1/5/2020 - cybergod wrote:

A Brett mess: burnt rubber, charred wood, dried fruit. Second bottle from the same case was also a bit dirty, but significantly better. This was undrinkable.

12/14/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Pretty impressive at 12 years. Bright, mineral aromatics, green apple on the palette. Just a touch of round, caramel notes on the finish from 10 years of bottle age. Otherwise, this is surprisingly youthful.

12/12/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

One of the nicer bottles of Oregon Pinot I've had in a while. Aging well, with lots of rich black cherry fruit - but still balanced and nicely structured. Would have guessed NSG in a riper year.

9/21/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

The usual Fourrier genius. Good on day one, brilliant on day two. Cranberry, cherry and earth. Super elegant. Great Villages wine.

7/8/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Still a bit of lingering astringency, but overall this has aged nicely and the fruit is still bright. Solid bottle of Dolcetto.

7/6/2014 - cybergod wrote:

This has loads of potential, with tons of fruit and structure - but right now the wine is buried under a strong layer of new oak influence. Probably just needs time, and lots of it. Going to tuck the rest of my bottles away for several years.

7/6/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Like squeezing a lemon through a limestone sieve. Delicious, and amazing value.

6/29/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

This bottle was better than the last, which was very oxidized. No premox here. Somewhat ripe and round, but has enough acidity and lemon/citrus on the finish to keep it from being being flabby.

6/13/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Very good. Tightly wound at the moment (young, and opened shortly after it was shipped and delivered). Needs another half year to a year in bottle to open up a bit.

6/8/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Classic white pepper notes, bright red fruit. Quite aromatic and flavourful - but also very harmonious and almost delicate in style, with the tannins being nearly imperceptible. This a a very good, distinctive Côte-Rôtie.

6/8/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Excellent Bourgogne Blanc. Bright, crisp and flavourful, with just enough weight and length to make it interesting, and a big cut above its generic appellation designation. This bodes really well for the rest of the PYCM 2012 lineup.

5/16/2014 - cybergod wrote:

Good but not great. Either this wasn't a representative bottle, or this is a bit of an atypical vintage for CdG. Quite ripe, with baked apple and brioche notes. Very soft and honeyed, almost slightly oxidized. Lacks the minerality, acidity and energy of other CdGs that I have had.

5/12/2014 - cybergod wrote:

Impressive that it's held up as well as it has after 9 years (it could age few to several more), but very over-priced for what it is. Blind I would have said it was a well made bottle of $20-30 Chilean Carmenère.

5/10/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Pretty incredible for a seven year old rosé. Bright, vibrant. Melon notes. Not at all oxidized, just more round and voluptuous than it was a few years ago.

5/8/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Absolutely amazing. Everything in total, perfect balance: fruit, acid, secondary components (cedar, spice box components) and tannins in total harmony. This is one of the best bottles of California wine that I have ever had.

4/27/2014 - cybergod wrote:

Opened a bottle to get a sense of how it might age. This is a great vintage of Tignanello, with rich, classic Sangiovese fruit flavours, tobacco and spice box notes. Although it's already delicious, it has tons of structure, is tightly wound and needs time to fully come together.

4/13/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Shimmering, bright fruit, with predominantly strawberry and hard candy flavours. Touch of herbal notes on the finish. Very tasty. Frappato is such a unique grape - nothing else tastes like it.

4/11/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

PYCM is just killing it. This is lovely. Super steely, lemon-lime, with just a touch of beeswax.

4/11/2014 - cybergod Does not like this wine:

Another premoxed bottle of Matrot. They really need to figure out what the problem is - what does into the bottle is brilliant. What happens thereafter is another story.

4/10/2014 - cybergod wrote:

Not totally oxidized, but well on its way: all caramel and wood, with a bit of sherry notes already creeping in. All the awesome electric mineral and bright citrus stuff that was going on last year in a previous bottle is completely gone.

4/9/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Good fruit density, classic Nebbiolo tar and rose petal notes. A bit of a tannic bite on the finish. Drinking nicely now, but should age pretty nicely for a few more years. Great QPR.

4/7/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

An amazing surprise. 8 year old Viognier from the Beamsvile Bench in Niagara, Ontario. Drinks like a beautifully aged white Châteauneuf du Pape. Gorgeous mineral notes offset by an almond/nutty finish. No hint of oxidization whatsoever.

3/14/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Hedonistic for sure, but still has all the classic Dominus structure and complexity that (for me) makes this a cut above so many premium Napa Cabernets. Rich fruit, earth, cedar, oak. Already delicious but will be so much better with several more years of bottle age.

4/6/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Completely concur with Paul S' tasting note. This is an excellent wine, performing way above its supposedly less prestigious appellation. Easily the equal of many 1er Cru and Grand Cru Beaune 2010 Red Burgundies I have had in the last year.

4/6/2014 - cybergod wrote:

Dark, nearly impenetrable colour. Reminds me of an Aussie Grenache or GSM style of wine. A bit of alcohol heat on the front end, with balsamic and strawberry aromatics, and charred wood. The palette is all dark cherries and glycerin, with a surprisingly (for Garnacha) tannic finish. A really big wine, this is too over the top for my palette right now, but may round out a bit with some bottle age. Not my thing, but it is well made for what it is.

4/4/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Great value for the price. Classic Blanc de Blancs Champagne flavours and aromatics of toasted brioche and baked apples. More on the round and full-bodied spectrum, but has enough acidity and fine bubbles to keep it lively.

4/6/2014 - cybergod wrote:

This is elegant, ethereal, classic Vosne-Romanée, with cherry and spice notes framed by just a touch of tannic structure. It possesses that rare combination of seemingly being weightless while also being jammed full of pretty aromatics and flavours.

4/6/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Slightly softer and a with a touch less depth than a bottle of En Remilly that was also opened recently, but still an excellent wine. Classic Lamy touch of reduction, mineral and lemon-line, but with a rounder finish than the En Remilly. Going to leave the rest of my bottles in the cellar for a couple more years.

3/29/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Great stuff. Very tight right now. Showing an intense, stony/mineral personality and just a hint of lemon/lime fruit. Needs time.

3/19/2014 - cybergod wrote:

Nice bottle for the price. Garrigue, smoke, dark fruits. The slightly short finish is marked by rustic tannins.

3/17/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Ridiculously good. The epitome of earthy, funky and super-dense, yet totally balanced. This is a great vintage of Migoua.

3/1/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Lees, mineral, nuts, brioche and pear. Great stuff. The pure chardonnay qualities really shine through. Love this wine.

3/1/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Crushed seashells, crème fraîche. Young. Needs time to integrate, but pretty delicious nonetheless.

2/28/2014 - cybergod wrote:

Coffee, graphite, autumn leaves and forest fire. The dark plum and stewed berry fruit barely peeks through the massive structure. Very dry by almost port-like at the same time. This could turn out nicely in several years if it settles down, but right now it's completely shut down and paradoxically really over the top.

2/28/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Drinking really well. Dark berry fruit, cedar. Slight beeswax note. Extremely balanced mid palette and finish. Ends with a bit of tannic structure that shows this could go a few to several more years.

2/23/2014 - cybergod wrote:

Sherried, oxidized nose. Palette is much fresher, with mineral notes giving lift to a fairly round, nutty finish. This has aged pretty quickly. Drink up.

2/14/2014 - cybergod wrote:

Strawberry, black pepper, stems. A bit rustic and a tiny bit of heat from the high alchohol - but this wine is delicious nonetheless. Don't know how Brewer-Clifton manages to make such ethereal wines at such high alchohol levels, but they do.

2/9/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

If Grand Cru White Burgundy was made from Riesling it would taste something like this. Petrol notes. Crystalline, razor-like acidity frames a core of fruit. This will take years to unwind, but when it does, it will be insanely great.

2/5/2014 - cybergod wrote:

Bordeaux meets New World. Starts out with rich, ripe fruit and notes of pencil lead and oak, but then hollows out a bit on the mid-palette. The finish is a bit disjointed, with strong, almost sour acid and noticeable tannins. Hard to say if it will improve with age or not. Decent for what it is, but also way overpriced.

1/30/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

I haven't assigned a rating to a wine on CT for years, but in this case, I just had to.

This wine is just unbelievable. It's so tightly coiled, with such incredible density, but without any sense of being heavy or over the top. It's also totally shut down and no where near being ready to drink. You can glimpse the layers of black fruits and complexity waiting to emerge in time from behind the massive mineral and tannic structure this wine possesses, but right now it's like drinking liquid iron. Easily a 50 year wine - I wonder if this could go for a century given the right cellar conditions?

1/27/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Mineral and matchstick reduction on the nose when first opened. Lemon-curd, wet stone and saline flavours, with oak and a bright acid note on the finish. Excellent, just needs a bit of time to fully integrate.

1/27/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Intense mineral and matchstick reduction on the nose when first opened, this eventually settles down, turning out like a very good Cru Chablis with the weight of a barrel aged white Burgundy: mineral, lemon-lime and a touch of very good oak, with a bright, saline backbone. For those that don't know the region or the winery, think PYCM or Hubert Lamy St-Aubin (yes, seriously).

This is also aging very nicely, and in fact improved over the course of the three days that the bottle was open.

1/24/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

So viscous and rich, with honey and apricot notes juxtaposed by beeswax and vanilla components. This wine might lack a bit of acid structure for my palette, but it more than makes up for it with its sheer density of flavours and length. Really great Sauternes, highly recommended.

1/24/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

In contrast to some of the recent tasting notes on Cellartracker, this bottle was anything but over the hill: immense fruit and lots of tannic structure going on in this wine. So much life ahead - wish we'd waited another 5 years or so to open this last bottle. Chris Camarda is truly one of the greatest crafters of Bordeaux varietal wines in Washington State.

This wine was shipped directly from the winery into a private cellar, where it was stored under optimal conditions for the last 13 + years - wonder how much some of issues others have had recently with bottles being over the hill had to do with provenance?

1/23/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Just delicious. Ripe berry fruit with nice length and a touch of earthiness. Not in any way over the top, and fully balanced by just the right amount of acidity and tannic structure. A great Lytton Springs.

1/19/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Completely shut down right now both aromatically and on the palette, but this should be amazing a decade or more from now. There's just so much going on in this wine - far more than its medium-bodied weight would suggest - with dark cherry fruit, spice and herbal components lurking behind a of tannin.

1/19/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Excellent German Spatburgunder/Pinot Noir. Straddling the line between New Word Pinot and Red Burgundy.

1/19/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Both bottles (purchased from Chambers St. Wines in NYC) were so great. Beautiful Nuits-Saint-Georges, with so many layers going on. This wine has aged effortlessly and is probably entering the peak of its drinking window.

1/19/2014 - cybergod wrote:

First bottle (drunk over a year ago) was great. This one was completely oxidized.

1/5/2014 - cybergod Likes this wine:

Rich and concentrated for a Fleurie, but the dark fruit profile is nicely complemented by notes of minerality, earth and herbs that add layers of complexity to the wine. Oustanding. Wish I had bought a lot more of this.