Didn't really love this -- I've loved some of the younger Pol Rogers, but I found this a little too autolytic and creamy for my taste. I wanted to find more cut and acidity, and that wasn't forthcoming on this wine. Definitely a good wine, just not to my taste.
2012 base, if my math is correct. Really nice showing of this -- incredibly broad, with pinot character showing distinctly on the palate. Really thickly textured, this is a lot of great wine for very little money. I love the freshness and the broadness here. The acidity is so nicely balanced by that texture, so it feels very complete on the palate. All that said, this doesn't have that extra something to kick it up, but it's fantastic all the same.
Disgorged Oct. 22, 2010. I had a single-vineyard Selosse early this year from a similar disgorgement date, but I found this to be the better wine by far. Yes, it's still nutty and sherry-y and oxidative, but I felt that this didn't feel as tired as the aforementioned Carelles. Plenty of salinity, nuts, and browned apples, but still sufficient acidity for the freshness to show. Presumably pinot heavy -- I never remember the stats and I always rely on my unreliable palate to tell me the cepage.
A very solid champagne, with initially some bready qualities -- toast or dough or something like that -- but then followed by some delicious white fruit flavours. This is a wine that carries its dosage well -- it's light on its feet, but still at the same time has a real sense of power. I also love how the sweetness seems to merge into a very chalky finish.
Of all the numbered Grande Cuvees, this is unequivocally the best. Killer base vintage here, with some of the chardonnay brightness in 2002 showing, but also that incredible power behind it. It's biscuity, it's mildly oxidative, it's incredibly complex. Slightly juicy still, with a bit of grapeyness that will dissipate with the requisite time. An outstanding effort that I can't imagine can be surpassed by any other current numbered release.
Won the lottery on this one (another bottle next to this that wasn't opened was visibly browner than this one). No problems with this bottle though, but the fruit profile is definitely starting to turn secondary. Some ripe apples and a touch of smoke on the nose, followed by classic chablis acidity and a really nice intense kick of acid. It's perhaps a wee bit more buttery than I'd like. Great acidity, even if the fresh minerality seems a bit subdued.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
Drinking incredibly well at age 10. The reduction still shows on the nose, but it is fairly subdued now. There's a richness and roundedness on the palate here that seems to speak of the age (especially in comparison to the 13 Remilly, which was razor sharp). Great acidity and balance, and the age really does seem to help smooth out the rough edges of the younger examples. I may have incorrectly evaluated some of the younger vintages in hindsight.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
Showing quite a bit better than I remembered it last time around -- or my palate enjoyed this much more today. In any case, it's a brilliant wine, with plenty of reduction on the nose, that may yet dissipate with time. Needs lots of time to settle down but given the 2008 Dents next to this, I think optimism is warranted. Lovely tart fruit profile here, with a clean raciness that is very pleasant.
Opened around 10 AM, double decanted about an hour or two before service. A sense of juiciness and freshness on the nose, with a hint of sweetness. Definitely some signs of dried flowers, and fairly autumnal in quality. Touch of earth and lots of savoury notes on the palate. All that said, I can't shake the feeling that this seems just a little tired at this point, which perhaps is fair.
Slow-oxidized in the morning and double decanted a few hours before service. Can't help but notice the slight oxidation on the palate, showing a mild mushroomy thing. But otherwise there's really some good stuff going on here, with a slight vegetal quality on the palate as well. Clearly tertiary, with the fruit still hanging on, but truthfully, this is a wine close to the end of its useful life.
Troglia bottling. Decanted, and left in the decanter about 10 hours before service. Slight peppery quality here that I thought seemed a little odd. Fairly bright, with some nice fruit tones on the nose that lend some sweetness, as well as a fair dose of earthiness. The palate is in line with the nose, but there's a slight bit of soy that shows up. Nonetheless, a real treat to try.
Stewy and muddy on the nose and palate. Not much to love here, this was a foursquare wine to begin with, and didn't really make it to the dinner table. Probably should have been consumed a decade ago (or more).
Another foursquare Barolo producer. Drinkable but hardly exciting. The fruit here is mostly dried up, and there's a peculiar roasted tinge to the fruit that I find odd. Ticks most of the boxes for showing up, but that's about it. This did better than the Oddero, but that's really not saying much.
Couldn't really figure this one out. The nose was really messed up here -- now and again, I picked up whiffs of wet cardboard, making me think it was corked, but there was a hint of something that was akin to fermented garbage (not quite that unpleasant but getting there). The palate, however, was brilliant, with beautiful red fruit and a lighter disposition.
#5912. There was a hint of an eldritch stench on the nose behind all that beautiful and light red fruit here. The perfume on this was simply incredible -- it was bright and floral and sweet, and the palate was pretty much the same way. Most of the stink blew off with more swirling, revealing more of the delicate red fruit and florals. One of my favourites tonight for sure, the composure and delicacy of this wine exemplify what I think of in Monprivato.
#8570. Opened the night before, and decanted a few hours before service. Initially, when I opened it, this tasted a little watery and thin, and in fact never really put on weight until I left this in the decanter. While I tend to think of Monprivato as a delicate and pretty example of Barolo, this bottle also exemplifies the vintage by showing more black fruited characteristics. However, the delicacy is still on full display, and a touch of sweetness balances out the large-scaled structure. Incredible stuff and very much in my wheelhouse.
#4553. Opened about 24 hours before service, with a brief double decant a few hours before. The perfume on this wine never dissipated over the course of the day it had been open. It does have a darker complexion (it's especially stark next to the 2000 and 2005 later in the evening), but this is never a big heavy-handed wine. It's light and the tannins seem to be well-resolved. An elegant wine, and for my palate, ready for consumption now.
Funny, we had this at the same dinner last year. I don't think it's changed much since then -- still a large-scaled, dense, and powerful nebbiolo with incredible coiled potential. It's so obvious that this is a step above the white labels too (which realistically, are phenomenal wines in their own right). But the raw power and amount of material here are really something to behold. Obviously tight compared to the white label Rabaja of the same vintage, but it's abundantly clear that this is truly the better wine.
While the red label Santo Stefano was by far the better wine, this was the more open and expressive wine, showing lots of perfume and elegance right now. A hint of black fruit, but mostly on the red side of the spectrum. On the palate, there's a slight high-toned quality that seems to indicate that a little more time (or air) is needed, but this is the better drinking of the 1998 pair tonight.
Yeah, really not a fan of this at all. Sticks out like a sore thumb against all the neutral-oak wines. This has a really bizarre green note on the nose, which if given to me blind would land me in cabernet franc. The palate is fleshy and sweet, and there's clearly a modernist twist to this wine, with the ripe fruit, vanilla, and oak tannins. I'll stick with the Barbaresco, thank you very much.
#12575. The best way to put this is that this is rippin' and ready to go. The ripeness of the vintage gives this a softer complexion, and the structure isn't as firm as in some of the "better" vintages. The fruit is sweet and starting to take on secondary characteristics, the perfume is fairly robust and intense, and the palate has that broadness that you'd expect from the riper year. Tannins aren't too ornery either.
This was one of my surprise wines this evening. Sweet and resolved, this was just really good old school nebbiolo done right and aged right. It helps that we caught this at the prime drinking time (at least to me -- I'm not the biggest fan of super old wines), where the fruit was secondary but not yet dried out. Lovely earth tones as well.
#9532. In comparison to the 2000 Falletto, which I thought was ready to go, this bottle still could use a touch of age. It's a very primary wine still, with plenty of fresh red fruit and intense sweet aromatics, but the tannins are still a little aggressive and there are some high-toned aldehydic elements that still need to be worked out. A lovely wine that was pulling its weight tonight.
This wine really bothered me. It really had no business being this viscerally delicious. Really, it's a hedonistic wine in the right way. Confected and candied red fruit on the nose, with just a hint of floral perfume behind it, but that candied quality is fairly complex -- raspberries, strawberries, and all those things cooked down with a fair bit of sugar. The palate is sweet and juicy and just a joy to drink. However, I do worry whether this is of the same calibre as, say, that brilliant 1998 Santo Stefano we had at the table. This is clearly not cut from the same cloth, but for drinking now, it's almost a shame to age this!
This is a really lovely wine, showing much lighter and more airy and wispy than the Piedmont wines. Juicy and red-fruited with a really light (and almost stemmy) quality to it, this reminds me a bit of some better Chambolle wines. Obviously young, the high acid and tannin here scream for food.
From half-bottle. You have to know what you're getting into here. Inky dark, this is another one of those wines where a little goes a really long way. Tons of raisins, black fruit, and blueberries, you would expect this to be really sweet, but oddly enough, it isn't. The dense tannins here help to keep this wine from getting cloying. Interesting to try, and despite my predilection for sweet wines, I'm not sure this is entirely in my wheelhouse (though I have liked the dal Forno recioto in the past).
#09-07, 7% abv. Tons and tons of sponti that take a lot of concerted swirling to go away. Underneath it is a nose with plenty of sweet yellow fruit and a mild herbal note as well. The palate is about as low-acid as you'll ever get with Prum, but that's still plenty to balance out the almost-chewy sweetness. Lots and lots of sweet fruit here, with a slight touch of roastedness from the vintage that doesn't really bother me. Wouldn't surprise me if this wine lasts forever, but honestly, the sweet and juicy primary fruit makes it hard to keep idle hands away from this.
2002 Pol Roger Champagne Vintage Brut 88 Points
France, Champagne
Didn't really love this -- I've loved some of the younger Pol Rogers, but I found this a little too autolytic and creamy for my taste. I wanted to find more cut and acidity, and that wasn't forthcoming on this wine. Definitely a good wine, just not to my taste.
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NV Jacquesson & Fils Champagne Cuvée No. 740 90 Points
France, Champagne
2012 base, if my math is correct. Really nice showing of this -- incredibly broad, with pinot character showing distinctly on the palate. Really thickly textured, this is a lot of great wine for very little money. I love the freshness and the broadness here. The acidity is so nicely balanced by that texture, so it feels very complete on the palate. All that said, this doesn't have that extra something to kick it up, but it's fantastic all the same.
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NV Jacques Selosse Substance 95 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Disgorged Oct. 22, 2010. I had a single-vineyard Selosse early this year from a similar disgorgement date, but I found this to be the better wine by far. Yes, it's still nutty and sherry-y and oxidative, but I felt that this didn't feel as tired as the aforementioned Carelles. Plenty of salinity, nuts, and browned apples, but still sufficient acidity for the freshness to show. Presumably pinot heavy -- I never remember the stats and I always rely on my unreliable palate to tell me the cepage.
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2006 Deutz Champagne Amour de Deutz Brut 93 Points
France, Champagne
A very solid champagne, with initially some bready qualities -- toast or dough or something like that -- but then followed by some delicious white fruit flavours. This is a wine that carries its dosage well -- it's light on its feet, but still at the same time has a real sense of power. I also love how the sweetness seems to merge into a very chalky finish.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 158eme 95 Points
France, Champagne
Of all the numbered Grande Cuvees, this is unequivocally the best. Killer base vintage here, with some of the chardonnay brightness in 2002 showing, but also that incredible power behind it. It's biscuity, it's mildly oxidative, it's incredibly complex. Slightly juicy still, with a bit of grapeyness that will dissipate with the requisite time. An outstanding effort that I can't imagine can be surpassed by any other current numbered release.
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2004 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru
Won the lottery on this one (another bottle next to this that wasn't opened was visibly browner than this one). No problems with this bottle though, but the fruit profile is definitely starting to turn secondary. Some ripe apples and a touch of smoke on the nose, followed by classic chablis acidity and a really nice intense kick of acid. It's perhaps a wee bit more buttery than I'd like. Great acidity, even if the fresh minerality seems a bit subdued.
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2008 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Murgers des Dents de Chien Blanc 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
Drinking incredibly well at age 10. The reduction still shows on the nose, but it is fairly subdued now. There's a richness and roundedness on the palate here that seems to speak of the age (especially in comparison to the 13 Remilly, which was razor sharp). Great acidity and balance, and the age really does seem to help smooth out the rough edges of the younger examples. I may have incorrectly evaluated some of the younger vintages in hindsight.
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2013 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru En Remilly Blanc 93 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru
Showing quite a bit better than I remembered it last time around -- or my palate enjoyed this much more today. In any case, it's a brilliant wine, with plenty of reduction on the nose, that may yet dissipate with time. Needs lots of time to settle down but given the 2008 Dents next to this, I think optimism is warranted. Lovely tart fruit profile here, with a clean raciness that is very pleasant.
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1961 Gaja Barbaresco 90 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Opened around 10 AM, double decanted about an hour or two before service. A sense of juiciness and freshness on the nose, with a hint of sweetness. Definitely some signs of dried flowers, and fairly autumnal in quality. Touch of earth and lots of savoury notes on the palate. All that said, I can't shake the feeling that this seems just a little tired at this point, which perhaps is fair.
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1964 Giacomo Conterno Barolo 90 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Slow-oxidized in the morning and double decanted a few hours before service. Can't help but notice the slight oxidation on the palate, showing a mild mushroomy thing. But otherwise there's really some good stuff going on here, with a slight vegetal quality on the palate as well. Clearly tertiary, with the fruit still hanging on, but truthfully, this is a wine close to the end of its useful life.
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1964 Cappellano Barolo
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Troglia bottling. Decanted, and left in the decanter about 10 hours before service. Slight peppery quality here that I thought seemed a little odd. Fairly bright, with some nice fruit tones on the nose that lend some sweetness, as well as a fair dose of earthiness. The palate is in line with the nose, but there's a slight bit of soy that shows up. Nonetheless, a real treat to try.
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1970 Oddero Barolo 83 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Stewy and muddy on the nose and palate. Not much to love here, this was a foursquare wine to begin with, and didn't really make it to the dinner table. Probably should have been consumed a decade ago (or more).
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1970 Fontanafredda Barolo 85 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Another foursquare Barolo producer. Drinkable but hardly exciting. The fruit here is mostly dried up, and there's a peculiar roasted tinge to the fruit that I find odd. Ticks most of the boxes for showing up, but that's about it. This did better than the Oddero, but that's really not saying much.
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1974 Castello di Neive Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Couldn't really figure this one out. The nose was really messed up here -- now and again, I picked up whiffs of wet cardboard, making me think it was corked, but there was a hint of something that was akin to fermented garbage (not quite that unpleasant but getting there). The palate, however, was brilliant, with beautiful red fruit and a lighter disposition.
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1988 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato 93 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
#5912. There was a hint of an eldritch stench on the nose behind all that beautiful and light red fruit here. The perfume on this was simply incredible -- it was bright and floral and sweet, and the palate was pretty much the same way. Most of the stink blew off with more swirling, revealing more of the delicate red fruit and florals. One of my favourites tonight for sure, the composure and delicacy of this wine exemplify what I think of in Monprivato.
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1996 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato 95 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
#8570. Opened the night before, and decanted a few hours before service. Initially, when I opened it, this tasted a little watery and thin, and in fact never really put on weight until I left this in the decanter. While I tend to think of Monprivato as a delicate and pretty example of Barolo, this bottle also exemplifies the vintage by showing more black fruited characteristics. However, the delicacy is still on full display, and a touch of sweetness balances out the large-scaled structure. Incredible stuff and very much in my wheelhouse.
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1996 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano 93 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
#4553. Opened about 24 hours before service, with a brief double decant a few hours before. The perfume on this wine never dissipated over the course of the day it had been open. It does have a darker complexion (it's especially stark next to the 2000 and 2005 later in the evening), but this is never a big heavy-handed wine. It's light and the tannins seem to be well-resolved. An elegant wine, and for my palate, ready for consumption now.
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1998 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano 95 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Funny, we had this at the same dinner last year. I don't think it's changed much since then -- still a large-scaled, dense, and powerful nebbiolo with incredible coiled potential. It's so obvious that this is a step above the white labels too (which realistically, are phenomenal wines in their own right). But the raw power and amount of material here are really something to behold. Obviously tight compared to the white label Rabaja of the same vintage, but it's abundantly clear that this is truly the better wine.
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1998 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Rabajà 93 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
While the red label Santo Stefano was by far the better wine, this was the more open and expressive wine, showing lots of perfume and elegance right now. A hint of black fruit, but mostly on the red side of the spectrum. On the palate, there's a slight high-toned quality that seems to indicate that a little more time (or air) is needed, but this is the better drinking of the 1998 pair tonight.
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2000 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sperss 85 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC
Yeah, really not a fan of this at all. Sticks out like a sore thumb against all the neutral-oak wines. This has a really bizarre green note on the nose, which if given to me blind would land me in cabernet franc. The palate is fleshy and sweet, and there's clearly a modernist twist to this wine, with the ripe fruit, vanilla, and oak tannins. I'll stick with the Barbaresco, thank you very much.
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2000 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba 93 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
#12575. The best way to put this is that this is rippin' and ready to go. The ripeness of the vintage gives this a softer complexion, and the structure isn't as firm as in some of the "better" vintages. The fruit is sweet and starting to take on secondary characteristics, the perfume is fairly robust and intense, and the palate has that broadness that you'd expect from the riper year. Tannins aren't too ornery either.
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1985 Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo Monfalletto 90 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
This was one of my surprise wines this evening. Sweet and resolved, this was just really good old school nebbiolo done right and aged right. It helps that we caught this at the prime drinking time (at least to me -- I'm not the biggest fan of super old wines), where the fruit was secondary but not yet dried out. Lovely earth tones as well.
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2005 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba 93 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
#9532. In comparison to the 2000 Falletto, which I thought was ready to go, this bottle still could use a touch of age. It's a very primary wine still, with plenty of fresh red fruit and intense sweet aromatics, but the tannins are still a little aggressive and there are some high-toned aldehydic elements that still need to be worked out. A lovely wine that was pulling its weight tonight.
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2011 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Riserva Falletto Vigna Le Rocche 95 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
This wine really bothered me. It really had no business being this viscerally delicious. Really, it's a hedonistic wine in the right way. Confected and candied red fruit on the nose, with just a hint of floral perfume behind it, but that candied quality is fairly complex -- raspberries, strawberries, and all those things cooked down with a fair bit of sugar. The palate is sweet and juicy and just a joy to drink. However, I do worry whether this is of the same calibre as, say, that brilliant 1998 Santo Stefano we had at the table. This is clearly not cut from the same cloth, but for drinking now, it's almost a shame to age this!
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2013 Ferrando Carema Black Label (Etichetta Nera) 90 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Carema
This is a really lovely wine, showing much lighter and more airy and wispy than the Piedmont wines. Juicy and red-fruited with a really light (and almost stemmy) quality to it, this reminds me a bit of some better Chambolle wines. Obviously young, the high acid and tannin here scream for food.
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2003 Romano Dal Forno Passito Vigna Seré 90 Points
Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT
From half-bottle. You have to know what you're getting into here. Inky dark, this is another one of those wines where a little goes a really long way. Tons of raisins, black fruit, and blueberries, you would expect this to be really sweet, but oddly enough, it isn't. The dense tannins here help to keep this wine from getting cloying. Interesting to try, and despite my predilection for sweet wines, I'm not sure this is entirely in my wheelhouse (though I have liked the dal Forno recioto in the past).
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2003 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel 95 Points
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
#09-07, 7% abv. Tons and tons of sponti that take a lot of concerted swirling to go away. Underneath it is a nose with plenty of sweet yellow fruit and a mild herbal note as well. The palate is about as low-acid as you'll ever get with Prum, but that's still plenty to balance out the almost-chewy sweetness. Lots and lots of sweet fruit here, with a slight touch of roastedness from the vintage that doesn't really bother me. Wouldn't surprise me if this wine lasts forever, but honestly, the sweet and juicy primary fruit makes it hard to keep idle hands away from this.
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