A fairly simple, but nevertheless delicious bottle of rose. The nose and palate are gentle and soft, and the acidity here is not over the top at all. A really good roundness with sweet red fruit and just a hint of tartness. There is a touch of creaminess on the palate as well, but despite all of this roundness there's good acidity and cut to give this freshness.

From half bottle. Classic Hune aromas of minerals, but a good counterbalancing hit of smoke. The palate shows brilliant minerality, with a waxy and heaver character, but there's so much acidity here that this still works. This bottle strikes me as a riper and more generous expression of the site, but it's just outstanding all the same.

A very high-toned wine, with lots of reduction to start off the nose. There's also some sort of banana ester smell as well. The palate is much better; good cut for such a ripe vintage, with some good fruit. Overall, the ripeness shows, but there's enough freshness for now to help it along. Good steeliness, but I worry about the medium term for this already.

It's probably what they say it is. I've never had it, but it fits the mold of what I think it ought to be. This is a dense and heavy Hermitage, without many of the elegant aromatics that I love in syrah. A really powerful wine, with loads of ripe fruit and some spicy aromas with some oak and coffee showing. The palate has a little bit of iron alongside the fruit and earth. An Hermitage that is more for cabernet drinkers than Northern Rhone drinkers. Good, not great.

Perfumed, gentle, and aromatic, this is very much a typical Barthod Chambolle. Still quite young, despite its age. The fruit still feels mostly primary, and there are very few secondary characteristics at all. The tannins are still there, and show a little bit of chew on the backend. There's a slight hint of leafiness here that adds interest (and most certainly no green notes).

The nose shows a hint of oak in its brown spice and coffee, as well as some really pleasant red fruit. The palate is quite coiled and dense, but the fruit here is elegant, clean, and bright on the palate. Despite the nose, this wine is a lot softer on the palate and far more approachable. There isn't quite the amount of dirt and depth that I would expect, but this is a fairly good bottle nonetheless.

#21-95, 7.5% abv. Mild petrol notes on the nose, and just a hint of herbs. There's an incredible amount of life on the palate -- so much fruit and spice. The acidity is insane, and is balanced nicely with a fairly classical amount of sugar. There seems to be a little bit of spritz on the back end, and there's some harshness on the back end as well that pokes out a little. Still, a delicious bottle that stays true to one of my favourite Mosel vintages of the decade.

The nose here is a little high-toned, with a little more red fruit than I'd expect given the vintage. The palate is a bit lacking in depth, and there isn't enough fruit to counterbalance all the structure here. It's very dry and structural; perhaps time can help this out, but there's probably not enough fruit here for the long haul, since I'm already finding it lacking.

The nose shows a fair bit of red apple aromas, with a little bit of high-toned aldehydic qualities from some cherry pits and almonds. The palate is also mostly high-toned, with some sweet apple notes, some citric acidity, and more of those almond notes. This is good and serviceable, but that's about where it ends.

Surprisingly ripe on both the nose and palate. A minute hint of smoke on the nose with some fleshy stone fruit. The fruit on the palate is also ripe, and while there's lots of acidity here, this is too fat of an example of white Burgundy for my taste. I've liked the Leroux wines I've tasted before; this is a bit of a disappointment.

Really funky and mushroomy on the nose, too much so for my own taste. The palate is definitely a little more tractable for me, with some good fresh acidity and a fair dose of tart apples. Definitely not as mushroomy on the palate, this is actually quite nice if you can get past the earth and funk from the nose.

#10157. This is a really restrained and subdued bottle of Barolo, which doesn't show any of the flash from other 2013 Barolos I've had. It's a very muted wine, with wisps of red fruit. Lots of acidity and structure right now without too much flavour, but the greatness here is clearly visible. It's just far in the distance. I had a glass of this left over and drank it the next evening. My goodness has this changed. Whereas yesterday I thought it was dumb and mute, this has transformed from the ugly duckling into a full-fledged swan. The flowers, the red fruit, the elegance, the beauty, they're all there in spades. A little heady from the ripeness but this holds its alcohol well. I ticked up the score two notches based on this incredible change.

Eminently drinkable Bordeaux. So beautiful and perfumed on the nose, with classic Bordelais aromas of cedar, earth, and bell pepper. The palate is fairly gentle, but so expressive. Just exactly what this wine ought to be. Why don't I have any of this?

#4860. Absolutely stunning Barolo and a serious contrast to the 2013 that I had alongside. Whereas the 2013 seemed muted and a little watery, this was aromatic and floral, with sweet red fruit and that maddening 2004 delicacy. It's actually very delicious right now, but this is still very, very young (obviously).

This is a little more high-strung than I thought it would be. Shows a lot of oak on the nose; it's not the obnoxious high-toast kind, but it's definitely there and unmissable. The palate is still primary and has that classic crunchy red fruit from the vintage, but there's a hint of bitterness here that comes from the oak. I remember tasting an 08 Clavelier on release and liking it much, much more...

A bit of cigarette ash on the nose, which is definitely a big turn-off for me (c.f. Bachelet). The palate is quite ripe, and there's something that doesn't seem quite normal here... reminds me a little bit of natural wine or something like that. It's just so weird, like Beaujolais in oak with some syrah spice.

Pretty consistent with the note from four days ago -- this is a very solid bottle of Produttori (better than the 2007s, for what I can remember), showing more of a black-fruited character. There's really nice riper fruit character on the palate as well. Good acidity and freshness here, but just too young.

This has a brilliant nose -- stuck my nose in it and exclaimed Bordeaux right away. There's a nice herbaceousness on the nose, with beautiful plummy fruit on the palate (merlot?). A bit softer on the palate, but fleshy and generous. Very nice; one of the better examples of Tuscan that I can remember.

The nose on this is quite ripe, with some nice brown spice and some sweet stone fruit elements. Fairly heady and spicy. There's a bit of cola in the nose and palate, and that's the thing that puts me off the most here. I definitely like the nose a bit more than the palate.

Sharpie marker, oak, and lots of vanilla. Seems decent on the nose, if a bit young. The palate is horrid; there's far too much bitter oak tannin on the palate. Urgh.

#09-06, 7.5% abv. The nose on this is quite ripe, with some gentle fruit. The palate is a bit softer, and there's a good bit of sweetness too. It's not the most complex wine, but it's certainly a delicious one. Nice touch of herbs and mineral.

A steely and unintegrated performance of the best wine in the Dom Perignon lineup, as is typical for the new release. The nose shows mostly tart red fruit, a little reductive stink, and some high-toned almond flavours. The palate is fairly ornery, showing lots of steeliness and tons of acidity. It's not the most integrated or interesting right now, and hardly giving the most pleasure. Of course, consider my notes regarding the 2004 version of this, and observe how that wine has so greatly benefitted from additional time.

Served double blind. My initial guess was that this was a white Burgundy; this was very young and there were some aromas of bananas and a light bit of reduction. Lots and lots of acidity on the palate, and the fruit and mineral profile didn't seem too Burgundian to me after some reflection. Ended up thinking this was a high-end, new producer Loire white.

Very ripe on the nose, showing an incredible amount of fruit, but also intense sauvignon blanc notes. The oak treatment here is very judicious; I tend to prefer the "lesser" white Bordeaux wines for that reason. Very good acidic cut, but definitely a wine with a ripe profile.

The nose of this is absolutely brilliant. Tons of brown Dujac spice, super classic stemmy aromas as well. Sweet and spicy, there's almost something Vosne-y about this. The palate is definitely a lot of acid. Too much so, really. I do like the spice character here, it's absolutely classic Dujac. With air, that aroma just intensified and more and more of that beautiful Dujac spice started to poke out. Stunning. The acidity on the palate also seemed to soften with air, leaving a much better-integrated wine. As an aside, I will add that this would have probably showed much better if psmith hadn't decided to give the undecanted remaining half a shake that would make Miley Cyrus blush.

Bottle 000003. On the heels of a conversation about how I didn't really like sangovese... cherries, flowers, and plums. A hint of earth. Extremely young and juicy. The palate is really youthful, with tons of freshness. Lots of acidity, and so much delicious fresh fruit here. So elegant, yet so much powerful at the same time. What a seriously delicious bottle.

Really dense and sweet fruit on the nose. Very potent, ripe, and beautiful. Muscular and young, with beautiful red fruit and earth. There's an incredible potency to the earthiness here but the fruit is definitely the most prominent feature. The incredible thing about this wine is how well it holds its 15% alcohol. One of but a few CdP producers whose wines are worth drinking.

V521 on the cork; old gold label, pre-ID era. The nose is classic old GC, with mushrooms, bread, and that dense powerful character. A real throwback to what made me fall in love with Krug in the first place. Earthy with a mild bit of mushroom.

Quite dense and inky on the nose and palate. The nose shows a hint of oak, as well as a lot of plummy black fruit. Pretty much just too young right now. A nice wine, fairly classic, but still too dark and heavy for drinking now.

Excellent bottle of Bordeaux; dense fruit on the nose and palate, and absurdly young. Juicy and fresh on the palate as well, with some classic cabernet notes. This has aged incredibly well, with so much fruit and just nascent secondary characteristics.

The nose and idea of this wine is way better than how it tastes. The nose and palate is incredibly high-toned and heady, with lots of ripeness. The palate shows good acidity, but lacks GV character. Not too oily, but too extracted. As far as Pichler goes, this is nice, but it's too blowsy for me.

A little crunchy and ornery on the palate still. A nice hint of red fruit but balanced by a lot of good earthiness. On the rustic side, but good fruit and not funky at all. Good red-fruited acidity as well, with some cherry flavours on the backend. Probably needs a bit more time still.

The nose on this shows a lot of red fruit and quite a nice bit of spice. The palate is decently concentrated, with some good ripe fruit, but lots of acidity on the backend. A bit ornery and tannic (of course). Any sort of modernity on this wine seems to be tempered, but this is also just too young.

A pretty classic 2006 with its black sappy fruit. A really nice palate with much of the same characteristics. The acidity seems a bit heightened and and the tannins still a little coarse. Good, if a little simple.