5/11/2022 - MikeATL wrote:

Corked

1/27/2022 - decaturwinedude wrote:

I guess I should read my own notes as I said I wasn't going to open another for a couple years. Oh well, terrific wine. Even better down the road. Be patient.

9/7/2020 - RKatzDO wrote:

Wow. Needs at least1 hour of decanting time. The nose is alive from the start and just keeps expanding. Typical Sous bois that this maker often offers, with rich dried red fruit notes peaking over multi-layered decaying underbrush notes. The palate needed 1+ hours of time to shine with a great balance of dark and red cherry & herb & pipe tobacco. A moderate 30 sec finish, but such rich intensity allows the memory to last longer than the tasted flavor.

I believe I opened this at the most opportune time for showing its best. With COVID, it seems like the best time is now to share special wines with special friends. That's the true purpose of saving them, I believe. I hope to be around for more such opportune times.

11/11/2019 - BillBell73 wrote:

As the note below stated...profoundly corked...and I really wish I'd never experienced just what that means...

11/26/2018 - BillBell73 wrote:

This was an advanced, oxidized bottle and marginably drinkable (my SO would argue that it was undrinkable) and I had about a half glass as a science experiment. This had bruised apple flavors that were only tolerable due to the strong vein of acidity. I'm a huge fan of old chenin but judging from many of the reviews on here, I don't think this ages like Huet or even Joly and this bottle would certainly confirm that.

6/10/2018 - Frank Murray III wrote:

Bought this about a year ago on Winebid. I hung onto it to share with an old friend who has deep roots back into the 1990s with Zin so I figured even if she didn't like it, it could evoke some memories of those years. Poured blind and she not only guessed RRV, but also 1994. She didn't get the producer but my god, she got nearly all of it blind. This has some older wine character on the aromatic, yet the fruit is holding up well, drinking pretty fresh and not falling apart.

4/27/2018 - RKatzDO Likes this wine:

3cm ullage, saturated cork, dry gray fungus on top. No decant. Nose was very typical of traditional Cote Rotie from a temperate year. Palate also typical, opened up after 1 hour, fruit level has faded some, but this still drank very well 2 hours later. Happy with this bottle. 90pts.

2/13/2018 - GTFreek wrote:

Medium nose shows black cherry, fresh potpourri, some must, light earth, dried herbs. Palate is nicely fresh and layered, dried cherry, cranberry but fresh, raspberry, hint of herbal tea, orange zest. Dry finish shows structure with medium tannins, smooth alcohol. I would guess whole cluster but it doesn't have it.

1/5/2018 - MikeATL Likes this wine:

1989 Vouvray Madness (Good Luck Gourmet, Doraville, GA): Sweet and a little floral with good acidity. 79 g/l RS, 7.7 g/l acidity (I've been informed that the correct acidity is 4.88, which seems more likely).

2/1/2016 - forceberry wrote:

Luminous, moderately dark cherry red; doesn't look that old. Somewhat developed and slightly restrained nose with aromas of ripe dark cherry, earthiness, some dried fig notes, light hints of loamy sous-bois, a touch of sour cherry and a whiff of something sharp, perhaps acetaldehyde? Despite its dark-toned flavors, the wine feels light-to-medium-bodied and almost thin on the palate with very pronounced, bracing acidity. There are flavors of tart dark berries and lingonberries, some sour plums, a little leather and a hint of bitter cranberry skin. There doesn't seem to be much tannins, but the tannins themselves feel rather sharp and angular. The wine finishes with a tart, acid-driven and pretty lengthy aftertaste with flavors of sour cherries, lingonberries, some earth and a hint of leather.

While sipping this wine I started to wonder whether these wines age at all? Although there were some light suggestions what would be signs of age, this wine really didn't differ that much from a vintage that was 40 years younger! The flavors were still remarkably pure and even somewhat youthful, whereas the tannins felt almost unchanged by the years. Although this wine was remarkably young for its age, I must admit it really didn't offer much of anything interesting. It is always an experience to taste wine close to 50 years of age, but I really don't think the wine should be awarded much extra points if it has actually failed to age – or then these wines just age on a geologic time scale and this wine was just opened too young! Go figure. There isn't much fruit to develop, so most likely any development that might happen will be rather marginal.

11/25/2017 - MikeATL Likes this wine:

A brooding, or maybe just contemplative wine, with pretty pine bough aromas and a meaty savoriness joining plummy, dark cherry fruit with a fair bit of fine tannin and acid supporting the fruit.

8/9/2017 - MikeATL Does not like this wine:

More gooptastic than the 2005, remarkably intense, cloying, and viscous Luden's cough drop fruit with an unfortunately long finish, I find it distinctly unpleasant as each sip elicits an involuntary, visceral wince. It is still very primary and youthful, though, so it at least has that going for it.

8/9/2017 - MikeATL Does not like this wine:

Not quite as gooptastic as the 2007, but still featuring remarkably intense, cloying, and viscous Luden's cough drop fruit with an unfortunately long finish, my visceral reaction to it wasn't quite as strong as it was to the 2007.

9/19/2015 - BradKNYC wrote:

Chenin Fest: 28 Loire Chenin Blancs from 1995 - 1997. (Don Rice's.): I remember trying this wine back on release and not being particularly impressed by it and I haven't been a fan of it the times I've tasted it since then. This bottle was more of the same. It's always suffered from unclean cellars, indeed, it's clear that there's a fungus among us, though not tca. Just a clumsy dry wine that shows dirty barrels with some quince, stone fruits and mineral. B-/C+.

2/1/2013 - don_quichotte Likes this wine:

Don't think this will ever be the most complex of wines but it is beautifully fragrant. Not ashamed of where it comes from and not trying to be something it isn't. Beautiful fruit. Smooth texture. This is what I imagine a Ridge Pinot Noir would taste like!

8/22/2015 - MikeATL Does not like this wine:

Tasted blind, it shows intense dinner mint, volatile acidity, stewed fruit, and it picked up beef bouillon after a few hours in the decanter. This is a wine I expect to disappoint me, but this takes it to a new level. Thoroughly unpleasant swill.

5/9/2015 - MikeATL wrote:

Brisket, Bordeaux, and Rhones: Totally dominated by green bell pepper, to the point of being unpleasant even for a lover of Loire cab franc like me.

11/29/2014 - Keith Levenberg Likes this wine:

Another gorgeous wine from Dirty & Rowdy. A singular style of mourvedre that has no equivalent from anywhere or anyone else. D&R basically invented a whole new genre. I can't help but think of the Especial bottling as the genre's platonic ideal (and I already drank four bottles of it) so the first thing this one has me thinking is how it's similar and how it's different. The key thing is that both are in a weight class that lets you guzzle them. This one starts out with just a bit of tannic grit but after about an hour the texture is completely streamlined, with no baby fat or structure that needs to fall away before you can slosh it around with abandon. In fact the texture becomes positively silky--who would have even thought mourvedre was capable of that?? (While still tasting like mourvedre!) Even though the material feels so light it could float, those earthy mourvedre flavors keep it tethered to the ground, and this is still more broad and mouthfilling than the Especial without feeling heavier--it sort of just fills out more horizontally instead of vertically. Incidentally, I strongly disagree with all the comparisons to Beaujolais that are showing up in the notes here. They both have a refreshing acidity but there the similarity ends. Gamay fruit is neon-pastel-bright; this, for all its energy, still hits the deeper, earthy notes.

5/2/2014 - Collector1855 wrote:

Bordeaux 2009 vs. 2010 - Check in on 50 well known Chateaux: Black core with purple rim. Reserved nose of blue fruit, toast, violets and some pine tree. On the palate extremely concentrated with tannins but unfortunately on the drying side, aromas also need coaxing. The good thing is that it does not smell oxidative upon opening. However after 2h of aeration oxidative notes (sherry) started to appear. It will be interesting to see what this will turn into. My 2000 Pavies have not particularly aged well. Could be a hit or miss. Let’s see. 92-96? To my surprise this did well with the group (Group Score 97.4/RP100)