My only bottle and have watched the tasting notes over the years. The wine was in a good place (for me) with notes of black fruit, chocolate, and earth. The tannins were well integrated.
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Excellent! Decanted for 90 min, but most likely didn't need it as the aromas wafted into the air as soon as I opened the bottle. Served with Belgian ale braised pot roast. Still had deep color with very little bricking. Nose of tobacco & black cherries. Velvety mouth feel and a lovely lingering finish. Seems like this was the perfect time to open this bottle.
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Was hoping for a bit more here, was on the austere and uncomplicated side as mentioned, but not disappointing either with lamb and white beans, seemed food helped find the nuances and balance in the wine.
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This bottle has opened up and its angular structure has softened up as well. Red fruir and tobacco, average acid, medium body and fine tannins. stood well to a fatty grilled lamb. Medium length and pleasant finish. Should drink well for another 5 years.
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PnP. Lighter weight, as others have said, but integrated with tobacco & cherries, and mild spice. Barely noticeable tannins and short finish. Held up throughout the night.
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No fruit. Steely as has been noted. Tastes primarily of burnt toast with a bit of leather and drying tannin on finish. Used aervana and notes did subside some after an hour but not worth the money. Was a WL buy with GV the proprietor having a hand on the final mix. He didn’t do a good job at it. Have one more bottle that I’ll let sit for another few years. Maybe it can still improve. Disappointing even though the wine has decent structure.
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Aerated into decanter , then aerated into glass. Great nose of juicy blue fruit. Love the structure. Good balance of tannins and acid, but where did the fruit go. I guess it all went away on the nose. Good with food, but want a little more fruit on the palate.
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PnP. Out of the bottle, muted nose of tobacco and pine forest and hint of black fruit. The palate followed the nose with fading fruit and gripping tannins. After sitting 1-1.5 hours, the tannin softened, but the the fruit did not open up. The finish was medium-short.
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Camphor and a touch of menthol on the nose. On the palate, black cherry and a bit of prune, with light tannins and a tobacco note on a short to medium finish. If I recall, this was about $40, but it tastes like it should cost one-third that much. No flaws, and the wine isn't bad, but the quality is not good for the price; I have (occasionally) found better Bordeaux for around $10. This was a real disappointment. Not recommended.
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Solid nose of black cherry, blackberry, and forest floor. Good mouthfeel. Some cocoa on the palate, but the fruit is muted. Astringent and drying on the finish.
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Very generic bordeaux wine, dissapointing. With all the hype this wine got it was surely a miss. Drink now, didnt have the stuffing to age much longer. Subtle red fruits, some wet earth, mushroom, short finish.
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This time I decanted an hour before. Aromas were very appealing. On the palate, I could taste more fruit. This finish was still flat and metallic, but still had some semblance of the wine. Still too tart for my liking, but so, so much better than previous bottles. This must have preserved better than previous.
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There has to be some bottle variation here. My bottle was great and borderline outstanding. Classic Bordeaux nose, you know right away this is a good wine. Tobacco, cherry, baking spices, chocolate, smoke and earth. Wished I had more bottles like this and for the ~$32 I spent it was well worth it and a great QPR.
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Still lots of years ahead, but this is only an OK performer from a modest vintage. The highlight here is the bright nose, coaxed out with some air, that radiates a warm red fruit begging to be sipped. As David T noted earlier though the taste and finish are a letdown, with not a lot of there there. The bursting flavor promised on the nose are never delivered. 50/5/15/11/8
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Some of the Classic Bordeaux notes of tobacco leaf with a violet or lavender finish, soft tannins that pairs well with food, I had it with grilled lamb chops and grilled asparagus, it was a good match. I recorked 1/2 bottle for later consumption
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A nose of cherry and some spice, dark garnet in color. A medium bodied red, with black cherry, blackberry, some earthiness and spice on finish, very good but not great. This wine was a project of Gary Vaynerchuk of the Wine Library.
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Warm aromas of black cherry, plum, baking spice and a touch of earth. The palate again disappoints. Thin, bitter and a tannic finish lacking any fruit. I'll see if day 2 improves it at all. Update: No change on day two, most of the bottle went down the drain.
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JohnR's "wake": Drank with Phredd & the gang at "JohnR's wake" in a blind format (see Phredd's notes below for more detail). No quality really stood out with this wine in the blind tasting, and as one of the two blind tasters who correctly guessed that this was the La Reserve, my opinion was based solely on the fact that it had slightly more fruit and finish than what I guessed was the regular cuvee (based on the fact that the La Reserve had a higher % of Merlot in the blend). Acrid and astringent, this is a pretty bad example of what the right bank has to offer. I do not recommend, especially at any price over $20 / bottle. Overall rating- C
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NC Cindy Tasting. JohnR's Wake. (WineKnurd's House): NC Cindy Tasting. "JohnR's Wake". Served single-blind, this was poured along with the '05 Sansonnet and '06 Sansonnet standard cuvee. In the middle in terms of color, this was quite dark, but did show a touch of thinning at the edges. JohnR said it smelled like '06. I thought it had more fruit and smelled a touch sweeter than the '06 standard cuvee, but still had that essential darkness to it. On the palate, it was still drying, but had a bit more balancing sweetness and did bring along a little bit of fruit. There is decent depth of flavor and complexity to this, but while well-made, this was not a wine that particularly appeals to my palate. It is quite Old World. Only 2 of 4 tasters correctly identified this as the La Reserve, but all agreed that it was the middle wine of the flight in quality. With all due respect to Gary Vaynerchuk, while this was better than the Sansonnet standard cuvee, it does not approach the 93-95 score range. I think all the tasters here found the Sansonnet flight to be pretty disappointing as a whole, and none of the wines lived up to their $40-$50 price points.
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Classic claret color. This was tight on the nose when I first opened while it was still at cellar-temp. I took it in hand to a warmer environ and slowly the bouquet ripened and expanded to the point now where I'd describe the nose as anything but tight; very expressive in fact; evocative of the aromas generated in my garage (while cleaning) the other day when I found a collection of essential oils from my late teens. I might have damaged my scent implements after sniffing the 20th vial, but I know at least two of those flowery oils were a dead-ringer for what I'm picking up here - was it African Violet or Light Musk. In any case, the aromas are very perfumed in quality and mingle with red fruits, blueberry air freshener spritz, and a bit of dusty, wood. Three or four sips and I think I'm beginning to articulate this wine to myself. It has a medium body and mouth weight. Raspy tannins are moderate to above and really only show with some drying and an astringency accompanied by wood lacquer on cedar that grows out of the finish. Fruit is plush and full up front with red and blue components alongside the floral, but then it takes a nose-dive entering the mid-palate where it transitions from a fruity Merlot sensibility to a more austere wine of pepper and cayenne and spice and the above described astringent qualities. This particular glass is drinking a touch awkward for me, but I still think it's quality Bordeaux. I think there's a good chance this will be a better wine in 10 years than it is today. Given a choice between the regular '05 cuvee and this special '06 "La Reserve," I'd opt for the former for depth, complexity and poise.
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The nose and initial attack were all that saved this wine- earthy, tobacco notes on the nose, with a bit of cassis and red raspberry on the initial attack. After that it fell off with a bitter midpalate & short finish. Perhaps a bit of bottle variation on this bottle.
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Color: ruby. Nose: vague fruit, cedar. Taste: blackberry, dark chocolate. Moderate tannins, medium bodied. Tasted last night and tonight. First night, after one hour decanting, nose was promising but taste was extremely closed. Second night, nose is all but gone, though taste is improved. I don't see what GV sees in this wine.
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Took to a WLTV Forum offline and unfortunately couldn't really rate it after having a bunch of huge CA cult cabs. Had the stuffings of a very good wine, but it was also painfully young. Big structure and acidity that borders on the astringent at the moment. Will not be touching my next three for a few years.
Decanted for about 4 hours. The nose had lots of cassis and very dark chocolate. I also got some cherry and earth, a little spice, and some creamy vanilla at the end. The palate was very rich, with dark fruit and powdered cocoa. It also had earth and spice, and finished with a big dose of oak.
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(NR) To paraphrase Paul Masson--I will not drink this wine again without more time. It really needs it. Was extremely closed both on the nose and palate. 3 hrs after opening it finally started to reveal some of its inner self, but not very much of itself. Mr. Sansonnet, I will revisit you in a few more years. Go back to sleep now.
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I agree with Brad B. that this wine is closed right now. I decanted for three hours in preparation for a blind tasting and it was not very popular with the crowd. Not much fruit and lots of earth and wood. I'll be sitting on my last bottle.
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Decanted for 5 hours. Subtle nose of black fruit. Nice complexity with mild tannins and flavors of blackberries and dark chocolate. Great value in the 3 pack.
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For someone who hasn't generally been a huge fan of Merlot/CabFranc, this was a pretty darn good wine for me. It didn't have the usual funk or excessive greenness of 'old world' wines that I personally am not a fan of. What I did like about this wine is that it is balanced, has great chewy tannins, and just the right amount of dark fruit. Definitely decant this one for at least a good hour or so, or save for many more years. I poured two glasses and let them breath for ~1.5 hours before enjoying with a NY strip steak dinner.
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I had this last night. Initially, I was extremely disappointed and was considering retuning it. Yes it's young, and yes, I decanted it for an hour. The wine had some beautiful components but the overpowering finish of bitter tar was hard to get past. I kept wondering what I was missing. Why is everyone loving this wine? I went back to it every half hour and followed it's evolution. Every taste was an improvement. Seriously, at three hours it was a different wine. The bitter component was gone, the finish became smooth and long and the wine became a wonderful experience. Lucky for me our dinner reservation was not until 9 so the wine opened up by then!
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A little young. I didn't get much on the nose. A hint of earthiness, and black fruit. Some smokey aromas and possible some dark chocolate. Good flavor with mild tannins. Should have decanted. Probably didn't give it a fair shake by drinking it right away without allowing it to breathe. A really dark tarry wine. Still a really good wine.
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Showing just superbly right now and highly recommended. Really nice aromatics. Represents very good QPR. Needs some open time. Not sure how it will age, but it is presently in the range of excellence. Not quite a 94 pointer, bit still fantastic.
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4/13/2024 - df1962 wrote: 93 Points
PnD. Let air for 1hr.
Clear. Deep ruby.
Clean. Medium(+) intensity with aroma of cassis rosemary espresso vanilla incense and plum.
Dry. Medium(+) tannin. Medium(+) acidity. Medium alcohol. Medium(+) intensity with flavours of cassis coffee vanilla rosemary and blackberry compote.
Medium(+) finish. Exceptional. Suitable for further ageing. Wow so good. Still youthful. A revelation.
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12/21/2023 - WinePT wrote: 88 Points
My only bottle and have watched the tasting notes over the years. The wine was in a good place (for me) with notes of black fruit, chocolate, and earth. The tannins were well integrated.
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12/6/2020 - Eantnay Likes this wine: 93 Points
Excellent! Decanted for 90 min, but most likely didn't need it as the aromas wafted into the air as soon as I opened the bottle. Served with Belgian ale braised pot roast. Still had deep color with very little bricking. Nose of tobacco & black cherries. Velvety mouth feel and a lovely lingering finish. Seems like this was the perfect time to open this bottle.
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7/3/2020 - booksmiths wrote: 87 Points
Served with short ribs. A pleasant, fairly simple wine, just starting to show the start of decline. Nowhere to go from here, drink 'em up.
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6/18/2020 - Laz4wine Likes this wine: 87 Points
Was hoping for a bit more here, was on the austere and uncomplicated side as mentioned, but not disappointing either with lamb and white beans, seemed food helped find the nuances and balance in the wine.
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6/16/2020 - mgl wrote:
At the end and stsrting to go :( Definitely not til 2023.
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4/12/2020 - Winiac wrote: 91 Points
This bottle has opened up and its angular structure has softened up as well. Red fruir and tobacco, average acid, medium body and fine tannins. stood well to a fatty grilled lamb. Medium length and pleasant finish. Should drink well for another 5 years.
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1/10/2019 - NoWineWiz wrote: 86 Points
PnP. Lighter weight, as others have said, but integrated with tobacco & cherries, and mild spice. Barely noticeable tannins and short finish. Held up throughout the night.
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12/31/2017 - Kentw wrote: 86 Points
No fruit. Steely as has been noted. Tastes primarily of burnt toast with a bit of leather and drying tannin on finish. Used aervana and notes did subside some after an hour but not worth the money. Was a WL buy with GV the proprietor having a hand on the final mix. He didn’t do a good job at it. Have one more bottle that I’ll let sit for another few years. Maybe it can still improve. Disappointing even though the wine has decent structure.
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1/26/2017 - Prevean wrote: 93 Points
Nice bottle of wine. Worth the $36 I paid.
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1/8/2017 - Winiac Does not like this wine: 88 Points
Very dry and austere. Steely structure without the fruit to fill it.
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4/8/2016 - hende14 wrote: 90 Points
Aerated into decanter , then aerated into glass. Great nose of juicy blue fruit. Love the structure. Good balance of tannins and acid, but where did the fruit go. I guess it all went away on the nose. Good with food, but want a little more fruit on the palate.
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2/20/2016 - bccdavid wrote: 92 Points
Very smooth, well balanced and a long finish. Enjoyed with a steak.
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8/12/2015 - gquigs wrote: 84 Points
Tobacco, leather on the nose. Some dark red fruit. Strong in the mouth, some fruit, but barely there. Drying and astringent at the end
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7/19/2015 - NoWineWiz wrote: 85 Points
PnP. Out of the bottle, muted nose of tobacco and pine forest and hint of black fruit. The palate followed the nose with fading fruit and gripping tannins. After sitting 1-1.5 hours, the tannin softened, but the the fruit did not open up. The finish was medium-short.
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4/19/2015 - RichardP wrote: 86 Points
Camphor and a touch of menthol on the nose. On the palate, black cherry and a bit of prune, with light tannins and a tobacco note on a short to medium finish. If I recall, this was about $40, but it tastes like it should cost one-third that much. No flaws, and the wine isn't bad, but the quality is not good for the price; I have (occasionally) found better Bordeaux for around $10. This was a real disappointment. Not recommended.
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11/9/2014 - scotty_b wrote: 89 Points
Solid nose of black cherry, blackberry, and forest floor. Good mouthfeel. Some cocoa on the palate, but the fruit is muted. Astringent and drying on the finish.
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9/4/2014 - cadams Does not like this wine: 87 Points
Very generic bordeaux wine, dissapointing.
With all the hype this wine got it was surely a miss.
Drink now, didnt have the stuffing to age much longer.
Subtle red fruits, some wet earth, mushroom, short finish.
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8/26/2014 - RJurman wrote: 87 Points
I think this wine is on the way down. Fruit seems muted and fading. Decent nose but nothing special here. Forgettable.
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3/28/2014 - Greginnd wrote: 89 Points
Ted fruits with blackberry and tobacco. Almost as good as the 2005 but not quite.
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3/10/2014 - Greginnd wrote: 84 Points
Seems to be losing its fruit. Nice back end flavored but mid and end palate are lacking. Hopefully it's just this bottle.
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2/28/2014 - handymom wrote: 89 Points
This time I decanted an hour before. Aromas were very appealing. On the palate, I could taste more fruit. This finish was still flat and metallic, but still had some semblance of the wine. Still too tart for my liking, but so, so much better than previous bottles. This must have preserved better than previous.
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2/1/2014 - VinoPKM wrote: 91 Points
There has to be some bottle variation here. My bottle was great and borderline outstanding. Classic Bordeaux nose, you know right away this is a good wine. Tobacco, cherry, baking spices, chocolate, smoke and earth. Wished I had more bottles like this and for the ~$32 I spent it was well worth it and a great QPR.
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9/30/2013 - Zo65 wrote: 84 Points
Sorry Gary. There is just not much there. Nothing remarkable about this wine.
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8/3/2013 - Venturifan wrote: 87 Points
Eh...very marginal Bordeaux. Had a bottle last year that was much better. Bad bottle??
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7/27/2013 - Johnny C NYC wrote: 89 Points
Still lots of years ahead, but this is only an OK performer from a modest vintage. The highlight here is the bright nose, coaxed out with some air, that radiates a warm red fruit begging to be sipped. As David T noted earlier though the taste and finish are a letdown, with not a lot of there there. The bursting flavor promised on the nose are never delivered. 50/5/15/11/8
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6/1/2013 - Oldworlddrinker Likes this wine: 90 Points
Some of the Classic Bordeaux notes of tobacco leaf with a violet or lavender finish, soft tannins that pairs well with food, I had it with grilled lamb chops and grilled asparagus, it was a good match. I recorked 1/2 bottle for later consumption
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12/9/2012 - corkscrews Likes this wine: 89 Points
A nose of cherry and some spice, dark garnet in color. A medium bodied red, with black cherry, blackberry, some earthiness and spice on finish, very good but not great. This wine was a project of Gary Vaynerchuk of the Wine Library.
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10/14/2012 - cjsavino wrote: 89 Points
Kind one one dimensional, not much fruit, medium tannins coming through on the finish, not much past that.
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9/25/2012 - David_T wrote: 77 Points
Warm aromas of black cherry, plum, baking spice and a touch of earth. The palate again disappoints. Thin, bitter and a tannic finish lacking any fruit. I'll see if day 2 improves it at all.
Update: No change on day two, most of the bottle went down the drain.
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7/23/2012 - gkjrs wrote: 88 Points
Tannins mild and structure is very well balanced. Dark color and black fruit and smoky tar finish.
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6/20/2011 - Johnny C NYC wrote: 91 Points
Rich and sweet, yet still a little savory; humble but warm. Nice broad character developed after full aeration. 50/5/12/16/8
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6/10/2011 - WineKnurd wrote: 79 Points
JohnR's "wake": Drank with Phredd & the gang at "JohnR's wake" in a blind format (see Phredd's notes below for more detail). No quality really stood out with this wine in the blind tasting, and as one of the two blind tasters who correctly guessed that this was the La Reserve, my opinion was based solely on the fact that it had slightly more fruit and finish than what I guessed was the regular cuvee (based on the fact that the La Reserve had a higher % of Merlot in the blend). Acrid and astringent, this is a pretty bad example of what the right bank has to offer. I do not recommend, especially at any price over $20 / bottle. Overall rating- C
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6/10/2011 - Phredd wrote: 88 Points
NC Cindy Tasting. JohnR's Wake. (WineKnurd's House): NC Cindy Tasting. "JohnR's Wake". Served single-blind, this was poured along with the '05 Sansonnet and '06 Sansonnet standard cuvee. In the middle in terms of color, this was quite dark, but did show a touch of thinning at the edges. JohnR said it smelled like '06. I thought it had more fruit and smelled a touch sweeter than the '06 standard cuvee, but still had that essential darkness to it. On the palate, it was still drying, but had a bit more balancing sweetness and did bring along a little bit of fruit. There is decent depth of flavor and complexity to this, but while well-made, this was not a wine that particularly appeals to my palate. It is quite Old World. Only 2 of 4 tasters correctly identified this as the La Reserve, but all agreed that it was the middle wine of the flight in quality. With all due respect to Gary Vaynerchuk, while this was better than the Sansonnet standard cuvee, it does not approach the 93-95 score range. I think all the tasters here found the Sansonnet flight to be pretty disappointing as a whole, and none of the wines lived up to their $40-$50 price points.
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5/27/2011 - Drewstephen wrote: 91 Points
Great wine with or without food...sweet black cherry throughout with a lovely flower aspect of the finish...
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5/17/2011 - z_willus_d wrote: 89 Points
Classic claret color. This was tight on the nose when I first opened while it was still at cellar-temp. I took it in hand to a warmer environ and slowly the bouquet ripened and expanded to the point now where I'd describe the nose as anything but tight; very expressive in fact; evocative of the aromas generated in my garage (while cleaning) the other day when I found a collection of essential oils from my late teens. I might have damaged my scent implements after sniffing the 20th vial, but I know at least two of those flowery oils were a dead-ringer for what I'm picking up here - was it African Violet or Light Musk. In any case, the aromas are very perfumed in quality and mingle with red fruits, blueberry air freshener spritz, and a bit of dusty, wood. Three or four sips and I think I'm beginning to articulate this wine to myself. It has a medium body and mouth weight. Raspy tannins are moderate to above and really only show with some drying and an astringency accompanied by wood lacquer on cedar that grows out of the finish. Fruit is plush and full up front with red and blue components alongside the floral, but then it takes a nose-dive entering the mid-palate where it transitions from a fruity Merlot sensibility to a more austere wine of pepper and cayenne and spice and the above described astringent qualities. This particular glass is drinking a touch awkward for me, but I still think it's quality Bordeaux. I think there's a good chance this will be a better wine in 10 years than it is today. Given a choice between the regular '05 cuvee and this special '06 "La Reserve," I'd opt for the former for depth, complexity and poise.
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3/20/2011 - David_T wrote: 80 Points
The nose and initial attack were all that saved this wine- earthy, tobacco notes on the nose, with a bit of cassis and red raspberry on the initial attack. After that it fell off with a bitter midpalate & short finish. Perhaps a bit of bottle variation on this bottle.
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1/4/2011 - mgstull Likes this wine: 87 Points
Light srtyled with red fruits and tobacco notes. Pleasant but nothing special.
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12/25/2010 - clarksmr wrote: 85 Points
Color: ruby. Nose: vague fruit, cedar. Taste: blackberry, dark chocolate. Moderate tannins, medium bodied. Tasted last night and tonight. First night, after one hour decanting, nose was promising but taste was extremely closed. Second night, nose is all but gone, though taste is improved. I don't see what GV sees in this wine.
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10/21/2010 - Zo65 wrote: 88 Points
Meh. Perhaps just needed more time. Decanted for 2 hours. Very closed. Thoroughly unremarkable.
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9/9/2010 - DRod wrote:
Took to a WLTV Forum offline and unfortunately couldn't really rate it after having a bunch of huge CA cult cabs. Had the stuffings of a very good wine, but it was also painfully young. Big structure and acidity that borders on the astringent at the moment. Will not be touching my next three for a few years.
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7/16/2010 - mmurry Likes this wine: 92 Points
Decanted for about 4 hours. The nose had lots of cassis and very dark chocolate. I also got some cherry and earth, a little spice, and some creamy vanilla at the end. The palate was very rich, with dark fruit and powdered cocoa. It also had earth and spice, and finished with a big dose of oak.
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7/11/2010 - Brad B. wrote:
(NR) To paraphrase Paul Masson--I will not drink this wine again without more time. It really needs it. Was extremely closed both on the nose and palate. 3 hrs after opening it finally started to reveal some of its inner self, but not very much of itself. Mr. Sansonnet, I will revisit you in a few more years. Go back to sleep now.
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6/19/2010 - pete s. wrote:
I agree with Brad B. that this wine is closed right now. I decanted for three hours in preparation for a blind tasting and it was not very popular with the crowd. Not much fruit and lots of earth and wood. I'll be sitting on my last bottle.
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5/10/2010 - collinb227 wrote: 91 Points
great nose
can't remember any notes except that it was earthy and floral
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4/17/2010 - Jack252 wrote: 92 Points
Decanted for 5 hours. Subtle nose of black fruit. Nice complexity with mild tannins and flavors of blackberries and dark chocolate. Great value in the 3 pack.
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4/16/2010 - Justin B wrote: 93 Points
For someone who hasn't generally been a huge fan of Merlot/CabFranc, this was a pretty darn good wine for me. It didn't have the usual funk or excessive greenness of 'old world' wines that I personally am not a fan of. What I did like about this wine is that it is balanced, has great chewy tannins, and just the right amount of dark fruit. Definitely decant this one for at least a good hour or so, or save for many more years. I poured two glasses and let them breath for ~1.5 hours before enjoying with a NY strip steak dinner.
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3/5/2010 - Surfcaster wrote: 93 Points
I had this last night. Initially, I was extremely disappointed and was considering retuning it. Yes it's young, and yes, I decanted it for an hour. The wine had some beautiful components but the overpowering finish of bitter tar was hard to get past. I kept wondering what I was missing. Why is everyone loving this wine? I went back to it every half hour and followed it's evolution. Every taste was an improvement. Seriously, at three hours it was a different wine. The bitter component was gone, the finish became smooth and long and the wine became a wonderful experience. Lucky for me our dinner reservation was not until 9 so the wine opened up by then!
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12/27/2009 - rjrausch wrote: 91 Points
A little young. I didn't get much on the nose. A hint of earthiness, and black fruit. Some smokey aromas and possible some dark chocolate. Good flavor with mild tannins. Should have decanted. Probably didn't give it a fair shake by drinking it right away without allowing it to breathe. A really dark tarry wine. Still a really good wine.
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10/7/2009 - ChinonRouge wrote: 91 Points
Showing just superbly right now and highly recommended. Really nice aromatics. Represents very good QPR. Needs some open time. Not sure how it will age, but it is presently in the range of excellence. Not quite a 94 pointer, bit still fantastic.
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