4/1/2024 - Brendel wrote:

The mouthfeel is light, medium bodied, characteristic of a Volnay. There is a bit of stink on the nose which is not bad. But there is also a vegetal quality on the palate that requires certain foods, like salami or smoked meats. I do not detect a great deal of depth or layers to this wine, although it clearly has an old world feel and some character. No need to decant.

2/21/2024 - Brendel Likes this wine:

This wine punches well above its price point at $13. Although it is distinctive of Cab franc, it is not as tight and reserved as most Cab Franc wines I’ve had, albeit it does drink very dry rather than fruit forward. It benefits from aeration. The wine has good structure and is full bodied; not remotely flabby; it has restrained dark fruit. Not much of a nose.
Well worth picking up a few more bottles.

2/16/2024 - Brendel Likes this wine:

This is a beautiful rich and floral white wine, full bodied—a kind of wonderful version of NZ Sauvignon Blanc except with better balance, structure and interest. It’s not quite as good as Smith-Haute Lafite’s white from the same region, but it’s very good.

2/16/2024 - Brendel Likes this wine:

One of the best riojas we have had. We haven’t had that many. This one has a wonderful, rich rose, and struck us as left bank Bordeaux, although it has perhaps a bit more vibrancy and fruit. Very enjoyable!

2/16/2024 - Brendel Does not like this wine:

This is past its prime. I would recommend not decanting and drinking it all rather immediately. This wine completely fell apart on day 2. It is all right on day 1, but has considerable funk.

2/7/2024 - Brendel Likes this wine:

This wine is amazing. Needs aeration or a long decant and can be drunk now.

Incredible balance of fruit and structure. So soft. Yummy. Black fruit. Delicious. Can’t say more except we need more of this.

2/5/2024 - Brendel wrote:

Not great Barolo. The nose has a lot of funk, almost mildew notes. Hard to smell much beyond that. On the palate the wine has a vegetal, astringent and tannic note. Doesn’t have the elegance or refinement or depth we are looking for in Barolo.

Do not decant this or aerate; it doesn’t improve the wine. Similarly I don’t see this improving much in age. Can’t recommend at $50.

2/2/2024 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Aerated/shaken.

Beautiful wine. Opulent nose of extremely concentrated rich dark fruit that hits you with power. Grapes, blueberries (but not sweet blueberry compote).

On the palate, the same dark fruit is there but measured by the good structure and acidity of the wine. It is well balanced. The wine is clean with a bit of leather. The tannins are medium-round, a slight bit of gravel.

The wine will benefit from a few more years for sure. The tannins are still strong but the wine doesn’t feel too tight. If you like some firm tannins, it is excellent now. But I will wait a few years before opening another.

At US $58, I think it can compete with wines in the $80-100 range. This is an excellent value. I have liked 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2018 vintages of Malescot St Exupery — this is in line with the others and continues a great tradition.

1/31/2024 - Brendel Likes this wine:

This wine is not bad, but not to our personal tastes. On approach, the wine is soft, very fruit forward, and unctuous and jammy. It would be a good wine for a single glass at a restaurant—it’s casual.

However past the first few sips the wine is too heavy and jammy for our taste, lacking structure and refinement. It is very ripe/warm climate/new world/ very Californian. We drink Italian and French almost exclusively.
Of Zins, thus far we really only like Ridge Zinfandel. This is not that.

To people who like wines with a sweeter and more fruity side then this would be good.

12/11/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Beautiful wine. Deep purple color. Nose is of sweet blueberry tarts. Fantastic elegance, structure and balance on the palate. The wine is refined, almost on the thin side in a good way while of course being full bodied.

Had for my birthday with Ace and Chako.

I really like this, but sadly the price is a bit high. Had a 2018 Pavie Macquin the next day that I prefer and is almost half the price. It is a beautiful wine, but…. hard to justify this at $175.

12/11/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

This is my second bottle. The first wasn’t aerated properly. This time, I Coravin’d it and used the aerator. Wow! The wine now explodes on the nose and the palate with an incredible intensity of sweet dark fruit, blueberries, like a French blueberry tart. That sweetness and incredible intensity of concentration is on the palate as well with wonderful structure. The wine adheres to the tongue and mouth beautifully. Incredible stuff.

This is drinkable now if you aerate it, decant for a very long time, or shake the hell out of it. If you don’t want to do those things, then wait 5+ years. But it’s drinkable now otherwise and is absolutely fantastic. Totally worth the $90-100 price tag.

11/23/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Beautiful wine, soft, open and ready for drinking now if given a long decant. We had for Thanksgiving dinner. Notes consistent with when we had it at the winery in France.

11/23/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Really nice Sauternes. A green note that is pleasant and serves to balance the sweetness. Worth getting again if I can find it. Served for Thanksgiving and everybody liked it a lot.

11/23/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Had for Thanksgiving dinner. Double decanted. This is a nice wine but still way too young. Wait 4-5 years. Well made and promising but still too tannic and austere. Red fruit, concentrated.

Forgot to check my notes or I wouldn’t have opened it, because I said the same thing 14 months ago!

11/3/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Consistent with previous notes: an excellent Zin, very restrained, austere, tannic and well structured like a Bordeaux. The fruit is present but in the background: feels very old world. Got another 6 bottles. Excellent.

11/3/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Very nice Zinfandel blend from Ridge. Color is very purplish, beautiful. The wine is far less austere than the 2018 Buchignani Ranch which is our other favorite from Ridge: that one is very restrained in the fruit and highly tannic, more like an austere Bordeaux, whereas this Geyserville is instantly approachable, soft, slightly lighter bodied with a bit less structure but much more fruit, and more layers. An excellent wine. Chikako’s favorite Ridge so far. 93-94 pts.

10/28/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Really good! This was shaken thoroughly and then decanted for an hour. Mouthfeel is super soft; red and dark fruit are full and ripe, but not jammy; there is good structure and balance. Full bodied. At $30-35 this is excellent value.

10/11/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Good bottle. The fruit is restrained and there is nice structure and mouthfeel, restrained, a bit more French. Much prefer this to the Mancini. Not my favorite Ridge but drinkable and good.

10/11/2023 - Brendel wrote:

Not one of my favorite bottles from Ridge. This wine is too fruity and ripe, very new world, without sufficient structure, texture, minerality or interest. Of course it is very young. Any remaining bottles of this will have to be cellared for 5+ years in my opinion to achieve a profile closer to my taste.

9/30/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Really wonderful wine. Young but very drinkable now. Wonderful nose of fresh red fruit, a bit of black fruit, and a bit of sweetness and earth. On the palate the wine has beautiful structure, depth, and pleasant fruit. A great blend of fruit and structure. Excellent for the price.

9/25/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Really nice wine. Nose is very fruit forward with cherry and currant notes. The palage is balanced with good structure and good mouthfeel. Young but in a good way. High alcohol isn’t too bad on the nose or palate. A nice surprise!

8/8/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Nose is very high in alcohol, plus violets, dark pressed fruits. Pretty tannic, benefits from a long decant or a good shaking. This is a nice wine but a bit rough on the mouthfeel, drying, taste of young vines, with not so much fruit or roundness. Not really good on it’s own; should be paired with salami, red meat, etc. Decent for the price though at $25.

8/8/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Beautiful wine. Drinkable now but should wait 5-10 years. Nice nose of dark and red fruit, not too sweet. Palate has excellent texture, mouthfeel, structure and balance. Dark fruit again. Went great with a steak.
Had with Won-Jae and Hanna. They loved it.

7/4/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Had this at the Restaurant at St Martin’s Lane, London. Everybody liked it, and people remarked on the nose even before they lifted the glass. It has a nose quite distinctive for St Emilion; what to me is a bit of blueberry fruit, and other dark fruits.

If you can find this at a decent price, it is drinking well right now! Probably still has a few years left in it too.

7/1/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Quite nice. Tasting notes as before.

7/1/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Beautiful, lovely wine, at a very good price. Continues to impress us. Tasting notes as before.

Tasted alongside a 2018 Ch D’Issan and this was much better. Just more elegant and perfumed.

7/1/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

We prefer quite strongly the 2018 Malescot over this, also the 2016 or 2010 over this vintage. This wine has some slight odd notes and is just not as beautiful or well structured. Still decent if you can find it for $50, I suppose, but I don’t see it for that.

5/22/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

This is a very good wine for $26. Would definitely pick up more.

Nose has nice fruit: apples and a bit of citrus.
Taste has nice acidity and bite. Good mouthfeel: reasonably round and not too linear.
A quality budget white Burgundy. But definitely a step above your typical Macon Villages.

4/3/2023 - Brendel wrote:

Quite thin in terms of mouthfeel and flavor. This wine was surprisingly disappointing: just not much there. It compared very unfavorably to a Ridge Zinfandel on the night with dinner. Would not repeat this vintage.

4/3/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Beautiful nose, opulent wine characteristic of St Emilion. We have tried the 2009, 2010 and 2015 and they are all excellent. Very good value in the mid $40 range.

4/3/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Made the mistake of serving this at 55-60 degrees instead of cooling it more (pulled it from the wine fridge and forgot to chill it further). Strong flavors of tropical and citrus fruit: peach, mango. A very nice wine. Worth repeating but hopefully correctly next time.

3/20/2023 - Brendel wrote:

The wine is rust colored at edges. Nose is pleasant with notes of strong tannins, violets, blackberries.

On the palate the wine isn’t very well balanced: the red fruit has a sour note, astringency, sharp pencil. The mourhfeel is medium-light characteristic of Nebbiolo.

This is a bit disappointing for a Barolo, although it’s an inexpensive one relatively ($40). We recently had a Ridge Zinfandel that is so much better at the same price point. Apples and oranges, of course, but still…

2/24/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Excellent Zinfandel—pleasant fruity nose, very concentrated red fruit on the palate but with very nice structure and balance. One of the nicest Zins we have had—halfway between a US and European wine. Would love to get more of this. Had with Persian meat and salmon kebabs and rice with Shinobu.

2/7/2023 - Brendel wrote:

Good stuff, nice minerality, doesn’t taste like a cheap wine, worth getting again at $15 or so. Chako enjoyed with AJ.

1/16/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

This is a delicious wine and incredible value for Priorat. Lovely nose, fruity but well structured and balanced, and can probably age a few years. Will get more.

1/4/2023 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Really good young Mallorcan red and good value at 8€ or so. Worth repeating.

1/4/2023 - Brendel Does not like this wine:

Quite a disappointment for us. The wine comes off as quite young, (red) fruit-forward and almost new world. But this is a characteristic of Ribera perhaps and we are not fond of it. Was hoping for a bit more complexity given it is around 8 years old.

12/28/2022 - Brendel Does not like this wine:

Very dry, but like sandpaper. Tried to use this for mimosas but it didn’t work at all. A shame as we do like Pere Seda’s whites and reds in general and find them excellent value. Had In Pollença 12/2022.

12/28/2022 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Loved this. Nice hint of brioche and cheese on the nose, but not much. Mouthfeel is very soft, elegant. Super easy to drink. Excellent QPR. Had for Christmas dinner In Pollença 2022.

12/28/2022 - Brendel Does not like this wine:

Didn’t like this very much. Tasted quite young, slightly jammy, very fruit forward with red fruits. Had In Pollença. Paid 9€.

12/18/2022 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Color is very pale yellow, near transparent in low light. Nose has some tartiness, bit of cat piss. Palate is again tart, cantaloupe, cat piss, some sweet white fruit like white pear. Very pleasant, light, elegant, clean. Worth repeating.

12/11/2022 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Had this at “Kimball House” in Atlanta, where it’s $99 a bottle which is not too bad. Nice cheesy, brioche nose, good acidity and flavor. Really liked this. Would pick up a few bottles if I can find it in shops for $30-40.

11/29/2022 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Good stuff with a nice nose of cheese and brioche. Close to Piper Heidsieck, if perhaps slightly less good. Not bad at $40, but not worth more than that.

11/28/2022 - Brendel Likes this wine:

This is really superb stuff. The nose has extremely concentrated sweet black fruit, like a French blackberry tarte. The palate is full, rich, opulent, well structured, medium-high tannins that are just a bit rough enough to be interesting. Power and fruit, quite masculine, but classy. Room to grow definitely, too, although it’s hard to resist drinking this now. Just really great stuff. To me this could easily be $80-100 for the quality. Hope I can find more of it at $60 here.

11/28/2022 - Brendel Likes this wine:

This is a superb, fruit-forward yet not flabby, easy drinking wine with nice balance. Super enjoyable and reminds me of the better vintages of Vajra Langhe Rosso. Young, not complex, but very nice. I think this will be a crowd pleaser with most people. Will definitely repeat.

11/14/2022 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Served at a party, and people enjoyed it equally to a Capanna 2016 Brunello. Not bad. Probably better on its own than with food for us.

11/14/2022 - Brendel Likes this wine:

Pretty nice—decent Brunello—quite enjoyable. Very young but didn’t seem too closed and can be drunk now with decanting, I think.

11/9/2022 - Brendel Likes this wine:

PnP.
This is very nice stuff. Quite a nice nose, quite open even without decanting. Quaffable. Went nicely with a Thai yellow chicken curry. Good value at $35-40 for a 2009. On day 3, tertiary notes have become strong: chorizo, pepperoni, tobacco, but still lots of fruit and tannin. Drinking nicely now but this can be held another 3-5 years easily I think.

11/8/2022 - Brendel wrote:

Surprised a bit by the super high scores for this.

Wine was tannic, and didn’t improve that much over 3 days. I’d say it’s too early to drink. But I also didn’t get a whole lot of fruit or complexiry or interest from this. Fairly standard Bordeaux that I wouldn’t care to repeat. Just didn’t hold our interest much.

Got from Trader Joe’s. Far prefer the Monbousquet.

11/8/2022 - Brendel Does not like this wine:

The wine is quite pale with a slight greenish yellowish tint.

The nose is very nice: honeydew melon, honeysuckle, apricot, honey: very sweet. On the palate the wine is semi-sweet, a bit syrupy, with insufficient acidity to my taste.

Generally we do not like semi-sweet wines. I have had some Gewurtzraminer that I have liked, but we don’t drink it often at all. This is a bit disappointing for us.

I tried to pair this with a sweetish Thai curry but that failed. Maybe it is better with cheese.

At $60 this is unfortunately our least favorite offering from our otherwise-favorite Domaine Weinbach.