4/23/2024 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

I didn’t believe it till I tasted it. Blinded you would think Le Montrachet. Green golden straw colored. Perfect coloring. Medium to full bodied and RICH. Stone fruits, oily white flowers and rocky minerality on the nose. Acacia, sweet white peach and flint on the palate. OMG this wine is soooo good. The only limiting factor for 97-98 for me was a little bit acidic and thin on the finish. But that’s just me. Smarter people than me ranked this 98+ and i totally get it. Highly recommended. What a treat. Cheers

12/14/2023 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

A youthful 1970. I have had a great run of 1970s but this was my first HB and it delivered the goods. Color was deep garnet and belied its age. Cassis, forest, cedar and smoke. Texture was perfect and was still bright. The wine seemed “fresh” which is amazing. More of the same on the palate with a bit of mocha and dried fig showing up. Finish was long and the wine has a good life still ahead. I love Haut Brion and felt fortunate to drink my birth year. Highest recommendation

1/24/2018 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

Wow wow wow. Perfect burgundy right out of bottle. These 2011s have been surprising! Cherry pie filling and explosive red fruit coulis nose. Baking spices, clove and brambly cherry on the palate. This wine is what burgundy is all about find this and drink it now! Highest recommendation.

12/8/2022 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

You’ll laugh (or cry) but I had a bottle to share with friends at lunch on December 8, and it fell out of the car onto the ground and broke. I was heart broken and it was the second bottle of the same wine that suffered a similar fate at the same restaurant in the same parking lot!!! Needless to say I won’t be going there anymore ! I will say this, as I was standing above the puddle of wine, it smelled FABULOUS! Black Cherry, black currant and tobacco. I could actually smell it outside, spilled on concrete. Talk about great aromatics!! Too bad we couldn’t drink it but it smelled very good ! Highest recommendation :-)

10/6/2023 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

I’m gonna drink my bond 2013 box this week lol. I’m going in the order of my favorites from the past. Vecina number 2 slot. It was excellent. Unfortunate it’s paired agains the 100 Pt PluribusI drank last night. Deep opaque ruby core. Black tea, grilled herbs, plum and cassis on the nose. Similar flavors on the palate but coffee and red fruits join. The tannins weren’t as silky as the Pluribus and there was an alcoholic “bite” but the wine was fabulous I’m splitting hairs here. Long finish got it an extra point to land at 95. Highky recommneded

1/24/2022 - cwjames Likes this wine:

A natural wine, quite dark in colour for Pinot Noir, black cherry aroma, mouth filling fruit and good length. This is quite unlike Burgundy, but is very good. It was great with roast chicken.

9/1/2022 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

I’ve had my share of 1970s but this one was near the top if not the top. 11.5pct on the label. It started shy but within 30 minutes (and a Somm induced decant) it was abundant. Eucalyptus note was pronounced and very tertiary in terms of aroma and palate but the texture, acidity, mouthfeel and finish was pure Bordeaux and a true delight. Would love to have another 11 bottles of this but alas I only have 1. I’ll save it till I’m 60. Highest recommendation.

3/20/2022 - msuwine wrote:

This ripe and dense Cabernet needs another few years to open up, but it has all the youthful signs of the full, savory, and earthy characteristics that make the Maiden one of the best “second” wines in the Valley (and no doubt one of the most expensive). Similar to an Abreu Rothwell Hyde I tasted recently, this 2018 is more brooding and grainy than many others of this vintage (albeit ones I tasted more than six months ago, so this all could be timing - the moving target of vinous analytics). Anyway, this wine is very good now and should become great later - and I would recommend opening it later (i.e., 2024).

Dark red in color and medium in body, the wine offers aromas of blackberry, pencil lead, leather, and tapenade. The flavors are precise but raw (like a thoughtful sermon passionately delivered), with notes of boysenberry, cocoa powder, dried thyme, and crushed gravel, with a grippy and earthy finish (read: not sweet, definitely tannic). 14.5% alcohol. This was more harsh and less integrated than a (stunning) 2014 Maiden tasted on the same evening, but the 2018 was undoubtedly made of the same ilk (perhaps with a bit more punch. Bottom line, this is a classy and delicious wine that needs - and will reward - time. Decant at least three hours if drinking now, but ideally wait another few years. 94+ at the moment.

7/4/2022 - pakabear Likes this wine:

I agree with MSU, this really needs another few years minimum. As a PnP, there was almost zero nose, some plum currants, ripe red and black fruits, a bit thin overall. However after 5 hours in a decanter this changed drastically, sweet cherry, blackberry, black raspberry, anise, roses, cinnamon, clove, vanilla, medium+ fine to chewy tannins but balanced well with the fruit. Velvety texture and a very long finish.

10/31/2019 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

I haven’t written any tasting notes in awhile but this wine had to be written up. Trick or treat, we drank reds tonight because it was cold. this wine stood out. Started with 2012 boillot Bonne mares, then 2013 gaja barbaresco, then THIS ! Wow. Unreal nose, unreal texture, unreal flavors. A nose of charcoal embers and mint, black olive. Black and blue fruit. Rich and long. Well structured and tannins still need to integrate a bit. But it has reached the rare air of me giving it 100. Highest recommendation. Worth the price

11/21/2018 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

Unreal wine. Ethereal and unreal

10/8/2020 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

Bright ruby perfect burgundy coloring. Silky texture. Nose of savory herb, and tangy red fruit. Tart cherry and cranberry on the palate with a savory herb note. Medium plus acidity and well structured. This wine should last. Sometimes young Leroy can be a night tight and green. Not so in this one. Highly recommended and good qpr for Leroy.

10/6/2020 - Cailles wrote:

My first time trying the 2012 and it is certainly more open and giving than the 2008 (haven’t open a bottle in 18 months, though). I loved it! It is deep, very precise and has this unbelievable elegance and finesse which is the hallmark of Cristal. I clearly prefer this vintage to the 2008. Maybe in 5 or 10 years the 2008 will be the better wine but right now, the 2012 is more pleasurable.

TN: Medium intense nose with lots of fresh citrus and green apple, minerality and hints of fine bakery aromas. More open and singing on the palate with the same aromas but more pronounced brioche/toast aromas to balance of the strong minerality and youthful freshness. Cristal style, the mousse is very fine, the texture exudes this inviting creaminess despite the high but round acidity and the youthful citrus aromas. High precision, very impressive length.

Decanting: Not decanted, no extensive decanting needed.

Glass: Zalto Universal vs Lehmann Grand Champagne. The wine showed much more fine and elegant in the Zalto than the Lehmann but the aromatic expression, the intensity of flavors were clearly superior in the Lehmann. My guess: Go with the Zalto for younger Champagnes, with the Lehmann for softer, more mature Champagnes.

10/25/2020 - Lord of the Bottles Likes this wine:

Opened late morning and left cork loosely fastened. Decanted about 3 hours before dinner (put in a cold room). More open for business than last time. Nose of orange peel and some incense. Palate more expressive than the nose. Waves of cherry fruit, red fruit, satsuma, green pepper and salt lick. Not over the top just enough fruit and regal, soft tannins that are like velvet. I agonized over scoring this a 97 or a 98 and settled on a 97 as I think more time will yield a little more depth on the nose. Reminds me not of Pomerol or Bordeaux but Burgundy.

9/18/2020 - Lord of the Bottles Likes this wine:

Crazy opulent fruit shop (candy shop?) nose on opening, which later mellowed somewhat. Cassis, chocolate, red fruit, black fruit, rich and super balanced and not cloying in any way. Some white pepper and capsicum notes on the finish as the wine aired. Amazing how exotic and opulent this is for a 22+ year old wine that strikes such a balance between fruit concentration and complexity, nowhere near the alcohol you would expect. 97-98

2/14/2017 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

Ok I believe this wine will hit �� maybe in 5 years. So close now. Only thing that kept it down is that the tannins still need some integration. Deep ruby purple color. Full body with great structure and acidity. Powerful bouquet of black cherry, dark chocolate and forest. On the palate more of the same. My daughter described it as dark chocolate covered cherries. I liked that descriptor although some grilled herb and menthol persisted. Unreal mouthfeel and elongated finish. Spectacular. Highest recommendation.

8/1/2017 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

Flash note. A flash note is one that I distinctly remember the quality/overall rating of a wine but can’t give specifics because the tasting note was not written at time of tasting.

This wine I have rated 100 previously. It is still holding there

5/17/2019 - DCHawkeye Likes this wine:

I bought six bottles of the '11 d'Angerville Champans at a Hart Davis Hart auction before I read all of the wine geek complaints on wine talk bulletin boards concerning the 2011 Burgundy vintage re: the Green Meanies. Thank goodness I missed those posts, or I might have passed on these bottles. The 2011 Champans from d'Angerville that I've consumed have been nothing short of stellar. Amazing purity of fruit, red fruit, spice, amazing nose, and just a wonderful fine. Not sure of the disconnect with other red Burgs from '11, but these are outstanding.

9/16/2016 - Collector1855 wrote:

66x Parker 100-Pointers from Bordeaux 1947-2010 tasted blind (Switzerland): Tasted blind. Medium garnet. Mute nose of very earthy notes, little aroma. Medium bodied palate, dry and rather charmless. 30 years old and still rough tannins... I don’t see any positive points here and confirms my numerous previous experiences with the rustic, over-rated 1986 vintage. Group score: 16.56/20, group rank: 51/64.

9/16/2016 - Collector1855 wrote:

66x Parker 100-Pointers from Bordeaux 1947-2010 tasted blind (Switzerland): Tasted blind. Medium purple. Expressive nose of blue berry, cocoa, bakery, quite modern/warm in its profile, the Merlot is detectable here as well. Impressive plate, ripe, full bodied but also structured as well. If you like it a bit more Baroque this is a very interesting wine. 97+. Group score: 18.08, group rank: 28/64

5/28/2016 - AllRed wrote:

4th Saturday group "uptown" tasting (Sue's): Just a little bit of bricking here, with aromas of tobacco, plum, cedar and violets. Integrated tannins with good fruit on the palate. Tobacco, currants, plum and dried fruit flavors with a long finish. I, and the rest of the group, were thinking Bordeaux right from the start.however when it came time to discuss and unveil the wine, the fruit was so bright and forward that it had me thinking that it could have been California...something along the lines of a Dominus or Forman. I went back to this with dinner about two hours later and only then was I able to find the iodine notes that give away this wine's true origin.

12/23/2016 - nywine68 Likes this wine:

Huge smokey nose with graphite and black fruit. This still has lots of tannins and needs more time to mellow. An intense structured wine. Enough acidity on the backbone to ensure this will age nicely.

10/5/2016 - Jeff Leve wrote:

The color shows the right amount of age, leaving you with a ruby, rose hue. Smoke, campfire, barbecue, cassis, iron and damp, leafy, forest aromas are fun to stick your nose in. Masculine, but refined, long, fresh and with a sweet, smoky cherry finish, with an hour in the decanter, this is drinking quite nicely.

5/14/2016 - eschaefer wrote:

Dark ruby purple color but retained ruby on the edge. Black fruit explodes on the nose with a touch of cedar. Well integrated tannis for a young wine and cery well balanced. Kerrin Laz introduced us to this wine in Yountville. Decent price too for a cultish small production napa cab. Well recommended.

2/11/2014 - Bill Johnson Likes this wine:

Just wow! What a great wine. Aromas of dark fruit and violet but it really signs upon tasting. Very dark sweet fruit with smooth tannins. A hint of milk Chocolate. Sweet dark fruit. Great balance. I hesitate to call a wine great but this may qualify.

8/23/2014 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

2nd bottle tried at Metropole this night. It suffered from the same "captain cold" treatment from the wine steward, however it was a better wine than the Clerget. White flowers, toasted almond along with pear and lemon peel notes in a pale straw colored wine. Very good when it warmed to a drinkable temp. For a village wine this was very good, although somewhat expected from LeFlaive. Recommended

12/15/2013 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

Superb effort from the sleeper 2003 vintage. Inky purple. Opulent. Blackberry, black currant and cassis fruit. Chocolate and some earthiness. Tannins are still well defined. This wine will continue to mature abs age gracefully. Highly recommended