12/16/2023 - Dale M wrote:

Wine of the month and perhaps beyond, wow. The clear color completely caught me completely off guard with tidal force that hit my tongue a few days ago. The essence of a pure green apple concentrated into 4 oz in my glass was hard to articulate and with such grace and lightness of touch. Blows away my “Prum paints in water color / Donnhoff in oil postulation – This is Monet at apex or pick your artist, I took the obvious route 😊 – I literally just kept staring at my glass wondering how good this was. Oberhauser Brucke is rapidly becoming my favorite site n the Donnhoff portfolio. This score is conservative, I can see this getting even better in time. Clear the runway. Absolutely enchanting

3/15/2023 - Keith Levenberg wrote:

Best yet in a string of marvelous Durforts in the renaissance that's been going on over there since around 2014 or so. This is the essence of Margaux. I'm not even sure I've had a (Chateau) Margaux or Palmer that came as close to this as the Platonic ideal of the appellation. You will practically have a synaesthetic experience from the pure redness of the fruit and other elements on display here - think strawberries, raspberries, and bright red roses. They leave a vivid impression, but rendered with a light hand - Bordeaux in watercolors. Bright, maybe even bold, but transparent. It hits its zone after maybe an hour or two of air, when it shows firm contours on the entry but then dissolves into silk, and then dissolves further into the realm of the ethereal. And that's ultimately where it seems it wants to be this year. Even the next day, when the fruit turns darker and blacker, it holds on to its finesse. Some of the prior recent vintages have shown earth and grit, and done so in the best way, but this one is pure fruit and perfume. The others might turn out longer-lived, but they'll never be this seductive.

6/11/2022 - Cincinnatus Likes this wine:

Waiting for the NY-Tampa Bay playoff game. Stored 62 degrees, quiet, calm cellar for the last 3 years. Cork is moist, clean with minimal penetration of wine. Gale's first response is, ""Mmm ... pretty good!" with a smile. Dark red-purple A good match with Rib eye steak medium rare. Nose opens after 45-60 minutes. Cherry, currants, red and black fruit, a hint of wood that doesn't overwhelm. Young, but very drinkable now. Very enjoyable. At 90 minutes I get a flash of something really nice, layered, across my tongue. Can't describe it, but it is nice. But, this is a tongue coated with what remains from a really good Ribeye. Undoubtebly there is some confounding of taste. But still, I like this wine a lot. No sharp edges but not velvety. There is a multitude of tastes and smells. I may have swirled this wine a hundred times and each time I do, something slightly different emerges. I'm looking for something, but I don't know what it is (do you, Mr. Jones). Nevertheless, a very good wine with food,.. an excellent wine with steak. We will see how it holds up. I am not thinking this is one to wait on for 10+ years. Its really good now. Enjoy your life now. Experience life now. After all, Its all you get.

2/7/2022 - thesternowl wrote:

This was presented to me double-blind at Tasting Group. The wine appeared deep ruby with a nearly opaque core. There’s slight staining of the tears and the viscosity appears medium+. On the nose the wine is intense. It’s slightly funky with an almost cheese rind sort of thing going on. There’s a combination of red and dark fruits with some purple flowers, dried tobacco leaf, something that sort of resembled pyrazines and a little bit of baking spices which suggests there’s some French barrique being used. On the palate, the wine is bone dry and fiercely tannic. Acid is medium ++. It’s definitely on the darker fruit side with some black berries and blue berries, black pepper and baking spices which all but confirms French barrique at this point. Long finish. I’m scratching my head with this one. It’s wild. Clean and fresh…but wild.

I could see this in a few places: Moulin-à-Vent is one possibility considering all the darker fruit and firm structure. However, I find some real Italian sensibilities to this wine. Despite the monumental structure, I cannot place this in northern Italy. Given the presence of French barrique, I could see this being a Cabernet Sauvignon-based Super Tuscan with a little Syrah and Sangiovese for good measure. So that was my call: 2015 Super Tuscan.

Wow…what a lovely surprise. I mistook the Rotundone for pyrazines (a recurring issue for me) which had me thinking Bordeaux varieties instead of Syrah. And to be fair, we don’t see a lot of Côte Rôtie at Tasting Group. This was my first time tasting the 2016 “La Chavaroche” and while it was a real treat (big thanks to the generous member of the group), it was also a reminder as to why I cellar my bottles of “La Chavaroche” for so long. This is a wee babe and frankly, pretty tough for me to love right now. That being said, the quality and character is unquestionable. I say give it until 2030+ and your right prefrontal cortex will light up like a supernova.

12/18/2021 - Motz wrote:

Tasted over three days. My third experience with this wine; the last was three years ago.

A classy Pauillac! Spectacularly balanced on the first day, true to place, strikingly fresh, expansive and long.

The wine 'brought it' on the second day! Waves of balanced fruit, root vegetables, pepper garden, worn leather, tobacco (in all forms), gravel, cacao, espresso beans, mint, black earth, and more. The inflection-changing range and depth rivet the senses! Seamless, 13.5 abv enhances the experience.

Better integrated oak than expected. Indeed, it plays well with the worn leather and tobacco elements. It also aligns with the wine's impressive, terroir-driven substance.

It seems appropriate to comment on this understated vintage as well. Just as I did not understand the praise for 2009 and 2016, I did not understand the general disinterest in this more traditional, gripping, and brawny vintage. It is, make no mistake, far better than the vapid 2016 vintage, and so far, at least, a cut above the 2018 vintage. I was delighted for the pricing and am elated to have a good many bottles of various wines, which should age quite nicely through 2035, or so. Drink by 2038-2040.

I plan to hold my last bottle for a long while, and look for more bottles. Even at current pricing, this wine represents exceptional QPR. If the winemaker had applied slightly less oak treatment, even by 5 percent, this would be even better. Improvement seems likely. 94-95.

P.S. My 12,000th tasting note. What a wine journey!

12/10/2021 - biggie Likes this wine:

Flower Day - just arrived in the store - high points from WA and Vinous. Dark and dense garnet core out to a thin carmine edge. Using a Pinot Noir glass for evaluation. Intense nose of red florals (violets?), spice, crushed rock, red fruit (black cherry) and kirsch. On the palate it’s rich with lots of ripe red fruit but is already savoury and spicy on both on the palate and the medium length finish. This is really, really good. Buy it while you can and enjoy now or for the next 8 years at least. Wow!

11/23/2021 - vigure Likes this wine:

100% Nebbiolo, 14.5% ABV. Violet, cedarwood, various spices, strawberry. Classic Nebbiolo, but having modern style also. Already approachable. Sweat and mellow. I love it mostly.

9/26/2021 - chablis28 wrote:

Dave D's btl & my red of the night! If ever "classic" describes a Barolo, it does here. But not a brooding bruiser. Tonight btl found a way to celebrate its structure & classic arromas & flavor accents like rose petal, menthol, tar, licorice, mineral & herbs but marry all of that with inviting but measured raspberry & cherry fruit flavors. This is a hell of a Barolo in the making. If you have at least 3 its worth trying one now or in the next 2-3yrs. That said its best days are likely still 10yrs out when more tertiary notes bloom. Loved this tonight and happy Dave allowed me to hang onto all 4 of mine. 94+ Benchmark Barolo!

9/8/2021 - Jeff Leve wrote:

Ready to go, the wine is medium-bodied, developed, you find a lot of Cabernet Franc character, displaying its flowers, mint, red, earthy plum, and cocoa, the wine is soft, bright, fresh, and filled with red plums in the finish.

6/28/2021 - watcheslover wrote:

Oops, a thousand apologies, my comment below concerns the 2019, not the 2020 which is still a great wine (96-98)

4/8/2021 - llink wrote:

Popped and poured. Apples, lemon and some cheese like funk on the nose. Weird to say the least. Lean, medium acid palate with a saline infused viscosity and nice cut to the finish. Just ok.

9/21/2020 - davidrmoran Likes this wine:

Wonderfully dry and faintly sour bordeaux. In a very slightly different key for the earth-leather-cedar-berry-stone balance from a Belle-Garde the week prior. Had no sense it was 15% alc and not sure I believe it. Refreshing like all good bordeaux.
Had w fig-prosciutto pizza. Worked well against the sweetness.
It is just amazing what modest modern French makers can and do do.
Seemed at peak now, but purply enough to leave alone for another year or two or three. could be a 90, but then I am drinking a lot of good value bottles now and don't want to give them all 90s .... [edited]

8/27/2020 - GArpaia Likes this wine:

This such a fun wine with lot of energy. Pale garnet. Great purity and enchanting secondary characters from a well-executed élévage. Bit of burning alcohol on the nose. High acidity, drying tannins. Savoury and earthy with a delightful intense perfume: ripe cherry, red fruit, rose and sandalwood. The palate shows the ripe nature of the 2015 vintage with quite open and approachable fruit, and once again that note of sandalwood and spice.

NB
In the 2015 vintage there was no single cru bottling of Boscareto from Principiano, and so all the grapes are going into the Barolo Serralunga. With fruit from Boscareto (85%, and old vines, bordering Francia) and Lirano, this is textbook Serralunga Barolo, austere but entrancing.

8/26/2020 - randyjc wrote:

This is a really good Chianti. Bright red fruit, vivid acidity, tannic but balanced with the acidity leaving a mouth-watering finish. A lovely tart cherry. For $20 this is a real bargain.

6/22/2020 - Duncan wrote:

Intense, opaque ruby, with a rim of bright purple. Very assertive nose of cherry ice cream with new oak shavings on top. Where are the green, leafy, blackcurrant aromas of Chinon? Not here. Hmm, okay. On the palate, smoothness and burn from the alcohol - 14% I see - and buckets of sweet fruit. And this from 2008, a notoriously damp, barely-ripening year! Does all the sweetness come from the barrels? I love Cabernet Francs from the Loire, and have enjoyed many, but never one that tasted remotely like this. Is it a bad wine? No! But is it a good Chinon? In my opinion, also no. Tasted blind, not only would I have failed to identify it as a Chinon, I would probably have guessed it was a Cabernet Sauvignon. From Barossa or Napa Valley. Which doesn't make it a poor wine, just a bland one. Bland in character, that is, not in impact, because it packs a punch like no other Loire red I've ever come across. Even at 11 1/2 years old, it's youthful and packed with energy. If you like that kind of thing, you're going to love this. But if you've come to the Loire looking for something tasting uniquely of the Loire, you're going to be disappointed. 14%, cork.

4/11/2020 - Puteljen! Likes this wine:

Intense boquet with lots of sweet fruit (cherries, boysenberries, lingonberries) hints of mint, sage, nailpolish and iron. On the palate a bit sterner with a fair amount of tannins providing structure. No bitterness though, and again beautiful fruit. Elegant, well balanced. Medium+ lenght with warm herbs, fruit and iron. Very good!

3/14/2020 - Mrbuzz wrote:

My first EP Trebbiano...VERY dark amber looking color? Is this shot? If it was a Burgundy, down the drain. It doesn't smell poxed though...but does have a baked apple pie, hot cider nose, fresh squeeze citrus, soaked wood chips. Pretty subdued nose though? Palate is rich and a little edgy...harsh citric acid burn, especially on the finish? Some walnut oil...crushed minerals...burnt sugar...I'm going to let this sit and come back to it. After an hour, not any better. I've only had a 2013 Valentini Trebbiano last summer, which blew me away...BRIGHT yellow color...bursting with energy and brightness? Going by that wine...this has to be FLAWED! Shame...my first bad experience with an EP wine.

2/26/2020 - NickA Likes this wine:

Barolo Boys - the third edition (67 Pall Mall): A blend from a new wave producer who reverted to traditionalism in 2003. Pale tomatoey colour. Made with young vines, so this is a relatively abrasive wine, driven by primary fruit and not suitable for ageing more than c. 10 years. Tannins already quite friendly.

2/3/2020 - Paul S wrote:

Lunch at Gunther's (Gunther's): Over lunch at Gunther’s - this was a real treat. A champagne of both quality and character. Disgorged in 2017, there was a nice smidgen of age on the nose, with a lovely bouquet of savoury earth and mineral and spice drifting around a berry fruit core. Really characterful. It was on the palate where this really shone though. There was a beautiful tension and energy to this, with a lovely sinewy spine of mineral and acidity racing through a beautifully virbrant core of green apples, lemons and more of that succulent berry flesh, all this held in a laser-like sense of definition into an effortlessly long, generous finish. What a lovely wine this was. Beautiful now, if still a bit tightly wound - this will get even better in the future. I would love to try this in 4-6 years time.

1/4/2020 - GL Rhone Likes this wine:

Interesting bottling this: bought from Monoprix, just says Coudert Fleurie on the label... wonder if this is same as the domaine Clos de La Roilette or if any other parcels went in here... anyway, explosive nose of red fruit, soil and earth tones, maybe some violets, citrus. Layered and charming. Loads of zing on palate, tart red fruits and that citrus twist I like in my bojo. Finishes really dry belying the abundance of fruit. Heartily enjoyable and bodes well in ‘18 for the cuvée Tardive

12/31/2019 - anstruletz Likes this wine:

This is great CR, but I wish I'd have waited a couple more years. Slight reduction and closed on opening, but eventually the smoky meaty syrah shined through on the nose with menthol and dark fruit. The fact that it was much better on day 2 tells me to wait on the rest of the bottles. 92 today, possibly 95+ in 5 years.

7/16/2019 - valedeniro wrote:

This is such an amazing wine.Magnificently complex nose displays black cherry,blackberry liqueur,violets,spices and subtle minerality.The palate is medium-bodied,sensuous,silky and refined.So pure and fresh,with perfectly integrated acidity and tannins.Truly irresistible now,but with a long life ahead,this is a wine of exquisite beauty and pure class.Impressive.

9/2/2019 - Raage Likes this wine:

A l'aveugle (par Dom)
Forcément atypique tant les Condrieu "natures" sont rares sur la marché, il s'est révélé au gré d'une lente aération (j'ai galéré pour trouver ou on etait). De prime abord, le vin parait sudiste, gras, mais minéral, fruité-épicé, fermentaire, floral, complexe donc, et pourtant dénué de chaleur excessive, emplissant la bouche sans lourdeur, concluant son effet par une jolie acidité, par une tension typée terroir: intrigant et équilibré!
Au fil des lampées, le fruit se précise, l'abricot et la pêche évoquent la roussanne, c'est tellement minéral que je la préfère au viognier dans ma réflexion. Il a un tel volume, il gagne en relief, en force (beau millésime d'ailleurs!), il atteint peu à peu les caractéristiques de son appellation (de plus en plus floral).
Très en verve dès le départ, très vivant, il nous a offert une belle expérience de dégustation en variant beaucoup sur une heure, impressions et saveurs évoluant sans cesse. Beau travail!
A carafer! (à mon sens un Condrieu "de garde" au sens ou le temps lui fait perdre ses défauts aromatiques, trop typés vin naturel au depart: il va se faire lentement en bouteille)

9/1/2019 - eboracum Likes this wine:

Googling indicates that this wine is produced from Carignan, Grenache, Syrah & Mourvèdre but I can't find the proportions having had a virus warning at the estate's own website. It's my guess that Grenache content is quite low. I have never met a wine from this grape cocktail with so much minerality and freshness but there is no shortage of fruit of a savoury kind and power as well as a whiff of herbs and spice. High altitude probably contributes to this appetising result but a lot of kudos belongs to the vigneron Sylvain Fadat. Very good.

5/20/2019 - WineDuq Likes this wine:

Sacrificed one out of a six pack. Beautiful young Calon. Sweet, ripe aromas with pencil lead, floral notes, oak at this point. The wine had fabulous texture, seamless, ripe, but firm. Long finish. Really good stuff. Won’t touch another for at least five years, save some for 15 years.

10/11/2018 - Motz wrote:

Tasted over two days, alongside several other quality Bordeaux. Deeply perfumed, showing muddled blue and black berries, flower petals, and 'sweet' herbs essences. (It does not currently show crème de cassis notes, a knee-weaker for this Bordeaux aficionado, although it might in the future). The palate features effusive...and I do mean effusive...juicy, lush, and expansive ripe berry notes, followed by traditional elements, and impressive structure, particularly after it breathes for several hours.

The wine showed better on the second day: firmer, more precise and balanced. It sports medium plus acid and medium minus tannin. An absolute charmer, if currently lacking touches of sophistication, firmness, and elegance for which the estate is known.

Of quality 2015 vintage Bordeaux, most reminiscent of Chateau Giscours, though more forward and not as profoundly tannic. And also of Rauzan-Ségla, though not quite as poised. It also features the most baby fat. If the wine sheds its youthful exuberance, adds weight, texture, and precision, it will be tremendously special, and in all likelihood, it will. It should last through 2035 with ease, and perhaps longer, depending upon what the copious fruitiness does.

Overall, at least for the present, it comes in as the fifth most impressive 2015 Bordeaux that I have tasted, behind the Pontet-Canet and Domaine de Chevalier, which stand alone atop the pinnacle, followed by the Rauzan-Ségla and Giscours. 93-95.

6/2/2018 - Eric Guido Likes this wine:

I remember the first time that I tasted the 2014 Barbaresco normale, and how much it impressed me then. I’m happy to say that this bottle showed that lightning can strike twice. The 2014 Barbaresco showed a classic bouquet of dried roses with ripe strawberry, dusty minerals, hints of cinnamon and crushed mint. On the palate, I found initially soft textures with pure, ripe strawberry, which were quickly firmed up by a mix of fine tannin and brisk acidity. However, with all of the structural components in this glass, the experience remained quite enjoyable with inner floral tones, saline-minerality and persistent fresh red fruit. The finish was long, structured and lingering on dried strawberry, minerals and savory herbs. Yum!

6/5/2017 - Tubulus wrote:

Damn, this is just so good, such a pure rendition of Northern Rhone syrah. Barely any fruit, just meaty, savory, white pepper, floral, high-acid goodness. Definitely a lighter year, though the color is still reasonably dark, the mouthfeel is light as a feather and it's not particularly rich. The tannins are unobtrusive and this is quite drinkable now, though it still all primary flavors. FWIW, my drinking companion, who has basically not had any wine in nearly a year, took one sip, made a face, and gave me the rest. Reminds me that this sort of wine is not really a casual sipper for non-geeks, but if you are a rhone-head, you can't not love this.

5/14/2017 - Matt Scott Likes this wine:

Decanted for three hours. Raspberry reduction, currant, kirsch, cigar box complexity, river rock and cassis. The prowess of the Cabernet fruit and the slowly revealing layers just add to the myth. During the episodic finish there's a lovely flower shop quality. A truly epic Grand-Puy Lacoste, this will not only age for many, many years, but, this is the best bottling produced by GPL in the 2000s. Drink 2022 -.

7/4/2013 - Burgundy Al wrote:

Tasted 7/4/13. Dense and meaty, more so than I typically expect from MSD. Very well textured with great mouth feel, which is in turn classically Dujac MSD. Big scaled fruit, more so than many 2011s at this point, giving it a slightly off-center character.