I have had 1998 La Mouline about 12 times now. But never as good as this bottle. Makes you wonder drinking too early? What a wine this is, and what a bottle, as at this age that is not a given. This wine is so well integrated and so enthralling. Easily the best bottle ever, even more so than the 1990 or 1999. It has acidity, intensity, orange rind, layered in thick ripe fruit. Actually bursting, smooth, velvet, while all with incredible harmony. This simply is rare. True Cote Rotie Guigal LaLa and this one truly is as good as it gets. I have had Guigal Lala quite a few times of heralded vinatges but I am very impressed here and I did not expect something this royally good at this stage.
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This has the most amazing smoky nose. On the palate, it's still quite structured but giving a fabulous flavor profile of campfire char, smoked meats and slate minerals. So lifted and refined with smooth tannins still present and the finish is deeply satisfying with complex notes that echo a night spent around a campfire cooking wild game. I think this will follow the path of the 1990 in time. 95+
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(Mostly) 1998, 2005, 2012 Northern Rhône (Chicago, IL): Not sure that this bottle was entirely sound -- it was a little stewy and showing fruit that wasn't clean and pristine (like in the Turque). Feels like it's tiring and even potentially slightly heat-damaged. Very much a dark complexion, despite the highest percentage of viognier.
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Texas BBQ and La Las Dinner at Marc's House (Marc's House): A gorgeous wine—balance of masculine and feminine. Double decanted for 4 hours and it still opened up better over the 3 hour meal. Felt youthful and vibrant, but still a powerhouse. Deep and rich while also floral at the same time. Awesome.
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Nice floral aromatics on the nose with a touch of oak. Nice on the palette. Just opened so needs to open up more. See how this develops over the next couple of days and nights. *2nd night got progressively better. Great bottle. Beautiful nose and palette. Oak has become elusive.
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Commanderie des Costes du Rhone - Fall 2022 Kick-off (Claud): Contender for WOTN for me. I hesitate to say it's ready to drink, but it's certainly no longer in it's definitely unready stage. Everything well integrated. Very powerful and yet with a nice hint of elegance (gotta love the Viognier). Very enjoyable wine.
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Decanted 90 minutes before service. In the glass, dark brackish purple with a faint orange tint at the rim. On the nose, currants and blackberries. On the palate, black fruits and plums, with a smoked meat note emerging on the midpalate through a smooth finish. Two hours after service, began to show oxidative port-like elements, as well as a burst of black pepper. I'm not sure I'd call this closed, but reticent seems fair. Clearly a nice wine, but overshadowed by the SQN tonight.
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Aiaiaiai, heftig krydret nese, kirsebær, solbær, blomster, pepper, skog. Også her kunne et større glass kanskje funket enda bedre, men dette er en - heftig - nese. I munnen er dette så slankt, elegant og samtidig kraftfullt. Kirsebær, overraskende heftig syre og tanninbitt til 20 år til. Markant floralitet, pepper og skogbunn i mørke-ish rød frukt - kunne glatt tippet pinot blindt her.
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Expressive with pure dark fruit. Smooth and supple. Still relatively youthful. This was served next to a fantastic bottle of '91 which didn't help it. This was great and held its own but clearly a couple of notches below the '91.
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What a wine. I just noticed an incredibly compelling rhubarb component in the super mature, super rich fruit, which made this wine one of those experiences that "we wine lovers all are hoping for". After the LLC1990 another and even more exotic orgasm of a wine, or should I say "of a bottle". As this bottle is a standout compared to the half dozen I had so far, but wow! This is such a hedonistic experience, so rich, ultra mature beauty of a wine and such a gift of nature to experience and indulge. I can only say: thank you mother nature and yes, I wish all of you to be able to have this experience at least once.
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45th Bday 1934-1999. When Diamond Creek is weakest of the night (Zoom): A very feminine Côte rotie. Nose of bramble, cherries both dark and red, strawberry, fresh dirt. Plenty of sweetness on the nose and a slight bend towards candied. The palate however , is rich, layered with even more complexity than the nose. Best palate of the flight but the overall appeal of the 95 chave bested this in totality.
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Initially hints of truffle, black pepper, prune on the nose Med-high acidity Tannins quite resolved, but still balanced Bricking just starting Eventually savory notes blew off Suddenly the nose was all blackcurrant, bilberry Such a pleasure
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What an incredible wine this is again. Popped the cork and tasted and I got seriously concerned my last 5 bottles were at risk of being over the edge. But with an hour or so of aeration this turned into this bewitching and seducing wine. So good. I would say: you have to make sure you taste this wine at least once in your life time.
My experience with the LaLa's is that not every vintage is a hit (Duh) but when it does, it does it in a big way. The 1998 is one of those great LaLa's. Or should I say: best LaLa bottles, given its age. Wow. (less stellar: 1995, 1996. really great: 1990, 1991, 1998)
This compelling combination of minerality, feminine while sumptuous red fruit, delicate yet rich, extremely harmonious and a long after taste.
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Doubled-decanted for 5 hours. Beautifully balanced with rich dark fruits, good acidity and a glyceryl mouthfeel. Authentic Cote Rotie flavors of smoked meats and campfire are just beginning to emerge and the finish is still tannic and loaded with complexity. Still needs 10 years to reach peak but it's a gorgeous La Mouline that should rate in the upper 90's when fully mature. 94+
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On the nose: Meat, charcuterie, tobacco, dark fruit, leather On the palate: Vanilla, bacon, fine balanced fruit that is not as present that in the nose Long finish
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Oh yes, this vintage is beginning to let its skirt down. There is a very heady nose of blackish fruits, charcoal, baconfat and fragrant flowers. On the palate, its full and powerful with incredible flavors of molten graphite, blackberries and char. The texture is what really shines with a layered and silky mouthfeel along with great succulence. The finish is intense and rich showing an amazing mineral crunch along with notes of dark spices, baconfat and campfire. Already a great expression of this superior terroir. Decanted 2 hours and it needed more. 95+
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We expected so much more here and albeit we love our Moulines post yr 30 and 98 was not its best vintage still for the pedigree and price we wanted so much more. Nose was on the muted and still had traces of oak, good dark fruit post one hour mark but never opened up. The palate was similar , buttoned down but here the elegance showed more and was in fine balance but really we wanted so much more. So barring this being a bottle issue we cannot explain it. 91 and we would say wait.
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From 1 he vineyards in Côte Blonde part of Côte Rotie. 88-92% Syrah, 8-12% Viognier. The most floral and elegant of the three LaLaLa's. Neat and best embedded tannins, accessible earlier, but equally concentrated wine.
This bottle was surprisingly developed on the nose. Dark fruit, chocolate, meaty notes, mint leaves, soil, brown sugar, red berries comes through with time in glass.
Oily texture, spicy on the palate, concentrated and deep, super long finish. 94p
BV=2 WV=1
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Sadly this bottle is too evolved. The fruit is plummy but you can tell the underlying potential is very good for its balance between finesse and power.
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Guigal LaLa Dinner II (Chef's Club NYC): Good nose that has bold black currant and blackberry fruit but wth all the tell tale Northern Rhône smoked meat and acrylic. A pretty floral sweetness, violets, emerges in the perfume as well. Awesome on the palate too, earth and smoke tones developing nicely, but the black fruit is still quite primary. Everyone at dinner is buying these as I type.
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Acker Guigal La La dinner (Chef's Club - 275 Mulberry Street): Wow is this an intense wine. I have that word three times in my notes. It's got the red currant and the oak is still obvious here. Touch of animal coming through. Needs a lot more time. But lots of interesting components so interested to see where it ends up.
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This is a beauty! If you want to know why folks spend so much bank on the La La's, this is the wine I'd suggest buying. Even though it's pricey, for a La La, this probably offers the best value. The exotic, or is that erotic, fresh, pure, vibrant, spicy, earthy, kirsch, flower and plum notes stick with you from start to finish for at least 40 seconds. There is an energy here that propels the flavors all over your palate. And this is still young, give it another 5 years and it will be even better!
Tasted blind, this wine had a deep red center with light red rims. The high- intensity nose put forth rhubarb, sandalwood, black spices, black cherries, and soil.
In the mouth, this wine was ripe and round with refined tannins and excellent length. While this wine seemed approachable, there was an uneven intensity to the flavors that suggested this wine would benefit from more time in the cellar.
This wine can certainly be enjoyed now. However, I would argue for staying away from it for another 5-10. My guess is that it will pick up a point or two with time.
This just keeps getting better and better. Popped and poured, this still youthful wine hit all the right buttons. Concentrated, juicy, fresh, complex, floral and exotic, the wine got better and better in the glass. Give it an hour or 2 of air and it should really sing.
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this is another elegant and rich cote rotie. not even close to peak prime. would re-try 2023 (at age 25). benefited from 2 hours decant and would have needed more time, but it was too delicious to wait!
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As young and exotic as ever. On opening, a beautiful perfume emanated from the bottle, and it only got better from there. Bright red fruit, fresh-cut herbs, white pepper, garrigue, leather, sous bois, and Asian spices created a truly delicious mix of aromas of flavors. And yet, at times it was obvious that the wine was holding back. The tannins need to settle down just a bit for the balance to fully come together. Mouth-filling, elegant on the palate, and a long, harmonious finish. Lots of fresh acidity on the finish. This will improve and should evolve into a truly great wine in 5-10 years.
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This bottle surprised me by being pretty evolved. Not as floral as other La moulines, but smooth and well balanced. The fruit was pretty much dissolved, but it didn't have so many secondary notes, so all in all not its best showing.
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Annual Chicago winos visit - Pearl Clutcher, coche, drc, rousseau, D'Yquem and etc. (The Grill Room at Rosewood DC): Another fascinating and intellectual flight. Expressive youthful peak nose displaying perfectly ripe blackberry, beef blood, tapenade, cannabis lavender, smoke and a hint of scorched earth. Seamless youthful palate, beautifully layered black fruits and exotic spices, slick and silky, fully integrated tannins and lovely long finish that ends with a hint of exotic hemp like note. This is the most exotic wine of the flight and in the middle for concentration.
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Wine Dinner Extravaganza (Rosewood Hotel Dining Room - Washington DC): In a flight of all three 1998s. The most elegant of the three with everything nicely harmonized. Wonderful balance of barely evolved black fruit, great spice, floral charm and overall structure. This would be completely captivating on its own, if not for the two other wines in the flight that I slightly preferred.
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A wow wine. Rich dark sleek floral black fruit aromas. Showing the sexy, feminine side of Cote Rotie. Ripe, nearly lush with a creamy dense fruit quality. Simply very pretty and beautiful. Drinking great with the showy fruit dominating the underlying spices.
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Somewhat translucent dark, almost black cherry with some light bricking in the rim; a hint of fine-grained sediment. Complex, developed and thrilling bouquet with medium rare bloody beef steak aromas, truffles, ripe cherry, leather, wizened dark fruit, some smoky and dusty asphalt aromas, a little olive tapenade, a hint of mushroomy sous-bois and a whiff of fish feed. Medium-bodied, round and serene palate with rich, complex and developed flavors of leather, ripe dark and red cherry, sweet roasted spices, bloody game, some wet forestland aromas, a little sweet oak, a hint of sweet red forest berries and a touch of sliced olives. The wine seems to be getting a bit easy on the structure with rather modest acidity and virtually nonexistent, fully matured tannins. The incredibly long, layered finish is full of intermingling, developed nuances of sous-bois, mushrooms, cocoa, juicy red fruit, some dried-up oak spiciness, a little smoke and a hint of chocolate chips. Good acid brightness adds to the persistence of the aftertaste, but still no signs of tannins.
Truly a wonderful example of a high-class Northern Rhône red at its peak. The oak aromas, which can be even quite excessive in the young LaLaLa wines, have mostly integrated into hiding, although they show more towards the finish. The fruit is nicely developed with lovely mature characteristics, yet still retaining some of the youthful, juicy fruit nuances. Structure-wise the wine is obviously at its plateau of maturity, as the acidity is the only thing keeping the wine together - I can imagine the wine will start to fade away into that vague "old wine" category quite soon, which is why I'd recommend drinking up. The wine will most likely keep its game together for some years, but most likely it will not benefit from any further cellaring. Recommended, 45€ for a 4 cl glass at the Wine & View bar, Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
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This just keeps getting better and better. I expect that trend to continue. While still youthful, the potent bouquet, with its flowers, licorice, tobacco leaf, smoke, cherry liqueur, espresso and very dark chocolate, nose is a complete turn on. On the palate, the wine is all about its freshness, concentration, vibrancy and layers of silky, sweet, boysenberries, black cherries and plummy notes. Drink this now, if you like it young, or wait a decade. Either way, this is a stunner!
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At Wine & View Bar at Helsinki Airport. The wine was medium to dark garnet in colour and offered a mind-blowing nose; complex, masculine, sweet and perfumed, with dark fruit, cherry, leather, tobacco, earth, gherkin, black pepper and exotic spices. On the palate this medium- to full-bodied Côte-Rotie started sweet, than became very fresh and finally finished dry, with dark fruit, dark cherry, some chocolate, tobacco, earth and balsamic notes, paired with fresh, medium-plus acidity, smooth, ripe, well-integrated tannin and incredible length. The finish went on for ages. Complex, intense, concentrated; this is … wow!
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Had this New Years Eve and just got around to posting it. Nose of bacon fat, cherry, anise, and more bacon. Nice darkened color. A bit of wildness mixed in with intense dark fruit and exotic spice. Coats the mouth and lasts forever. Thanks to my friend Marty who encouraged me to put away a few LaLas. This has many more years of life.
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A beautiful nose of smoky baconfat, black fruits and animal fur. Really closed at first on the palate but it started to blossom some late. Lean but has lots of depth with crisp acids and hints of animalistic flavors to go along with black fruits and dark spices. My sense is this will develop into a wilder, funky style of La Mouline which is definitely not a bad thing. Needs hibernation in the cellar for another decade at least. 93+
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My goodness, a La La that I dig. Here we have a classic Cote Rotie nose of flowers and bacon, lots of bacon. No trace of oak on the palate (thank you), dark-toned fruit, bacon, broth in a feminine style. There is an understated power here that I like. Usually, I find the La La's too chocolate milky, this one is not, this is genuine. With Jon in London.
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With 90 minutes of decanting, the wine served up aromas of fresh baked cherry pie, caramel, licorice, bacon fat, black pepper, camp fire embers, black cherry, spice box, flowers and forest scents. Fresh, bright, sweet, focused and concentrated, the wine pops with ripe, red fruits. Elegant, yet flashy, like a fine Versace suit, this is still on the young side. The finish is long, intense, mineral driven and packed with pure, fresh, red cherries. I'm looking forward to seeing how the wine develops in the glass over dinner.
The wine continued to improve in glass during the night. After 5 hours of air, it was still going strong. The famous La La wines are pricey. Not that value and La Mouline are something most people consider. But the 1998 La Mouline is one of the better vlaues out there for a really great vintage of the wine.
Once again the Lalala wines prove their case when against top wines in a blind tasting. This wine is ready to go although grows tremendously in the glass with some air. So decanting - which I didn't - would help the experience from the get-go. Very intriguing wine that you basically don't want to share.
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Olives and tobacco to start. Decanted for 10 minutes. First glass running on 4 cylinders, second like a twin turbo 8! Very soft with Burgundian dirt and fruit. Either decant or wait another 5 years.
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Returning to Wine & View Bar; 1/23/2013-2/1/2013 (Vaanta Airport - Helsinki): Violet to the end, absolutely mature colour for a CdR 98 but with a long way to run. Plenty Syrah nose, I mean those typical aromas including some asphaltic, some mineral -coal- and pastry shop but at the potent side. Palate showed same tendencies, hence potent and little rustic for its origins. Piquant, sharped and dense at its best moments. For the rest watery texture and acid. Some sediments when finish in a bottle of such category. Bad thing? Sometimes it is good even...
Violeta hasta el final, absolutamente madura para una Cote de Rotie del 98 pero todavía con recorrido. Nariz plenamente a Syrah, quiero decir esos aromas asfálticos, minerales -carbón- y a pastelería pero del lado potente. En boca mostró las mismas tendencias, así potente pero un poco rústica por sus orígenes. En sus mejores momentos, picante, afilada y densa. Para el resto de textura acuosa y ácida. En una botella de semejante categoría algunos sedimentos al terminar. ¿Mala cosa? A veces no...
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Light in color, some signs of age at edges. But big and beautiful. Rich nose plum, violets (?), almost apricot. Gets better in glass, with a flavor profile very much like nose. But secondary flavors roll on long finish, some apple and melon. Feminine, yet with richness. Love Mouline!
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Profound, soft, complex bouquet of dark fruit, forest floor, savoury notes, burned earth, very intense and balanced. Med+ body, silky palate. Powerful yet very elegant wine, quite spicy, savoury, long. The first impression is wonderful, but then some charcoal starts to show up and spoils it a little, but the oak can hopefully better integrate with time, and the wine has quite some potential anyway. Slightly spicy, charcoal finish. Bacon, olives in the long aftertaste. Lowish acidity, yet rather balanced.
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Dinner at charleston. Decanted and drunk over 4 hours. Much mor open knit and giving than the last bottle. Ridiculous nose of black olives, violets, exotic dark fruit, black olives, licorice and meaty undertones. This is expansive on the palate, truly seamless, and has great power without weight. Rich and multilayered, this is a wine that pulls you in. Brillliant on all levels. 98 pts.
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KYD #1.3: Fairly complex nose with raspberry and strawberry fruit with a touch of vanilla, buttermilk, olive and lavender. Young on the palate with intense raspberry fruit and a clean and refreshing acidity with a multitude of spices. Medium long aftertaste with a good balance. Powerful young backbone but still in a good balance.
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From an excellent looking bottle, this wine had a purple center and red rims. The high- intensity nose displayed black fruit, pepper, licorice, plums, and some Provencal herbs.
While obviously way too young, this wine was ripe and rich but yet firm and intense at the same time. The light, rounded tannin and excellent finish made it drinkable now, but it was clear the best was yet to come. It had great depth and length and appeared to be on track to be a top rank wine.
Count on this one to add 3-4 points in the next 10 years and be close to perfect.
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Decanted for an hour and drunk over the next three hours, and then rebottled 1/3 of the bottle overnight for breakfast. While a little tight at first, it quickly developed a soaring nose of black olives, black cherry and blackberry fruit, with plenty of savory roasted rare meat, bacon fat, a cool herbal streak my better half called juniper (and I can't disagree, and suspect is the wood) and violets. A heavenly nose. Very perfumed and incredibly dense but with no sense of heaviness. At first the palate was a bit ungiving, but over a couple of hours, and most certainly overnight, this has fleshed out into a powerful yet supple wine with beautiful palate presence. This is a seamless, rich, powerful and elegant wine that is nearly perfectly balanced. Gorgeous texture. To pick nits, there is a touch of wood that still needs to integrate for my palate at least, but his is a flat out beautiful complicated wine. Very long and very pure on the back end. Brilliant stuff better on day two, and I will hold mine for at least 5 more years. 97+ pts
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served blind from 750. i actually missed calling this wine by one year. had this many times; bacon fat, rust iron, very young not much more to say right now. brilliant bottle of wine, that drinks well now, but needs 10+ years of lay down i think...
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While not as oaky as I expected, this still cost me dinner for three at Mortons, as the weakest wine of the night. Smoky, with subtle tannins, this was very good, but not great.
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Elected 'blow the budget wine' during Roberson Cote Rotie evening: Wave after wave of sweet perfume. very vibrant intellectual nose that developed further each time you brought glass to the nose. Evolved to Cocoa and Hay later. Very subdued and elegant palate packed with fruit. This was my wine of the evening too - vs 1998 Turque and Landonne... Although more classicism in the 2001 La Landonne from Rostaing
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Utterly youthful. Red-purple color. Meaty, pepper-laced nose that mingled nicely with the dark red and blue fruits. In the mouth, velvety and caressing, but still on a big-boned frame for the powerful fruit, earth, and meaty notes to unfold on. Superbly concentrated, with great purity of fruit and continually unfolding layers of complexity. Long, caressing finish shows very refined tannins. A
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Church and State: Picked up effects of oak in the form of smoke and ash with a nice plum-cherry fruit note; Beautiful body, very silky, very good structure, still young with some tart berry flavors. Well built and a long finish.
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The '98 Mouline was the centerpiece of our 11-year anniversary dinner at Le Bec-Fin; Chef Perrier prepared our dinner around this wine. Decanted about 1 hour prior to service; served in the oversized Sommelier stems. A very youthful color, with a purple-ruby core and no amber. A striking bouquet; as this wine was being decanted, our side of the restaurant was filled with scents of exoctically ripe dark fruits, lavender, and pork belly. With additional airing, notes of campfire and chocolate emerged. Equally flamboyant on the palate, with a lush texture and layers of flavor and concentration. Great focus though, with a very complex and long finish. That being said, the '98 Guigal La Landonne was (substantially) better.
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Decanted two hours, consumed over one hour with light hors d'oeuvres. Three thoughts: 1) We were very early in the life-span of this wine. It will knit together with some more time. 2) It was more than a flawless wine; it gave pleasure in every component, from nose to palate, texture and mouthfeel, structure with sweetness, big and generous and subtle. 3) Don't waste this wine with a big meal. It deserves to stand alone, to be talked about. And if you can afford it, drink it with only a single friend or two, and enjoy it over a couple hours or more. Two of us sniffed and sipped the wine for a bit over an hour, which was more than enough time to see the wine evolve, but not nearly enough to experience the range of what La Mouline had to offer. I don't drink wines like this too often, and wish that I had devoted more time to it.
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Open for about 2 hours and then decanted for 1 hour. Enjoyed over another hour while we ate. Sharp contrast the Clos Pepe Estate but a fun contrast. The Mouline has tremendous structure and still needs some age. The fruit is on the ripe side but pretty well covered by earth and leather. It is still austere. I would have liked it more if everything was a little more clean but although nothing is off here. My assumption is that time will even things out. Even with the ripe fruit this is still very much a food wine.
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A couple of La La's.: Double decanted at 11am, then decanted at 5pm, started drinking at 7pm. Surprisingly soft is our first thought. No oak, but perfume, a touch of alcohol on the nose. The Viognier is showing through as well. Better on the palate than on the nose. Not a heavy wine, very much a subtle profile. I liked it.
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This is as intense as it is concentrated. Smokey jammy fruit blended with minerals makes for an intoxicating perfume. It shows of La Mouline’s exotic side with its sexy, plush personality.
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La La's with Leve in La La Land (Los Angeles, CA): Perhaps I shouls show more reverence since I am confident this will turn into something spectacular with a decade, but right now it is 'pickle' smelling, shut down and mostly showing wood. Very hard to evaluate.
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Dark red colour. Thick, opaque core. Scents of violets and dark berries. With air the scent turned slightly alcoholic, but not in an off-putting way. Extremely broad in flavour. Clear-cut and kept in an iron fist of structure and definition. The fruit is so ripe, the flavours ever-complex and deep, the mouth feel soft and round without hard edges, and the finish a beautiful post-ludium with a personality of its own. I picked out what seemed to be a truffle-oil like flavour component and a seriosuly tasty chocolate-like aftertaste.
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12/2/2023 - Ozen Likes this wine: 96 Points
I have had 1998 La Mouline about 12 times now. But never as good as this bottle. Makes you wonder drinking too early? What a wine this is, and what a bottle, as at this age that is not a given. This wine is so well integrated and so enthralling. Easily the best bottle ever, even more so than the 1990 or 1999. It has acidity, intensity, orange rind, layered in thick ripe fruit. Actually bursting, smooth, velvet, while all with incredible harmony. This simply is rare. True Cote Rotie Guigal LaLa and this one truly is as good as it gets. I have had Guigal Lala quite a few times of heralded vinatges but I am very impressed here and I did not expect something this royally good at this stage.
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11/30/2023 - dream Likes this wine: 95 Points
This has the most amazing smoky nose. On the palate, it's still quite structured but giving a fabulous flavor profile of campfire char, smoked meats and slate minerals. So lifted and refined with smooth tannins still present and the finish is deeply satisfying with complex notes that echo a night spent around a campfire cooking wild game. I think this will follow the path of the 1990 in time. 95+
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10/27/2023 - Nanda wrote: flawed
Northern Rhone Dinner (2012/2005/1998 focus) (Chez Lagragne): Served alongside the La Landonne and La Turque, and something is clearly off here as the bottle tastes more advanced/oxidized. Bummer.
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10/27/2023 - acyso wrote: 90 Points
(Mostly) 1998, 2005, 2012 Northern Rhône (Chicago, IL): Not sure that this bottle was entirely sound -- it was a little stewy and showing fruit that wasn't clean and pristine (like in the Turque). Feels like it's tiring and even potentially slightly heat-damaged. Very much a dark complexion, despite the highest percentage of viognier.
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5/24/2023 - tcarter Likes this wine: 95 Points
Texas BBQ and La Las Dinner at Marc's House (Marc's House): A gorgeous wine—balance of masculine and feminine. Double decanted for 4 hours and it still opened up better over the 3 hour meal. Felt youthful and vibrant, but still a powerhouse. Deep and rich while also floral at the same time. Awesome.
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10/4/2022 - S P wrote: 70 Points
V gd Value
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9/24/2022 - 559Cheers Likes this wine: 94 Points
Nice floral aromatics on the nose with a touch of oak. Nice on the palette. Just opened so needs to open up more. See how this develops over the next couple of days and nights.
*2nd night got progressively better. Great bottle. Beautiful nose and palette. Oak has become elusive.
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9/6/2022 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Commanderie des Costes du Rhone - Fall 2022 Kick-off (Claud): Contender for WOTN for me. I hesitate to say it's ready to drink, but it's certainly no longer in it's definitely unready stage. Everything well integrated. Very powerful and yet with a nice hint of elegance (gotta love the Viognier). Very enjoyable wine.
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4/9/2022 - jshufelt wrote: 94 Points
Decanted 90 minutes before service. In the glass, dark brackish purple with a faint orange tint at the rim. On the nose, currants and blackberries. On the palate, black fruits and plums, with a smoked meat note emerging on the midpalate through a smooth finish. Two hours after service, began to show oxidative port-like elements, as well as a burst of black pepper. I'm not sure I'd call this closed, but reticent seems fair. Clearly a nice wine, but overshadowed by the SQN tonight.
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3/25/2022 - joshabramson wrote: 97 Points
The aromatics on this wine are off the charts, so deep and floral. Complex, ripe, and subtle at the same time. Just beautiful wine.
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11/10/2021 - Krokfjord Likes this wine: 94 Points
Aiaiaiai, heftig krydret nese, kirsebær, solbær, blomster, pepper, skog. Også her kunne et større glass kanskje funket enda bedre, men dette er en - heftig - nese. I munnen er dette så slankt, elegant og samtidig kraftfullt. Kirsebær, overraskende heftig syre og tanninbitt til 20 år til. Markant floralitet, pepper og skogbunn i mørke-ish rød frukt - kunne glatt tippet pinot blindt her.
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11/2/2021 - Kevnzworld wrote: 96 Points
At Pierre Orsi
1 hour decant.
Dark berries , Hibiscus, herbaceous with leather .
We’ll rounded,balanced , integrated, and drinking well.
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6/5/2021 - bill00 wrote: 94 Points
Expressive with pure dark fruit. Smooth and supple. Still relatively youthful. This was served next to a fantastic bottle of '91 which didn't help it. This was great and held its own but clearly a couple of notches below the '91.
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6/5/2021 - Ozen Likes this wine: 98 Points
What a wine. I just noticed an incredibly compelling rhubarb component in the super mature, super rich fruit, which made this wine one of those experiences that "we wine lovers all are hoping for". After the LLC1990 another and even more exotic orgasm of a wine, or should I say "of a bottle". As this bottle is a standout compared to the half dozen I had so far, but wow! This is such a hedonistic experience, so rich, ultra mature beauty of a wine and such a gift of nature to experience and indulge. I can only say: thank you mother nature and yes, I wish all of you to be able to have this experience at least once.
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4/30/2021 - Herb K wrote:
AMAZING! Seductive. Lush. Balanced and smooth. Courrants, raisins (but not overly pronounced).
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3/6/2021 - jordanj Likes this wine: 94 Points
45th Bday 1934-1999. When Diamond Creek is weakest of the night (Zoom): A very feminine Côte rotie. Nose of bramble, cherries both dark and red, strawberry, fresh dirt. Plenty of sweetness on the nose and a slight bend towards candied. The palate however , is rich, layered with even more complexity than the nose. Best palate of the flight but the overall appeal of the 95 chave bested this in totality.
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2/27/2021 - flah00 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Initially hints of truffle, black pepper, prune on the nose
Med-high acidity
Tannins quite resolved, but still balanced
Bricking just starting
Eventually savory notes blew off
Suddenly the nose was all blackcurrant, bilberry
Such a pleasure
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12/29/2020 - Ozen Likes this wine: 96 Points
What an incredible wine this is again. Popped the cork and tasted and I got seriously concerned my last 5 bottles were at risk of being over the edge. But with an hour or so of aeration this turned into this bewitching and seducing wine. So good. I would say: you have to make sure you taste this wine at least once in your life time.
My experience with the LaLa's is that not every vintage is a hit (Duh) but when it does, it does it in a big way. The 1998 is one of those great LaLa's. Or should I say: best LaLa bottles, given its age. Wow.
(less stellar: 1995, 1996. really great: 1990, 1991, 1998)
This compelling combination of minerality, feminine while sumptuous red fruit, delicate yet rich, extremely harmonious and a long after taste.
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10/7/2020 - dream Likes this wine: 94 Points
Doubled-decanted for 5 hours. Beautifully balanced with rich dark fruits, good acidity and a glyceryl mouthfeel. Authentic Cote Rotie flavors of smoked meats and campfire are just beginning to emerge and the finish is still tannic and loaded with complexity. Still needs 10 years to reach peak but it's a gorgeous La Mouline that should rate in the upper 90's when fully mature. 94+
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1/30/2020 - Patrik H Likes this wine: 96 Points
On the nose: Meat, charcuterie, tobacco, dark fruit, leather
On the palate: Vanilla, bacon, fine balanced fruit that is not as present that in the nose
Long finish
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11/7/2019 - chatters wrote:
2015 Guigal single vineyard cote rotie release dinner (Golden Century, Sussex Street): Savoury, meaty, smells dense, baked black fruit. Juicy, meaty, savoury, slightly volatile, perhaps a touch forward. Hmm.
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7/3/2019 - dream Likes this wine: 95 Points
Oh yes, this vintage is beginning to let its skirt down. There is a very heady nose of blackish fruits, charcoal, baconfat and fragrant flowers. On the palate, its full and powerful with incredible flavors of molten graphite, blackberries and char. The texture is what really shines with a layered and silky mouthfeel along with great succulence. The finish is intense and rich showing an amazing mineral crunch along with notes of dark spices, baconfat and campfire. Already a great expression of this superior terroir. Decanted 2 hours and it needed more. 95+
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1/26/2019 - Papies wrote: 91 Points
We expected so much more here and albeit we love our Moulines post yr 30 and 98 was not its best vintage still for the pedigree and price we wanted so much more. Nose was on the muted and still had traces of oak, good dark fruit post one hour mark but never opened up. The palate was similar , buttoned down but here the elegance showed more and was in fine balance but really we wanted so much more. So barring this being a bottle issue we cannot explain it. 91 and we would say wait.
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12/2/2018 - steinersing wrote: 95 Points
Hard to distinguish la la’s at this age I find - excellent
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10/27/2018 - Markus IWC wrote: 94 Points
LaLaLa tasting #2:
From 1 he vineyards in Côte Blonde part of Côte Rotie. 88-92% Syrah, 8-12% Viognier. The most floral and elegant of the three LaLaLa's. Neat and best embedded tannins, accessible earlier, but equally concentrated wine.
This bottle was surprisingly developed on the nose. Dark fruit, chocolate, meaty notes, mint leaves, soil, brown sugar, red berries comes through with time in glass.
Oily texture, spicy on the palate, concentrated and deep, super long finish. 94p
BV=2
WV=1
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5/25/2018 - MarceloIdeses wrote: 100 Points
Amazing. Very special bottle. Big nose, notes of leather, cigar box, mushroom. Long and deep finish. Best time to drink, now.
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4/20/2018 - Burgnick wrote: flawed
Sadly this bottle is too evolved. The fruit is plummy but you can tell the underlying potential is very good for its balance between finesse and power.
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3/20/2018 - The Vines That Bind wrote: 93 Points
Guigal LaLa Dinner II (Chef's Club NYC): Good nose that has bold black currant and blackberry fruit but wth all the tell tale Northern Rhône smoked meat and acrylic. A pretty floral sweetness, violets, emerges in the perfume as well. Awesome on the palate too, earth and smoke tones developing nicely, but the black fruit is still quite primary. Everyone at dinner is buying these as I type.
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3/20/2018 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Acker Guigal La La dinner (Chef's Club - 275 Mulberry Street): Wow is this an intense wine. I have that word three times in my notes. It's got the red currant and the oak is still obvious here. Touch of animal coming through. Needs a lot more time. But lots of interesting components so interested to see where it ends up.
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1/17/2018 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
This is a beauty! If you want to know why folks spend so much bank on the La La's, this is the wine I'd suggest buying. Even though it's pricey, for a La La, this probably offers the best value. The exotic, or is that erotic, fresh, pure, vibrant, spicy, earthy, kirsch, flower and plum notes stick with you from start to finish for at least 40 seconds. There is an energy here that propels the flavors all over your palate. And this is still young, give it another 5 years and it will be even better!
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10/1/2017 - fclarity wrote: 95 Points
Tasted blind, this wine had a deep red center with light red rims. The high- intensity nose put forth rhubarb, sandalwood, black spices, black cherries, and soil.
In the mouth, this wine was ripe and round with refined tannins and excellent length. While this wine seemed approachable, there was an uneven intensity to the flavors that suggested this wine would benefit from more time in the cellar.
This wine can certainly be enjoyed now. However, I would argue for staying away from it for another 5-10. My guess is that it will pick up a point or two with time.
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9/2/2017 - Papies wrote: flawed
One sitting in the vicinity of us could have easily felt the exact moment our heart broke when we realised is was a corked wine. What a shame..
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4/30/2017 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
This just keeps getting better and better. Popped and poured, this still youthful wine hit all the right buttons. Concentrated, juicy, fresh, complex, floral and exotic, the wine got better and better in the glass. Give it an hour or 2 of air and it should really sing.
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1/20/2017 - Old Vino Likes this wine: 95 Points
this is another elegant and rich cote rotie. not even close to peak prime. would re-try 2023 (at age 25). benefited from 2 hours decant and would have needed more time, but it was too delicious to wait!
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12/16/2016 - DrinkBordeaux wrote: 97 Points
As young and exotic as ever. On opening, a beautiful perfume emanated from the bottle, and it only got better from there. Bright red fruit, fresh-cut herbs, white pepper, garrigue, leather, sous bois, and Asian spices created a truly delicious mix of aromas of flavors. And yet, at times it was obvious that the wine was holding back. The tannins need to settle down just a bit for the balance to fully come together. Mouth-filling, elegant on the palate, and a long, harmonious finish. Lots of fresh acidity on the finish. This will improve and should evolve into a truly great wine in 5-10 years.
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11/22/2016 - Mikipajuk Likes this wine: 93 Points
This bottle surprised me by being pretty evolved.
Not as floral as other La moulines, but smooth and well balanced.
The fruit was pretty much dissolved, but it didn't have so many secondary notes, so all in all not its best showing.
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9/30/2016 - dcwino wrote: 96 Points
Annual Chicago winos visit - Pearl Clutcher, coche, drc, rousseau, D'Yquem and etc. (The Grill Room at Rosewood DC): Another fascinating and intellectual flight. Expressive youthful peak nose displaying perfectly ripe blackberry, beef blood, tapenade, cannabis lavender, smoke and a hint of scorched earth. Seamless youthful palate, beautifully layered black fruits and exotic spices, slick and silky, fully integrated tannins and lovely long finish that ends with a hint of exotic hemp like note. This is the most exotic wine of the flight and in the middle for concentration.
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9/30/2016 - Burgundy Al wrote: 95 Points
Wine Dinner Extravaganza (Rosewood Hotel Dining Room - Washington DC): In a flight of all three 1998s. The most elegant of the three with everything nicely harmonized. Wonderful balance of barely evolved black fruit, great spice, floral charm and overall structure. This would be completely captivating on its own, if not for the two other wines in the flight that I slightly preferred.
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9/30/2016 - KenK Likes this wine: 96 Points
A wow wine. Rich dark sleek floral black fruit aromas. Showing the sexy, feminine side of Cote Rotie. Ripe, nearly lush with a creamy dense fruit quality. Simply very pretty and beautiful. Drinking great with the showy fruit dominating the underlying spices.
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7/31/2016 - forceberry wrote: 94 Points
From a Coravin'd bottle.
Somewhat translucent dark, almost black cherry with some light bricking in the rim; a hint of fine-grained sediment. Complex, developed and thrilling bouquet with medium rare bloody beef steak aromas, truffles, ripe cherry, leather, wizened dark fruit, some smoky and dusty asphalt aromas, a little olive tapenade, a hint of mushroomy sous-bois and a whiff of fish feed. Medium-bodied, round and serene palate with rich, complex and developed flavors of leather, ripe dark and red cherry, sweet roasted spices, bloody game, some wet forestland aromas, a little sweet oak, a hint of sweet red forest berries and a touch of sliced olives. The wine seems to be getting a bit easy on the structure with rather modest acidity and virtually nonexistent, fully matured tannins. The incredibly long, layered finish is full of intermingling, developed nuances of sous-bois, mushrooms, cocoa, juicy red fruit, some dried-up oak spiciness, a little smoke and a hint of chocolate chips. Good acid brightness adds to the persistence of the aftertaste, but still no signs of tannins.
Truly a wonderful example of a high-class Northern Rhône red at its peak. The oak aromas, which can be even quite excessive in the young LaLaLa wines, have mostly integrated into hiding, although they show more towards the finish. The fruit is nicely developed with lovely mature characteristics, yet still retaining some of the youthful, juicy fruit nuances. Structure-wise the wine is obviously at its plateau of maturity, as the acidity is the only thing keeping the wine together - I can imagine the wine will start to fade away into that vague "old wine" category quite soon, which is why I'd recommend drinking up. The wine will most likely keep its game together for some years, but most likely it will not benefit from any further cellaring. Recommended, 45€ for a 4 cl glass at the Wine & View bar, Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
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10/22/2015 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
This just keeps getting better and better. I expect that trend to continue. While still youthful, the potent bouquet, with its flowers, licorice, tobacco leaf, smoke, cherry liqueur, espresso and very dark chocolate, nose is a complete turn on. On the palate, the wine is all about its freshness, concentration, vibrancy and layers of silky, sweet, boysenberries, black cherries and plummy notes. Drink this now, if you like it young, or wait a decade. Either way, this is a stunner!
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8/9/2015 - PSPatrick wrote: 95 Points
At Wine & View Bar at Helsinki Airport. The wine was medium to dark garnet in colour and offered a mind-blowing nose; complex, masculine, sweet and perfumed, with dark fruit, cherry, leather, tobacco, earth, gherkin, black pepper and exotic spices. On the palate this medium- to full-bodied Côte-Rotie started sweet, than became very fresh and finally finished dry, with dark fruit, dark cherry, some chocolate, tobacco, earth and balsamic notes, paired with fresh, medium-plus acidity, smooth, ripe, well-integrated tannin and incredible length. The finish went on for ages. Complex, intense, concentrated; this is … wow!
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1/29/2015 - rdfech01 wrote: 95 Points
Had this New Years Eve and just got around to posting it. Nose of bacon fat, cherry, anise, and more bacon. Nice darkened color. A bit of wildness mixed in with intense dark fruit and exotic spice. Coats the mouth and lasts forever. Thanks to my friend Marty who encouraged me to put away a few LaLas. This has many more years of life.
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10/8/2014 - dream Likes this wine: 93 Points
A beautiful nose of smoky baconfat, black fruits and animal fur. Really closed at first on the palate but it started to blossom some late. Lean but has lots of depth with crisp acids and hints of animalistic flavors to go along with black fruits and dark spices. My sense is this will develop into a wilder, funky style of La Mouline which is definitely not a bad thing. Needs hibernation in the cellar for another decade at least. 93+
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10/2/2014 - pbaek wrote:
My goodness, a La La that I dig. Here we have a classic Cote Rotie nose of flowers and bacon, lots of bacon. No trace of oak on the palate (thank you), dark-toned fruit, bacon, broth in a feminine style. There is an understated power here that I like. Usually, I find the La La's too chocolate milky, this one is not, this is genuine. With Jon in London.
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1/16/2014 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
With 90 minutes of decanting, the wine served up aromas of fresh baked cherry pie, caramel, licorice, bacon fat, black pepper, camp fire embers, black cherry, spice box, flowers and forest scents. Fresh, bright, sweet, focused and concentrated, the wine pops with ripe, red fruits. Elegant, yet flashy, like a fine Versace suit, this is still on the young side. The finish is long, intense, mineral driven and packed with pure, fresh, red cherries. I'm looking forward to seeing how the wine develops in the glass over dinner.
The wine continued to improve in glass during the night. After 5 hours of air, it was still going strong. The famous La La wines are pricey. Not that value and La Mouline are something most people consider. But the 1998 La Mouline is one of the better vlaues out there for a really great vintage of the wine.
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8/17/2013 - robertek wrote: 96 Points
Once again the Lalala wines prove their case when against top wines in a blind tasting. This wine is ready to go although grows tremendously in the glass with some air. So decanting - which I didn't - would help the experience from the get-go. Very intriguing wine that you basically don't want to share.
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2/26/2013 - 83AJ Likes this wine: 95 Points
Olives and tobacco to start. Decanted for 10 minutes. First glass running on 4 cylinders, second like a twin turbo 8! Very soft with Burgundian dirt and fruit. Either decant or wait another 5 years.
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2/1/2013 - Harley1199 Likes this wine:
Returning to Wine & View Bar; 1/23/2013-2/1/2013 (Vaanta Airport - Helsinki): Violet to the end, absolutely mature colour for a CdR 98 but with a long way to run.
Plenty Syrah nose, I mean those typical aromas including some asphaltic, some mineral -coal- and pastry shop but at the potent side.
Palate showed same tendencies, hence potent and little rustic for its origins. Piquant, sharped and dense at its best moments. For the rest watery texture and acid.
Some sediments when finish in a bottle of such category. Bad thing? Sometimes it is good even...
Violeta hasta el final, absolutamente madura para una Cote de Rotie del 98 pero todavía con recorrido.
Nariz plenamente a Syrah, quiero decir esos aromas asfálticos, minerales -carbón- y a pastelería pero del lado potente.
En boca mostró las mismas tendencias, así potente pero un poco rústica por sus orígenes. En sus mejores momentos, picante, afilada y densa. Para el resto de textura acuosa y ácida.
En una botella de semejante categoría algunos sedimentos al terminar. ¿Mala cosa? A veces no...
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1/10/2013 - Lord Rayas wrote: 93 Points
MNSC Annual Dinner (Golden Leaf): notes of leather and game. better showing than the 91 flight but still somewhat tight.
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11/17/2012 - rcg62 wrote: 98 Points
Light in color, some signs of age at edges. But big and beautiful. Rich nose plum, violets (?), almost apricot. Gets better in glass, with a flavor profile very much like nose. But secondary flavors roll on long finish, some apple and melon. Feminine, yet with richness. Love Mouline!
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8/20/2012 - igaf wrote:
Profound, soft, complex bouquet of dark fruit, forest floor, savoury notes, burned earth, very intense and balanced. Med+ body, silky palate. Powerful yet very elegant wine, quite spicy, savoury, long. The first impression is wonderful, but then some charcoal starts to show up and spoils it a little, but the oak can hopefully better integrate with time, and the wine has quite some potential anyway. Slightly spicy, charcoal finish. Bacon, olives in the long aftertaste. Lowish acidity, yet rather balanced.
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7/23/2012 - cct wrote: 98 Points
Dinner at charleston.
Decanted and drunk over 4 hours. Much mor open knit and giving than the last bottle. Ridiculous nose of black olives, violets, exotic dark fruit, black olives, licorice and meaty undertones. This is expansive on the palate, truly seamless, and has great power without weight. Rich and multilayered, this is a wine that pulls you in. Brillliant on all levels. 98 pts.
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6/16/2012 - canan wrote: 95 Points
KYD #1.3: Fairly complex nose with raspberry and strawberry fruit with a touch of vanilla, buttermilk, olive and lavender.
Young on the palate with intense raspberry fruit and a clean and refreshing acidity with a multitude of spices.
Medium long aftertaste with a good balance. Powerful young backbone but still in a good balance.
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5/30/2012 - fclarity wrote: 95 Points
From an excellent looking bottle, this wine had a purple center and red rims. The high- intensity nose displayed black fruit, pepper, licorice, plums, and some Provencal herbs.
While obviously way too young, this wine was ripe and rich but yet firm and intense at the same time. The light, rounded tannin and excellent finish made it drinkable now, but it was clear the best was yet to come. It had great depth and length and appeared to be on track to be a top rank wine.
Count on this one to add 3-4 points in the next 10 years and be close to perfect.
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12/18/2011 - cct wrote: 97 Points
Dinner at Charleston, Baltimore.
Decanted for an hour and drunk over the next three hours, and then rebottled 1/3 of the bottle overnight for breakfast. While a little tight at first, it quickly developed a soaring nose of black olives, black cherry and blackberry fruit, with plenty of savory roasted rare meat, bacon fat, a cool herbal streak my better half called juniper (and I can't disagree, and suspect is the wood) and violets. A heavenly nose. Very perfumed and incredibly dense but with no sense of heaviness. At first the palate was a bit ungiving, but over a couple of hours, and most certainly overnight, this has fleshed out into a powerful yet supple wine with beautiful palate presence. This is a seamless, rich, powerful and elegant wine that is nearly perfectly balanced. Gorgeous texture. To pick nits, there is a touch of wood that still needs to integrate for my palate at least, but his is a flat out beautiful complicated wine. Very long and very pure on the back end. Brilliant stuff better on day two, and I will hold mine for at least 5 more years. 97+ pts
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11/7/2011 - mattjohnson_78 wrote: 97 Points
served blind from 750. i actually missed calling this wine by one year. had this many times; bacon fat, rust iron, very young not much more to say right now. brilliant bottle of wine, that drinks well now, but needs 10+ years of lay down i think...
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10/7/2011 - Chuck Miller wrote:
While not as oaky as I expected, this still cost me dinner for three at Mortons, as the weakest wine of the night. Smoky, with subtle tannins, this was very good, but not great.
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3/28/2011 - roquenroell Likes this wine: 97 Points
Elected 'blow the budget wine' during Roberson Cote Rotie evening: Wave after wave of sweet perfume. very vibrant intellectual nose that developed further each time you brought glass to the nose. Evolved to Cocoa and Hay later. Very subdued and elegant palate packed with fruit. This was my wine of the evening too - vs 1998 Turque and Landonne... Although more classicism in the 2001 La Landonne from Rostaing
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3/25/2011 - don_quichotte wrote:
All oak & winemaking, no sense of place. Not my kind of wine. 96 as a wine (though needs more time), 90 as a cote rotie.
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3/24/2011 - presterjohn wrote:
sweet vanilla nose, fatty fruit, floral. dense black fruit mouth, toasty overtones dominate by end. tannic. will be lovely
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12/9/2010 - gutt22 wrote:
Utterly youthful. Red-purple color. Meaty, pepper-laced nose that mingled nicely with the dark red and blue fruits. In the mouth, velvety and caressing, but still on a big-boned frame for the powerful fruit, earth, and meaty notes to unfold on. Superbly concentrated, with great purity of fruit and continually unfolding layers of complexity. Long, caressing finish shows very refined tannins. A
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10/24/2010 - peternelson wrote: 92 Points
Church and State: Picked up effects of oak in the form of smoke and ash with a nice plum-cherry fruit note; Beautiful body, very silky, very good structure, still young with some tart berry flavors. Well built and a long finish.
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6/3/2010 - hyperman Likes this wine: 98 Points
Had with Marc and Mark
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3/2/2010 - jsalata wrote: 96 Points
Delicious, complex, lots of chocolate, lovely finish. First time I have tried this wine, but will look to buy more.
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12/21/2009 - tbabes wrote: 97 Points
The '98 Mouline was the centerpiece of our 11-year anniversary dinner at Le Bec-Fin; Chef Perrier prepared our dinner around this wine. Decanted about 1 hour prior to service; served in the oversized Sommelier stems. A very youthful color, with a purple-ruby core and no amber. A striking bouquet; as this wine was being decanted, our side of the restaurant was filled with scents of exoctically ripe dark fruits, lavender, and pork belly. With additional airing, notes of campfire and chocolate emerged. Equally flamboyant on the palate, with a lush texture and layers of flavor and concentration. Great focus though, with a very complex and long finish. That being said, the '98 Guigal La Landonne was (substantially) better.
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9/30/2009 - eudora wrote: 99 Points
Decanted two hours, consumed over one hour with light hors d'oeuvres. Three thoughts: 1) We were very early in the life-span of this wine. It will knit together with some more time. 2) It was more than a flawless wine; it gave pleasure in every component, from nose to palate, texture and mouthfeel, structure with sweetness, big and generous and subtle. 3) Don't waste this wine with a big meal. It deserves to stand alone, to be talked about. And if you can afford it, drink it with only a single friend or two, and enjoy it over a couple hours or more. Two of us sniffed and sipped the wine for a bit over an hour, which was more than enough time to see the wine evolve, but not nearly enough to experience the range of what La Mouline had to offer. I don't drink wines like this too often, and wish that I had devoted more time to it.
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11/10/2008 - eudora wrote: 97 Points
Home run. Tasted with the 1997 La Mouline over the course of two hours. Closed at first, but blossomed in the glass. Complex and exquisite.
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10/11/2008 - hcampana wrote: 100 Points
As it were likely, this bottle was better than the one we had a month ago. Guigal is brilliant.
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9/1/2008 - hcampana wrote: 99 Points
Had with CEH in KC. Bordering perfection, this La La is truly singing tonight. Now I know why Parker raves so much about it. 99+ points.
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6/15/2008 - BradE wrote:
Decanted for a few hours. A bit of funk initially. Decent, but not as good as the last bottle.
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5/31/2008 - jasonh wrote:
Open for about 2 hours and then decanted for 1 hour. Enjoyed over another hour while we ate. Sharp contrast the Clos Pepe Estate but a fun contrast. The Mouline has tremendous structure and still needs some age. The fruit is on the ripe side but pretty well covered by earth and leather. It is still austere. I would have liked it more if everything was a little more clean but although nothing is off here. My assumption is that time will even things out. Even with the ripe fruit this is still very much a food wine.
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9/4/2007 - BradE wrote:
A couple of La La's.: Double decanted at 11am, then decanted at 5pm, started drinking at 7pm. Surprisingly soft is our first thought. No oak, but perfume, a touch of alcohol on the nose. The Viognier is showing through as well. Better on the palate than on the nose. Not a heavy wine, very much a subtle profile. I liked it.
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4/27/2006 - Rupert wrote:
Lots of small tastes of some very grand wines (Royal Academy, London): Enormous oaky nose, sweet, floral, intriguing, confirmed on the palate, this is one hell of a showy wine and I love it [95]
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2/14/2005 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
This is as intense as it is concentrated. Smokey jammy fruit blended with minerals makes for an intoxicating perfume. It shows of La Mouline’s exotic side with its sexy, plush personality.
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2/14/2005 - Eric wrote: 89 Points
La La's with Leve in La La Land (Los Angeles, CA): Perhaps I shouls show more reverence since I am confident this will turn into something spectacular with a decade, but right now it is 'pickle' smelling, shut down and mostly showing wood. Very hard to evaluate.
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11/7/2003 - Joe Belmaati wrote: 96 Points
Dark red colour. Thick, opaque core. Scents of violets and dark berries. With air the scent turned slightly alcoholic, but not in an off-putting way. Extremely broad in flavour. Clear-cut and kept in an iron fist of structure and definition. The fruit is so ripe, the flavours ever-complex and deep, the mouth feel soft and round without hard edges, and the finish a beautiful post-ludium with a personality of its own. I picked out what seemed to be a truffle-oil like flavour component and a seriosuly tasty chocolate-like aftertaste.
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