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Comments on my notes

(30 comments on 28 notes)

1 - 28 of 28 Sort order
Red
2019 J.L. Chave Sélection Crozes-Hermitage Silène Syrah
P&p; drinking well right away but at its most expressive with 2+ hours of air in the bottle. Fresh violet and blueberryish fruit, olive, a leafy, herbaceous streak along the lines of bay laurel, and mustard seed and black pepper spicy notes. Similar flavors, tasty, fairly concentrated fruit but stays fresh and friendly, with good acidity and grippy but smooth tannins. Comes across as almost too smooth and polished, but ultimately quite an expressive, tasty and enjoyable wine.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    9/17/23, 5:44 PM - Nice, I hope you have the chance to give it a little air! Enjoy!

Red
2019 Domaine Charvin Côtes du Rhône (Le Poutet) Red Rhone Blend
P&p. Comes across as young and rough around the edges, and doesn't change much over the course of three hours. Enjoyable though. Crushed raspberries with seeds and leaves, sappy and bittersweet. Nice scrubby herbaceousness. Sandpapery tannins. Lots of acidity. Zero oak. No noticeable alcoholic heat (despite the 15% on the label). It does seem like an amped up vintage of this, and begging for a couple of years or a decade in the cellar, but nonetheless a fun wine.

(Note: this bottle doesn't have 'Le Poutet' on the label.)
  • Beerzebub commented:

    3/7/22, 12:55 AM - Good to know, thanks. The bottles I used to buy in the States from Weygandt had 'Le Poutet' on the label and the bottles I get here in NZ don't... but if it's the same wine fine by me!

Red
2019 Jenny Dobson Merlot Doris Hawke's Bay
P&p; best with an hour+ of air in the bottle, getting fresher, redder and more expressive. Pretty aromas of fresh red fruit skin and juicy blackcurrant, violet, smoke, black pepper, cinnamon and chocolate, with fleeting dried leaves/herbs/tobacco. Attractive, with some depth and interest. Cohesive and characterful. Oak influence is subtle. On the palate, not exactly the 'smooth' texture that one might expect from a Merlot-Malbec blend, more driven by almost crunchy acidity and medium-strength tannins, fully dry, with an appetizing streak of bitterness in the finish. Tasty/moreish, fresh/vivacious, characterful, enjoyable wine.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    1/8/22, 2:00 AM - The producer makes a Fiano I'm looking forward to trying. Cheers!

Red
2014 Domaine de la Petite Mairie Bourgueil Butte de Tyron Cabernet Franc
P&p; somewhat closed at first, best with 2+ hours of air in the bottle. Typical cherryish and moss/weeds/tobacco scents, but with a spicy-sweet addition almost like yellow curry powder, and some serious earthy depth. Similar elements on the palate, minus any sweetness - dry through and through. Fresh juicy reddish fruit with fairly grippy tannins and plenty of acidity, leafy/sappy and spicy accents, dry, stony/mineral, and ever so slightly bitter towards the finish. Almost light bodied, despite the somewhat coarse/rustic tannins. Quite tasty/moreish. Nice expression of both the appellation and the vintage, very 2014ish. Good stuff, and a good value. Drinks well, but also comes across as young and very cellarable.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    11/16/20, 4:26 AM - I'm glad to hear that it's drinking well!

    Yep, I'm certainly lucky to be here where life is oddly normal. No shed, and even if I had one I'm not sure I could get it certified as a managed isolation facility... but when you make it over here let me know and we will hit Noble Rot!

Red
2016 Craggy Range Syrah Gimblett Gravels Vineyard
P&p. Leathery dark-red fruit and scrubby/Bay Laurel sorts of aromas, with some earthy and savory depth and a general sense of seriousness. Fairly concentrated, but lifted by good acidity. Firm structure, with lingering grippy tannins, yet reasonably open and approachable. Enjoyable and a good value (paid 32 NZD). Comes across as young; seems like drink or hold.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    3/16/20, 3:01 AM - I think it was on sale at New World. Looks like their regular price is 36 NZD, but Moore Wilson's has it for 32 at the moment. I love that the prices in New Zealand include tax, too. Cheers, Jon

White - Sparkling
2007 Foreau Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Pétillant Brut Réserve Chenin Blanc
Like lemon, golden apple, and honey, with a touch of brothy savoriness; nice combination of freshness and rich aged character. Good acidity and stony minerality seem to tie everything together. Versatile with food, and quite enjoyable. Seems to be in a good place for drinking.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    12/24/18, 9:58 PM - You're a patient man! I had this bottle in my cellar for just under three weeks.

  • Beerzebub commented:

    12/26/18, 7:52 PM - Sounds like fun!

White
2016 Šipun Žlahtina Krk
7/15/2018 - Beerzebub wrote:
Cool, stony aroma, joined on the palate by straightforward, cool, restrained appley fruit. Adequate acidity, although more would not be a bad thing. Light in body and intensity; mineral-driven and refreshing. Best with some air in the bottle, seeming to gain focus and precision.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    7/16/18, 8:55 AM - Yep, seemed like the right day to open this. I picked it up at K&L for $17; probably not a repurchase, but fun to try.

Red
2015 Clos de l'Anhel Corbières Les Dimanches Red Blend
11/27/2017 - jmcmchi Likes this wine:
89 points
intensity is operative word

Deep, purplish red. Dark aromas

Intensely spicy, dark fruit, underlying earthiness. Recovering from virus, so my taste buds are off and my rating may be out, but this works well
  • Beerzebub commented:

    5/14/18, 1:22 AM - Nice note - I just wrote one for the same wine that will look like plagiarism but I swear I only saw yours after the fact!

Red
2014 Enrique Mendoza Alicante La Tremenda Monastrell, Mourvèdre
2/13/2017 - Beerzebub wrote:
Ripe juicy cherryish fruit, flowers, earth; fresh, pleasant. On the palate, good balancing tannins and acidity, certainly modern in its fruit forwardness but balanced, fresh, tasty, drinkable; not exactly interesting, but well made and a good value at $11-14; good wine for a party at the in-laws'.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    5/10/18, 12:54 AM - Can't go wrong with a mom's cat pic! I'll keep my eye out, cheers

White
1980 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay Napa Valley
5/4/2018 - Beerzebub wrote:
Completely shot, beyond brown apple. Blackening, sunken, worm hotel apple?
  • Beerzebub commented:

    5/6/18, 12:25 PM - I hope your bottles are in better shape. This was an auction purchase too.

Red
2013 Villa Symposia l'Equilibre Languedoc-Pézenas Syrah Blend, Syrah
4/9/2017 - Beerzebub wrote:
P&p; best with 2+ hours of air in the bottle. Dark fruit/violet, anise, black pepper, light sappy herbs, baked earth. Smooth medium strength tannins. Nice fresh acidity. Rich fruit. Cohesive, balanced, and has some typicity/character even if it is not exactly interesting. Tasty, enjoyable for what it is, and a good value at the $11 paid.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    5/2/18, 10:02 PM - Paid $11 at K&L, but that was more than a year ago.

Red
2010 Castel Noarna Mercuria Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT Red Blend
Decanted and began drinking immediately; enjoyable right away, despite some tightness. Aromatic smoky violet and tobacco, gravelly earth, and tight dark fruit lurking underneath. On the palate, terrific acidity, medium strength tannins (seeming lighter at first, but really just dominated by the acid), fairly light weight and drinkable, floral, stony/mineral. Interesting juxtaposition of bright/tart/fresh/floral with dark/earthy/smoky/deep/mysterious elements; the acidity manages to tie everything together. A couple of hours in, the fruit is coming out of hiding, to good effect; more red than dark, with distinct raspberry; showing a bit of meaty savoriness, too; moreish. Wish I had some to age. Good stuff!
  • Beerzebub commented:

    3/7/18, 9:31 PM - Hi Wormfarmer, just realized I forgot to get back to you. Thanks for the tip, but I'm down in Southern California now. I do have a bottle of the 2012 pending delivery from Flatiron, anyway. Cheers!

Red
2013 Antonio Vallana e Figlio Spanna Colline Novaresi Nebbiolo
P&p. Flowers, sour cherry, bread crust. Plenty of tart acidity. Tannins are noticeably grippy but certainly manageable. Texture is on the watery side. All about traditional character/typicity. Fairly straightforward, enjoyable for what it is. The floral notes are nice and expressive, gaining in depth and pungency over the course of a few hours.

Closure note: Diam 5 cork, somewhat surprising as I thought this wine could be cellared for a long time (update: some perspectives on this in the comments).
  • Beerzebub commented:

    2/8/18, 11:51 PM - Thank you for the info, it's great to learn something about the perspective of the winemaker on this. I don't know much about the Diam corks, just that they're supposed to be good; but I recently drank a 2004 Sauternes bottled with a Diam 5 and the cork had two thin cracks running its full length, with a dark colored mold in the cracks and on the exposed end of the cork. Just one observation so it could be a fluke, but it made me wonder about that choice of cork for wines that could potentially be quite long-lived. Fortunately the wine underneath was fine, but it was made in an oxidative style to begin with; maybe Vallana is similar to that producer in that they are relying on the protective power of not being afraid of a little oxygen from the get-go? But in any case only time will tell.

White
2015 Domaine de l'Aigle a Deux Tetes Côtes du Jura Lices et Peria Chardonnay Blend, Chardonnay
1/10/2018 - Beerzebub wrote:
P&p. Aroma of crushed apple, some cinnamon/vanilla/oak, light petrichor. Ripe, fruity, citrusy, juicy, with decent acidity, tasty, with a nice touch of silkiness to the body, but somewhat lacking in character/interest. If tasting blind, I would never guess this came from the Jura, and not just because it's ouillé. Might guess Bourgogne blanc, or even new world. A good buy at the $14 sale price and even would be at $20, but does nothing to scratch the Jura itch. Good illustration that the Jura could do international style if there was any compelling reason to, and that there isn't. But this is my first experience with the producer and it is certainly not a bad wine, so I will keep an open mind; could be partly just a vintage thing.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    1/11/18, 10:15 PM - Great, thanks for the detailed tips Jake! The wines you mention sound interesting and I will give one a try sometime. Cheers, Jon

Red
2000 Château Cheval Blanc St. Émilion Grand Cru Red Bordeaux Blend
10/12/2017 - chatters wrote:
The Grand Tour - day eleven (Bordeaux): Just beginning to show some tertiary leatheryness. For me this is more like an extension of the 2006 albeit a more powerful version. Taninns are bolder as well as the acidity. Just generally 'more' all round. Very nice indeed.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    10/31/17, 2:43 AM - I'm confused. Did you pop two different bottles of 2000 Cheval Blanc on the same day and review both, and they were significantly different?

  • Beerzebub commented:

    10/31/17, 8:39 AM - Sounds like a good day! Thanks for the clarification. Cheers, Jon

Red
N.V. Marietta Cellars Old Vine Red Lot Number 64 California Red Blend
Held up well over three days (refrigerated in a half bottle), with the fruit calming down and coming into balance. Dark red fruit with savory and smoky accents and general rustic authenticity. Tasty, with nice depth for the price tag. Good acidity keeps it fresh. Archetypal Tuesday night wine (but pop on Monday..?).
  • Beerzebub commented:

    5/23/17, 10:45 PM - I hope you enjoy it! It does respond well to air, with the fruit mellowing a bit which seems to let the other elements come out.

White
2015 Dönnhoff Riesling Tonschiefer trocken Nahe
1/21/2017 - Aravind Asok wrote:
K&L Tasting with Cornelius Donnhoff and Andi Spreitzer (K&L Hollywood): This bottle showed very differently from my last tasting. Much darker than I remember, showing red earth on the palate. Again, fantastic acidity and very very green.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    1/22/17, 10:39 AM - I was at this tasting too; thanks for the notes, they'll be useful for remembering what I drank! Cheers

White
2008 Salinia Chardonnay Heintz Ranch Sonoma Coast
P&p; drinking well right away. Smells good - nice combination of fresh citrus and orchard fruits, an overt yet extremely controlled Juralike oxidative streak, quite honeyed, with a light butterscotch aspect (but less of this than the 2007 from what I recall). Similar on the palate, rich/silky texture, offset by plenty of fresh citrus acidity so it's not at all heavy, and some nice salinity. Spice and stone develop toward the finish. Cohesive and balanced - nothing really sticks out - while at the same time fairly high intensity, quite characterful, complex, and just plain tasty. Air doesn't seem to induce any change for the first few hours, but after 4 or 5 hours it's gaining in the spice and general richness/gravitas departments. Good stuff!
  • Beerzebub commented:

    9/3/16, 11:16 PM - I love his wines too and he's a great guy, so what you've said has me a bit concerned. I don't have any info one way or another, but I haven't been in touch with him in about a year.

Red
2014 Domaine du Bel Air (Pierre et Rodolphe Gauthier) Bourgueil Jour de Soif Cabernet Franc
P&p; this is much more ready to go than a bottle consumed just two months ago. Juicy raspberry, rose, and characteristic leafy-peppery aromas right out of the bottle. Light, juicy, quaffable, with good acidity and freshness, and some earthiness/claylike minerality giving it a bit of depth. Well balanced, with no lack nor overabundance of fruit. Always a pleasure, and a reliable value.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    8/4/16, 7:12 PM - That's a great price, and I know the store - thanks!

Red
2009 Poggio dell'Otto Brunello di Montalcino Sangiovese
11/4/2015 - Beerzebub wrote:
flawed
$16 crap shoot at Grocery Outlet - bad idea. Looks and smells much older than 2009. Some dried flowers on the nose, with faded fruit. Very little happening on the palate; somewhat bitter, without anything to balance the bitterness. Drain pour. (Oxidized, and not in a good way)
  • Beerzebub commented:

    12/30/15, 9:31 AM - Thanks deepndark - sounds like some major bottle variation!

Red
2001 Domaine Les Roches (Alain et Jérome Lenoir) Chinon Cabernet Franc
Decanted and began drinking immediately. Smells good, deep and fresh, with aromas along the lines of cherry, clean moist earth, black tea, dried flowers, spice, orange peel, and savory-sweet tián miàn jiàng (sorry Eric Asimov!). Tastes delicious, with good acidity and freshness. Medium strength fully integrated tannins. Fairly light bodied. Highly drinkable. Good length - lingering spice, tea, and earth, with some stony minerality developing. Good stuff!
  • Beerzebub commented:

    7/15/15, 2:52 PM - He has crusaded a bit against overly specific or obscure references in tasting notes: http://www.culinate.com/books/book_excerpts/how_to_love_wine

Red
2002 R. López de Heredia Rioja Reserva Viña Tondonia Tempranillo Blend, Tempranillo
P&p; awkward at first, but drinking well with 2.5 hours of air in the bottle. Aromas of sour cherry and barrel, with a bare hint of VA (which works well), and good savory depth and pungency; nice mix of fresh/juicy and oxidative/old barrel/leathery/gamy elements. Gets even better after 4 or 5 hours; fresh and pretty, with floral and clean earthy notes developing. Similar on the palate, with good balance between pleasantly/moderately rich fresh fruit, tart acidity, understated oak barrel, and aged/meaty/savory notes. I haven't had previous vintages, so can't compare; in any case, this is full of character and typicity, and is quite enjoyable. Paired well with seared pork kidney with liberal black pepper and hot mustard.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    6/10/15, 1:10 AM - Good to know! If this is an off vintage of this wine, then I am indeed a fan!

Red
2008 Tenuta Monteti Monteti Toscana IGT SuperTuscan Blend
12/14/2014 - Bam_Man Likes this wine:
92 points
My first bottle of a half-case. Very earthy and powerful on the nose, with pretty hints of flowers and spice. Full-bodied and silky on the palate, this is modern in style - but not heavy or over-extracted. Shows wonderful depth and intensity to its tangy blackberry and dark currant fruit, with just the right amount of acidity. There's slightly more Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend for 2008, so this is just a bit softer and not quite as tart and mouth-puckering as the 2007. The long, slightly tannic finish is loaded with dark fruit, along with prominent notes of violet and mineral. Very Bordeaux-like in character, but unmistakably Tuscan. Beautiful and delicious now, this should develop very nicely over the next 4-5 years.
50+5+12+17+8=92
  • Beerzebub commented:

    1/10/15, 7:52 PM - Drinking this right now, and my note has some striking similarities to yours - I swear I didn't copy! Anyway, nice note.
    Cheers,
    Jon

White
2008 Quinta da Muradella Monterrei Alanda White Blend
5/10/2010 - Jozefs wrote:
89 points
Very clean, fresh smelling red and black fruit (cherries, blue berries), sweet spices, a hint of kirsch, refreshing cherry-like acidity, hints of cherry stones, tobacco and milk chocolate... balanced and quite fresh, better on the second day...
  • Beerzebub commented:

    1/8/15, 2:15 PM - Was this the red Alanda, rather than the white? Just checking!
    Cheers,
    Jon

Red
2010 Kendric Vineyards Pinot Noir Marin County
9/6/2014 - Beerzebub wrote:
Smells like mixed berries and cherries, with a sense of wildness to the fruit, along with earth, dill, spice, sandalwood, cola, and fleeting vanilla and cigarette tobacco; overt American oak, suggestive of bourbon even. Although the oak seems excessive, it works fairly well, and thankfully it is a bit less dominant on the palate. Good fresh acidity. Tart, wild red and black fruits, gravelly earth, and some dill- and bourbon-like barrel flavors. Dry, gravelly finish. Actually pretty tasty - I like the American oak element, there's just too much of it. Light color, light tannins, no heat. Gets more cohesive and expressive with an hour or so of air, and some mouthwatering salinity develops. Quite nice in some ways; makes me curious to try more wines from this area which has surprisingly few vineyards.

Update: I'm told that this was made with no American oak (see comments).
  • Beerzebub commented:

    10/30/14, 2:42 AM - Thanks for the info, stinkyweaselteats! I've updated my note.

White
2012 Les Dolomies Chardonnay Côtes du Jura Les Boutonniers
6/16/2014 - JOsgood wrote:
Yellow golden in color. Smells like a home brewed beer. Ah the scent of a rustic Jura wine. Really good. Full of character.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    10/17/14, 12:53 AM - I'm bottling a home brewed Berliner Weisse (with a bit of Brett in it) while drinking this, and the first thought I had when I smelled the wine was that it smelled like the beer. I assumed that I was confused. Then I saw your note - very reassuring!

Red
2010 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Nebbiolo
Decanted 4 hours before tasting. Open and aromatic, and smelling terrific - cherry, fresh and dried flower petals, cedar, spice, deep dark earth, and a bare hint of VA that works well. On the palate, tannins are overly prominent, but the flavors are good. Excellent tart acidity, with which the tannins need to learn to play more nicely. Sour cherry and spice up front, joined by lovely floral and earthy notes and rocky, gravelly minerality. Rocky earth, cedar, and nutmeg-like spice in the finish, with lingering numbing tannins. Quite enjoyable despite its youthful inelegance, and a good value.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    10/3/14, 9:13 PM - I noticed when I posted my note that we drank it around the same time! I haven't had the '08 - in fact this is my first time trying this wine. I like it! Picked up a few more bottles and will age some.

Red
2010 Domaine Michel Juillot Mercurey 1er Cru Clos des Barraults Pinot Noir
PnP. Quite open and aromatic right out of the bottle - smells like crunchy fresh cherries and berries, mushroom/forest floor, crushed rocks, spice, fairly well integrated spicy oak, nice; with a few hours of air the mushroom really develops and intensifies, and a milder herbaceous pine needle note develops. Tastes deliciously tart and zippy, but also has depth and some length. Mushroom, cherry, pine, spice. Lingering minerality. Quite tasty.
  • Beerzebub commented:

    2/13/14, 10:58 PM - Good to hear that the note may be helpful, Ibetian! Your earlier note to hold off a year or two was helpful to me too, although I didn't make it that long. I'll be curious to see if you think it's changed much since then. I do think that some more time for the oak to integrate wouldn't be a bad thing.

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