. The wine had also seeped up the side of the cork and made its way under the foil.
What a waste.
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8/31/2018 - Papies wrote: 94 Points
Requires decanting and once it hits its stride its a class act.
Lovely smoky, roast meat, interlaced with a herby touch nose. Good fruit, still vibrant and barring the color the rest of the wine felt very much alive and youthful. Dark fruits on the palate, good feel of oak which is a bit of a Guigal signature, light mocha feel. This is a super wine just hitting its proper stride and really this will mature and evolve for another 15 years easily. Gladly given we have a few we will participate in this journey. 93-94
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8/29/2018 - Ben F Likes this wine: 94 Points
Dinner at home, Mill Valley, CA. From 750ml. Opened and decanted for 1 hr prior to serving.
After decanting this was in a beautiful place. All the components were integrated and alive, evolving constantly and positively over the course of the evening. Fully expressive wild Cote Rotie nose combining power and finesse, followed through with a palate of mature syrah flavors of game, pepper, wet fur and cracked pepper intermixed with strong mineral and floral notes. The palate was open but still with sufficient youth to suggest this will continue to evolve positively in bottle.
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8/17/2018 - Markus IWC wrote: 93 Points
Bonus bottle after Dominus tasting. Very nice and suitable choice with a slightly americanized (Parkerized) European after a long vertical with top Napa's with a European touch.
Beautiful wine, perfectly mature, rich and meaty nose. Smooth and soft mouthfeel with blue fruit and lovely maturity notes.
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7/30/2018 - kosmik wrote: 95 Points
Outstanding!
P&P, bu sur environ 2 heures. Il a évolué sans cesse et sans aucune fatigue.
Le nez est passé par plusieurs dimensions classiques du terroir, avec l’ombre de quelques arômes secondaires mais si peu.
La bouche impressionne en particulier, ample+, acidité bien droite, tanins encore charnus et de grain très fin, légère prise minérale, tout en équilibre, très belle longueur...
Il a encore beaucoup de temps devant, mais il est si bon à boire maintenant avec cette homogénéité de sagesse doublée d’une ossature qui le fait vibrer encore... Difficile de résister!
94-96+?
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7/20/2018 - Claret & CdP Gang Likes this wine: 93 Points
Dark red, meaty, pepper & game, youngish, gorgeous wine, impossible to guess a 1999, delicious, long life ahead
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6/24/2018 - Marc wrote: 94 Points
BUD IS 75! (Abbot Street, Ngaio, Wellington, New Zealand): Drunk next to a less-evolved and less-expressive Turley Petite Sirah. This is a beautiful example of the modern Guigal style, and it is absolutely ready to drink at the moment. Excellent varietal expression, bacon fat, bottle age, and nuance. Great balance. Will go a long time....
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5/26/2018 - OmiyaDrinker wrote: 91 Points
YAWG Rhone vs. Grange: Restrained nose. Quite ripe, streaky bacon, a little thin on the mid-palate. Medium+ Tannin, good acid on the finish and well integrated. Dry, herbal component.
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5/2/2018 - aagrawal wrote: 92 Points
Dinner with Dave (Mathilde, San Francisco): Really lovely nose with black pepper, white pepper, musk, black fruit; palate is medium bodied, medium acidity, medium palate, black fruit, nose more complex than palate, fresh medium acidity; medium to short-medium finish. Nose was exceptional, with the palate good but falling a bit shorter than the nose promised. Still a lovely wine. 92
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4/29/2018 - mhudes Likes this wine: 95 Points
At Lalimes in Berkeley. Decanted for 4 hours. Almost purple in color. Powerful nose of dark fruit and roasted herbs. Blackberries and cassis in the mouth along with savory herbs, licorice and a hint of allspice on the mid palate. Some leather and certainly black pepper. Good finish. An outstanding Cote Rotie. Wonderful to drink bow, but I suspect it will last for a goodly number of years.
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4/8/2018 - Papies wrote: 93 Points
Greek Easter Sunday at The Papies (The Papies, Elizabeth St, London): Decanted for a good hour.
Still very dark and vibrant and is holding strong. Quite a herby side, less smoky this time and Andreas who tried this blind thoguth of it as having some Cab Sauv in the blend and struggled to place it as a Cote Rotie, Trevallon was the guess. Dark fruited, vibrant, well round and is ageing gracefully. Very Solid once again. 93
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2/15/2018 - mclanew Likes this wine: 93 Points
Fully mature, light bricking. Focused, concentrated Côte rotie with flavors black fruit, garrique, roast meats, olive, spice. Nice nose but a little flat in the mid palate. Full bodied with still pretty full tannins but they are well integrated. Overall showing quite well.
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1/27/2018 - d'Artagnan wrote: 93 Points
Crémaillère chez Oana et Adam (Saint-Bruno): Vin élégant qui se boit si facilement, il en paraît presque superficiel. Il ne faut pas en sous-estimer la profondeur. C’est un vin aérien, finement poivré, sensuel. Un délice! 93 pts
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1/4/2018 - tcarter Likes this wine: 93 Points
Wasn't nearly as complex or expressive as some of the younger vintages I've had of this wine. May have just been a slightly off bottle. Still great wine though and paired beautifully with dry rub BBQ ribs.
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11/12/2017 - Papies wrote:
Dinner at the Papies (The Papies, Elizabeth St, London): A much more muted expression here than a year or so ago when we tried this usually superb wine (Papies 95). Maybe its because we had it after the excellent Chave 1995 ( Papies 94-95) or that this bottle was not behaving it gave us only glimpses of its greatness. Luckily we have a few more bottles of this. Will not rate this time but felt like a 92 at best.
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11/11/2017 - jsebiri wrote:
Very nice Syrah , aged but not old . I thought this was better 4/5 years ago , but this is nice . Good amount of fruit to taste , which was better than the nose.
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10/20/2017 - d'Artagnan wrote:
Lunch au QG
Nez d'olives et de jambon fumé. Texture magnifique grande finesse de tanins et fraîcheur.
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9/27/2017 - wineappreciation wrote: 93 Points
Muted smoke, blueberry, hints of animal hide and toasted almond; poised, mouth-filling, expansive, balanced, gradual rolling development and completion, long finish and hints again of muted smoke; not overly complex but noticeably poised and quite delightful
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9/25/2017 - drwine2001 wrote:
Medium ruby. Blackberry and grilled meat. Medium weight, some glossy wood present. Beautifully fresh fruit, some herbaceousness, smoke, and meatiness. Remaining round tannin. Drinking very well now but this bottle could have gone on another 5 years.
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7/20/2017 - MC wrote:
Popped and poured and this was great. Was looking for a nice, rich, Northern Rhone and this hit the spot. Great concentration, length, finish, and drinking really well right now. A-/A
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7/4/2017 - drwine2001 wrote:
Light ruby to tawny rim. Textbook Côte Rôtie nose-bacon, smoked meat, camphor. Medium weight, real restraint and elegance. Beautiful red/blue fruit and fine acidity. The tannins did not intrude but provided some spine. Tremendously sexy wine, persistent sweetness in the mouth. My experience with this wine has been all over the map; this bottle was a winner at a perfect stage of maturity.
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6/3/2017 - walkerjfw wrote: 95 Points
Final bottle of the evening, a late decision to open this after an 03 Rudd Oakville Cabernet. Last tasting of this 3 years ago...splash decant, drank over an hour.
Dark ruby color. Nose was red fruits, spice, licorice, Palate of blackberry, blueberry liqueur, strawberry preserve, pepper, savory and herbs. Rich mouthfeel, secondary characteristics on the mid palate. Long and nuanced finish.
This is in a really great spot, even more depth than last tasting. I didn't decant this time, would do so next time if I have time. Should continue to drink well for 7-10 more years...
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5/4/2017 - beatles wrote: 95 Points
Côte-Rotie & Hermitage 1999 - chez moi (Frederiksberg): The style is the same as in La Mouline, but this is the better wine, more structured, better acidity and balance. Too young, certainly, still oak here to be integrated.. Grand Vin. 95+
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5/4/2017 - DrinkBordeaux wrote: flawed
Corked
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3/24/2017 - Burgundy Al wrote: 94 Points
Steak Dinner with Great Wine (RPM Steak - Chicago IL): Black berries on nose and palate with licorice and black peeper. Excellent weight and concentration with same fruit and spice. Very fresh for its age. If blind, I'd have thought much younger.
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3/17/2017 - canan wrote: 98 Points
Misc Tasting - Terkel Style (Birkerød): Very complex with notes of aged meats and blood but also raspberry fruit and game meat.
It does show a little bit of cheese and oak influence but everything is knit together very nicely. The aftertaste is just stunning and packed with spices and intensity.
A hugely impressive wine and it has developed a lot better than I would have expected! Stunning!!
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2/11/2017 - JBVino wrote:
No notes taken but on recall this bottle was singing. Secondary flavors, complexity of flavor profile and weight and palate texture of the wine were the stars.
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1/29/2017 - Burgundy Al wrote: flawed
Corked
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1/14/2017 - DrinkBordeaux wrote: 94 Points
Another excellent bottle from an exceptional vintage. No detailed notes taken, but essentially consistent with previous bottle.
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1/12/2017 - dream Likes this wine: 95 Points
Classic nose of warm asphalt, dark smoky fruits and baconfat. Delicious flavors that echo the nose along with good underlying acidity and notes of smoke, game and truffles. Medium-bodied with excellent intensity and a certain animal quality that is quite intriguing. Finishes concentrated and complex with minerals, animal fur and tar. There is a lovely underlying sweetness here and kind of a meaty texture. Approaching maturity but will surely last and perhaps grow more complex. A simply fabulous Northern Rhone. 95+
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12/12/2016 - strijbosmh Likes this wine: 95 Points
Amazing wine. My first Ampuis from Guigal. wonderful nose of dark fruit, leather, smoke, and game. Lovely acidity with delicate tannins, all very nicely intergrated. At its peak now, but I guess there are some years left for this beast of a wine!!
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12/11/2016 - Papies wrote: 95 Points
Decanted for a good 25 minutes. Needed.
The wine now is in a great place. Well evolved yet still fresh, well assimilated oak. Still dark in colour, smoky , roast meat on the nose, light spice. Well round and silky in the palate yet with a tension and gives you the feeling this has a long way to go. A beauty of a wine. 95 easy
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10/24/2016 - drwine2001 wrote:
A Côte Rotie Evening (San Francisco): Still deep ruby. Pure confiture on the nose. Round, ripe, background wood. A lush, New World style Côte Rotie with plenty of character-char, smoked meat, wonderful amplitude and sweetness of fruit. Fleshy and definitely not for lovers of a more restrained style.
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10/14/2016 - DrinkBordeaux wrote: 95 Points
My current favorite vintage of d'Ampuis. Drinking extremely well, with so much depth on the palate. The nose is absolutely mesmerizing, with its ripe red fruits, garrigue, white pepper, herbs, and fresh flowers. Beautifully balanced on the palate. A lingering finish. Everyone at the table absolutely loved this wine.
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9/16/2016 - rmalloy Likes this wine: 96 Points
Tasted blind. Yes, yes, yes — I love it! Finally, a truly great French wine in my blind wine tasting experiments. Surely it’s French. Indeed, this must be Northern Rhone (Hermitage or Cote Rotie).
This wine offers incredible smoked meat, olive, and pepper aromas. It is wonderfully smoky and minerally, but it has great fruit too. Can’t be too old with all this fruit, but the tannins are very approachable. I love the way this drinks right now and would love to drink it 20 years from now.
I’ll be totally embarrassed if this isn’t Northern Rhone, but I’ll still post it. It’s amazing that fermented grapes can taste like this.
Rating: 96
Non-blind p.s.: I was wrong about the "cant be too old" part. Wow, great wine.
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8/9/2016 - dream Likes this wine: 93 Points
Beautiful nose of smoked meats, black pepper and violet spice. This has evolved into a classic expression of Cote Rotie terroir with deep flavors of black fruits, charred meats, animal fur and woodsmoke. Still a bit gritty with firm acids and tannic bite but it continues to soften and show great floral lift. Finishes complex now with notes of dark spices, slate minerals and succulent smoky fruit. Guigal's top wines are too often drunk young and judged on that basis but if you give the Ampuis 15+ years and the La La's 25+, they show as classic expressions of Cote Rotie in every way. This is delicious now but should still continue to age beautfully and probably improve. 93+
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8/4/2016 - paul195 wrote: 94 Points
This wine was singing from the get go, and is a clear step up from my last bottle (Sept 2015). Bouquet was all about pepper, dark fruit, bacon fat and tar. Great texture, balance and structure, truly in a great place
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7/23/2016 - sjwshiraz wrote:
Drinking very well. A beautiful Cote Rotie vintage. Bodes well for the single vineyard wines
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7/6/2016 - Ben F wrote: 93 Points
Popped and poured at Wood Tavern, OAK. Wildly expressive and complex nose right out of the gate whose elements shifted and resorted continuously over the course of dinner. Not nearly as evolved on the palate, with youthful tannins and a solid core of fruit suggesting more time in the cellar would be beneficial.
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6/23/2016 - dcwino wrote: 96 Points
A small impromptu dinner with Trip B (Eddie V's - Tysons Corner): Explosive nose displaying intense youthful black fruits, blackberry liqueur, crushed black cherry, lavender, charred steak, black pepper and mineral. Exceptional concentration, beautifully layered fruits, bright acidity, sweet tannins and very long black fruit and mineral driven finish. The best showing of this wine. Unfortunate, my last bottle. This will improve with further cellaring but drinking fantastically in a very primary way. This ain’t Jamet but that doesn’t mean that it is a monolithic wine.
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6/7/2016 - blancopj1 Likes this wine: 91 Points
My last bottle. Opens clean and classy, no bottle stink or need for long decant. Mature, elegant syrah.......harmonious, reasonably nuanced.
For my tastes though - I find it just a bit too boring. Straight laced, polite, upright.....good manners. Easy to admire.......... and easy to grow bored of after a glass. I think I'm prefering the good rusticity of Cornas or a nice funky bordeaux. Such are the first world problems of mine...
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5/3/2016 - drwine2001 wrote:
Even medium ruby. Very complex aromatics-menthol, green olive, some smoke, dark red fruit. Poised, medium weight, very nice feel. Ripe, gentle sweetness of fruit, herbal complexity, fine acidity, and round tannins-this was real Côte Rotie in its elegant facade. Much better than either of the 2 previous bottles over the past couple of years. Notably, the wood which seemed so dominant did not intrude at all. Excellent showing.
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3/11/2016 - dream Likes this wine: 93 Points
Powerful nose of black fruit, baconfat, charcoal and slate minerals. Still rather firm and young but definitely showing secondary flavors of black pepper, slate and Asian spices. The finish is complex with somewhat rustic tannins but in a good, raspy way with notes of charred beef and smoky minerals. Really benefits from being decanted for as long as possible and while this is showing great now, I think there is more to come here down the road. 93+
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2/16/2016 - RajivAyyangar wrote: 91 Points
Coravin Marathon with Tim, Ben, Michael (Wingtip): (blind)
Deep ruby red.
Nose of burnt coffee, slight toffee, roasted meat, warm earth, slight burnt bacon. Lots of development - mushroom, sweet tamari, forest floor.
- medium bodied
- elevated alcohol 13.5%?
- elevated acid - bright!
- elevated tannins - smooth and satiny
So well-balanced. Savory and meaty, with earth and mushroomy development.
called Northern Rhone but didn't get more specific than that.
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1/26/2016 - RayOB Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drank in Hong Kong
Incredible complex refined nose with black fruits, smoke, earth and spice. Silky smooth palate and a long length. Incredibly good.
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11/21/2015 - dream Likes this wine: 93 Points
Beautiful nose of liquid slate, smoky black fruits, campfire and smoked meats. Really opened with a 1-hr decant and then showed intense dark fruit flavors with notes of wood-smoke, slate and violets. Quite structured with lots of fresh acidity and as a result, really at its best with food especially roasted meats. Quite a steely, silky texture along with a fine density. This is beautiful, authentic Cote Rotie that needs a bit more time to reach peak but it's getting there. 93+
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9/30/2015 - paul195 wrote: 93 Points
As with the bottles earlier this year, this wine is youthful in all respects, dark color, black fruits, integrated maturing tannins, quite energetic and engaging.
This wine represents an excellent value point in the Guigal family, priced just above the Hermitage and Cote Rotie Blond and Brune and less than half the price of La-La's, bravo!
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7/15/2015 - MC wrote:
Decanted 45 minutes, this is still very young. Concentrated fruit, some leather, and noticable tannins (but ripe tannins) on the finihs. Showed really well at about the 90 minute mark, but still then it begs for a bit more time. Should be quite good in a few years. A-/A
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7/10/2015 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 93 Points
Lovely wine with expressive nose and soft long finish with nice earthy component but clean fruit profile. Starting to come in to its own, yet no rush on this wine.
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5/23/2015 - aknot13 wrote: 94 Points
Very enjoyable! Still tastes likes a young wine.
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4/24/2015 - paul195 wrote: 93 Points
Consistent with bottle last month
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4/3/2015 - Vini Ciclismo Likes this wine: 93 Points
Easter with McG Family; 4/3/2015-4/5/2015 (Gerroa): Silky, balanced, lovely texture. Med wt dark fruit and soft spice flavours. The weight is soft to medium, with age most likely having softened it up. Pleasingly refined but not overly expressive flavours.
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4/1/2015 - jkoenen wrote: 93 Points
Discussion wine. I felt it was rather young, others thought it was in decline...
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3/13/2015 - drwine2001 wrote:
Deep ruby almost to the edge. Cedar/pine wood and just a smidgeon of florality. Medium weight. Diffuse black tinged fruit is overpowered by acidity and the chocolate/cocoa quality of the oak which leaves an unpleasant dryness at the end. Where is the rich, fruit-filled wine that others describe? This is entirely consistent with a bottle I had 5 years ago; no noticeable improvement whatsoever. More smoke and mirrors than real substance here, I'm afraid, at least for the bottles I've had.
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3/10/2015 - ilee Likes this wine: 94 Points
Decanted for 2 hours. Dark, brooding but very refined nose of black fruit, with hints of tobacco, spice and game. Full, firm and robust on the palate, with subtle tannins that melted into a velvety finish. A very fine example of mature Cote Rotie
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3/4/2015 - paul195 wrote: 93 Points
Decanted for an hour, should have been for 5+ hours. Dark dense appearance, very Syrah nose of dark - almost blue fruits, dense and young. Earthy and meaty, full bodied, pure dark primary fruit core. Smooth and thickly textured with broad shoulders and a medium finish. This is still a very young wine just barely at the early maturity point of what will surely be a long life
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2/26/2015 - Jeff W wrote:
This is a fine Cote-Rotie, properly mature, but with a long life to come. It certainly benefits from a good decant, which has been well expressed here. Earthy and meaty, medium to full bodied, pure dark fruit. Very smooth, a good acidic backbone, and delicious soft tannins providing impressive length and a tactile and chewy mouthfeel. dg
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2/5/2015 - Naplesgolfer Likes this wine: 93 Points
Nice nose of ripe berries with leather, earth and spice. On the palate nice acid level with tart cherry and red berry notes with gamey overtone. This is just in the beginning of it's drinking window. I think this will get more complex with more time.
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12/20/2014 - MWiking wrote: 93 Points
Provades blint mot 9 andra viner,
ceder stall, lätt frukt, choklad, tobak är de korta noteringarna jag gjort vilket fick mig till Paulliac, viner är ritkigt gott och fint utvecklat.
växer under kvällen. riktigt kul vin att få prova.
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12/18/2014 - FamilyLarsson wrote: 94 Points
I doften början till mogna stalltoner, ceder, läder, lite rökta charktoner, körsbär. I smaken mogna mörka körsbär, tobak, choklad, kött och början till elegant mognad. Fin balans med bra syra och fin frukt och bra struktur. Provades blint och från början var jag inne på Bordeaux. Ett riktigt bra vin.
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12/18/2014 - Ramberg wrote: 93 Points
Rather mature nose with smoked meat, herbs, mint, tobacco, dust and leather, barnyard, red berries, touch of smoked oak and minerals.
Palate shows beginning maturity, medium ++ acidity, tart red berries, dark cherries, good concentration and length, fine tannins and a touch of spice and pepper.
Fine, in its first stage of maturity.
(93 – 94 p)
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12/18/2014 - Patrik H Likes this wine: 95 Points
On the nose, Stable, leather, liqourice, meat, cedar, chocolate
On the palate, Tobacco, stable, leather, meat in the aging the fruit is slowly fading.
Medium finish
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10/9/2014 - johnwine Likes this wine: 95 Points
This is the style of Cote-Rotie I was expecting filled with ripe fruit and leather and spice. It was along with the Guigal La Mordoree the favorite of our IGG tasting.
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10/4/2014 - PopularCar wrote: 93 Points
Drank an '98 & '99 side by side. The '99 was great but the '98 was past its prime.
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9/4/2014 - mdefreitas wrote: 85 Points
I was hoping the 15 years of age would provide complexity and tame the rich oak notes... but this came across as very ripe and anonymous with noticeable oak and lacking in complexity. Not a bad drink, but not an interesting wine. A bit simple, with only dark fruit and creamy vanilla flavors coming through for me tonight.
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8/11/2014 - mike l. Likes this wine:
opened at superba.
there was some user error here. i think this needs a very long decant and we gave it maybe an hour. last sip was by far the best, was a bit closed, fruit a bit muted. the bottle and cork were perfect.
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7/6/2014 - T.E.D. wrote: 91 Points
Dark and vibrant color, showing plenty of age ability left. Nose was classic and crisp - wet stone, underbrush, herbs and tart red fruit. Palate showed strong acidity, with notes of dark cherry, mint, and earth. Needs time.
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6/1/2014 - Wfjohn Likes this wine: 92 Points
Balanced and approachable. Soft tannins but still present. Nice fruit but more savory than anything. Over the evening some meatiness developed but not over the top intense. Really nice.
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5/27/2014 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
At 15 years of age, this is in the perfect spot. The fruit is still young, lively and energetic. The secondary aromas are in bloom and the tannins have softened. If you have a bottle, open one. You'll be glad you did.
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5/2/2014 - canan wrote: 95 Points
Drinking perfectly right now. Has evolved really nicely and does seem to be at its peak where it will stay for at least 5 years.
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3/10/2014 - Drankard wrote: 91 Points
After 14 yrs this is still vibrant and young. I doubt this would get any better. A great modern wine but not for me stylistically.
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2/24/2014 - vendange wrote: flawed
Horribly corked.
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2/21/2014 - walkerjfw wrote: 94 Points
At Bistro Jeanty, drank among a table of big wines (mostly European) Palate cleansing exercise after three days of big Cabs. This is a great and knowledgeable crew of wine friends, brought to drink next to a 2000 Pegau.
Dark, inky/ruby color. Nose had raisins, red fruits, spice, bacon fat. Palate was red cherry, blackberry, strawberry, pepper, licorice, dried herbs. Good concentration - Would benefit from a longer decant, great wine but felt like it needed more air time to really show, may be up a few points on next tasting...
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1/23/2014 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
With a beautiful sense of purity in the sweet, ripe, red cherry, black raspberry and strawberry fruits, the wine is fresh, zippy, peppery and concentrated. Drinking in the right place, the lively, red berry finish is long and clean.
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12/20/2013 - Vini Ciclismo Likes this wine: 95 Points
Deep dark red. Youthful.
Ripe red/black berries, smooth, hoisin, spice, licorice, graphite and violet.
Silky, med wt, long rich palate. Lovely blend of dark spice and fruit, fruit dominates, blueberry and ink. Not much pepper, some dried herbs, plums, tar, licorice. No gamey chars, fruit dominates. Quite a few years ahead.
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12/20/2013 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 94 Points
Really coming into its on since the last bottle I had 4-5 years ago. This wine is wonderfully balanced and yet had a nice assertive fruit profile. Just wonderful.
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12/8/2013 - SteelerFan wrote: 91 Points
Still somewhat stiff after a 4 hour decant, and probably still too young. Dark burgundy in color and restrained nose. I am still hoping this will some day open up. Very enjoyable, but not amazing. Be patient.
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12/4/2013 - Vino Me wrote: 93 Points
Opened by Jcubed last weekend. Ruby red color. A medium bodied wine with fine tannins. Notes of raisins, red berries and bacon fat. Extremely fresh character for being 14 years old. I liked this better than the 2000 vintage which I had back in 2004; but then 1999 was such an outstanding year in the Northern Rhone that it is not surprising. 93-94 points.
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11/29/2013 - thelostverse wrote: 93 Points
Opened by J3 at Anvil. This did not have the awful barnyard that I've come to hate in Northern Rhones. Meaty notes with some bacon fat and white pepper. I don't think there is any hurry here.
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11/29/2013 - AllRed wrote: 95 Points
Post-holiday dinner w/eyesintime (Anvil Club): Aromas of bacon fat, dark fruit, pepper, mineral and red berries. Complete and balanced, with roasted game, pepper, spice, red currants and herbs on the palate. Lingering finish with red fruit, bacon and spice tones. A terrific bottle- thanks jcubed.
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10/26/2013 - Vintomas wrote: 93 Points
Guigal Château d'Ampuis - complete vertical tasting of 1995-2009 (Stockholm): Medium red, rather compact colour, slightly faded edge. Nose with dark berries, spice and pepper, violets, animal notes, slightly herbaceous, mint and mineral, slightly developed notes with barnyard aromas and leather; elegant. Palate with cherries, blackberries, good concentration, some mint, mineral, medium(+) tannins, aftertaste with berries and acidity/tart notes. Fine balance, starting to mature, should be allowed more time in the cellar, 93+ p.
Less developed than the 1998, slightly lighter and more herbaceous nose, but more elegant.
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10/10/2013 - Madaboutwine Likes this wine: 92 Points
With spanish food at Donosti. Came after a well decanted Aalto PS 2004 (written up separately). This was PnP unfortunately. Came out quite primary on first few tastes. Nose was muted for the first 10-15 minutes. Very syrah, very french cote-rotie, very good. Much better half an hour later. Certainly lots of time left on this one and will get better. Glad I have a case+ to see the evolution. Could see this getting at least a couple more points in the future.
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10/5/2013 - PeterH Likes this wine: 94 Points
I really like this juice, just a step behind the La Las. The '99 version is drinking great today, perfect with pork or lamb dishes...
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9/24/2013 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Well this was rather wonderful. Just starting in on prime time too. No rush here. The magic of the moment was serving it on the salad course -- kale, buttermilk and garlic dressing, then smoked beets. A perfect match and a shebang to the beginning of the meal.
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8/17/2013 - dcwino wrote: 95 Points
Kelly’s visit, two nights of great wines - Burgundy and Rhone (Marks duckhouse, Falls Church, Va): Still so darn primary, not hasn’t changed much in two years. Blue and black fruits, blackberry, a hint of smoke and garrigue. Excellent concentration, nice round and silky palate and nicely integrated tannins. This will improve for at least five more years.
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7/16/2013 - dbkitc wrote: 92 Points
Beginning to hit its stride. Rich, dark and full of fruit, yet silky and coming together. Not exceptionally complex but very enjoyable and a nice effort. (92)
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6/22/2013 - MC wrote:
This was not bad out of the bottle because of the lush fruit, but better with some air. Certainly not a classic in style, but this is really concentrated with plenty of game and a long finish. A-/A
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5/29/2013 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
Bacon fat, floral, boysenberry, earth, kirsch, pepper and garrigue pop along with the cork. Silky, rich and filled with layers of sweet, ripe, delicious red and dark berries, this Cote Rotie is moving full speed ahead on all cylinders.
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5/3/2013 - Eric wrote: 95 Points
Oh yum. Serious yum. Smoke, smoke, more smoke, and the some roast beast with a heavy dose of beef blood. This screams of Syrah. Clearly modernist and well-endowed, luscious and yet satisfyingly savory as well. I didn't really want to like this wine as much as I did, but it was an absolute stunner. My last bottle of 5 and utterly singing. Grip 'em and rip 'em. This wine is screaming right now.
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4/26/2013 - mattjohnson_78 wrote: 94 Points
very hedonistic right now showing boysenberry syrup covered rusty iron fence with cinnamon dusted funnel cake. juicy and plush, this thing took a couple of hours to open up...i like where this is drinking right now, and i will be anxious to see it again in four or five years...
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4/21/2013 - beatles wrote: 96 Points
Right now this just very, very good. Needs a bit of air (it is old syrah after all), but not overwhelmingly much, it is actually quite showy; still a lot of primary fruit here, a lot of pepper, olives, black berries etc, while secondary, more animal notes are just beginning to show. The wine is quite polished as to be expected from Guigal (and in such a mature year), but the oak is fully integrated. I think it is like this with the 99’s: They have been good all their life and will live happily ever (almost) after.
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4/2/2013 - cadamson Likes this wine: 93 Points
In a very good spot. Dark as night. Lots of nuance, minerality, spice, dirt, tar and black fruit. Really, really good.
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3/31/2013 - PeterH Likes this wine: 95 Points
Holy Cow! This is great juice. Not sure I could tell this apart from a 'blend' of the La Las from 1999, at 1/6 the price. Buy More!!
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3/31/2013 - PeterH wrote: 95 Points
Holy cow, this is good juice. Not sure I could really tell this apart from some theoretical mixture of the various LaLas, and at 1/6 the price, a huge winner. Go Find More!!
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2/3/2013 - Papies wrote: 94 Points
Some decanting is advisable but not too much as it affects the nose. And what a lovely nose of roast meat and fruit with a touch of spice.on the palate very much firm, vibrant with silky tannin and good length. Well in its drinking window now. 94
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1/28/2013 - toomuchwine Likes this wine: 94 Points
Fully integrated, subtle wine on the nose, with good acid and black cherries on the palate. This is just singing right now.
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1/10/2013 - MilaBuchelska Likes this wine: 93 Points
Fresh,reach,youthful,dark-colored,intense.
Great balance,elegance and finesse.
The tannins are starting to soften and bring delights.
Red and black berries,blackcurrant,meaty,earthy,spices,herbs,a bit floral and all in all complex and charming.
Mascular body,generous with a fresh and persistant finish.
Will definitely profit longer aging.
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12/31/2012 - Tom Henriksveen Likes this wine:
Dark purple color, long legs and little rim. Once opened tha tannins are very dominating, but wihen airaited the dark fruit takes command. This wine has all the right elements, bramble and boysenberries, spices, olive and bacon fat. But there is also a green/herbal note that disturbs the picture ever so sligthly. Still on the young side I will leave my second bottle a few years in the cellar.
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12/18/2012 - markellen.foodies@gmail.com wrote: 94 Points
95 POINT HOLIDAY DOUBLE BLIND DINNER @ Le Provencal; 12/18/2012-12/19/2012 (Le Provencal, Miracle Mile, Coral Gables,FL): - Crimsom color with slow forming legs. It's balanced with a medium/full body. Polished texture with a long finish - Barry's wine.
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11/30/2012 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
I like wines young, old and in the middle. I prefer finding them finding them in the sweet spot. Coming up on 14 years of age, this is the sweet spot. The perfume with its spice, earth, kirsch, black raspberry, bacon fat and pepper pop the moment the wine hits the glass. In the mouth, the lush, polished, ripe berries and cherries are in full force. There is not a hair out of place. If you cannot afford the famous La La's, (and who can?) this is a contender for the best value in a high end Cote Rotie from a legendary vintage in the marketplace today.
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11/28/2012 - Loren Sonkin wrote: 96 Points
2009 Cote Roties (and a few others) (Trent's): This was opened after the tasting was over to see how well Cote Roties can age. Pop and pour. This is still very youthful and not yet at peak. Purple/ruby in color. The nose is expressive with black raspberries, black olives and very deep. It is amazingly smooth. Drinks so easily. Great depth and complexity but packed very tightly. Black raspberries. Not the acidity that the 09's have but well balanced in its own right. Beautiful wine.
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10/25/2012 - cephomer wrote: 92 Points
Drank at Ned Towle's tasting, and was the overall favorite of the evening, though not mine. This wine was very chameleon-like. At first, I thought the wine was about to die in the glass, but it kept changing as it sat and it got better and better. I think the fruit in this wine has subsided quite a bit from its peak drinking window, but what's left behind is a very earthy, smoky, savory wine, with loads of tertiary flavors (Ned said he tasted bacon fat--perhaps). The wine still has a decent acidity level which is integrated nicely with the remaining fruit, and the end product is a very lovely cote rote. I must try this one again soon.
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7/9/2012 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
Smoke, earth, charcoal, kirsch, wild strawberry, bacon fat, floral and spice box scents make up the perfume. Silky textures, freshness, purity of fruit and concentration of flavor are found in every sniff and sip. This is drinking perfectly today. I'll probably try drinking my remaining bottles over the next 10-12 years to retain the beautiful array of fresh fruits. If you're not familiar with Cote Rotie, while not inexpensive, this is a good bottle to see what the fuss is all about.
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6/4/2012 - Mr T wrote:
my first bottle of the 99
very nice with excellent fruit but certainly some of the funk of the N Rhone...tannin nicely resolved
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6/1/2012 - bullmrkt wrote: flawed
I think I might've had a slightly off bottle here, and not representative. While it was drinking well enough, everything about it was subdued and lacking the qualities described by others. Light nose, smokey oak, tobacco, flat palate, short finish. Disappointing!
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5/9/2012 - 1800kidney wrote: 94 Points
Classy elegant wine...great complexity, long finish. Terrific now but has legs..
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3/23/2012 - Pavan wrote: 95 Points
Fabulous! Elegant, long with herbs and ham
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3/23/2012 - Pavan wrote: 95 Points
Fabulous! Elegant, long and delightful
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2/10/2012 - Axone wrote: 88 Points
Décevant vu le pedigree de la bouteille.
Beaucoup moins de charme qu'il y a trois ans.
Peut-être dans une période de fermeture.
J'attends quelques années avant d'en ouvrir une autre.
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2/3/2012 - Bill Bucklew wrote: 94 Points
A surprisingly dark ruby color with no signs of age. A interesting nose of cranberry, red cherry and black fruits with a subtle bacon note on the finish. A surprisingly concentrated core of fruit with tart cherry balanced by bacon fat, supported by a fine tannic structure. The concentration gives the flavors an incredible length which softened a bit with air. This is a great wine, showing even better than anticipated, but may also continue to improve over the next 3-5 years...
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12/5/2011 - VHJV wrote: 95 Points
This wine really suprised me with how great it was. Initially quite primary, but given enough air it became a truly fine wine with lots to offer. Very complex with great fruitiness, soil tones and meats. Wonderful balance. I think almost any other C-R producer would be proud if this was their luxury cuvee. A great wine.
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11/20/2011 - Zweder wrote: 95 Points
Stunning bouquet with herbs and spices, beautiful fruits, meat, smoke and a pleasant touch of barnyard. Same on the palate with a touch of pleasant and elegant sweetness balanced by perfect acidity. Soft and round tannin and good bitterness in the finish. A superb and juicy wine; ready now and a future of several years.
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11/19/2011 - jkoenen wrote: 94 Points
Game and Rhone Tasting @ Peggy's (Villa Reynart, Opoeteren): This wine shines because of its amazingly harmonious and effortless presentation. Generous and open, pure Northern-Rhone-essence. Not overextracted but beguiling and complete. An absolute joy to drink and, when compared to other Cote Rotie's, good QPR too! Sweet and ripe red fruit basket, acidity and tannines are nice and rough. Total balance. Buy and drink now or in 5 years. 18,5/20
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10/8/2011 - canan wrote: 96 Points
Cote-Rotie 1999 tasting (Glostrup): Incredible and powerful vanilla, cherry/blackberry nose with plenty of vanilla.
Very intense and delicious full-bodied cherry flavors also with a lot of vanilla.
A powerful and intense wine but still maintaining a solid and impressive balance. Beautiful wine..
96-97p
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9/29/2011 - Serge Birbrair wrote:
Sediments on the side of the bottle, no decanting, enjoyable wine by all means with long finish. Tannins getting smooth, drink now, the wine is ready
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8/19/2011 - jkoenen wrote: 94 Points
Impromptu tasting @ Peter Z. (Belgium): Directly after pouring: horsey stable impressions prevail..., but this blows off after awhile and then black fruits like cassis and blackberry jumps from the glass. This is a very serious glass of wine ('serious' in both senses), deep, dark and multi-layered. First bottle of a joint purchase and we were very happy with this! Re-buy. 18,5/20
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8/16/2011 - schway wrote: 93 Points
93+. Probably not my preferred style of cote rotie, but terrific nonetheless. Deep, rich, ripe, concentrated and racy. Explosive on the nose and the palate. Both red and black fruits (berries), tending towards the former, perhaps due to the soaring (sometimes almost searing) acidity. Black pepper, smoke, some leather, hints of espresso, mocha and underbrush. Super spicy. Good length. Oak is integrating well, but still far too dominant for my tastes, which is my biggest complaint. Don't get much of a mineral or herbal component, nor even the classic bacon/black olive aromas I've grown accustomed to with northern-rhone syrah. Overall, seems to me lacking in secondary, terroir-evoking characteristics. Very masculine compared to the few other Cote Roties I've had. Even some hard edges. Maybe a bit hot. This decanted for 2.5 hours at the restaurant (wedding dinner @ gd), and was showing well when we started in on it, but undoubtedly could have used much longer aeration. Was tiny bit left at bottom of bottle which we brought home. Tried the next afternoon, and was terrific. Softer and far less aggressive. Drank young. Long, long life ahead of it. Would be nice to try again in 5 years, but probably wouldn't seek it out. Still, there's no denying the quality of the wine and the winemaking.
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8/12/2011 - Zweder Likes this wine: 95 Points
This is just great! Beautiful barnyard bouquet which is fading quite quickly. Fruits, herbs and spices and a touch of sweetness on the nose. Enormously mouth filling and concentrated. Beautiful juice. Round. Great acidity. Still before its prime. A truly great wine.
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7/29/2011 - DAN BAILEY wrote:
Double decanted and then drunk over 2 hours. Quite precise at first, softening a little with some air. Again, whilst smoothe and a pleasure to drink, a little sombre and lacking in much complexity.
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3/26/2011 - DAN BAILEY wrote:
Double decanted and drunk over 2 evenings. Dark fruited, blackcurrants with some sweet, dark caramel. Slightly spikey, grainy tannins on the first night but beautifully smooth and supple on the 2nd, by which time, the nose was also very powerful and expressive. Still, the wine was quite serious and lacked a little complexity or joie de vivre.
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3/26/2011 - Burgundy Al wrote: 92 Points
Opened for 2 hours, not decanted, but should have. Classic Cote-Rotie character of bacon fat and black pepper. Still a bit oaky, so when tasted blind many people guessed new world. Lots of dark fruit on finish. Better and better with mo e time in glass.
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3/24/2011 - dcwino wrote: 93 Points
I agree with psmith’s and Jeff’s tns. Still pretty opaque, smoked meat, dry herbs starting with bold blue fruit but ending in red fruit that is feminine. Excellent concentration, bright acidity but slightly dry finish perhaps coming from new oak. Although the wine has excellent concentration I felt the wine is not drinking too well as most primary fruit expression has dissipated and the concentrated not too expressive fruit is masking the tertiary flavor. At least for me it needs a few more years. 95 potential but 92 current drinking.
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3/9/2011 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
Licorice, dark cherries, cassis, bacon fat, herbs and hints of juicy plums open to a powerful, concentrated, fresh wine. With rich, silky textures and a long finish filled with ripe berries, pepper, vanilla and earthy flavors, this is a knock out Cote Rotie that keeps improving. Still young, this should continue to evolve for at least another decade or more. While not cheap, for a Cote Rotie of this quality, this is the wine to buy.
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3/5/2011 - beezer6 wrote: 91 Points
Saturday Tasting Group (Knightsbridge Wine Shop (Northbrook, IL)): Earth, pungent funk, spice and some creamy winter green on the nose.
Some light sulfuric action as well with some fig.
Palate shows massive grip. A touch austere. Nice depth. Drinking well now.
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3/5/2011 - psmith wrote:
Meaty and dark up front, with a feminine streak and subtleness that I don't normally find with Guigal. Dark, spicy, classy wine, while still with great depth. Not the flashiness of recent vintages (which I also really enjoy). Very nice - will last, but no shame in opening now.
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2/15/2011 - dbkitc wrote: 93 Points
I really don’t like this bottling typically as I feel it is over oaked and under-wined. That said, the 99 is in a different league from many other vintages. This great year has resulted in a complete wine. Good depth behind the make-up. Drunk at the end of a long night so I don’t remember all the nuance, but left a good impression. (93)
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2/2/2011 - tooch wrote: 90 Points
Tavola di Perpetua e Felicità (Palena - Washington, DC): Dark color with a boisterous nose of red fruit, warm baking spices and roasted coffee. Palate was decidedly bright, and when drank alongside many other Cote-Rotie's seemed almost "new world". There was really nice flavors of plums, blackberries, subtle sous bois, and minerals. I didn't think this came across as typical for the region, but it was certainly enjoyable.
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1/11/2011 - Papies wrote: 94 Points
94+ Such a great wine and very consistent with our note from a year and a half ago. The roast meat nose is coming out and its such a a deep and layers wine . Great.
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1/7/2011 - kgh wrote: 94 Points
Dark ruby color, great aromatics. Shows excellent structure and balance, prominent currant, pepper, and smoke.
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12/27/2010 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
The showy nose expresses notes of fresh pepper, chocolate covered cherries, herbs, fresh earth and wild strawberries with a tiny hint of vanilla, ending with smoky bacon fat. Thick, rich, sophisticated and elegant, this wine feels great slipping over your palate. Ripe, strawberry, cherry and black raspberry flavors fill your mouth with an exciting bolt of flavor with the perfect amount of lift. The long finish lasts at least 35/40 seconds. This is drinking beautifully today.
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9/27/2010 - dream wrote: 93 Points
Deep brooding color. Really potent nose of iodine, charred beef and something green and minerally that I can't put my finger on. On the palate, it's really fresh and young with deep classic Cote Rotie flavors of roasted stuff and spicy red fruits. A big-boned wine but totally in balance and in need of many more years of aging. Compared to the La La's, this is not far off in terms of quality but doesn't quite possess the silky texture and complexity. There is a hint of greeness but it still wouldn't surprise me if this wine aged into something spectacular. Talk about terroir-this wine couldn't be from anywhere but Cote Rotie. 93+
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8/14/2010 - psmith wrote:
Meaty dark syrah fruit. Blackberry. Medium body. Clean. Still young, but well balanced with lots of potential. Nice.
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7/28/2010 - DAN BAILEY wrote:
Slow-oxed for 2 hours before serving - needed much more air. Black colour with a hint of purple. Dark fruits, iodine, beautiful balance but way too young. Will be sensational in 10 years.
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6/22/2010 - dannyk8232 wrote: 93 Points
Drinking very well. This is a ripe, yet elegant N. Rhone with a lot of potential for the future. Extremely well made. Glad I have another bottle. Held up reasonably well vs. the 95 La-La's and a bunch of young SQN reds.
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6/5/2010 - spaniel wrote: 96 Points
Beautiful Cote Rotie. Sweet red fruit, fine tannins and notes of blood and roast meat.
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5/28/2010 - buckeye76 wrote: 96 Points
INCREDIBLE NOSE, BLACK CHERRIES, LICORICE, ALMOST PINOT LIKE. RICH FRUIT IN THE FLAVOR, DEEP BERRIES AND BLACK CHERRIES. ELEGANT WINE WITH NICE COMPLEXITY AND A LONG LINGERING FINISH.
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3/23/2010 - Brady D wrote: flawed
Had to celebrate the passage of the health care bill in the USA. Dammit it was corked. So opened up a 2006 Lillian which was spectacular, if too young.
I have two more, and hope they aren't corked too.
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1/16/2010 - drwine2001 wrote:
Good youthful color. For the first 2 hours out of the bottle, all one could smell here was green, cedary wood that called to mind badly overoaked Temparanillo. After that, riper blackberry tones crept out. Good acidity, medium body. Honestly, it never rose above seeming like generic Syrah since it has none of complexity or seductiveness of Cote Rotie. Not a fraction of what this should be. Terribly disappointing after waiting years to try one.
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12/28/2009 - Eric wrote: 94 Points
Oh yeah, textbook nose of bacon and blood, absolutely stellar. Tight and reticent when first opened but after 90 minutes this has really settled down. Singing acidity, smoke, cherries, and bacon. Still tannic but starting to show awesome secondary notes.
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10/16/2009 - SteelerFan wrote: 92 Points
Popped and poured. Terrific nose - herbal grass and mint with underlying berry and cassis. The herbal notes quickly blew off and I was impressed with how smooth this wine was - the tannins are integrated and it grew increasingly complex in the glass. I think this would greatly benefit from decanting - drinking very well now but no sign of decline.
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8/26/2009 - Terkel wrote: 97 Points
Dinner with friends (My place): Black color with a red hue. The full-throttle aromas jump out of the glass, great intensity and very inviting nose with notes of black, ripe fruit, cherries, black berries, creamy chocolate, licorice, coffee grinder, roasted oak, air-dried meats, olives, campfire and oil barrel. Wildly intense on the palate with layers of dark fruit, cherries and blackcurrant, but all cool, fresh and refined. There is also lots of sweet, roasted oak present on the midpalate and finish, together with an exciting broad spectrum of smoky meats, olives, oil barrel, campfire and gunpowder. Great, great length. Velvety texture, but lively, fresh acidity keeps you reaching for another sip.
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8/26/2009 - canan wrote:
Very impressive and opulent nose with buttermilk, dark olives and light vanilla with a minor touch of black pepper.
What a palate!! Olives, pepper, raw meat and sweet dark plum fruit. Nice and tight backbone with a good amount of harsh tannins and bright acidity but still it is very easy to drink now. Full-bodied and a great intensity.
Simply put, it is just a sexy wine..
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7/12/2009 - Papies wrote: 95 Points
A truly nice wine. Deep red colour, nice body and long finish. Blackberry, cherry and violet at the back (thanks to Le Nez du Vin for the help). Decanted for45 minutes. Drank on a nice lazy sunday afternoon. How fitting. Nics gave this 96 but she is a sucker for cote rotie.
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4/13/2009 - dbkitc wrote: 90 Points
A bit of an enigma – lovely blackberry fruit mixed with smoke and animal fat. Super fruit purity. However, this wine is wrapped in a cloak of new oak. It invades everything about the wine. A Laurent version of Northern Rhone. Significantly more pronounced than in other vintages of this wine (and that is saying something). I still enjoy this as the interaction is interesting, but I can only imagine how wonderful this would have been with less dressing. The ’97 and ’98 seemed better balanced to me. Will be interesting to revisit in 5 years or so. (90+?)
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3/21/2009 - MarkC wrote: 92 Points
This was an excellent wine, although consumed a bit early. Would be interesting to taste it in 5 years or so. Definitely had a bit more stuffing and age potential than the '99 St. Cosme we had alongside, but wasn't showing the fruit as nicely and this still has some rough edges to work out. I may actually be acquiring a taste, finally, for Rhone wines (vs. Rhone-style wines from the US which I already love).
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2/5/2009 - loverboy wrote: 95 Points
To my tiny experience of Guigal and Rhone, this bottle of Guigal impressed me the most. Started out with herbal scent but not very Rhone-like. Then it changes all night with dry leave, damp stone, strawberry, crushed reds. Long and silky finish
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2/5/2009 - noppakit s. wrote: 95 Points
Blockbuster !! Tour de France again !! Clean&Elegant, not like any other vintages, texture is superb, aftertaste is deep and long. The promising Cote Rotie !!
I drink this wine quite often, maybe too much but still waiting to test 2003 soon.
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1/12/2009 - Employee500 wrote: 89 Points
Surprisingly unexciting, and reserved. Tastes like Syrah, but relatively new-world and without the olives, herbs and acididty I would have expected. Maybe a case of catching this at the wrong time, as a bottle two years ago was quite delicious.
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12/2/2008 - Cheryl wrote:
Had at Momofuku - Soft, short finish. I don't recall whether I liked it. :(
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12/1/2008 - Jeff Leve wrote: 94 Points
Violets, bacon fat, licorice and jammy fruits are easy to discern in this Cote Rotie. Supple entry. Still tannic. Good concentration and depth of flavors. A long bright, red fruit dominated finish pleases the palate. With 60 minutes of decanting, this still seemed young. It fleshed out after about 2 hours.
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11/2/2008 - Dave Canada wrote: 91 Points
Nose of scorched earth, blueberry, smoke, olive and floral
The palate shows campfire, creosote, blueberry and olive tapenade
The finish is medium with smoke and blueberry......nice, but overated in my mind
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9/3/2008 - jivey wrote: 93 Points
Tabacco, tar, dark fruits, coffe, earth with beutiful cherry, casis on a complex finish.
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9/3/2008 - goofy Yno wrote: 95 Points
Blind night- MY house (My house): what an incredible nose- olive, grilled meat, dust, earth, dark berries. nice mouth with good acidity, cherries, some nice complexity and a medium long finish. still with some resolving tannins.
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9/3/2008 - jeff nowak wrote: 95 Points
double blind. simply lovely. a wine of finesse and complexity which drank beautifully tonight. drink or hold...this wine will evolve and change it's complexion like a the woman of your dreams, never letting you down.
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9/3/2008 - kstoddard wrote: 95 Points
Your Happy Wine (Mark): Intoxicating perfumed dark berry nose. This wine would be 99 points for me if I were rating it purely on the bouquet. Tastes of black cherry, raspberry, earth, anise, white pepper, charred French oak and leather. Incredibly well balanced with gorgeous acidity. Long elegant finish that lasts for over a minute. An absolutely wonderful showing tonight. My contribution for the night. 13% alcohol.
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9/3/2008 - Gregory Dal Piaz wrote: 89 Points
Jemrose in New York City: Very restrained nose but the intense floral character of the viognier comes through the otherwise tight smoky nose the grows in the glass revealing fairly intense notes of sassafrass and quinine by the end of the night.. Offers lots of blackberry fruit in the mouth with notes of wood spice and hard red candy offering some contrast but the wine remains a bit ungiving and tight. Solid potential for improvement here but give it another 3-5 years.
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6/10/2008 - Siggy wrote: 94 Points
Tasting Group Dinner (Craig's House): Intense core of dark cherries and earth, with perfumed layers of flowers, smoke, and black pepper. This has gorgeous flavor intensity and a meaty, savory character that builds in the midpalate and culminates in a long, mouth-coating, ripely tannic finish. Terrific balance. Ethereal stuff that reminds me of a baby LaLa. Co-WOTN for me.
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5/22/2008 - gorm wrote: 95 Points
Uncorked DK BYO (Restaurant Nouveau - Copenhagen): Dark red. Nose of buttermilk, sweet dark fruit, herbs, christmas spices, white pepper and smoked bacon. In the mouth it has mouthwatering acidity and good intensity combined with an elegant feel. The smoked and meaty flavors danses elegantly over the tongue. Guigal rules!
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4/5/2008 - noppakit s. wrote: 95 Points
This must be my 5th time of testing the 1999.
Now it's Tour de France ( only last bottle from Japan, testing in Feb. is far different ) it's begun with typical d'Ampuis with many layers, go to Burgundy, step to St.Emilion, back to Cote Rotie and ends with Burgundy in the final. That's charming !!! I always stick my nose into the glass for a long time.
Full-bodied, Great structure, quite heavy but seductive. 4 hours of happiness ??
...Big and long aftertaste...Now I'm waiting to see how 2003 is gonna be...
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2/18/2008 - noppakit s. wrote: 91 Points
This is my 4th time of drinking 1999.
This bottle from Japan is unusal character. It's very soft, smooth and elegance...Japanese style...
Not much scents of Cote-Rotie, hardly find a smell of small wood-chips but meneral, layers, some herbs and flowery.
Medium+, round and easy with the normal good aftertaste.
I used to give last 3 bottles 95-96/100 but this time 90-91/100....It's not in the sleep period but ?
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9/28/2007 - JeffGMorris wrote:
Dinner at St Jacques with Todd & Lisa, Wes & Terry Ann and Bill K. Dark ruby in color this wine clearly showed the greatness of the 1999 Northern Rhone vintage but I rarely find Cote Rotie to be to my liking and this was no exception. Some richness and good body upfront but in time the funky side of Cote Rotie reared it's head and lost my interest. Judgment reserved.
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8/27/2007 - kstoddard wrote: 93 Points
G7 (Jock): Very expressive nose. Cherry jello, pencil lead, violets and caramel. Showing extremely well at this point. Rich finish. Quite nice. 13% alcohol.
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7/1/2007 - Milhous wrote: 93 Points
young, dense, oaky, but starting to show some cote rotie promise. 5 more years before i open another one. still, a good drop if you don't mind some 'international style'
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6/1/2007 - Hillbilly wrote: 93 Points
South. Quickly double decanted and opened 4 hours later. Dark ruby color, medium bodied Cote Rotie. Lots of viognier inspired aromatics. Smooth mouthfeel. Red fruits, nice balance and finished with some acidic touches. Comes off as a pretty wine which picks up intensity in the glass. No overt tannin sticking out, but well structured. Nice wine, but I felt like it was holding back and we did not see all the fireworks. Picked up steam with air.
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4/29/2007 - KPB wrote: 91 Points
Medium bodied ruby. Delicate nose offers floral tones (roses), dried cherries, leather, and hints of the classic bacon fat. Nicely balanced with a long, precise finish. Firm tannins and acidity -- drinkable now, better in four or five years.
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2/9/2007 - psmith wrote:
A great assortment from a generous friend (Columbus, OH): Rich violet and dark fruit nose. Compact and tannic palate. Great elements, but needs time.
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1/18/2007 - jeff nowak wrote: 94 Points
smooth and powerful at the same time; youthful and intoxicating. this seems to be a very fine year for guigal, and while i absolutely was thrilled to drink it, hold.
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5/13/2006 - toomuchwine wrote: 94 Points
wonderful...decanted 15-30 minutes and really opened up....floral nose.
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12/30/2005 - Alpine wrote: 92 Points
Really closed today....not decanted.....nose was unavailable on the palate the wine had wouderful concentration of fruit and you can tell that the wine will be special in the future but I won't touch this for five years...the tannins were very smooth and not rough in any respect.
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2/26/2005 - Spencer wrote: 96 Points
Wow! I have limited experience with Cote-Rotie, so it's quite easy for me to say that this is one of the best ones I've ever had. Not quite as open as when I first tasted this wine on release, but still incredibly deep, full and complex. Aromas of smoke, animal fur, bacon - just about everything you'd expect. Loads of liqueur-like red and black raspberry fruit on the palate, along with chocolate, and an assortment of fresh herbs. Incredibly lush and seemless. The finish didn't quite live up to what preceded it, but I think it will with time. Amazing now, but this has tremendous room for improvement. Hopefully I'll be able to keep my hands off it long enough for it to mature.
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2/26/2005 - cassetta wrote: 93 Points
Northern Rhone tasting with the Lakeshore Boys (My house): At this point we/I definitely didn’t need anymore wine but this was already decanted, so WTF. Decanted 5 hours before and drank over the following 5 hours (I finished the last glass at 4:00am). This is the biggest young Cote Rotie I’ve ever had. I can just imagine how big those La La’s were at the LA tasting. Roasted meat, black fruit and sweet oak on the nose. Full bodied with cassis and sweet powerful tannins. Great balance and purity. Very young and will be better once the oak becomes more integrated in 5 or more years.
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11/19/2004 - jeff nowak wrote: 95 Points
sweet, fruit forward, superb balance. could have been a ringer, but, of course, it proved not to be. if you want to serve a wine that will just knock your socks off today, this is it. had some bacon fat and oak which ratcheted up the fun factor.
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5/14/2004 - Eric wrote: 90 Points
Seattle Tasting Group does Syrah (Seattle, WA, USA): I would never recognize this from a prior taste. The nose is slightly citric with a hint of garrigue. On the palate this is much less giving than the other wines. This is tannic, acidic and tight with a distinct cherry profile, almost Grenache like right now.
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11/7/2003 - Joe Belmaati wrote: 97 Points
Dark red appearance. Dense looking core with purple hue. Scents of ketchup, vanilla, and spicy oak overtones gentle emerge from the glass. In the mouth the wine is strong, very tannic, large bodied and pakced with dense ripe fruit. The balance is excellent, and the wine never becomes over-powering or un-sophisticated in profile. There's a lovely forward, yet complex quality to this wine, and a superb, long chocolate-mochha-coffee aftertaste that I just adored. SUPERB.
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8/9/2003 - Eric wrote: 90 Points
Seattle Tasting Group does Northern Rhône (Bellevue, WA, USA): This was my contribution to the red wine flight. It was clearly a powerful, meaty, painfully young Syrah. Somewhat sappy on the palate with a medium finish that gains in length and power. The group average was 91.875, #3 wine of the night.
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