11/16/2023 - seekingbalance Likes this wine:

This is from long ago memory.
I may revised 89 if it ages grcefully and begins to show its stuff.

One word: young. Two words; somewhat rough. Two more: and immature/green.

I'm surprised considering it's a cru cote de Provence made from Merlot and Syrah, but my take was underwhelming. Its good - and i hope ti will be better - but nowhere near the accolades that were touted.

Rich, and with a lot to work from, it needs integration, the nose to open more, and the tannins to both mature and soften.

or i was in a bad mood.

95 indeed, but that was Decanter's WWAs which i am learning is numbers for sale.

10/20/2023 - Musinus wrote:

Opaque purple. Initial intense scents of currants and morello cherry that evolve to bacon fat, raw game meat, and black cherry/blueberry jam. As other QC Cabs from this period have demonstrated, the alcohol unfortunately commandeers the palate. This bottle was not as severe as others I have recently tried, but it's still sufficiently excessive so as to muddy the mixed red fruits, rendering a medicinal quality. From magnum.

1/30/2023 - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Likes this wine:

So hungover I could not appreciate it

3/8/2023 - randyjc wrote:

What is happening to this wine is what keeps happening to QCs as they age - they become port-like. Not an attractive quality. I will drink through my QCs much more quickly - but when they are good, they are very good. Just not at age 20.

6/21/2021 - bevetroppo Likes this wine:

Fragrant and delicious from the pour, which was actually initiated on the new Coravin Pivot, more on that to come. Color is surprisingly dark and it continues in a saturated and opaque deep vein all the way to the rim. There might be a slight brownish cast as the only indicator of age. Nose soars like a hawk with an overwhelming array of getable descriptors befitting classic claret: piercing blackberry, cassis, mint, graphite, tobacco, cedar, or if you prefer, what my daughter said-like smelling an old book, but in a good way. I think she meant musty, but kids, what do they know? If you told me I would have to drink this in a stuffy English club library with the smell of old books all around me, I would sign up in a minute. On the palate the maturity is evident, the fruit yielding quickly to minerally graphite, pepper and savory leather underneath. Medium-bodied (God Bless you 12.5% alcohol), which confers a soft texture on the palate propped up by well-integrated drying tannins that seem perfectly appropriate to the age of the other components.

So I asked my kids to buy me a Coravin Pivot for Father's Day and they kindly obliged. I had a bad experience with the first model of this thing, which never worked properly, wasted the expensive gas, and could only muster the output of an octogenarian with endstage BPH. According to Alder Yarrow, this latest model had worked all the kinks out so I figured they must have learned something in the intervening 5 plus years. And you know what? I think he's right. I used it last night to pour a small glass and then tried again today. No discernible difference and it couldn't be easier to use, rewarded by a stream that would make the Mannekin Pis proud. If you hate the concept of preserving wine (just drink the freakin' bottle, wimp) don't get it, but if you occasionally can't finish something good and want to keep it around for a while, at $99 this might well be the best ever. However, I reserve final judgment until we see how long the argon cannisters last...

8/23/2020 - mchern02 wrote:

3 hour decant

Subdued nose with dark red fruit, mint, floral tones and a hint of tobacco and wood. Palate is more revealing with airy but attractive structure with fine acidity and tannin. Finish is light but lengthy.

Neither tasted too young or too old but more just generally muted; not unattractive or unwieldy which makes me think it could reveal something elegant and quite attractive in next 5-10 years.

91 today which does not account for upside.

4/10/2020 - champ12oh Likes this wine:

PnP. Best at hour 3 but had no previous experience with this one. 12.5% ABV. Crazy how fresh and alive the wine is.

Slate city and berries. Coffee and menthol show up around hr 3. Really nice.

7/4/2019 - zin-fan-delaware Likes this wine:

Excellent. Beautiful round plum fruit. Perfectly balanced. It is perfect now and will last a few years. But why wait. We stopped in the Italian section of Philly and picked up all kinds of specialties. The wine was a perfect match.