3/11/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

Lush, rich, creamy. Wonderfully fragrant and delicious with candied cherry and crushed raspberries and sophisticated accents of espresso and bakers chocolate. In addition to tasting good, this drank line wine - well-structured with fine-grained tannins and acidity adequate to match the wine's fruit-forward nature.

3/11/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

A very impressive wine! Black fruit and pencil shavings on a pretty nose followed by a palate bursting with black fruit, graphite, and oak spice, and well integrated tannins. Lots of drive and length. At 10 years old, this is in a nice drinking window and definitely does not feel too young.

3/11/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

Perfumed and elegant pinot that I picked up direct from the winery during a lovely visit to the Santa Cruz area. Flavors of mountain strawberry and spice. Still fresh, but showing some nice minerality and wet stone elements that could be attributed to aging.

3/11/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

A surprisingly acidic zin with medium-light density. Show characteristics of cherry, cranberry and violets. Crisp and taut, but on this night I was probably more in the mood for a more fruit-driven, powerful zinfandel.

3/11/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

An enjoyable wine which is a bit brawnier and more concentrated than the usual Tuscan. Dark berry fruit elements complemented by balsamic notes.

3/6/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

Light, fresh, dry with nice flavors of gooseberry, almond and white pepper. Outstanding value. Transported me to the North of Italy.

1/29/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

Same as the other Lauer 6's I've had over the years - perfectly good - probably a bit more stony and mineral than other Rieslings in the category.

1/25/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

One of the more profound and brooding gamays I have had in a while - deep, concentrated, long-lasting palate showing blue and black fruits and a significant tannic backbone. Over time, it mellows and the tannins recede to reveal a lighter but still fruity profile.

1/25/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

Fairly austere upon opening it, with prune aromas and flavors on the forefront, but this evolved over time to show more pleasant plum and berry elements.

1/25/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

Even though this is an NV wine, which might signal simplicity, I found it to be vibrant and electric, with zingy lime flavors and a honeyed pleasant nose. Superb QPR.

1/25/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

A nice, easy-drinking cab that had some pleasant rustic, brambly qualities.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): My favorite wine of the season. Quite concentrated for a pinot and especially so for a W-S pinot. But despite the depth and power, it was smooth and clean. Drank quite “blue” with deep flavors of blackberry and blueberry but benefited from spicy accents of clove and garrigue. Seemed to be in a good place right now.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): Quite austere at first but it opened up nicely over time. Definitely a “hold” for now. Elements of forest floor and cherry fruit but I might have liked it better if that order were reversed. Full bodied and rich with heavy tannins.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): Bright, clean, acidic, showing elegant stone fruit flavors, subtle spice accents, and a peppery finish. Fun to drink.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): Not sure this was worth the freight and it tasted a bit too orange (oxidized) for me. Showed characteristics of macadamias and makrut lime on a saline palate.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): Nice fragrance of saffron and toasted almonds, with a balanced and clean palate of pie crust, lemon curd and more toasted almonds. Some nice bubbles to greet 2024.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): Unique wine with a strong acidic punch that stands up well to food of any sort. Notes of green melon and citrus (tangerine).

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): The best Cheverny I’ve had and a surprise crowd pleaser at the dinner table. Such an interesting wine with evolving flavors and an enticing, crunchy mouthfeel and a cloudy, mysterious appearance. Very citrus-forward with Persian lime and mandarin notes. Intrigued and ready to explore more Puzelat wines.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): Upon open, I felt regret for plucking it out of the cellar too soon. But it picked up considerable steam over time – hold this one although not bad now either. Observed notes of espresso, tobacco, dark red fruits.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): Have had success with Le Chiuse in the past but maybe this is a victim of a lesser vintage. It seemed like it was smoking on open, but it closed up soon after. I wouldn’t call it austere but it was a bit dull. Picked up notes of mint, anise, forest floor,

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): In a close race on Christmas Eve, this was the favorite red. It showed a lot about what I love in Barbaresco – very similar to Barolo but a bit more gentle and finessed. This wine exuded class with fine grained subtle tannins, a cherry core, and accents of mint, pine and forest floor, with also a hit of nebbiolo’s tar and rose petal. Got better over time.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): This continues to be a favorite for me although I’ve found earlier vintages to be more sophisticated and long. Features black berries and fruits on the forefront. Maybe got a bit lost in this menu because it was more brooding than the pinots but was out-brooded by the Barolo.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): This wine was a bit of a dud with my tasters although I appreciated its Tuscan acidity and sour cherry flavors. Others found it a bit too bracing especially after some velvety, smooth pinots.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): Perhaps it was a mistake to enter this into the lineup and it frankly is too young – I like appellation barolos at age 10 but this one needs 5 years at least. Nevertheless, it holds promise and currently shows red currant, minerals, eucalyptus, charred oak. Seemed pretty textbook to me.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): The third pinot in the tasting offered a wholly different experience and drank truly Burgundian with a pretty nose of red fruit, violets, and tilled soil, followed by a powerful, rich, tannic mouth of raspberry and toasty barrel notes. A pretty serious wine with plenty of clock left on it.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): This was running a close second to the Rivers Marie and I think I just prefer the RM house style better. But the Kosta Browne was also humming and showed a bit of a rustic style with more oak and earth complementing the delicious medley of red and black cherry. It should be pointed out this bottle cost 3x the price of the R-M.

1/3/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

The Holidays With Wine (Home is where the cellar is): It was so much fun to drink three distinctive pinot noirs together at a Christmastime impromptu wine tasting. Perhaps surprisingly the star was this fairly-priced California appellation wine (although the R-M SC might offer the most amazing bang for buck out there). With a little bottle age on it, this continued to show trademark R-M characteristics of orange peel, pomegranate and dark cherry. It seemed to drink a bit more concentrated and powerful than when I last tried it a few years back.

1/2/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

Juicy but sophisticated, with delicious blackberry flavors accented by refined notes of pine needle and cedar. Medium bodied with some tannic structure coming through.

1/2/2024 - pgb67 wrote:

Serviceable $30 French champagne - I'm a buyer.

11/29/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Thanksgiving 2023 (Dogwood Grove/Rock Spring, Virginia): I'm not great at evaluating aged spätlese due to a lack of experience, but this was very enjoyable. This was like drinking honey wine – viscous, syrupy, delicious. Notes of flowers, honeycomb, green apple, ripe apple. It picked up steam (complexity) over time.

11/29/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Thanksgiving 2023 (Dogwood Grove/Rock Spring, Virginia): A very pleasant wine that toes the line between a classic, acidic Northern Italian wine and a sweeter Riesling – compare to a slightly underripe white peach. Golden color. The nose suggests sweetness, with elements of honey and candied peaches, but the flavor profile is a bit more bitter with stone fruits and white pepper spice. Popular at the dinner table.

11/29/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Thanksgiving 2023 (Dogwood Grove/Rock Spring, Virginia): Not sure what to make of this wine since it had a distinct barnyard element that was either offputting or sophisticated. Notes of old leather, dried blood orange, meat, and blue stewed fruits. An interesting glass of wine, but I didn’t reach for a refill.

11/29/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Thanksgiving 2023 (Dogwood Grove/Rock Spring, Virginia): The most rustic wine we drank tonight, showing elements of peppercorn, black plum, and spice. Like the Saxum - very blue fruited.
Next to the velvet pinots from France and California, this fell a bit short.

11/29/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Thanksgiving 2023 (Dogwood Grove/Rock Spring, Virginia): Typical Saxum inky color and dense mouthfeel. Powerful. The most unctuous and concentrated wine in the lineup but somehow finesse overcame force tonight and this wasn't one of the favorites. It very plainly favored a blue fruit profile – blueberries, dark plum at the forefront (but I’m a red fruit guy …). Seemed like it had room to evolve as the flavors were perhaps a bit one-note at this stage.

11/29/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Thanksgiving 2023 (Dogwood Grove/Rock Spring, Virginia): Outshined tonight by the W-S RRV which could be a surprise given that the VVV is a vineyard-designate, but the tasters opinions must prevail. The nose and flavors were a bit muted but primarily showed red cherry and forest.

11/29/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Thanksgiving 2023 (Dogwood Grove/Rock Spring, Virginia): Although W-S has a reputation as one of the more age-worthy Cali pinots, I decided to pop this one early (inspired in part by strong CT feedback). This was brimming with dark cherry fruit that evoked a juicy bite into a summertime farmstand cherry. Luscious and smooth. Also showed some elegant notes of cedar, baking spice, and glacé clementines. The clear second-place finisher at the dinner table (behind the Red Burg).

11/29/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Thanksgiving 2023 (Dogwood Grove/Rock Spring, Virginia): This wine blew everyone away and easily won WOTN. Silky mouthfeel, a harmonious palate with complex red fruit and earthy notes (raspberry, rose petal, mushroom, toasted oak) and a long finish for a fairly gentle wine. Seemed to be in a perfect drinking window.

11/9/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Tart red fruit (almost approaching SweeTart candy levels), cinnamon, snappy acidity and easy finish. Great sipping wine to accompany cheese and appetizers, but not sure it works with a more complex meal due to its uniqueness.

11/3/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Ripe, tasty pinot. Maybe a bit international in style (i.e. generic) and it didn't evoke Carneros the way some pinots from that appellation do. But overall a good buy for $20ish and can serve as a party wine or weekday drinker.

11/2/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Electric is the right word here – very zippy, “electric” acidity which is startling but refreshing at the same time. Aromas and flavors of lime zest, yellow apple, lemon juice, and limestone. Would not have guessed this was from Germany.

10/30/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Elegant and supple mouthfeel, with soft sweetness on the palate coming from red fruit, rhubarb, and watermelon along with a pleasant herbal/stemmy element. Medium concentration and acidity. A very solid pinot.

10/30/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Dark, ink-like color - alluring and intimidating. Aromas of dark cherry, black olives, oak. Wine is full bodied, big with powdery tannins and well-balanced acidity. Taste of dark cherries, plums, dark chocolate.

10/19/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Very pleasing wine that shows elegant floral aromatics and has supple flavors of red berries, allspice, orange pekoe tea, toasted brioche.

10/19/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

A classic Napa cab with flavors of plum and mocha. Medium weight and balanced, sufficiently fruity but not a fruit bomb (and that's a good thing).

10/19/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

This opened up over time and shows as a dark and concentrated pinot, akin to some nicer RRV pinots. Varied notes of fig, clove and mushroom. Maybe too young?

10/19/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Very nice entry-level barolo that has held steady for years - it wasn't bad 5 years ago when I bought some of this, but a little aging has provided more complexity and I think it has at least 5 more years of pleasure in it. Shows masculine characteristics of leather, underbrush and bitter chocolate, but is also smoothed out with notes of clove and black cherry. Overall, quite a bit going on for an affordable barolo.

10/19/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

From one of my favorite Loire producers and fave Kermit Lynch winemakers, this wine has an upfront zippy mouthfeel showing aromas and tastes of lemon and seashells with an underlying note of sea salt to give it a nice balance.

10/17/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Quite dry and a bit austere on the flavor profile. I suppose I prefer fruitier CdRs.

10/17/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

A very solid and satisfying everyday Bordeaux - refined and smooth with flavors of blackberry and cassis.

7/27/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

I really loved this wine, slender but with a robust punch, reminding me of graceful Red Burgundies from austere vintages. Rounded, with a glycerol slickness and plenty of flavor from forest raspberry and red tea. A perfect summer wine.