9/18/2023 - MBusk Likes this wine:

This opens with a gorgeous floral/garrigue aroma, followed by a rich blackberry / black currant palate that's slightly sweet. The acid is moderate, the tannins mellowed out by this point. Lovely inner mouth perfume. Long finish.

6/28/2023 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Mature, with lots of mellow tobacco and old leather notes, but the core of fruit is still young and supple, full of fresh strawberries. Medium-long finish, with resolved tannins and subtle acidity. Very tasty.

6/11/2023 - MBusk Likes this wine:

An aroma of stewed plums leads to a fresher light berry palate, with a modest finish. This is a perfectly well-constructed wine, but it feels constructed, the kind of wine you drink and think: this tastes like the Amazon Basics of wine. Satisfactory, but not interesting.

5/1/2023 - MBusk Likes this wine:

This has the wild, almost aggressively aromatic profile that I love in Lacrima: peony, lavender, tarragon. The palate is dark, leading with raspberry, but with plenty of meaty and floral accents too. The tannins are minerally and firm. This was still delicious 4+ days in, and should keep improving over time.

4/18/2023 - MBusk Likes this wine:

What a wine. Regal. Blueberry, blackberry. The fruit is pure, the acid tangy and generous, the oak barely a whisper. The veil of tannin glides through and only firms up at the end, where it doesn't interrupt the very long finish. Everything I've had from this winery I've loved, and this is no exception. Bravo.

11/28/2022 - MBusk Likes this wine:

A classic cellar defender, this leads with fresh strawberries on the nose and the palate. The floral inner mouth perfume is lovely. Tangy and slightly peppery. Solid mid-palate density, medium-long finish. For $10 from Full Pull, this is one to buy by the case. (I did.)

8/2/2022 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Dark but snappy, this has light floral and mineral hints, but it's mostly driven by the crushed blackberry flavors. Medium + acidity, medium finish. (Personal note: just as tasty as the more expensive Cabernet Franc from Pelleriti.) Would buy again.

7/25/2022 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Lovely, with floral aromatics giving way to a wine with a gorgeous inner mouth perfume. There's a lot going on here: a bloody meaty quality, a saline minerality, a hint of licorice. Age has mellowed the tannins beautifully, and the acidity is still potent. This feels like a close cousin of a St. Joseph at a fraction of the price.

7/19/2022 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Rich but not heavy, with blackberry and currant flavors that fan out across the palate through fine tannins and moderately high acidity. The finish is long and minerally. Would buy again, especially at $15.

7/16/2022 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Relatively simple, with the burned rubber Monastrell flavors subsiding over a few days. Moderate acid and tannin hold it together, but only for a few seconds. Perfectly acceptable, but not memorable. It's also quite possible I just don't like Jumilla Monastrell. (Note to self: the Tobia 2017 was much better by comparison.)

7/13/2022 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Rich, palate-staining, and slightly thick, this reminds me of blackberry jam, but without the oakiness that often adds an unnecessary veneer to the flavors. There's enough acidity and tannin to give this grip, but I wouldn't wait too long before drinking.

7/6/2022 - MBusk Likes this wine:

A bit tart on opening, this unfurled with air, showing lots of peppery blackberry fruit, with a hint of mint. Medium finish. A good deal for $12.

5/13/2022 - MBusk Likes this wine:

A spectacular wine that kept evolving over a number of nights. Feral, floral, peppery. "There's a lot going on here," to quote my wife. The tannins are fine but potent, and suggest this will last for 5+ years.

1/15/2022 - MBusk Likes this wine:

This leads with lovely perfumy aromas of sandalwood and violet, so aromatic you can still smell it in your mouth, as strange as that sounds. The palate is piquant but still caressing, with loads of barely ripe blackberry and raspberry fruit, and a very long finish. For under $20, this is a back-up-the-truck wine.

10/21/2021 - MBusk Likes this wine:

A lovely surprise, this was elegant, pure, and surprisingly long on the palate. The dominant note is apple, with a pleasing bready note underneath. The mouthfeel is rich, with fine but not overpowering acidity, as well as a lovely inner mouth perfume. Most of my weeknight whites are zingy SB from Marlborough, this was a refreshing and tasty change of pace.

9/8/2021 - MBusk Likes this wine:

This is light but long, with lovely rosy hints around the central core of barely-ripe strawberry and rhubarb. Minerally and pure through the aftertaste.

8/19/2021 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Impeccably balanced and long, this has a wonderful, sappy, Sweet-Tart-like mid-palate density I rarely find in Bordeaux, along with bell pepper and tobacco hints. The acidity is still piquant, the tannins a fine but strong mesh. This is still at the early stages of its drinking window.

5/28/2021 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Rich and aristocratic, featuring perfumy flavors of pineapple and Golden Delicious and wool, with a persistent, almost waxy mouthfeel that might be the result of lees-stirring or barrel aging. While I love NZ Sauvignon Blanc, this had a gravitas and complexity you don't often see in those wines. Excellent.

2/18/2021 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Salty, smoky, floral, pale and piquant. Delicious and cerebral at the same time. Another home run from Moorman and Parr.

12/16/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Rich and varietally correct, leaning toward the red rather than the blue/black end of the fruit spectrum. Plush but balanced, with raspberry flavors complicated by notes of tobacco. Good mid-palate density, medium-long finish.

12/10/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Savory, this feels quintessentially Spanish, with bloody, leathery notes propelling through to a long finish.

8/26/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Piquant and precise, this leads with the acid, but still has excellent, almost cordial-like mid-palate density and plenty of cabernet typicity. This finishes long and pure, and doesn't sacrifice tastiness for its obvious elegance.

8/17/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

A lovely wine perhaps at the end of its drinking window. This pours a rust-tinged garnet, but still has plenty of luscious strawberry fruit, framed by oak that I'm sure has mellowed over time. Still very nice, although I would drink up within the next year.

8/17/2020 - MBusk wrote:

The fine red fruit and licorice flavors were marred by an unpleasant medicinal hint that felt both stale and bitter, like crushed aspirin. I've tasted this note a few times in other wines, and I don't know what leads to it, but I'm sure it's not intended. This wasn't a flawed bottle, but it did have flaws. The unpleasant note had faded by night two, but was still present.

8/17/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

This is the sort of wine that shows the magnificent possibilities of outside-the-Chianti Tuscan thinking. In a blind tasting, just about anyone would pin this as Italian, and probably Tuscan, with its lovely amaro cast, but the different varietals show prismatically - the soft mocha of merlot, the floral nose and slightly animal quality of the syrah, the rock-solid minerality (and more floral notes) of the petit verdot. This was fabulous with sausage and peppers, but honestly would be equally good with almost anything. I know some people have lowballed the 93 points from Wine Spectator, but I think it's right on.

8/10/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Pretty ruby color. This is luscious but light on its feet, with a strawberries-and-cream flavor profile balanced by a Bing cherry acidity. Tasty, although very different from a more typical dry lambrusco, drinking almost more like a sparkling rose.

7/31/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

This was much better on night two, so I'd recommend cellaring for a couple of years or decanting. On night one, it was angular, awkward, tight, and quite licoricey, but by night two, it had settled into a far suaver profile, with plenty of blackberry and mocha beneath the lingering anisey hints: Joaquin Phoenix aging into George Clooney. Give this a year or two.

7/25/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Soft and chocolatey, with a line of raspberry liqueur running through the mocha tannins. Tasty, if not especially complex.

5/14/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Big and round, with low acidity and almost no tannin, and friendly flavors of blackberry and mocha. It's tasty but a little generic - there's no way tasting blind that I would have been able to tell this was a Rhone blend from Southern France. Perfectly fine, but you can get more interesting, vibrant wines for $10 from the region.

4/3/2020 - MBusk wrote:

Savory and herbal, this leads with white pepper and tarragon notes, with mild hints of cherry and blood orange around the central grapey flavors. Still, I don't think it's unfair to say this feels muted rather than subtle, with a short finish.

3/13/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Bright and sharp, with lemony acidity that's almost as prominent as the blackberry and mulberry flavors. Tasty, if relatively direct and uncomplicated.

3/4/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

This tastes like a modest cousin to its Cotes du Rhone namesake, with some added hints of nettle and charcoal. Still, this is mostly straightforward, with fresh plum and plumskin notes dominating. With mild acid and almost no tannin, this disappears across the palate pretty quickly. I opened this after the Bastide Miraflors, which is richer, tastier, and more complex - and only a couple $ more at $13 or so. I'd stick to the original Cotes rather than the Goat.

2/12/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Both sappy and ethereal, this glides onto the tongue effortlessly, but sticks in the mid-palate with delicious strawberry jam notes and finishes long. The aroma of violets hovers over everything angelically.

1/22/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Rich and vibrant, full of brambly blackberry flavors, with a wonderful nectarine acidity, screwing a bit tighter at the end with plum-skin tannin. Still, this bangs the delicious gong very hard. At $10 from Full Pull, this out-drinks many wines 2-3 times its price.

1/20/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Spicy and rich, but light on its feet, this packs a fresh, delicious, cherry dominated punch, with floral, peppery overtones. This glides weightlessly on the tongue, but has real mid-palate density. If only the average Valpolicella had this verve! At $12 from Full Pull, this is a wildly good deal.

1/13/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

When I first opened this and sniffed, I said out loud: "Oh wow." The aromas here are remarkable: incense, iris, bresaola, cracked black pepper. On the palate, this is smooth and elegant, and what it might lack in mid-palate density it makes up for with finesse. There are some bright barely ripe raspberry flavors that make it across the tongue, but even there this is much more about the savory and the floral than it is about the fruit. This shows the more mystical end of Syrah, and would be stand up well in a blind tasting of high-end Northern Rhone. Really pretty. At $19 from Garagiste: yes yes yes.

1/11/2020 - MBusk wrote:

This is unoffensive but somewhat bland wine, with modest plum fruit and a bit of floral lift / iodine that gives it a little varietal typicity. Still, this is rather basic and short, and you can do better for $15.

1/3/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Forward, tasty, and unadulterated, this leads with red cherry flavors. Then follows with more red cherry flavors. Medium-bodied, with a balanced acidity, this has a little tug of earth, but mostly this is about the fruit, which is delicious. At $10 from Full Pull, a great QPR.

1/2/2020 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Allow me to philosophize a moment: this is like an X-ray of pinot noir, pinot noir when everything that is not pinot noir is stripped away, and there is only the essence: strawberries, violets, delicacy. Wine is the flavor of memory, but this in particular brings back some of my earliest wine moments, sipping pinot in Sonoma tasting rooms with my father. While there might be bigger, bolder pinots out there (often costing 4x as much), this complete, satisfying, delightful.

12/26/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Aristocratic and rich, this classic Bordeaux has crosscurrents of wild black berries and savory herbs - thyme and bay - with an undertow of earth. This still feels youthfully tight, but the blanket of tannin becomes almost diaphanous two hours after opening. But while this is elegant, it's not purely intellectual or vertical; there's a certain roundness in the mouth that will only burgeon as the years pass. An excellent bottle of wine, and a remarkable deal from Garagiste at $20.

12/18/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

This wine is the complete Pinot package: richly perfumed with violets and strawberries, with a vertical palate that ranges from cranberry to buttery raspberry tart. The acidity is finely tuned, the finish long. Very nice stuff. At $14 from Garagiste, this was a wildly good deal.

12/17/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Lacrima is one of those wines that makes you realize the breadth of what a grape can do, and this example from Lucchetti is one of my favorites. It's intensely perfumed, with incense and lilies shooting out from the glass, and the flavors overlay all of that over a palate that's totally dry but still feels sweet, with blackberry jam and roasted plantain flavors mixing through a dry sheet of tannin.

12/8/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Rich, forward, and acidic, this hits the palate with smooth, oak-tinged berry fruit, solid mid-palate density, and a long finish. The lingering impression is of dark chocolate and raspberry ganache.

11/26/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Long and impeccably balanced, this has shadings of tobacco and earth to complement the rich dark fruit. This is already elegant and tasty, but probably has 5+ years ahead of it.

11/12/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Rich and tasty, if a little generic. This had loads of clove-inflected blackberry jam flavors, with still-strong tannin and well-balanced acidity, but it still felt a bit hot and blowsy, especially on Night 1. I have a few more, and I'll hold or decant the rest. This would be a good Thanksgiving wine for people who want to take a bazooka to their palates. (I'll probably be sipping vinho verde to keep myself from a Black Friday katzenjammer.)

11/7/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

This is at the Franc-ier end of the Cabernet spectrum, with pencil and bell pepper galore on the palate and nose, but the body is all New World, punching in hard and heavy with mouth-coating fruit. It's a fascinating combination - big and rich but bone-dry and unflinchingly savory. This would work magic with steak, or any red meat with a dry rub that leaned toward paprika and pepper. This was one of the wines offered in the Garagiste Mystery of Mysteries, and while $20 isn't cheap (for me), this swings with wines 3x its price.

10/21/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

This is currently my house wine, and one of the greatest QPRs of all time. At $8, the value beggars belief: this is chockful of pure sweet raspberry fruit, with a tangy balsamic acidity. Rich and moderately long without being at all heavy (apparently the ABV is 12.5%!), this is not especially multi-dimensional, but it is incredibly delicious.

10/10/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Cherries, cherries, cherries! Already, approchable, this is a lovely (classic?) example of Chianti Classico, with just-right hints of leather and underbrush. But mostly, this is about the fine fresh cherry flavor. Delicious, and wonderful with spaghetti and meatballs.

9/24/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

Oh mature high-end Chianti Classico, how I love thee! The tannins have resolved, the acid has mellowed, rolling out an unobstructed red carpet of red fruit - cherries and raspberries - with an elegant undertow of earth and sweet tobacco. Elegant and long. For $20 from Garagiste, this was a grand slam.

9/9/2019 - MBusk Likes this wine:

A wonderful combination of Tuscany and Bordeaux, with Bordelais flavors of pencil box and leather and cigar blended seamlessly with a Tuscan brigtht almond-skin tannin and tomato leaf flavor. This is rich and long and aristocratic. My #2 wine of the night for our Italian Wine Dinner - and #1 was Fontalloro.