Community Tasting Note

• csimm wrote: 97 points

  September 9, 2019 - Black currant, blackberry, deep black cherry, earthy black plum skin, fresh wet dark soil/mulch, Pessac-Leognan truffle, clove, and a subtle, beautifully brooding (almost smokey) minerality that you might find at the bottom of the river Styx or some murky bog in a Game of Thrones episode.
  
  Medium-to-full bodied, with a near-perfect mid-palate drop and a gorgeous semi-chewy mouthfeel that adds texture and concentration. A really nice execution of flavor-delivery overall for such a young wine. Finishes with an enticing earth-meets-spice note that swirls around the black core fruit. The faintest amount of red fruit darts trough the profile to further heighten complexity and provide lift.
  
  So, I’m no Left Bank wizard, nor do I claim to know jack-in-the-box about what makes a quality Bordeaux necessarily, (especially in such juvenile states), but I’ll certainly say there is a beautifully crafted conveyance here that begs for sip after sip and continues feeding the palate old and new world satisfaction. QPR is solid in my opinion; overdelivers beyond my expectations.
  
  There are some wines you drink, you appreciate, and you may tell a wine-friend or two about the next day. Then there are those wines you take a sip, and then another sip... and seconds later you are already scouring the internet trying to figure out the best deal in town to pick yourself up some of that holy juice. This SHL is the latter for me, quite literally. In fact, anyone with suggestions as to where I can snatch a fistful of these wines at a song, let me know. I think I broke my Wine-Searcher app looking for deals on this! I know they are readily available, so this is obviously more of a first-world problem than anything else :)
  
  96-97++ points. I know other CT’ers here have more conservative scores, but I’m ok being a little more risqué on this one.

  21 people found this helpful 12,172 views

9 Comments

• LiteItOnFire commented:

  9/9/19, 10:32 AM - Awesome review! Glad you agree with the recco (I think it’s a streak with Domaine de Chevalier). Love following this journey with you- thank you for your reviews.

• Canoehead commented:

  9/9/19, 2:42 PM - I appreciate the great TN as well. Did you decant it for any time at all or just a pop n pour? It must have evolved for you glass after glass, no?

• csimm commented:

  9/9/19, 3:32 PM - LiteItOnFire thanks VERY much for the info and help. This wine was a great surprise. Awesome!

• csimm commented:

  9/9/19, 3:44 PM - Hi Canoehead. Yes, I poured a glass on the initial pull (which was surprisingly more accessible than I would have estimated), then decanted the remainder of the bottle over the course of approximately three hours. It most definitely saw improvement with air. I kept the decanter on the slightly cooler side of cellar temperature (50-52F degrees), which kept it focused but still allowed its flavors to develop and deepen. The most notable evolution was in the mid-palate flavor expansion and a bit more fullness/depth as it rode into the back end. The specific flavor profile itself didn’t change much; it just became more unctuous and filling with air. Seamlessness improved a bit as well. It’s not a sin to open this wine with a healthy decant in my opinion. But know that I personally prefer flavor and freshness over straight dirt and Naugahyde after 30 years :)

• LiteItOnFire commented:

  9/9/19, 3:59 PM - Amen

• Vinewanderers commented:

  5/11/20, 4:29 PM - Great review! Currently drinking a 15 that we just picked up at a local store and it's delicious. If your in the Massachusetts area (or not), Liquor World in Franklin has 8 or 9 more priced at $130 / bottle. They do a 20% discount off mixed cases so it might be worth giving them a call. If you do call on a Wednesday afternoon and ask for Joe. Mention Griffin sent you.

• csimm commented:

  5/12/20, 6:17 AM - Thanks for the recommendation Vinewanderers. I’ll have to check them out. I’m in CA, so it might be a bit of a drive :). Cheers!!

• PIZZAandBAROLO commented:

  2/15/21, 4:18 PM - Riding your coattails once again, I enjoyed this bottle tonight.
  After hours of decanting and coaxing she started to really open up and show the goods. Truly world class IMO and great QPR (at $113 last year). I'm in the 97++ camp here as well. Looking forward to enjoying again in a few years (godwilling LOL) Cheers!

• csimm commented:

  2/16/21, 9:23 AM - Nice PIZZA! This over-performs in my opinion with a fair QPR for sure. I prefer this 2015 at the moment over the more strict and linear 2016. Time, of course, could change that assessment depending on how each vintage progresses.

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