11/16/2023 - mclanew wrote:

Slow ox one hour. Medium to full bodied. Black currant and cherry, smoke and herbs. This remarkably elegant for a Cos reflecting the vintage and the high percentage of Merlot. Drinking well now with of air.

10/7/2023 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Popped and poured. Vibrant currant, black cherry earth, smoke, smoke meats and a little spice. Full bodied, decent acidity, long finish. Still very youthful.

9/28/2023 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Still quite austere, black fruited with noticeable tannin but showing great promise, depth and length. Give this another 5-10 years and it should blossom.

9/28/2023 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Terrific wine. Very youthful. This combined concentrated fruit with excellent acidity to create a ripe but very focused wine in due course.

9/2/2023 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Decanted one hour. Full bodied, layered, flavors of ripe black currant, woodsmoke, lead pencil. Has just enough acidity to keep this in balance. Very giving and long on the finish.

6/24/2023 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Slow ox 30 min. This one of the best 2003s I’ve tasted. Pretty nose of red fruit, with touches of earth and gravel. The wine is medium to full bodied, shows ripe lovely pure, fresh black currant and cherry fruit, tobacco and herbs. In a great spot. Not showing any signs of decline but does not feel like it will be that long lived.

2/20/2022 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Popped and poured. Nice cool floral nose. The palate is medium to full bodied. There is a apple, tropical fruit, minerals and toast. Big and long on the finish but not showing the elegance of the best auberts.

5/17/2023 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Popped and poured. Medium bodied, mature, tannins resolved. Black currant, smoke and herbs. Very good concentration and length.

2/25/2023 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Popped and poured. Impressive stuff. Ripe apple, cinnamon and caramel but so light on its feet with wonderful acidity. Showing interesting complexity now. While it’s fully mature it can hold here for at least 10 years.

4/16/2022 - mclanew wrote:

Slow ox for one hour. I must say a bit disappointing. Maybe I didn’t decant it enough. It starts well with a attractive, classic bordeaux nose but the palate feels a tad austere and drying. Not sure if this was specific to this bottle or a more general issue with this cuvee.

3/4/2022 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Slow ox for thirty minutes. Beautiful transparent shimmering red color. Nice floral nose with hints of red cherry. The palate is medium bodied, well balanced and elegant but serious. Red cherry, strawberry, herbs and spice. Still very youthful and probably holding a little back.

2/11/2022 - mclanew wrote:

Popped and poured. This wine hasn’t aged well. The oak seems to be too pronounced and there are some mushrooming flavors. The wine has depth and some good fruit notes but it doesn’t really come together.

12/2/2021 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Slow ox 30 minutes. Blackberry and cherry with a wild streak on the nose. The palate is ripe blackberry, earth, smoke and spice. Medium to full bodied, high toned, classic but a little rustic. This has the 2010 elegance. As good as Maume gets.

10/16/2021 - mclanew wrote:

This wine has perplexed me previously and did again this time. Slow oxed for one hour. The wine is quite bordeaux like in style, not at all decadent or flamboyant as was the fashion for cabs of the time - which is a good thing. But it is also austere and seems to be in a shell with the oak not fully integrated lending a bit of a woody taste to it. It will be interesting to see if this blossoms over time or always stays a bit disjointed.

7/18/2021 - mclanew wrote:

Slow ox for twenty minutes. Ripe red cherries, licorice and some herbal notes come from the glass. This decidedly modern in style, medium bodied, leading with ripe fruit, but lacking the complexity you might hope from this type of bottling. Maybe it needs time.

8/14/2021 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Slow ox for one hour. This is surprisingly open for business. Pretty floral nose with plum and spice notes. The wine is medium bodied, quite elegant, pure and precise. This is quite different than many other pontet canet’s I have tasted. What it lacks in power and concentration it makes up for in elegance and sophistication.

11/28/2020 - mclanew wrote:

Just going over the hill.

6/13/2021 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Popped and poured. Black cherry, herbs and a little smoke. The wine is transparent, elegant and graceful, light on its feet but showing a lot of underlying concentration. This seems to have tremendous potential although it was so light in feel I wondered how it would age - perhaps it puts on some more weight over the next few years?

5/14/2021 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Decanted three hours. A little shy but a very pretty nose. The palate is stunning with flavors red cherry, mint, a little tar and herbs. The wine is satiny, well balanced and Burgundian. This is an early phase of maturity and will have a long life ahead of it.

3/10/2021 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Terrific showing for this. Complex, sophisticated nose of orchard fruit, seashells, saline and minerals. The wine is starting to really show layers of complexity while retaining some of its youthful vigor. Really in a terrific place but I suspect the best is yet to come.

2/9/2021 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Slow ox for 30 minutes. At first it was a little reticent but after 20 minutes it came to life with aromas of blackberry, tar and violets. The wine is medium bodied, quite light on its feet for nebbiolo without a lot of evident tannin, simple and delicious. For everyday drinker this delivers the goods and at the price it’s a great buy

12/29/2020 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Decanted one hour. Attractive, majestic nose of black fruit, tobacco and underbrush. The wine is still very youthful. Big and concentrated with flavors of black currant, plum and herbs this is certainly delicious but falls a bit short in terms of the complex layering Haut Brion can often deliver. This still has many years of life ahead and I suspect it will improve with age.

12/19/2020 - mclanew wrote:

Premox

10/31/2020 - mclanew wrote:

Popped and poured. Rather ordinary and four squared pinot with a dark fruit profile for sancerre.

10/31/2020 - mclanew wrote:

Slow oxed for 30 min. This has a floral nose with hints of dried herbs and cloves. The palate is fairly big and overt with ripe dark cherries, plum, herbs and earthy notes. The oak treatment in the wine is noticeable and is a bit too much. This is a fairly straight ahead wine which is fully mature now but lacks the complexity and subtlety to warrant a higher score.

10/24/2020 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Popped and poured. Nice nose of red cherry, olives and leather but a little rustic. The palate on the other hand is outstanding and very much a live with red cherries, strawberry with complex leather and earth notes coming through. Medium bodied with fully resolved tannins but good energy this feels like it can continue to hold at this state of maturity for a long time

7/20/2020 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Decanted two hours. Classic nose of black currant, earth and underbrush. The wine at first came off a little thin but fleshed our nicely over another hour so giving this wine a long decant is recommended. The paltr shows red and black fruits intermixed with licorice, lead pencil and tobacco. This wine is built for a long life but it’s not overpowering - in fact it quotes well balanced and complex. This may continue to improve over the coming years.

4/24/2020 - mclanew wrote:

Decanted three hours. The nose is a little muted but mostly lead pencil and a little red fruit. The palate is fully mature and has entered the secondary phase. Black fruit, lead pencil, leather and herbs this has a reasonably classic palate but feels a bit short and lacking in complexity. Drink up- this is at peak.

4/5/2020 - mclanew Likes this wine:

This wine has had an unusual evolution. Early on exuberant and decadent, then it seems to go through an awkward phase for many years so the last few of these I had I was underwhelmed. But this bottle shows that this wine is emerging from its awkward phase. One hour decant. The nose is still a bit shy. The palate however was delicious. Black currant, plum, tobacco and forest floor this has a nice core of sweet fruit and long finish. The wine has become better integrated with time and should continue to improve over the next ten years.

1/10/2020 - mclanew wrote:

I think I waited to long on this. It lacked the freshness and exuberant tropical flavors I had experienced with earlier tastings of this wine. Not surprising I suppose as most new world SBs are not structured to age.

2/16/2019 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Decanted one hour. The wines nose is exuberant cherries, raspberries. The palate is super silky and refined with tremendous purity. Although the wine is quite high in alcohol it’s not noticeable and there isn’t any jamminess or heaviness. The palate sports flavors of cassis, raspberries, tobacco weed, and oak. The finish is very long. This is really delicious now but can continue to age for a lot longer.

8/21/2019 - mclanew Likes this wine:

I know this a 100 point wine in RP but I didn’t see it. Great nose with black fruits and smoke meat notes check. Full bodied singing palate of black currant, tobacco and underbrush check. Long satisfying finish check. So this is an excellent Cali Syrah in a prime drinking window now but it lacks that extra verve or complexity that would make it a 100 pointer in my world. I just don’t step away from this thinking it’s that much better than the other leading syrahs from CA. But happy to drink more of this anyday and thankfully I have several more bottles.

9/25/2019 - mclanew wrote:

Decanted one hour. Decent nose of black currant, flowers and a touch of herbs. The palate is thick and full bodied with concentrated black fruits, smoked meats, lead pencil and some herbaceousness. I felt this wine need more time to unwind because it felt a little monolithic and the oak hasn’t fully integrated into the wine yet but the underlying materials are excellent. My score will probably be higher next time I try it.

7/21/2019 - mclanew Likes this wine:

This continues to be delicious. It needs about an hour of air to strut it’s stuff. It leads with pretty aromas of raspberry and wood. The wine is blackish red with reasonable structure and tannin although they are pretty integrated now. There are lovely flavors of cherry, raspberry, and spice in a savoury mid palate. The finish cuts a little short but overall this delivers the goods and I think can continue to age and develop a degree of complexity.

7/11/2018 - mclanew Likes this wine:

Without any decanting this is a supercharged decadent wine with fantastic aromatics and a complex swirling palate of black jammy fruit, minerals, smoked meats, and spice. Medium bodied, fleshy with a long finish. The only thing that holds me back on this is it lack finesse and focus but ummm it’s very delicious.

6/5/2019 - mclanew wrote:

Decanted one hour. This is a powerful, jammy modern style wine which no doubt delivers over the top hedonism but lacks a certain distinctiveness. Nice nose with blackberries and violets. The palate is concentrated and jammy but also smooth with a heavy application of new oak. Flavors of blackberry jam, chocholate and spices are prominent. Alcoholic but I didn’t sense much heat. Full bodied with a long finish. The question is will this evolve and be able to absorb some of its jamminess and oak with time. It certainly can age longer. So probably will revisit in a few years.

4/15/2019 - mclanew wrote:

Disappointing. After a one hour decant the nose on this won’t come out to play at all. Barnyard and awkward herbal aromas indicate a poor nose on this wine. The palate is much better. Full bodied and clearly a big wine not showing much age. There are flavors of black currant, blackberry, tobacco and oak made in a fairly new world style that generally works. Did I catch this at an awkward phase that it will come out of. Possibly but that is not generally been my experience with California cabs.

4/11/2019 - mclanew wrote:

Overall I was a bit disappointed by this. It fulfilled the fears that big Parkeresque wine don’t age as well as predicted as this hasn’t really developed complexity over time although it still isn’t fully mature. The nose is quite modest even after an hour decant. The palate is jammy black red fruit, smoked meats and healthy dollop of spice. Full bodied with a long finish but a touch of heat running through this feels overwrought. Does it need even more time to sweat the alcohol off? Personally I don’t think it will help much.

10/15/2018 - mclanew wrote:

Muted nose. Dark cherries, mushroom, spices on the palate. Fleshy, open modern style of chianti. Tasty but the body is a little out of balance and the finish is modest. Drink up.

10/4/2014 - mclanew wrote:

Another excellent bottle of this wine, in a perfect drinking window. Tropical fruits and tangerines, butter toast and minerals. Nice structure and finish.