Interesting effort The first night I did not like it. Seemed overly extracted with quite a bit of oak that was not well integrated Let the bottle sit for 24 hours and it proved to be significantly more engaging. Oak moved to the background revealing rich dark fruit. Not a complex wine and definitely a new world style, but not bad for the money as long as you go in knowing what you're getting
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Deep purple (no smoke on the water though) with tannin still young, dark almost boysenberry fruit, chewy, medium+ finish. Still young but started to budge a little bit after 2 hours. Great QPR and great with porterhouse at Keens.
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The jury is out for me on this one. Drinkable and fine with some food but overdone in some ways. Not as balanced as other Fronsac bottles I've had. I really expected to like it, but it missed the mark for me. A little disjointed and overly fruity. Tannins and some hints of green helped. Lots of things going on, but they didn't seem to flow into each other. I suppose good value if ripe sweet feeling fruit is your thing. Will try again in the future. Maybe it was me this week :)
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Vinturried into a decanter and let sit for over 30 minutes. Dark plum in colour. Nose of plums, currants, and tons of black fruits. On the palate, there are a good amount of cassis with dark espresso notes and hints of blackberries. Medium bodied with a medium finish. Tannins have mostly calmed down since I last tasted this in 2019.
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Solidly Very Good, on the riper end of the spectrum but not overdone. Solid working man's steak wine that was solid QPR at $20 USD. Label shows 15% abv, which to me seems like toward the top end of actual (upper-14%s?). Lots of dark fruits and spice. Decent to drink on its own, if a bit tiring, but nice with a steak.
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This is beginning to settle down. Still a drying tannic grip on the finish even after >1hr decant. But this is a bit hedonistic in fruit and savoury elements. Dark, tangy raspberry and Turkish delight. I agree with others that perceive a chocolate nose and flavour. Swiss dark chocolate with creamy texture from a generous malolactic fermentation in barrel. This is muscular Merlot with CF and CS on bass and drums. Pretty good QPR.
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App - clear, dark ruby with tinge of garnet Nose - dark fruit with earthy undertones Palette - rich dark fruit with earthiness and tannins dominating. Not a sipping wine, but great with steak.
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Shock and amaze your friends! Tasted blind, no one would believe that the 2016 Chateau La Vielle Cure is a Bordeaux. It tastes like it came from the Central Valley of California: 15% alcohol, lots of wood, masses of fruit all fighting with one another for attention.
Is it good? Not really. But it’s entertaining: kind of a “cask strength” Bordeaux. In fact, I suspect that it would taste better if you added 10% water, but I was having too much fun stumping people with it.
It did settle down the second day to become a more “ordinary” but still extremely dense Merlot-dominant wine.
Strong chocolaty nose, it smells like a brownie fresh out of the oven, not bashful with the oak. It is jam thick on the palate with more barrel notes than fruit.With the high alcohol, this wine has too much everything without any something. It was a 19. mystery wine from Garagiste. When I was a young man and had more of an appetite for strong drink, I probably could have found a way to jolly up to it.
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Read previous comments, definitely needs 2-3 hrs to open but afterwards is delicious, full-bodied Cab with heavy influence of Franc. A true teeth-stainer. Enjoy! Cheers.
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Blackberries, menthol, charcoal. Decanted for about an hour. This was quite enjoyable, but alcohol and tannins did not seem fully integrated, leaving the finish a bit harsh.
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HNY BC, and a French Visitor (My backyard): Fully blind tasting, 2 hour decant, all 2016 vintages. - Burrowing Owl Meritage - Chateau La Vielle Cure – aka the French ninja to keep people honest - Noble Ridge Reserve Meritage - Road 3 Fifth Element.
Burrowing Owl - was closed and clearly too young. No noticeable notes on the nose, and the finish was unmemorable – love Burrowing Owl wines and will look forward to this in another 3 to 5 years. Our French taster described it as being “écoeurante” – which she described as something that is okay as a sip, but not something you’d want a full bottle of. 44 CS, 30 M, 25 CF, 1 Malbec. Chateau La Vielle Cure – performed well amongst the BC Meritages. Had a pleasant nose with a bit more bite. Very purple in colour, almost fake looking, but was still a very nice drinking wine. 87 M, 10 CF, 3 CS. Noble Ridge – Blasé nose. Nothing memorable on the tasting notes. Was out of its league with the others, but improved over the evening. 59 M, 37 C, 2 CF, 2 Malbec Road 13 5th Element – Prominent cherry notes. Big tannins that dissipated over the evening. A solid wine. 44 CS, 41 M, 15 PV.
Unofficial rankings: 1st place - Road 13 Fifth Element 2nd place - Cure 3rd - Burrowing Owl 4th Noble Ridge
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Jammy, has a spicy pepper with a hint of vanilla in the finish. I would say it's "chewy". Can have this by itself or with food. We did it with pizza and it was fantastic. Highly recommend.
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Loads of complexity here in this nose of sandalwood, jasmine, blackberry, cassis, boysenberry sauce and turned earth. It’s full bodied and rich, with flavors of licorice, mocha, fruit cake, Asian five spice and leafy herbs. While full throttle, it retains balance and bright fruit. It will certainly age well, but definitely accessible now. Delicious drop, but on the riper side. 80% Merlot, with equal split of the Cabernets aged in 50% new French oak. 4,583 cases made.
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The last vintage I had of this was the '10. This is much more open and broad on the palate, needs a lot of air time, ripe, nice structure, big alcohol (very un-French).
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Jeff Leve review spot on (as usual) but also picking up a nice roasted espresso bean note. Drank this with the Le Saint-estephe de Montrose; what a study in contrasts. For me there was just enough enough structure to hold this wine together.
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Round, ripe, forward, sweet and delicious, the wine is packed with fat, dark, juicy fruits, licorice, and dark chocolate. Not exactly refined, but there is volume, ripeness and loads of chocolate covered fruits in the finish.
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Over an hour decant. Has a medium plum-purple in colour. Nose of boysenberries, dark plum paste, some cassis and blackberries. There are black cherries and black licorice with some cassis along with charcoal and some dark unsweetened chocolate on its tannic palate. Medium bodied with a medium+ finish. Could use a couple more years in the cellar. Excellent qpr. 92+
But for the nose, this is California in Bordeaux. Rich, fat, mineral driven, this wine always over delivers. If you ain’t buying it, you are missing Today’s Sociando Mallet and Poujeaux in comparable value. The nose is dark, loaded with smoked meat, peat, graphite, black plums and cassis. You are a fool if you are buying merlot over $30 and this isn’t it!!
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Nose: Black currant and plum waft in and out of a healthy tobacco leaf, leather, violet, and toasted oak. Tempered projection.
Mouth: Big plum notes usher in a core of boysenberry jam and bitter cherry. Midpalate is stacked with ground anise, tobacco notes and chalk. Finish ripples across the palate, ushering in burly tannins.
Overall: Definitely could use some time at this stage, the high acid and chalky finish coupled with burly tannins make this a little tight at the moment. In all a very strong offering, round fruits are here with ample structure to suggest for more quality over time. As it stands everything is hurried, and a bit stacked on top of each other. Fruit is deep and lush however, against tertiary notes that support them very well. 75% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon.
92.
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While I loved the 2014, I like the 2016. There seems to be just a bit of drying tannin here, but maybe it is just the sample? The mid palate is indeed juicy and full, but the finish dries out just a tad.
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5/5/2024 - Ruby99 Likes this wine: 90 Points
Interesting effort
The first night I did not like it. Seemed overly extracted with quite a bit of oak that was not well integrated
Let the bottle sit for 24 hours and it proved to be significantly more engaging. Oak moved to the background revealing rich dark fruit. Not a complex wine and definitely a new world style, but not bad for the money as long as you go in knowing what you're getting
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1/21/2024 - Pour Boy wrote: 92 Points
Consistently one of the best values in Bordeaux
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12/7/2023 - Sperls Likes this wine: 92 Points
Deep purple (no smoke on the water though) with tannin still young, dark almost boysenberry fruit, chewy, medium+ finish. Still young but started to budge a little bit after 2 hours. Great QPR and great with porterhouse at Keens.
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11/8/2023 - John McCabe wrote: 93 Points
Similar to previous notes. Solid and good value.
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10/11/2023 - John McCabe wrote: 93 Points
Quite thick and rich. Always a really solid value, and this vintage in particular. 93+pts
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5/22/2023 - Dave Dewar wrote:
Deep purple. Some fine sediment left in bottle and glass. Medium tannins and acidity. Drink or hold.
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3/3/2023 - Buythecase wrote: 89 Points
The jury is out for me on this one. Drinkable and fine with some food but overdone in some ways. Not as balanced as other Fronsac bottles I've had. I really expected to like it, but it missed the mark for me. A little disjointed and overly fruity. Tannins and some hints of green helped. Lots of things going on, but they didn't seem to flow into each other. I suppose good value if ripe sweet feeling fruit is your thing. Will try again in the future. Maybe it was me this week :)
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2/4/2023 - John McCabe wrote: 93 Points
Nicely structured, some chalky aspect which I like. Always good value and this is no exception.
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7/4/2022 - AMC Eagle wrote: 91 Points
Vinturried into a decanter and let sit for over 30 minutes. Dark plum in colour. Nose of plums, currants, and tons of black fruits. On the palate, there are a good amount of cassis with dark espresso notes and hints of blackberries. Medium bodied with a medium finish. Tannins have mostly calmed down since I last tasted this in 2019.
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5/20/2022 - tward Likes this wine: 88 Points
Solidly Very Good, on the riper end of the spectrum but not overdone. Solid working man's steak wine that was solid QPR at $20 USD. Label shows 15% abv, which to me seems like toward the top end of actual (upper-14%s?). Lots of dark fruits and spice. Decent to drink on its own, if a bit tiring, but nice with a steak.
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3/27/2022 - Canoehead Likes this wine: 91 Points
This is beginning to settle down. Still a drying tannic grip on the finish even after >1hr decant. But this is a bit hedonistic in fruit and savoury elements. Dark, tangy raspberry and Turkish delight. I agree with others that perceive a chocolate nose and flavour. Swiss dark chocolate with creamy texture from a generous malolactic fermentation in barrel. This is muscular Merlot with CF and CS on bass and drums. Pretty good QPR.
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2/25/2022 - depdoc Likes this wine: 90 Points
This has really come around, is smooth and you can’t beat the QPR.
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11/24/2021 - Kraj Likes this wine:
App - clear, dark ruby with tinge of garnet
Nose - dark fruit with earthy undertones
Palette - rich dark fruit with earthiness and tannins dominating. Not a sipping wine, but great with steak.
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11/19/2021 - Mimesis wrote: 89 Points
Shock and amaze your friends! Tasted blind, no one would believe that the 2016 Chateau La Vielle Cure is a Bordeaux. It tastes like it came from the Central Valley of California: 15% alcohol, lots of wood, masses of fruit all fighting with one another for attention.
Is it good? Not really. But it’s entertaining: kind of a “cask strength” Bordeaux. In fact, I suspect that it would taste better if you added 10% water, but I was having too much fun stumping people with it.
It did settle down the second day to become a more “ordinary” but still extremely dense Merlot-dominant wine.
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10/24/2021 - blackcrowb wrote: 87 Points
Strong chocolaty nose, it smells like a brownie fresh out of the oven, not bashful with the oak. It is jam thick on the palate with more barrel notes than fruit.With the high alcohol, this wine has too much everything without any something. It was a 19. mystery wine from Garagiste. When I was a young man and had more of an appetite for strong drink, I probably could have found a way to jolly up to it.
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5/16/2021 - Escher Cellars wrote: 91 Points
Read previous comments, definitely needs 2-3 hrs to open but afterwards is delicious, full-bodied Cab with heavy influence of Franc. A true teeth-stainer. Enjoy! Cheers.
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5/1/2021 - MaineMark wrote: 90 Points
Blackberries, menthol, charcoal. Decanted for about an hour. This was quite enjoyable, but alcohol and tannins did not seem fully integrated, leaving the finish a bit harsh.
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4/2/2021 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Lots of old vines in here. That's got a really pretty fruit character. Both on the nose and the palate.
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1/25/2021 - depdoc Likes this wine: 92 Points
Decanted for a half hour. Lovely aroma, smooth, well balanced. Ready.
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12/31/2020 - Vino Loco Likes this wine: 90 Points
HNY BC, and a French Visitor (My backyard): Fully blind tasting, 2 hour decant, all 2016 vintages.
- Burrowing Owl Meritage
- Chateau La Vielle Cure – aka the French ninja to keep people honest
- Noble Ridge Reserve Meritage
- Road 3 Fifth Element.
Burrowing Owl - was closed and clearly too young. No noticeable notes on the nose, and the finish was unmemorable – love Burrowing Owl wines and will look forward to this in another 3 to 5 years. Our French taster described it as being “écoeurante” – which she described as something that is okay as a sip, but not something you’d want a full bottle of. 44 CS, 30 M, 25 CF, 1 Malbec.
Chateau La Vielle Cure – performed well amongst the BC Meritages. Had a pleasant nose with a bit more bite. Very purple in colour, almost fake looking, but was still a very nice drinking wine. 87 M, 10 CF, 3 CS.
Noble Ridge – Blasé nose. Nothing memorable on the tasting notes. Was out of its league with the others, but improved over the evening. 59 M, 37 C, 2 CF, 2 Malbec
Road 13 5th Element – Prominent cherry notes. Big tannins that dissipated over the evening. A solid wine. 44 CS, 41 M, 15 PV.
Unofficial rankings:
1st place - Road 13 Fifth Element
2nd place - Cure
3rd - Burrowing Owl
4th Noble Ridge
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11/26/2020 - GroveChe Wine Tasting Likes this wine: 90 Points
Jammy, has a spicy pepper with a hint of vanilla in the finish. I would say it's "chewy". Can have this by itself or with food. We did it with pizza and it was fantastic. Highly recommend.
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9/20/2020 - rjmp96 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Loads of complexity here in this nose of sandalwood, jasmine, blackberry, cassis, boysenberry sauce and turned earth. It’s full bodied and rich, with flavors of licorice, mocha, fruit cake, Asian five spice and leafy herbs. While full throttle, it retains balance and bright fruit. It will certainly age well, but definitely accessible now. Delicious drop, but on the riper side. 80% Merlot, with equal split of the Cabernets aged in 50% new French oak. 4,583 cases made.
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6/17/2020 - DoctorNick Likes this wine: 91 Points
Beautiful Earthy cherry and notes of graphite. Heavy structure, high acidity and alcohol which dominates the body, a bit too strong. Medium Tannins.
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4/3/2020 - wineotim wrote: 90 Points
The last vintage I had of this was the '10. This is much more open and broad on the palate, needs a lot of air time, ripe, nice structure, big alcohol (very un-French).
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12/5/2019 - Ianjaig Does not like this wine: 83 Points
Candy floss and toffee, followed by a syrupy, dense finish. More Barossa than Bordeaux. Not my style I'm afraid.
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12/1/2019 - Eugenedinapoli wrote:
Jeff Leve review spot on (as usual) but also picking up a nice roasted espresso bean note. Drank this with the Le Saint-estephe de Montrose; what a study in contrasts. For me there was just enough enough structure to hold this wine together.
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9/21/2019 - Jeff Leve wrote: 91 Points
Round, ripe, forward, sweet and delicious, the wine is packed with fat, dark, juicy fruits, licorice, and dark chocolate. Not exactly refined, but there is volume, ripeness and loads of chocolate covered fruits in the finish.
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8/2/2019 - AMC Eagle wrote: 92 Points
Over an hour decant. Has a medium plum-purple in colour. Nose of boysenberries, dark plum paste, some cassis and blackberries. There are black cherries and black licorice with some cassis along with charcoal and some dark unsweetened chocolate on its tannic palate. Medium bodied with a medium+ finish. Could use a couple more years in the cellar. Excellent qpr. 92+
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6/16/2019 - Wine MOB Likes this wine: 92 Points
But for the nose, this is California in Bordeaux. Rich, fat, mineral driven, this wine always over delivers. If you ain’t buying it, you are missing Today’s Sociando Mallet and Poujeaux in comparable value. The nose is dark, loaded with smoked meat, peat, graphite, black plums and cassis. You are a fool if you are buying merlot over $30 and this isn’t it!!
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4/6/2019 - RoyaltyCoins wrote: 92 Points
Deep garnet, bit of tawny in the rim.
Nose: Black currant and plum waft in and out of a healthy tobacco leaf, leather, violet, and toasted oak. Tempered projection.
Mouth: Big plum notes usher in a core of boysenberry jam and bitter cherry. Midpalate is stacked with ground anise, tobacco notes and chalk. Finish ripples across the palate, ushering in burly tannins.
Overall: Definitely could use some time at this stage, the high acid and chalky finish coupled with burly tannins make this a little tight at the moment. In all a very strong offering, round fruits are here with ample structure to suggest for more quality over time. As it stands everything is hurried, and a bit stacked on top of each other. Fruit is deep and lush however, against tertiary notes that support them very well. 75% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon.
92.
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4/29/2017 - Jeff Leve wrote: 91 Points
Fresh, sweet, juicy, polished fat, dark berries, licorice, and dark chocolate. Round, not refined, but fun to taste.
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4/1/2017 - PanosKakaviatos wrote:
While I loved the 2014, I like the 2016. There seems to be just a bit of drying tannin here, but maybe it is just the sample? The mid palate is indeed juicy and full, but the finish dries out just a tad.
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