4/3/2023 - acyso wrote:

Heater week; 3/26/2023-4/3/2023 (Chicago, IL): Corked.

7/6/2022 - acyso wrote:

Flickinger Warehouse Tasting (Chicago, IL): The first of the Pacalet whites to show a bit of reduction (a la Labet, really). This drinks like a very heavy Labet, with so much structure it almost obscures the fruit. Weighty, intense, and massive, with again that waxy texture that seems so strange for white Burgundy. A very interesting rendition of Corton-Charlie, even if it isn't the most textbook.

2/24/2022 - acyso wrote:

White Burgundy study (2008 and 2014) (Chicago, IL): "It's a little natty, isn't it?" Honeyed and very ripe on the palate, with plenty of acid even though it doesn't seem really well integrated together. There's a volatile thing here that's a bit distracting. Admittedly this was served a little too warm...

7/29/2021 - acyso wrote:

Dinner at Osteria Langhe (Chicago, IL): So my last note on this said that this bottle didn't suffer from the vagaries of the vintage. Well today it seems like that this bottle did. A little dirty with some rot here. A slightly off nose that presented like chlorine? It didn't seem corked to me though. Fat and honeyed. I just don't get Dauvissat.

8/22/2019 - acyso wrote:

This is a black Berliner weiss with pineapple in bourbon barrels; I think all of that is borne out here. The nose has a mild, malty, chocolate character that's not unpleasant with a hint of pineapple. The palate shows a bit of the malty quality with pineapple hint as well, but this is too far on the acidic side, like the Off Color Market Rate on release. I need to start aging beers like this to let them mellow out.

6/4/2019 - acyso wrote:

Nebbiolos that cool kids drink these days et al. (Chicago, IL): Ah, long gone are the days when it was easy to stock up on this wine in quantity. This vintage, especially, is a true gem. It is a svelte, silky edition of nebbiolo, with a maddeningly beautiful red fruit and floral perfume. It's an exuberant, joyous wine, with a vivacious generosity of fruit that makes this a dangerously easy-drinking 15% wine. Absolutely, this has the stuffing to make old bones, but it also hasn't shut down, so why not enjoy this in its youthful exuberance? Compared to the more renowned 2013 vintage of this wine, I would actually give the nod to this "off" vintage, at least for drinking now. Who knows if this will ever clamp down?

3/20/2019 - acyso wrote:

Dinner at Jade Court (Chicago, IL): From half-bottle. Damn is this stuff delicious. It has the fruit profile of a port (or rather, should I say that port smells like boysenberries?), without that much of the alcoholic burn. Incredibly sweet, but also balanced by what I have to assume are acids from those boysenberries. The floral honey tones are on the back end, and they add complexity to an already-delicious drink.

2/9/2019 - acyso wrote:

Clearly merlot with sickly sweet plums on the nose. Palate is sweet and pruney, just candied and gross. Bitter finish as well. Undrinkable.

11/22/2017 - Burgnick wrote:

The aroma is very prieure roch with rose petals and perfume. Palate is lean, sour and tart. Nose alone is 92 and perhaps only 85 on the palate.

11/28/2018 - acyso wrote:

A few at S.K.Y. (Chicago, IL): Wax top (I'm going to start noting this down to see if there is any actual difference). A very convincing bottle of Dauvissat with awesome chalkiness through out. Plenty of fruit to counterbalance it as well -- there's some tartness that just works so well with the slightly waxy and broad texture in this wine. I get a sense of thickness in this wine, and it's just super convincing for me tonight.