Light yellow color. Aromas of pear, apples, limes, acacia and wood spices. Ripe, fully-integrated fruit in the mouth with excellent depth and length. Not as extracted as some of the other 2013 Kistlers but delicious with wild Alaskan King salmon and at its peak.
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Open that bottle - Dan chooses 1997 The Maiden (My house): This is a gorgeous, seamless, harmonious well-aged California chardonnay that is drinking great right now. The palate is honeyed with lemon oil. The finish has persisting acidity. I see no reason to hold this any further.
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Open THAT Bottle - at Joe's: PnP - This wine is in a prime drinking window right now. Everything is beautifully balanced, in perfect harmony, and showing nice complexity and flavors, with a fairly long finish. This will be a difficult wine to follow for any length of time because each sip begs you to take another, and it is difficult to set the bottle down.
Nose shows plenty of stone fruit, tropics and citrus, with hints of white flowers. Palate shows lots of creamy pear, some Meyers lemon, mango and apple pie, with some notes of minerality and chalk, and hints of toasty oak. You can't help but marvel at the layers of fruit and minerality and how harmoniously they all came together and interact with each other. This is one of the best Kistler wines I have tasted. This was a perfect bottle in a perfect place. 96+ with no problem for my palate!
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Drank with the Prof in Copake. Lovely medium-bodied wine. Lots of white fruit-peaches particularly. Good, but not overly crisp acidity, a bit of wet stones here exuding pleasant minerality, and a nice long finish. Not the usual big, buttery CA style here that Kistler all too often produces which suits me just fine. An excellent, somewhat subdued version this time around. Nice!
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We have some Kistler that Steph's dad sent us and are working our way through it. Not a particularly interesting wine. Certainly well made with high quality wood framing, but boring. Might have been better if it were all buttery and obnoxiously Californian instead of being so polite.
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My last bottle was clearly flawed, I can now safely say after drinking this 96 point elegant wonder. My week old notes indicate lychee, lemon-curd, white peach, washed stones, all supremely integrated.
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Huge fan of this producer and vineyard. This bottle seemed however negatively exceptional, I'm scoring it as flawed. Oak plank nose. Bourbon flavor. Something bitter on back palate. No fruity elegant harmony. Clearly flawed. I trust.
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Still young, but delicious! Lots of fruit balanced by the acidity. This wine has a lot of life left, and I will wait a year or two before my next bottle (only purchased 4). The wine is floral on the nose, with hints of Meyers lemon and apple blossoms. It is a full bodied wine with tastes of creamy pear, a hint of orange, butter and toast. The finish was lively and long, everything you expect from Kistler. If you like big fruit forward wines with good balance, you will love this wine. I give it 94+ for now, but believe it will gain another 1-2 points, and develop more nuances, with time.
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NR, sent with Tiff to book club, tasted on the dbl decant and found this much more enjoyable than my prior bottle, had some nice fruit but with good balancing acidity, drinking well now based on this quick taste
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muddled and heavy on night one, was it oak issues?, better on night two when there was some acid grip that hadn't been there the night before, overall a disappointing performance, perhaps simply too early, but Durell hasn't ever been a favorite of mine
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1/5/2023 - hsacks Likes this wine: 93 Points
Similar to the 6/17/22 bottle.
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6/17/2022 - hsacks Likes this wine: 93 Points
Light yellow color. Aromas of pear, apples, limes, acacia and wood spices. Ripe, fully-integrated fruit in the mouth with excellent depth and length. Not as extracted as some of the other 2013 Kistlers but delicious with wild Alaskan King salmon and at its peak.
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1/12/2022 - galewskj wrote: 95 Points
Open that bottle - Dan chooses 1997 The Maiden (My house): This is a gorgeous, seamless, harmonious well-aged California chardonnay that is drinking great right now. The palate is honeyed with lemon oil. The finish has persisting acidity. I see no reason to hold this any further.
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1/12/2022 - I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine Likes this wine: 96 Points
Open THAT Bottle - at Joe's: PnP - This wine is in a prime drinking window right now. Everything is beautifully balanced, in perfect harmony, and showing nice complexity and flavors, with a fairly long finish. This will be a difficult wine to follow for any length of time because each sip begs you to take another, and it is difficult to set the bottle down.
Nose shows plenty of stone fruit, tropics and citrus, with hints of white flowers. Palate shows lots of creamy pear, some Meyers lemon, mango and apple pie, with some notes of minerality and chalk, and hints of toasty oak. You can't help but marvel at the layers of fruit and minerality and how harmoniously they all came together and interact with each other. This is one of the best Kistler wines I have tasted. This was a perfect bottle in a perfect place. 96+ with no problem for my palate!
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4/26/2021 - rustyRudy Likes this wine: 93 Points
Light yellow. Tart lemon and lime. Moderate buttery oak, vanilla, some pineapple, and tropical fruits
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9/28/2020 - cephomer Likes this wine: 93 Points
Drank with the Prof in Copake. Lovely medium-bodied wine. Lots of white fruit-peaches particularly. Good, but not overly crisp acidity, a bit of wet stones here exuding pleasant minerality, and a nice long finish. Not the usual big, buttery CA style here that Kistler all too often produces which suits me just fine. An excellent, somewhat subdued version this time around. Nice!
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8/23/2020 - shudder125 wrote:
NA
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11/16/2019 - SCosgrove wrote: 91 Points
What a beautiful Chardonnay, color, smell, and taste.
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7/4/2019 - wineguy1968 wrote:
Solid but feels like it’s holding something back. Not as open as the Trenton Roadhouse I opened after this.
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11/6/2018 - vulgar little monkey wrote: 89 Points
We have some Kistler that Steph's dad sent us and are working our way through it. Not a particularly interesting wine. Certainly well made with high quality wood framing, but boring. Might have been better if it were all buttery and obnoxiously Californian instead of being so polite.
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5/31/2018 - oncocyte Likes this wine: 96 Points
My last bottle was clearly flawed, I can now safely say after drinking this 96 point elegant wonder. My week old notes indicate lychee, lemon-curd, white peach, washed stones, all supremely integrated.
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12/21/2017 - oncocyte wrote: flawed
Huge fan of this producer and vineyard. This bottle seemed however negatively exceptional, I'm scoring it as flawed. Oak plank nose. Bourbon flavor. Something bitter on back palate. No fruity elegant harmony. Clearly flawed. I trust.
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7/26/2017 - jsmorris707 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Similar to prior note after splash decanting; delicious, but still young
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5/7/2017 - For the Love of Wine Likes this wine: 94 Points
Still young, but delicious! Lots of fruit balanced by the acidity. This wine has a lot of life left, and I will wait a year or two before my next bottle (only purchased 4). The wine is floral on the nose, with hints of Meyers lemon and apple blossoms. It is a full bodied wine with tastes of creamy pear, a hint of orange, butter and toast. The finish was lively and long, everything you expect from Kistler. If you like big fruit forward wines with good balance, you will love this wine. I give it 94+ for now, but believe it will gain another 1-2 points, and develop more nuances, with time.
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4/25/2017 - jsmorris707 Likes this wine: 93 Points
SO'd for a few hrs, lemon with restrained oak; very good, but I suspect still young
With more air, it became a delicious, & quite typical, young Kistler (creamy lemon) that is ready to drink, but no rush (added a point)
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11/3/2016 - WoodieBayArea wrote:
NR, sent with Tiff to book club, tasted on the dbl decant and found this much more enjoyable than my prior bottle, had some nice fruit but with good balancing acidity, drinking well now based on this quick taste
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7/31/2016 - Pquaker wrote: 93 Points
Drinking perfectly. Kistler malolactic taste with hint of acidity. Lighter color than others, decent aroma
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11/15/2015 - WoodieBayArea wrote: 89 Points
muddled and heavy on night one, was it oak issues?, better on night two when there was some acid grip that hadn't been there the night before, overall a disappointing performance, perhaps simply too early, but Durell hasn't ever been a favorite of mine
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