Tasting Notes 33 found

This has rounded fully into form: black fruit tinged by herbs and earth, juicy acid, medium weight but intense, with a lot of acid in the midpalate but incredible length to the fruit on the finish. Happy wine. (469 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

It's been about two years since my last bottle. The fruit in this one is fresher but the texture is softer and rounder. It pops with vibrant red berries with even a little bit of raspberry zing. A little Benjamin Button action here in the fruit department. The crunch has mellowed out though. The green peppery bite that I always love about CRB still has the refreshing green but more of a breezy streak than a sharp bite. But there is no diminution in energy. This is still a wine that you half expect to glow in the dark. Nothing has the life force of CRB. (1505 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Dark garnet in the glass with a bit of sediment showing. Deeply pitched nose of damp earth, dry smoke, beetroot, and plums; the palate was in top form with ample acidity and supple tannin, silky but not too refined. Perhaps drying out just a touch but overall hard to find fault here, this would have been even better with food (of any kind). On its plateau of maturity and should hold for a decade easily. (541 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

A Good Wednesday: Riesling and Friends: Knoll, Prum, Schaefer, LdH, CRB Pif, Gahier... (Northen China Eatery): Beautiful wine. Earthy and crunchy with clean red fruit balanced with earth and sous bois for days. So poised. Almost refreshing after a night of Riesling and spicy food. This still shines. (893 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Beautiful nose. Vibrant and pure. Still juicy and pretty on palate with a shimmering undercurrent of soil underneath. Acidity and tannins seem to be just resolving. No shame to drink now if you have a few. I’ll probably wait a bit until opening another. CRB seldom disappoints and this is no exception. (1587 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Still has all its youthful energy and crunch. But now moving past its youthful fruit. Opens with deep earthy scents, including a bit of the barnyard, then the familiar snap of sweet peppers on the entry. There are some crimson-reddish tones as the shadow of the original fruit but for the most part the color palette is all dark and dusty. The country tannins and earthy elements give it a back end and mouthfeel swirling with chalky gravel. (3797 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

A little tight and closed at the moment, as opposed to a much brighter 2013 tasted with it. (2826 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

2014 Clos Roche Blanche Cuvée Pif Vin de France, alc 12%. Blend of Cot and Cab Franc Nose starts a little sour and funky. Palate is leafy and crunchy. Slate and rainwater come to mind. Has done cigar ash going on. Stays savory but very interesting. Drying tannins (2369 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Man, every bottle of CRB is bitter sweet. Moreso than even the things like Verset or Gentaz back in the day. There are things that scratch that itch, but I haven't found anything that quite gets me where CRB does. I went through a rough patch with CRB in the early to mid-aughts. Maybe it was the wines maybe it was me, but the wines that Didier and Catherine made in the last years of CRB have all been just excellent. Showing similar to a previous bottle with brambly fruit with the fresh tilled dark earth with herbal and floral notes. The thing that grabs me is a deep haunting sense of soulful depth. It feels like knowing a special secret but most of all, it just makes me happy. (2828 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Some reductive funk upon opening, which blows off after about two hours open. The minerally Cab Franc side is dominant right now, total rockhead wine. I suspect this is still 2-3 years from really hitting its stride. (1832 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Soulful, sui generis wine. A deep version of this with lots of earth under the brambly fruit. Good backbone and a fine testament to Didier and Catherine. (2618 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

P&p and finished the bottle in a few hours, keeping it slightly chilled. Thoroughly enjoyable. Hints of Brett, mainly in the form of a clove note, but not a problem; didn't save any to find out how it would fare on day 2 (had one go very Bretty on me when I did that). (1658 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Day 1: P&p. Another terrific bottle. Ready to go right away. Delightfully pungent, earthy, rose, cherry, clove, and leafy/twiggy/mossy scents. Consistent with when I last tried this in early 2018, just more together now, with the tannins a bit more integrated. Juicy and delicious, perfectly approachable but with plenty of quirky character. Good stuff.

Day 2 (refrigerated overnight in a smaller bottle): Unfortunately has become overly Bretty, with the clove intensifying and a bit of mouse creeping in. Still has its attractive side but is only marginally drinkable, even for someone not generally averse to Brett. (1795 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Clos Roche Blast!: A blend of 60% Côt and 40% Cabernet Franc, with tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pineau d’Aunis, this chameleon of a wine starts out showing its Cabernet Franc character with dark fruit and herbs, then with some air the pure purple fruit Côt steps forward to lead the orchestra for a while, before receding to let the Cabernet Franc again command the stage, though this time in a more rustic, olive-tinged, herbal style that reminds me a lot of Olga Raffault's 2009 Chinon Les Picasses. It has plenty of tannin but plenty of fruit to keep it balanced.

Fun, interesting, and pleasurable on a primal level that nourishes the soul and the body. Based on my experience with 1997, 1998, and 1999 Côts and the 1999 Cabernet in recent years, I expect that it has years of pleasure left to offer. (2511 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

just perfect for this evening. miss these wines (2104 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

P&p. Open, expressive and aromatic right out of the bottle. Rose, cherry, tobacco, black tea, moist mossy earth, deliciously pungent. On the palate it comes across as young still, with fairly assertive coarse tannins and equally assertive acidity, not working with each other perfectly; but enjoyably intense, sappy/bitter, stony/earthy, tasty/moreish. Seems to smooth out with air and/or palate acclimation. Characterful and enjoyable wine. Fun now, but seems like there is no rush. (2042 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

2 bottles, ordered off the list at Rebelle. The first was pretty much everything you could want from a young wine of this type: powerful black fruit showing the Cot much more than the Cab Franc, lots of herbal/foresty complexity, complete and savory and complex through the mid-palate with energetic acidity, much more elegant than my previous bottle 18 months ago. A wonderful pairing with roast lamb. The score is for the first bottle. The second bottle wasn't corked so I accepted it but it was oddly muted and flat in comparison to the first bottle, and 20 minutes later it became clear that it was marred by stinky/bandaidy Brett. The highs and lows of Loire reds summed up. (3039 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Good bouquet and a true enough palate that reveals good judgment in the blend. For me though, two soft; flaccid. (2822 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Corey and Linda NYC lunch: every time i taste their wine i am happy. that is what this wine is - happy. pretty, ripe delicious flavors, light and refreshing... one thinks of summer evenings on the coast.. and yes this is a RED wine. but there you go... just a smile in a bottle. (3103 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Matt's housewarming (Skokie, IL): There's a nice touch of herbaceousness on the nose, followed by a big heap of ripe but still acid-driven fruit on the palate; I quite liked how juicy this was but with all the savory elements keeping them in check. While this is quite good, I certainly don't see it as deserving of all the praise that the NY-hipster-unicorn crowd seems to lavish on it. (3407 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Green pepper aroma, dry but malbecy dark fruits (2671 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

P&p. Tight/young but excellent. Tightly coiled dark fruit, rose, black pepper, earth; a touch of twigs/leaves/black tea, restrained but enough for character/interest; nice freshness and depth. Good fresh acidity. Fairly tannic, going sandpapery toward the finish. Impression of firm stony minerality in the very dry finish. Good stuff!

Day 2 (stored in a half bottle overnight): more open and expressive, super fresh and vibrant, very very good. (2323 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Robe intense et profonde, comme un bassin d'encre. Mûres juteuses sur le nez et la bouche. Rustique, avec des éléments tertiaires sauvages. Un vin gouleyant. (2298 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Just a really great vintage for this remarkable cuvee. As usual wonderful purity of fruit, yet great structure, and great acidity. This is a young Pif, that was better with air. What a way to go out!! (2217 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Rustic in the most positive senso of the word. Vegetal. Mushroom grit, earth spice. tomato, currant. Juicy and stemmy. A simple wine with a lot of soul. (2063 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

this was super tasty, too bad I'm just discovering for last vontage (1876 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Beautiful beet red almost inky in appearance. The final vintage for CRB as we know it. Equal parts Cabernet Franc & Cot. Wonderfully balanced dark fruit, floral aromatics & a bounty of acid & tannin. A tension of wildness & control add complexity & consideration right out of the gate. Medium bodied with a lovely grip and a bracing acidic cut brightens what would be an otherwise brooding beast. Some dark plums & bright cherries are wonderfully counterpointed with some dark savory notes lingering on the mid palate.

Pif is brilliant with power, yet hauntingly graceful. The wine is expressive & intense. It's a black & white portrait where the viewer has to concentrate to find all the beauty in subtle details & nuance. Love it.! (2153 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

There was a lot of alcohol on the first couple of sips, but that went away with some air. It had beautiful aromatics of tea leaves, cranberries, and roses. The palate was silky and smooth - great depth and complexity. A great vintage of Pif. (2505 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

OK (1266 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

A juicy and fresh, and powerful Pif. Very concentrated and mineral. (1771 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Gorgeous wine, very serious. Deep garnet color. Red berry fruit driven nose with cracked black pepper. Dense in the mouth with grippy assertive tannins, rich dark earth toned fruit. Fruit and tannin linger in the finish. Just beautiful. 2014 is quite a final vintage for Clos Roche Blanche. (1825 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Surprisingly big wine. Lots of purple/black fruit, lots of earth/soil, lots of rustic, drying structure, just a hint of leafiness, and mostly clean with minimal brett. With air the tannins relax but it gets a little soft and less interesting -- I liked this better on first pour when it was big and bold, especially with hearty good to cut the structure. Good aging potential I'd guess. (2328 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $

Quite a pronounced smell - malbec and cabernet franc apparently. Light on its feet on the palate, young, maybe needing to fill in a bit. (2153 views)

$ FIND THIS WINE on WINE-SEARCHER.COM $