| Wine Type | Vintage Name Variety Locale | Date Posted Score Helpful Comments More... |
|---|---|---|
| Red |
2007 Bartolo Mascarello Dolcetto d'Alba Vigne Monrobiolo - Ruèmore |
4/21/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRNow old(er) Dolcetto isn’t most decent folks’ steez by any imagination (lovers of Dogliani please don’t fret, I’m on your side) and the prospect of a bottle 2007 ain’t gonna set a lot of hearts aflutter. But when blessed with a locally raised pork chop leftover polenta and a spring vegetable ragoût that could be used up, maybe search for the good rather than great in the wine rack. And when one finds a bottle of 17 year-old Dolcetto, maybe give it a crack, especially if it’s from Bartolo Marcarello. |
| White |
2019 Montenidoli Vernaccia di San Gimignano Fioremore |
4/19/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRBrief, unscientific note: bright as a new penny, electric koolaid citrus character, vibrant herbal character. Good length. Wish I had more. Spring ragout (morels, asparagus, peas, mint, favas, perorino, shallots) over polenta. Very good. |
| White |
2021 Julian Haart Riesling MoselleMosel Saar Ruwer more |
4/17/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRI’d call this off-dry/Feinherb at 11.5% on the label. White flowers, just ripe stone fruit, hints of honeysuckle, and sorrel on the nose. The palate shows some ripeness, even richness on the attack—isn’t this the classic cold climate underripe vintage the we all clamor for? Is this Hengst or Brand? But surely enough a thread of salty bitterness and stony core emerges from within. A pithy, flinty definition begins to reveal its agenda and there’s fruit here, but it’s peeking from behind mother’s apron. Pretty shut down at the moment and a bit of a decant slams the gates. Hold for a couple years. There’s a shocking amount of material here that just needs to organize itself. |
| White |
2022 Tiberio Trebbiano d'Abruzzomore |
4/16/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRGreat balance and brightness here with plenty of stony gravitas. Yes, grower. Yes, farming. Yes, right cultivar. But this combines all with great élan. Will buy more. Supasses the category. Highly recommended. |
| White |
2007 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett #9Mosel Saar Ruwer more |
4/12/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRVery dry cork and a struggle to open but far more live and precision that most from the vintage. Perhaps outmatched by the spice at Sky Palace, but lovely, lovely stuff. Re-buy in a heartbeat. |
| Red |
2011 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Momtazi VineyardMcMinnville more |
4/10/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRBlack cherry, library book that was last checked out during the Cold War, wild violets, iodine, rouge on your grandmother’s cheeks. Home baked spice cake, dusty iron, baked cherry crisp, with sufficiently graceful age and patina for Downton Abbey, but enough verve and electricity for the arc of a garage band’s ungrounded amps. Momtazi always has that surprising energy and zazz; and in the difficult 2011 vintage it surprises with complexity astride all the power chords. Will hold, but damn, I love it now. Wild Thing—choogle choogle chorale—you make my heart sing! |
| Red |
2020 Vino di Anna (Anna Martens) PalmentoVino da Tavola Nerello Mascalese more |
4/9/2024 - JohnMcIlwain wrote: flawedFrom wine fridge. Refermenting. Shitty plastic closure. Figure this was bottled in Spring of 2021 purchased 2021/2022. Kept at temperature. Other bottles were tasty. Not quite exasperating, but tiresome: if you lean natty (not natural) use high quality closures! Like the wines, but 3 years give or take in a wine fridge shouldn’t be fatal. If you got, drink up? Boo! |
| White |
2020 Albert Boxler SylvanerAlsace more |
4/6/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRSlated for pan-roasted Maine scallops with puréed peas and morels but a long phone call necessitated a pivot to decidely non-local asparagus served with a crème fraîche mustard sauce and Ducktrap River Farms smoked salmon. Crisis averted and luck for me, the 2020 Boxler Sylvaner is chock full of brackens green notes, just hinting at ripe nectarine notes and a chalky thru-line that shine with the pairing. There’s half a bottle left, so scallops will have to wait for tomorrow. What a fine bottle, even if Sylvaner mostly gets its due in Franken. Fine, punchy bottle that will truly shine once the local asparagus shows up in late May/early June. Meanwhile the dream of Spring persists here in Portland. Re-buy? Oh, yes. These are lovely bottles and a touch more versatile than my dear Alsatian Muscat (also cracking with asparagus). |
| White |
2020 Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon Viré-ClesséChardonnay more |
4/5/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRTrying to will Spring into existence. (March not to mention April, and May are the cruelest months here in New England, after all.) I scored some favas at Eataly in Boston, so why not enjoy with some local chicken, baby carrots, and a (nearly) four-year-old Viré-Clessé? The 2020 Héretiers du Comte Lafon displays a pale lemon sherbert yellow robe. The nose is a bit circumspect upon opening—reduction and a bit of CO2 dominating the aromatic profile. With air, some Queen Anne Cherry, Meyer Lemon oil, wet stone, and quinine join the aromatic profile. Plenty of nerve and verve and surprising youth here. The palate is similarly tightly wound and backwards with a hour in the decanter necessary before the pure expressions of white and yellow stone fruit to emerge. But hoo boy, do they emerge. A virtual Carmen Miranda’s hat worth of salted fruits reveal themselves with air and the stony, sapid framework snaps into place to lend gravitas to the proceedings. Plenty of energy her expressed on the nose and long, involved, lifted finish. Great verve here, but I’d be inclined to hold for another 3-5 years to allow this to knit. A potentially grand wine here for the patient, that said if you like your Chardonnay coiled, this will strike your heart. Dang good and worth seeking out more. |
| White |
2021 Trimbach RieslingAlsace more |
4/3/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRDry, acceptably stony, no reduction, good drive, fine ripeness. More salted citrus rind than stone fruit a bit of phenolic bitterness on the finish. Good, if not exemplary with mid-week choucroute. Correct and a solid value. Damming with faint praise, but I’d seek out Dirler-Cadé or Keuntz-Bas at this level. To be fair impending winter weather may be knocking the nose about. Re-buy? Maybe not. I have plenty of Alsatian Riesling kicking around in the cellar. |
| Red |
2020 Elio Sandri Langhe NebbioloLanghe DOC more |
4/2/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRHave to say I agree with previous reviewers. Cherry, rose, (pony) saddle leather. Good structure, savory and floral aromatics, and a generous swath of red fruit/ripe tannic structure. I don’t want to say front-loaded, but plenty of “zazz” here. Perfect Tuesday pasta wine here while you’re lookin’ for that perfect Puglian red to go with the Four Seasons of Pasta lamb ragu. Good enough that a six bottle order from Chambers is in the cards. Yum! |
| Red |
2012 Jean-Claude Lapalu Brouilly Croix des RameauxGamay more |
3/31/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRWouldn’t call this squeeky deeky—there is some stank and spice on the periphery. Black cherry, Hail Mary (full of mace), raw meat, and a bit of earth on the palate. Also some bandaid. Okay a mess of bandaid. But there’s a good wine here even it is a sum of its flaws. That said, a second showing may justify a less enthusiastic review. |
| Red |
2009 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Côte de BrouillyGamay more |
3/30/2024 - JohnMcIlwain wrote: flawedJust a bit off. No review. Certainly drinkable and ready with better bottles. Bought on release, temperature controlled, professional storage. |
| White |
2021 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvée ThéoAlsace more |
3/29/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRI know it was rainy and cold and miserable in most of France in 2021 but Alsace is drier and warmer all thing being (un)equal. And this surprisingly structured Weinbach 2021 Riesling Cuvée Théo belies the vintage reputation with quiet power and not insignificant structure. The robe is a pale lemon curd yellow—hinting at Krsna robe saffron. The nose is circumspect upon opening with bergamot, matchstick reduction, and wet granite aromas, giving way to salted peach, preserved lemon, and orange blossom honey. The palate is similarly backwards with reduction driving things inward. With air stone fruit and citrus oil flavors skirmish with salty, zangy mineral notes with soil character leading the march to sea. Fine persistence and verve to the finish, though this is clearly in its callow youth. Hope springing eternal, even if Maine ignores that springing part of the equation, this accompanied homemade ricotta toast with peas, mint, chilis, and olive oil. Sylvaner may have been a more felicitous pairing, but chalk one up for curiosity. There’s plenty to digest here wine-wise and I’d be inclined to tuck away for a few years—and I ordered some additional bottles for just this purpose. Quite good, has upside. Yum. |
| White - Sparkling |
2010 Hugues Godmé Champagne Grand Cru Les Champs Saint MartinPinot Noir more |
3/23/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRPale burnished gold robe. Soft mousse and fine bead. Orange oil, brioche, and Pinot spice and floral its on the nose. This has knit admirably and I’d be inclined to drink in the next few years, but quite the bottle tonight. |
| Red |
2013 Terroir Al Limit Soc. Lda. Priorat L'ArbossarCarignan more |
3/21/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRBeautiful bottle gorgeous nose—bright aromatics and fine violety tertiary notes. Palate is resolving nicely, vibrant acidity and resolving tannins. Fine brush of black fruits in the palate. Bit of graphite soil tones on the finish. Fine expression of old vine Carignan. |
| Red |
2008 Bernard Faurie HermitageSyrah more |
3/21/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRSavory and a bit herbaceous in a good way. Elegant rather than sinewy or broad. Top flight with cheese course at Eulalie. Gorgeous nose and fine length. Delicious. |
| White |
2021 Domaine Laguerre Côtes du Roussillon Blanc Le CisteWhite Blend more |
3/19/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRWhen it’s real in the feels… So I may have posted a note or two about Laguerre’s Le Ciste but this is a somnambulant as it comes for recs. This is on the cheap-ish side (sub-$25 for sure). Yet it ticks the totally ageable/character actor versatile boxes, as well. And friends, the farming is peerless. And while I’d love to give and embarrassingly detailed note, my dear friend @brother_bandy hit a home run with her note a few years ago and I know when to give a gal her due. Still, all the salt, all the stone fruit, all the green almond, and the soil notes are present but whispering sexy, loving, supportive things as one enjoys this peach pit, gravel spit, marzipan but lifted, profile. Sensational with local pan-roasted chicken thighs with a pan sauce of preserved lemon, Lucques olives, and stock. The reserve of the cool 2021 vintage works with the asparagus vinaigrette as well as the Brazilian feijaoda (black beans and rice). Cracking stuff, even if the 2021 could use another few years in the cellar. Re-buy? If only I could. |
| Red |
2014 Hamacher Pinot Noir Willamette Valleymore |
3/17/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRWhen you are in the midst of mud season/fools’ spring and the biodynamic calendar gives you a flower day, maybe open a Pinot Noir. And if it’s one from criminally under-appreciated Eric Hamacher, so much the better! Upon opening the robe is garnet to ruby hue, though with air this veers more on the ruby spectrum. The nose similarly shows some age and a bit of backwards oxidative ferruginous character, but 45 minutes in the decanter brings out red fruit, spice, balsam, and a whiff of rosehip. There are sotto whispers of nutmeg, and cola from the wood, as well but air remedies this as the pretty florals and red fruit aromas take precedence. There’s some richness here that belies the reported 13.6% abv (no heat, but enough glycerin and texture on the mid-palate), though the tannins are resolving nicely and there’s plenty of acidic verve driving the finish. I suspect another five years will allow all the elements to knit—though I hasten to attest this is very good to excellent. Shining with feijoada (Brazilian black beans), picanha steak, and a salad with a bitter orange vinaigrette, of all things. But I’d be comfortable serving this with braised duck legs or pork belly. Real fine Pinot Noir from one of the nicest winemakers in the Willamette Valley. Decant if drinking now, but seriously, no hurry. Re-buy? 6 bottles clearly wasn’t enough. |
| Red |
2019 Domaine Laguerre Côtes du Roussillon Le Passage Cuvée Edition SpécialeMourvèdre more |
3/14/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRBeen struggling to write a note, but also haven’t opened a bottle in a minute. But Le Passage from Domaine Laguerre begs for notice as their wines manage the trick of terroir expression and value (never skimping on deliciousness). And in 2019 Eric released his 100% Mourvèdre “Edition Spéciale.” Violets, game, dried Mediterranean herbs, iron, cosmic dust on the nose. Deep purple, turned earth, leather motorcycle vest, violet smoke and a mint vinyl copy of XTC’s “Mummer” on the palate—pastoral pop descriptor unlocked. What was once carbonic gloss has gained some gravitas. You can take joy in big things like love, but take the time to be rewarded by the small things: “shilling for the man who brings the sheep in…” And to stretch the metaphor further still, this (magnificent) country wine can be had for a pittance and it ennobled local pan-roasted lamb chops with a sauce of sizzled garlic, orange juice, thyme, Lucques olives, and parsley with a splash from the wine glass. A fine pairing that hints at spring even if we are deep into fool’s spring in my neck of the woods. Re-buy? Absolutely. Shoulda bought a solid case. #mouvedretotheheadre |
| White - Sparkling |
2007 Bérêche et Fils Champagne Premier Cru Le Cran LudesChampagne Blend more |
2/29/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NREnjoyed with BD & JR at Anis in Atlanta. Lovely bottle that gained focus and freshness with air. Plenty of red fruit and burnished texture to start, white florals emerged and lifted things. Last bottle and a beauty. |
| White |
2014 Varner Chardonnay Spring Ridge Vineyard Bee BlockSanta Cruz Mountains more |
2/25/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRPale golden robe, more stone fruit that citrus inflected on nose. A touch of honeysuckle and yellow flowers as well. Yellow fruited and supple on the palate. Ripe, certainly. With good acid and a bit of phenolic bitterness on the finish. Call it zaftig rather than flabby. I’d drink up at this stage. Very good with crab (and shrimp) Louis, but has the stuffing for richer dishes. Quite good and just shy of very good. I love Varner from this era; the 2014 is satisfying, but cut from sturdier cloth in the vintage. |
| White |
2013 Jean-Philippe Fichet Bourgogne Blanc Vieilles VignesChardonnay more |
2/24/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRLithe and chalky. Lovely white fruit and lemon skin on the nose. Good length and energy. Fabulous with shrimp and grits. |
| Red |
2017 Domaine Hauvette Les Baux-de-Provence Cuvée CornalineGrenache Blend, Grenache more |
2/22/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRTakes a bit to get going, but what a nose! Dark fruits, spice, garrigue, maybe a faint hint of iodine in a compelling way. Lovey hedge fruit and dark cherry on palate with wash of savory note gathering around the fruit before receding and leaving a persistent dusty soil note on the finish. Tannins are still present, but knitting. Mouthfilling, but by no means heavy. Good now with air, I suspect there’s plenty ahead. Lovely bottle. |
| White - Sweet/Dessert |
1988 Château GuiraudSauternes Sémillon-Sauvignon Blanc Blend more |
2/21/2024 - JohnMcIlwain Likes this wine: NRMiss-pull. Very good with an array of desserts at Eulalie. There’s class here, but the Suduiraut maight have surpassed. Need to dot my I’s with pickups. |
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- Tasting notes: 451 notes on 406 wines
