2/23/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Drinks well. Poured super clear. Right in the right spot. Again more dried fruits. A background of baking spices.

2/23/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Just opened right before serving so still opening up. More dried fruits. Red fruits. A bit of spice. Needs more time in the glass. Lovely.

2/2/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

My WOTD. This is what most of the other wines are potentially heading towards but just in a really lovely spot. Dark cranberry and cracked pepper and everything is very well balanced and the elegance is there but it’s a bit more expressive and the age has softened some edges and just all playing together quite well. Not going anywhere but drinking nicely at the moment.

2/2/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

More balance between the fruit and the spice and the floral here. More restrained. It’s perhaps a touch more closed than some others but I really like the stuffing of this wine. In the under appreciated flight and I can understand that.

2/2/2024 - MC2 Wines wrote:

You can see a bit of the vintage here - more fruit and again the spice. Darker red fruits and a nice softness and maybe a bit more dried style. Lots of floral too. It’s an elegant wine from a bigger vintage which comes through in spades.

2/2/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Again just a beautiful wine wine. Lots of great fruit. Lots of pepper and spice. I get this flavor that I want to say is milkweed (although who really knows?). Enjoyable but of course quite young.

2/2/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

The in between for the 2001 and the 2006 - not quite as intense at the 2006, not quite as refined as the 2001. Not quite as fruit forward although it’s there in the background. More dried leaves and almost a crisp autumn day. Drinks nicely.

2/2/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Darker with more intensity and more power and a bit less acid to it. For a lot of folks this was one of the favorites in the tasting. For sure it was a wine that was just in a really nice place - came out to play right away - although as always there was evolution in the glass. Plums and darker red stone fruit style. Nice wine.

2/2/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Starting the red wines off with a bang. The first vintage and one of my favorites of the tasting. It’s very light and elegant and refined in style. At first perhaps a touch closed but it continued to open with time and had that nice gentleness (aka refinement) that I really like. Bit of floral, some rose hips. Luca’s first vintage and a very good start.

2/2/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Starting off the tasting quite nicely. Haven’t seen much of this wine although I think I’ve probably had a previous vintage maybe once before. There’s body to the wine as is normal with this grape. A bit of lemon peel and lots of floral. Very nice and drinking well. Timorasso I’ve heard can age quite nicely and that would be interesting to try but this is certainly ready for business even quite young.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Small bit of sweetness to end the night. Drinks well. From the half bottle. Bit of the orange and something that is not quite the sugar and more the age. Tastes good.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines wrote:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Lots going on in this wine. It’s lots of fruit and very big and a bit intense. Very young. A bit of the oak. Needs a lot more time to even itself out.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines wrote:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Most of the group’s favorite in the bunch. Lots of fruit and very smooth. A bit of oak. Needs a lot of time.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines wrote:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Just a lot. This wine is a lot of fruit and a lot of alcohol and a lot of flavor. It’s been open for some time but feels like it could have used even more time. Lots going on.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Complete and total treat to get to try and quite possibly my WOTN. This was all intense and Harrigan and fresh and hints of fruit but much more in the iron ore and slightly gamey style. And yet somehow a bit clean and well styled for that. Drinks great.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): So much herbal and green and sage and drinking very nicely. Lots going on here. All more of the herbal style and less of the fruit. It’s very nice. Many years left but drinking very well right now.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): More age than the ‘95. Get some sage, herbal, more baking spice in style. Drinks very well. It’s more of the secondary and brawny style but also has all of the energy and verve of a great wine. Drinking really great.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): All plushy and fruity and pretty. Good red fruits. Drinking really nicely. Out of a mag and with a very long life ahead of it. Really interesting to try side by side with the Ausone. The Merlot really comes through here. Very nice.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): A definite treat to get to try this wine. One of my favorite producers and a wine that I’ll seek out all the time. Super yummy. Beautiful and clean. Lots of black fruit and very nice structure. A bit more lines to it than the L’Evangile. Really lovely. For many a WOTN and definitely a strong contender.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Very nice. Black cherry. Dark baking spices. Almost a hint of the sea air. It’s a lovely wine. Very structured and elegant. Not going anywhere anytime soon but it’s in a nice drinking spot at the moment.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Just rocking. Absolutely love these wines and this was no diffferent. It’s leather and fruit and great vibrancy and style. Drinking really well. There’s still the new world fruit but such very nice balance and style to it. I’m enjoying it a lot.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Haven’t had many old Spanish cabs and so fun to get to try this. Felt like it got a bit overshadowed with some of the others but still a nice wine. Well structured, young-ish but a lot of the flavor is more in the secondary style.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Drank next to the 1988 of this (which was out of mag). This was in a bottle. A bit more lift than the ‘88 and maybe a bit more evolution and in fact it seemed like the single bottle might have helped the wine a bit to develop some more. Spice and fruits.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Fruit and lightness and spices. This is drinking well. Very nice and easy and a good change of pace from some of the bigger wines we had this night. It’s more one-dimensional in style and missing that next level of depth from some of the best ones.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Very lovely and round and soft and fresh and bits of lemon. This is very much that almost honeysuckle and almost a hint more fleshy but with a nice elegance. Very fresh. Drinks well.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): From a magnum. This surprised me at how lovely it was. Drinking quite nicely. It started excellent and then had a moment where it was a touch more musty and then it seemed to soften well into a bit of age and freshness and good acid and overall very easy and well drinking.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Just made it to the US in December so one of the first tastings of it. This is quite a young wine and at this point you can still get a bit more of the oak treatment in it. Mostly just seems to need time - more time in the air, more time in the bottle, and more time to get to a more settled place. Quite a lot going on. This is a wine made for the long haul. A wedding year wine where you know that you could drink this through the 50th anniversary and it would still be going.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines wrote:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Again quite a lot of fruit and intensity in this wine. Bigger fruits in style. Just a hint of spice and a bit more than I got in the ‘14 or the ‘09. Needs some more time like the others.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines wrote:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Interesting to try wines from the same area across different years. At times I’ve heard it said that Argentina doesn’t really have changes based on the vintage and I wonder how similar that is for Australia as well. We had this next to the 2015, 2014 and 2012. You can tell there’s some difference coming from the bottle age and this was probably the wine that was the most resolved in that way. 36-40 months in new oak and then another few years in bottle as well. This one is just starting to soften.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines wrote:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): Drank side by side with the Randall’s Hill. Cousins of wine it seems. This is more fruit, less spice, lots of darkness. There’s a lot of intensity to this wine. I would recommend quite a bit more time and probably quite a long decant even with that. It’s got a lot of life to it.

1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Timuquana BYO (TCC): A second wine of sorts for Chris made from the grapes on his property and used in the years where he doesn’t believe they are worthy of being the top wine but he still thinks he can do something interesting with them. My favorite of the wines that we tasted. This is still dark and deep and a bit more complex in style. A wine that needs a lot of time to really come around but I like the stuffing there. Compared to the Dimchurch’s I get a lot more of the pepper and spice notes. Still young and intense right now but by the end of the evening it was drinking actually pretty well. If serving now a long decant (e.g. at least 6 hours) would be recommended.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): Usually my favorite of the group just because of the garrigue that you can get from it. It’s an enjoyable wine and drinking quite well if still on the young side. Intense with all of the animal.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): Landonne to me is the LaLa that is really never ready (which is saying something because they all need a lot of time). So it was the one that we most actively worked to get some air into and to give it some time to open up and we were well rewarded. One of the most open Landonne’s I’ve had esp for this age. Drinking nicely. The 100% Syrah and fun to see what that looks like.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): Not often we get to drink these side by side so fun to do and see the differences across the wines. This has the most viognier and as a result as always it comes across as a bit more elegant and soft compared to the others. Drinking quite nicely and often competes with Turque for me for my favorite (really depends on the mood).

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): A favorite wine of mine and has been for some time. Definitely a treat to get to drink it. This is all meat and pan drippings and much more gamey in style but in the best possible way. Well balanced. Classic style. Drinking great.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): This is one of my favorite years for the Rhone although it gets almost no love anywhere else from what I can tell. There’s a balance and power to it always though in the best wines and this is one of my favorites. The Chapoutier that I am really excited to drink. There’s some berries and bell pepper and almost a nice classic restraint to the style. Drinking very well. Opened and double-decanted and it really does seem to work. Nice wine.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): Another wine where it’s a bit of a change because again you are back in the young wine realm but there is something here in the wine which I still get and I hope others could see as well. A purity in style and classic and with age this will just be special and already it can be enjoyable. Very well balanced. Completely classy. I can see why these wines have been jumping up in price, they are special.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): I wish I’d gotten into this wine when it was a bit more reasonably priced but alas no and while the pricing is quite crazy I can understand it. It’s a great wine. Bright and beautiful and classy and a bit more herbal and spice and still the fruits and I quite enjoyed it.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): Chris makes wine that is meant to last almost for forever and this is one of those. 25 years young. We opened and decanted and I think might have even Lennar’ed it twice and let it sit in the decanter for a few hours and then poured it right as we got to the restaurant even though it was being served a bit later and still this is clearly a serious, high-octane wine. Drinking pretty well and very well liked around the table.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): A Grange with one of the highest levels of Cabernet in it (always some but usually low single digits, this is close to 15%). It’s a wine that really needs a lot of time and air. We opened and put it through the Lennar and double-decanted and tried to give it as much as possible before rebottling and then still poured it before the first course was served so that it had some more time. All well worth it. The wine was good and it was good from the first sip. Very classic style of Grange. Lots of eucalyptus and black fruits and maybe a bit of tea and there’s sweetness and spice and so much going on. Officially not really ready and I can’t wait to see what it is in 20 more years given how the 70’s are going but still a treat to get to try.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): It is definitely a bit hard to go back and forth in years with wines and to recognize what part of the wine is due to the differences in style and region and what is the age. We visited Bekkers back in 2019 and loved the wines. They are very classic in style. There’s a certain prettiness to them. A bit of pepper. Still some violets. A bit of dark fruits. It’s not as refined as the others yet but it’s also much younger. With time this will be stunning and I’m secretly glad it came only in a six-pack so we have more to revisit in the future.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): I’ve always really loved the Colgin Syrahs and still think that we probably haven’t seen the best of them. Will be something even better when they get to more age. These are drinking nicely though. We had opened and decanted for sediment and done a quick run through the Lennar machine and I think all of that was necessary for this wine. As it was it opened quite a bit in the glass and I saved some for the very end. Dark berries and just a hit of the iron ore. Even better according to the folks who drank more after the dinner (so more like hour 6 or 7 after bottle originally opened).

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): From a magnum. First time with this wine which we really bought because we wanted to show what age in the new world looks like with Syrah and this didn’t disappoint. Wine was drinking well. It’s more muted than the others we’ve had up to this point but to me that’s just the age. A bit more secondary flavors to it. Still has some fruit. A bit quieter in style but still enjoyable and very just classic.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): We’ve been buying this wine since its inaugural vintage (e.g. this one) but haven’t been opening because we like wine with more age. It was great to see how 10 years has changed the wine. I think the last time we had it was a few years ago and at the time it was fairly intense and big. Has softened somewhat. I love the violets and dark fruits with just the slightest background of meat. Acid there and drinking well (2014 was a more restrained vintage as I understand). Really opened up with more time. Glad that we got this open a few hours before we actually served them and if I was more on top of it we probably would have done more than just the double decant for sediment. Looking forward to seeing what this can be with another 20 years.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): Back in the day we found this at a store up in Buffalo and as it was a producer that we had gotten into and one of their better wines we bought up the entire stash they had in the store. We’ve probably touched it a few too many times. This wine isn’t actually ready yet, but it was fun to get to check in on it. There’s a softness to it that I really like. A bit more finesse. It’s as a warm year and yet it’s not as in your face as I’d expected (although I do remember liking that about this wine). Will hold the last bottle for at least 10 more years I hope but really fun to get to enjoy. For many this was the preferred wine in the flight and if I was drinking today it would be mine as well. I liked the promise of the hors categorie though. Dark fruit and brambles.

1/6/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

Wine Bros: A Study of Syrah (Cowford Chophouse): For many this was an introduction to the style. We had tried to get the Rockford but alas it seems to never make it to the US which is unfortunate. This wine is quite enjoyable though. Fruity and still fresh with the bubbles. Enjoyable wine.

12/22/2023 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

1953 Dinner: Milestone Birthday (Gemma Fish + Oyster): I took just a small bit of this because it was a big evening and I was so enjoying the 53’s that I didn’t want to put off my palate at all. It’s nice and lovely and d’yquem and really what more is there to say. A bit of a bigger version of the wine with more power but still very tasty.

12/22/2023 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

1953 Dinner: Milestone Birthday (Gemma Fish + Oyster): Dark and brooding and intense and lovely and like the HB just a touch too young but still a very nice wine. Fun to end with a bit of a young horizontal of things.

12/22/2023 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

1953 Dinner: Milestone Birthday (Gemma Fish + Oyster): We’ve returned to the ‘young-uns’ by which I mean I was alive when the wine was made although of course this has lots of great age as well. It’s a wonderful bottle. Drinking great and really intriguing. HB is one of my favorite of the first growths and this shows why that would be. The only nit picking is maybe a touch too young which you realize especially after the older wine.

12/22/2023 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

1953 Dinner: Milestone Birthday (Gemma Fish + Oyster): Paired next to the 1953 and of course it doesn’t hold up next to its much older brother but at the same time it is fun to see what the evolution might hold. Also a reminder that I can’t really buy much young wine because I like the really old ones. Alas.