4/20/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie wrote:

We served this at our wine dinner featuring "big" wines. The Levo Tango wasn't just big, it was in the "Godzilla" league, almost cough syrup. Very intense, thick, and viscous, with a whopping 16.9% alcohol. Have no thought of drinking this by itself, unless you want to add water to it. If you have this one, I'd suggest waiting a few years longer before opening, and then serve with a fatty cut of lamb or mutton, or bear meat cooked in rendered bear fat.

4/20/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious, well-balanced BDX that is just entering its drinking window. It will age gracefully for years, and I plan to wait a while before opening another. Fruit was a mixture of strawberry and plum, somewhat unusual for a Pauillac. There were adornments of leather and tobacco.

3/29/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Ready to drink with a 3-hour decant. Delicious and well-balanced. Drink now.

3/16/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

We decanted this for a couple of hours, but I don't think it needed it. I agree with other reviewers here....this is delicious, and ready to drink now. It made a great accompaniment to our steaks. Yum!

3/14/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Tasted after a 2-hour decant and rebottling, this was a delicious young Brunello that is just entering its drinking window. It showed flavors of strawberry, oak, leather, tobacco, and chocolate, with generous lingering tannins.

I think I opened the others too early. This has decades of life ahead.

3/11/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie wrote:

Needs air. Give it a good decant if you drink it now.

3/8/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie wrote:

Delicate to the point that it seems to be fading. Drink now.

3/6/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious, and even better after 2 days in the fridge in a half-empty bottle! Good QPR.

3/4/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Good, and good by itself. It needs a bit of air to shine at this stage.

3/3/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious, chocolatey, ready without a decant. Drink now.

3/2/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Pleasant and well-balanced after a 4-hour decant and rebottling. If you have this one, drink it now, as I doubt much will be gained by further aging.

3/1/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious, very well-balanced, and ready without a decant. I wish I had bought more. Drink now.

2/17/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Good, but needs about 10 years to come into optimum condition.

2/9/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious even without a decant, great QPR.

1/27/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

(Tasted after a 5-hour decant): Excellent, skillfully made, perfectly balanced, and now into its drinking window. Another great LdH bottle shows why LdH is my favorite Rioja producer.

1/27/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

We opened this for a dinner party, and served after a quick double-decant. It was a delicious classic Brunello with a good balance of acids, tannins, and fruit, and some nice tobacco notes. I wish I'd bought a case of this.

1/27/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

The cork was stained about 3/4 of the way up, so this might have been just slightly corked, but it was still good. With good corks, these have many years to run yet.

1/27/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

We opened this for a dinner party. It was bretty upon opening but a 5-hour decant removed most of this, leaving a refined wine with an old-world character, and interesting fruity and floral/herbal nuances. Tannins were a little low to accompany venison.

1/21/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious, well-balanced and refined, no decant needed. Drink now. Great QPR @ $16.

1/21/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie wrote:

Leaked out of cork, wine residue under foil.

1/18/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

I'm with S1 on this one. While this wine was not deep, it was well-mannered, balanced, and charming.

I will say that, had I tasted it blind, I would not have guessed it to be Nero d'Avola. It was more like a Pinot or Gamay. My wife agrees.

1/10/2024 - Swaggering Beaunie wrote:

Very dry, sharp, minerally; rather like a flinty Chablis, although the aroma is reminiscent of an Alsace Riesling. Won't be everyones cup of tea.

12/31/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Tasted after a 5-hour double decant, this was a delicious wine, with fine but assertive tannins, that went well with our roast leg of lamb on this 35th wedding anniversary. Clearly, though, this wine is just dipping its toe into the water of its drinking window. It has decades of gradual improvement ahead, for those with the patience (and youth) to age it out.

12/15/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

After a quick double-decant, this was perfect with seared venison backstrap. It's ready to drink now, but has a few more years of prime condition.

11/23/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

(Tasted after a 3-hour double decant)....this was a delicious Napa Cab full of luscious valley fruit, chiefly black cherry, with some blueberry, and nuances of leather. Toward the end of the bottle, orange peel emerged.

At peak now. Drink if you have it.

11/12/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

I agree with SFwinelover; this is ready now. Open, pour, and enjoy! Delicious.

11/8/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Very good QPR.

11/1/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Outstanding. I am surprised at the previous reviews...I guess the earlier reviewers did not wait long enough to open their bottles.

I opened this and poured without a decant. The tannins, which I had expected to be monstrous, given the previous reviews, were resolved, and perfectly mannered. I got lovely, beguiling flavors and aromas of juniper, cedar, and camphor, to accompany the plum and subtle chocolate flavors. This wine is splendid....everything is in perfect harmony.

My description does not do it justice. This is a wine for those oenophiles who appreciate subtle refinement. Honestly one of the best wines I've had in years. The QPR is off-the-chart on this one, and if I'd known how good it would be, I'd have bought multiple cases, instead of just one bottle.....Oh, if only.....

Addendum, one week later....

After a week in the fridge, I drank the rest of the half-empty bottle, and it still is outstanding.....

11/1/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Very good, ready without a decant, good QPR. Drink now.

10/29/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie wrote:

All treble and no bass, but certainly drinkable.

10/27/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

This bottle reinforced my opinion of Pegau being my favorite CdP producer (and my wife's, as well). I did not take detailed notes, but I'll mention that the long aftertaste ended with clove, and maybe a bit of birch or wintergreen. Yum, yum.

10/15/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious, fragrant, full-bodied, classic Loire Chenin Blanc. It hid its high alcohol content well, and impressed our guests very favorably. It showed pear, beeswax, and just a bit of lanolin, and a beautiful deep golden color from (apparently) generous skin contact. It was expertly made.

Drink now.

10/6/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

More tannic than the previous bottle, but good with a steak.

10/4/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Not noteworthy in any way, but quite acceptable as a weeknight Chianti.

9/20/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

We had this wine after a 4-hour decant, which it needed, given its tannic nature, but it shone brightly then. We had it with ribeye steaks, which, again, it needed. The fruit assembly was dark and complex, including blackberry, blackcurrant, blueberry, and black cherry, and there were nuances of anise, juniper and new leather, to accompany the very generous tannins.

If you have this one, and want to serve it now, give it a long decant, but don't fret if you want to wait a while. The fruit is abundant, and will accompany the tannins on a long journey. What a splendid, underappreciated wine this is.

8/30/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Opened and served without a decant....this is delicious, and better than reviewed by others here. Good Napa Cab just entering its drinking window.

8/27/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

(Tasted after a 3-hour decant)....We had this with ribeye steaks and tomatoes stuffed with bacon risotto. My wife thought it fabulous...for my palate, the oak is still a bit proud, and the tannins are just a little stiff, relative to the other components. I don't think I could have drunk it on its own, but it worked well with a rich ribeye. There were good aromas of chocolate, vanilla, black cherry, and olive; these followed on the palate, although more subtly. Alcohol was only 13%, which is nice.

If you have this one, I'd suggest waiting 2 or 3 years to open it, which is what I plan to do with the remaining bottles.

The cost of this bottle, with shipping, was $113. It was a good wine but I'm not sure it was worth the tariff at this stage; maybe after a couple of years of aging, it will show itself with more distinction.

8/25/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious, great QPR.

8/23/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious, ready to go. Good QPR.

8/15/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Tasted after a 3-hour decant and rebottling, this was an excellent, well-crafted, classic Napa Cab. Since the oak used was American, rather than French, it was still a bit proud; but otherwise, this was Napa Cab of an upper tier, drinking well above its WTSO price. I wish I'd bought an entire case of this; it will be good for many years yet. Yum!

7/28/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Ready now with a short decant. Pinot-ish, but with more citrus and complexity. Excellent QPR @ $17....has enough acidity to last for a while. 13% alcohol, not a burner.

7/27/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

This is in its sweet spot now, ready without a decant, showing lots of strawberry and raspberry in both nose and palate. Open and enjoy if you have it. Great effort for the vintage.

7/7/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious and perfectly balanced after a 3-hour decant. Great QPR at the WTSO price of $33.

7/3/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious, and ready to drink without a decant. I wish I had more.

6/23/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie wrote:

We consumed this bottle after a 3-hour decant, and served it with sirloin steaks, sweet corn, and a salad. My wife loved it, but I thought the tannins and acidity overwhelmed the fruit. I don't know if this bottle is representative (it certainly didn't reflect the recent reviews here), but I think it bottle was entering a closed stage. I'll wait 3 or 4 years before opening another.

6/15/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Still good, but past peak, as the acids and tannins are fading. Drink now if you have it.

6/13/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie wrote:

I'm not sure whether or not I should call this a flawed bottle; the cork was moldy smelling (as in, black-mold-on-the-wall-of-an-abandoned-house-in-New-Orleans-ward-9 mold, I could smell it at arm's length, really awful), but the flavor and aroma were barely detectable in the wine itself, so we were able to drink the bottle.

6/11/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Delicious, with lots of blueberry, and hints of cherry sucker. Great QPR. Ready now without a decant.

6/11/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

Tasted after a 2-hour decant, this was quite good. It featured a melange of black fruits, and perfectly balanced acids and tannins. Later on, the wine deepened, and the aftertaste was perfumy, with floral and patchouli flavors.

The QPR on this wine was excellent. It is ready to drink now, but can go for a number of years yet.

6/4/2023 - Swaggering Beaunie Likes this wine:

This was quite good; I opened the other 3 bottles too early. This bottle was in prime condition, with a complex assembly of black fruit, including blackberry, black raspberry, marionberry, and black mulberry. Tannins and acids were balanced with the other components. I wish I had more now.