4/17/2021 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

Slow-oxed for 24 hours upon serving into Zalto Burgundy glass (“Root” day): very pale ruby to the eyes.

Leafy and earthy notes driven. Good petite cherry fruits. Very interesting and unique “sweet” oak notes on nose. Some very faint hint of VA on nose too that does not bother.

Highly acidic indeed with a ton of exuberant red cherry fruits. Good bit of saline minerality. Very fresh and nicely energetic. Quite a lean structure though also quite a bit of silky tannins towards the back palate.

93-94 points.

Second round about 1/2 of the bottle left: more red prunes and leafy notes, lots of white spices.

7/23/2021 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

PNP into Zalto Burgundy glass (“Fruit” day): Pale ruby to the eye.

Very nicely aromatic and elegant notes of even darker black berries and earthy florals that is quite distinctive to this producer’s style.

Again ultra serious yet elegant on palate, with again tons of minerality and acidity. More approachable now than the 2010 and rightfully so?

94-95 points.

5/23/2021 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

PNP into Zalto Burgundy glass (“Root” day): Pale golden to the eyes.

Very mellow, notes of mushroom. Stone fruits like apricots and peaches.

93 points.

6/26/2021 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

18 hours of slox-ox upon serving into Zalto Burgundy glass (“Fruit” into “Root” day): Pale ruby with orange tints.

Pure rose petals and high toned red cherry and berry fruits.

Very nicely mellow though not without structure.

94-95 points easy.

Second round: floral and earthy, mossy notes now. Seaweed, tarry and rosehip notes too.

5/23/2021 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

PNP into Zalto Burgundy glass (“Root” day): Medium ruby with purplish hues.

Minerality driven, a little more about herbal and dried leaves and spices than fruits.

Weighty in a nice way to me and quite typical of the Oregon style to me.

93 points.

12/18/2020 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

PNP into Riedel Burgundy glass (“Root” day): Medium greenish lemon to the eyes.

Citrus fruits like lemon oil, orchard fruits and some stone fruits too suggesting ripeness. Hints of smoke, toasty notes that suggest oak very elegantly put together too.

Welcoming palate with a great acidity and fruit flavour balance indeed. Elegant and understated wine for its pedigree but again good wine with food.

Enjoyable bottle indeed. 93-94 points.

2/2/2019 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

PNP into Zalto Burgundy glass (“Fruit” day): Pale ruby with fine deposits.

Incredibly detailed and fine bouquet right from the beginning - Exotic spices, sandalwood and violets; cocoa-like concentrated dark purplish berry fruits upfront that add almost a gingery edge to the floral and spicy notes.

What is truely mesmerizing is that the notes keep changing every minute without losing any of the nuance of the fruits. This is deep, but transparent.

On palate this is weightless (i.e. incredibly fine tannins) basically, but with all the flavours consistent with nose present. Needless to mention the fine acidity and minerality here as all is in harmony, already. Great length.

A clear “wow” wine to me and what a treat this is. 94-95 points.

4/9/2021 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

Slow-oxed for 6 hours prior to serving into Zalto Burgundy glass (“Flower” day): Bright pale ruby with purplish hues.

Floral spices, violets, signature bulb-like fleshy flora notes. Pronounced sandalwood notes. Cherry cola like riper fruit notes that is again signature of this producer.

Immediately obvious of the style. Very much at its youth and needs time to integrate. Quite a lot of tannins here. Promising but needs time in glass.

94-95 points easy at this point.

Second pour: more blueberry and black cherry fruits. Need to observe over longer term.

Third pour: ultra smokey in a nice way, a lot of great leafy notes.

Fourth pour: very much consistent with previously tasted. Smoky, violets, liquorice and leafy notes. Retain at 94-95 points.

2/10/2021 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

Small pour served into Acker Zalto Burgundy glass (“Root” day): Medium ruby.

Lots of premium oak.

Good red plummy and cherry fruits.

92 points.

12/28/2020 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

Slow-oxed for 18 hours prior to serving into 薄はり葡萄酒器 (“Root” to “No” day): Pale ruby to the eyes.

Super ethereal floral and powder cosmetic notes on nose. Minty. Full of finesse

2nd round: Really a winner of tonight on nose.

3rd round: Penetrating nose, floral infused fruits, sweet spices. Incredibly finessed and enjoyable now. 95 points solid

(Experimentation of Rocche and Villero blend)

1st and 2nd rounds: Incredibly complete with the blend with Rocche giving the ethereal and nose, Villero enriches fruits and body and winning over Brea.

3rd round: sum of the parts no longer better than Rocche on its own as it is gaining a lot of substance and complexity on nose and palate. Really showcased the best of this vineyard.

12/1/2020 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

PNP into ISO tasting glass (“No” day): Bright ruby to the eyes.

Some reduction first. Mature red cherries, highly detailed small black mulberries over time. Layers of smoke infused florals, sweet spices like cinnamon and camphor.

Nothing rustic at all and this is an exemplary of this terroir in my view. Really fine boned acidity too. Tannin structure emerged over time.

This offers quite the “wow” factor for me indeed. 94-95 points.

1.5 hour upon opening: More tea leaves, bacon fat here. Really amazing development here.

7/10/2020 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

Different releases for this vintage - at least one in 2013 and another in 2017 to my knowledge. And this particular bottle was released in 2017. PNP into Zalto Burgundy glass ("Flower" day): Medium garnet with ruby tints to the eyes with lots of fine deposits.

Savoury, animale, chocolate notes upfront. With some swirls in glass reveals bright purplish and ruby cherry fruits, earthy, florals and spices. Hints of VA that does not bother

Bright and mouthwatering acidity, with some VA. Good sense of minerality too. Good grip of the fruit flavours on palate. Tannins are not yet fully resolved and is a little powdery, but already quite the complete wine. Sadly some brett towards the finish that is quite spicy and long.

Unique expression of Gamay that feels more like a Syrah with more ruby cherry fruits to me. Would be amazing with food. 93 points.

2 hours upon opening, 2/3 left (turning “leaf” day): Clearly more luxurious set of purplish and darker red fruits. More edgy wine overall and more grippy tannins which is now better structured.

12 hours upon opening, with nightly rest in fridge uncorked, small amount left in bottle: Better integration indeed, quite a bit of fine deposits towards the bottom of the bottle.

3/18/2020 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

0.35 ha, c.15 years old vines. PNP into Zalto Universal glass ("No" day): Medium purplish ruby with slightly water rim.

Unmistakable earthy and green bell pepper notes that is refreshing. Some VAs detected that does not bother. Second layer of purplish cherries and currants. Some nice savoury notes and spices too. More about a sense of ethereal-ness here.

Nicely lean and lightfooted on the palate with high acidity and good long line of minerality to follow. Matching 11% alcohol levels. Some petillance. What is impressive is to achieve such flavour intensity at this level, very good length to this. Powdery (but not angular) tannins.

Quite a nice style to have, will work well with food. 93 points.

1 hour upon opening (“Fruit” day): Getting more fruit flavours like purplish cherries and blue berries to support the secondary notes and also better integration on palate indeed. Really enjoyable now. Upgrade to 93-94 points.

4/23/2020 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

Different releases for this vintage - at least one in 2013 and another in 2017 to my knowledge. And this particular bottle was released in 2013. PNP into Zalto Burgundy glass ("Fruit" day): Medium garnet to the eyes with lots of fine deposits.

Fresh earthy, herbal and savoury notes of seaweed. Nice underlying secondary red and purplish cherry fruits. Dash of fine spices. Some stemmy herbaceous and roasted coffee notes that adds to the complexity. There is clearly VA here but still within my acceptable range. Very nice bouquet in my view.

Quite clean and refined on the palate with all the fine deposits, especially on the fruity flavours - a highly detailed spectrum of darker cherries and plums.

Quite a serious effort here to me, and not unlike a high classed Syrah from Northern Rhone to the feel. Hard to put this under 93 points. Reserved for longer term observations.

15 minutes upon opening, 2nd pour: Opening nicely with chocolate-like notes emerged and the first impression is really quite close to the Cote-Rotie 2015 tasted just a while ago... just without the youthful austerity and the extra smoky notes here. Good level of silky tannins too providing great grip of flavours towards the finish. Very interesting to observe the pour-to-pour evolution here. Upgrade to 93-94 points.

45 minutes upon opening, 3rd pour: the integration kicks in with a highly mineral palate at this point. This wine appears to be very much alive with lots of energy to evolve further. More 94 points to me now.

1 hour upon opening, 4th pour: wow the density of fruit really went up significantly now. Nicely powerful and very much an impression of a top Syrah from Northern Rhone with some age. Wow what a Beaujolais...

2 hours upon opening: The fruits somehow managed to became more airy and even more detailed and less “natural”... They are not more Bourgogne Pinot like feel to it with more purplish and blue berry fruits with peels. Very interesting.

3 hours upon opening, 3/4 into the bottle: just incredible how this bottle managed to get purer by every pour... There is something extra special that is honestly not easy to describe towards the end of the bottle - more red berry fruits, quite ethereal and just beautiful notes here. An extra lift compared to first opened. May be hard to imagine for most but for me this is close to 94-95 points now... For those who are lucky enough to have a bottle of this, please do take your time in enjoying this bottle, albeit it might be hard to resist finish it rather quickly.

2/26/2020 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

PNP into Spiegelau tasting glass (“Leaf” day): Pale orange and slightly cloudy.

Deeper nose than the 2017 tasted in Japan before which was more fruit forward with golden apple notes.

Very slight skin fermentation detected, adding a lot of depth in this wine. Orchard fruits that is slightly preserved in a nice way, very nice white florals on the nose.

Very much like a very light orange wine here. Very mineral, and well integrated on palate.

93-94 points.

3/5/2019 - Ms. Bubblehead Likes this wine:

Pnp, drank it over 4 hours. Similar to my last experience in December last year, Bizot wine really offers insanely incredible nose, cinnamon, potpourri, red cherries, wild purple berries, crushed dark roses, purple lily, and lightly smoked herbs, on the palate, it was not as complex and layered as the nose, texture was round and silky and acidity was nice, but lack of the same complexity as the nose it presented. To me, it is 100-point nose wine, but slightly less attractive on the palate in my view
Note: organic style, whole cluster grapes (not destemmed), a minimum of SO2, new oak usage

7/28/2018 - Ms. Bubblehead Does not like this wine:

He is a Japanese winemaker in Cornas, used to work with Allemand.
We had his 2015 vintage a couple months before and it had too much menthol and was too powerful for me on the nose, so I didn’t enjoy it. This time the 2011 shows much nicer on the nose, quite floral and lots of exotic spices, however, on palate it was a bit raw and it was quite green on the finish. I think the acidity was also volatile.

11/13/2017 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

Drank across 2 days within the 'fruit' cycle (biodynamic calendar), brief note. 12.5% abv.

PNP: liqueured black bramble fruits, floral and herbal on nose. On palate highly mineral, and a touch of volatile acidity, feels a little 'fizzy'. With 30 mins of air tannins start to build although very fine grained throughout.

Upon 12 hours rest in fridge: full blown aromas and flavours, luxurious bouquet, medium body and round tannins. That said, the less vibrant acidity and the relatively less impressive finish puts it under a slight disadvantage (2015 is a hot year after all). Thoroughly enjoyable now.

Second day: wine held up well with rest in fridge, similar notes to above overall although palate continue to fade for a bit. Nose held up well.

12/6/2017 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

PNP: Quite backwards upfront with tiny bit of reduction that blew off quickly, with around 15 minutes of bottle breathing reveals a truly profound nose - the sheer clarity of the elements, i.e. cassis, black fruits like blackberries and plums and the bell peppers, assortment of fresh herbs and even a slight hint tobacco leaves / tar all in layers so vividly placed by nature’s hands. By no means an exaggeration, the wine is evolving every minute.

A refined palate that is dangerously approachable with vibrant fruits consistent as on the nose supported by racy acidity and minerality. The liquid is highly concentrated throughout the initial attack, mid palate to finish without any sacrifice on being ‘weighty’. Tannins are so ripe yet so soft and caressing that will surprise even the most experienced taster. Frankly, I never expected this or for that matter any wines this young to display such harmony on palate.

Upon 1 hour bottle breathing: On nose even more complete spectrum of fruits and in addition some notes of black tea.

A wine that one can clearly see potential in next 10 plus-15 years. This might cause some controversies but in short, this combines the nose of the best Cabernet Francs with the palate of a burgundy. 93 points now but clearly see at least additional 2 points potential in time.

7/22/2018 - Tony Ling Likes this wine:

PNP into Zalto Burgundy glass (“Flower to Leaf” day): Beautiful bright purplish ruby to the eyes.

First sniff without swirling include aromas of ripe young blue pinot fruits and sweet Asian spices, quite “Vosne-Romanee” indeed. Bouquet releases more florals, herbs and smoke.

I am particularly impressed on the purity and transparency - one can almost see the freshly picked blue- and blackberries emerging from the glass. Touch of fresh cream from the yet to be integrated oak. This well coordinated effort shall disarm every skeptics at sight.

This continues to surprise with it evolving in glass growing into an even more alluring and luxurious bouquet upon about 1 hour since opening.

Equally graceful on the palate. Needless to describe its perfectly judged acidity and inherent minerality from the parcel. Tannins feel like pure silk with the perfect texture. Positively tight finish in which flavours unfold and slowly envelope the palate.

A wine of true class. So much finesse and yet so finely detailed. Worthy of 94-95 points if I were to estimate the range - pleasurable now but only in time will this wine reveals its potential.

Following up 1 day upon opening: Consistent notes. Retain at 94-95 points.

Following up 2 days upon opening: Even better well blended in (I would avoid using well integrated at this point) on the nose, arguably more florals than fruits. A little more spicy on palate.

Still going on the 4th day with sweet pinot fruits and roasted herbs. So suave and balanced on palate. Wow.

3/1/2013 - sweetstuff Likes this wine:

mid yellow-green with a touch of pink and plenty of fine carbon dioxide bubbles on first decanting and with lots of refractivity at edges. There is a thick coating on the glass surfaces but not much 'tearing. This wine has quite a bit of those fine tartrate floaters. Nose: Bakeshop with mineralic, minty-and-tannic skin tones, quite clean and cool and honied. The juicy and crisp flavors have lots of minerals and salinity with juicinss and acidity. I was hoping for a little less petrol, but it'll be ok with some airing. It also could use a little more focus and a little less warm-vintage exhuberance. The finish is has a little wandering, undisciplined aspect, but time with tell with that. More structure and focus might become apparent with time. 92/100. hopefully, there's some left to be patient with; quite a bit came into the US at release. Later the wine picks up a nice bitter skin tang and this begins to bring things together.

On the 7th day past opening, kept at room temperature: Warm rose-gold. Riedel Riesling. Wonderful fresh integrated petrol, peach, and honey; acidic silicic freshness as if sniffing a freshly cut quartz facies. Juicy but broad, accented with redcurrant, and giving off a slight cherry affect. Has come together with better focus; has actually improved a hair since having been opened even after a week's time. Gives more hope for some additional ageworthiness--let's say a plus or half a point.

3 weeks later in refrigerator: medium-rich green-gold. Has fully harmonized peach and petrol, glossed over with very tropical, quite overripe pineapple and mango, with a nose quite expressive of mineralic freshness. Can hardly believe it's been open for so many weeks. Very rich, sweet, and juicy, with very little mawkishness, and showing good skin tang underneath everything else. Plenty more room to grow and develop than first thought--give it 10 through 25 more years without raising a sweat, if you like mature Auslesen, which of course I do. Easy to misjudge this, as it is to misjudge 2003 Sauternes-Barsacs as well. 93-94/100. Buy more at the prices being quoted.