10/4/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Yes. Pre ABInBev, and so beautifully knit together right now. Can't imagine this improving much from here, but it's in no hurry to drink. Always was my favorite vintage for this sour.

8/28/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Meh. Classically built in a riper style, but doesn't move me. Wish there was more... something here. Depth? Aromatics?

8/23/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Exuberant fruit at the moment, which is fun. I suspect that with a little more time in the bottle the fruit will pull back and more of the savory and textural aspects of Trousseau will show through, which will make this more interesting to me. Pure pleasure now, tho.

6/9/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Not in full voice tonight. Shy, disjointed, underwhelming. I know this is better than it's showing, but for whatever reason, now is not the time.

5/9/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Stood this up for a full day, not quite long enough to get everything to settle. A careful decant kept it pretty clear, and the result is (as usual) delicious. Best at cellar temp - too cold and this gets a little shrill.

5/9/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

This is the perfect thing with a nicoise salad. Seriously.

5/9/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Beautiful Gruner aromatics and savory, spicy, herbal deliciousness. Missing a little acidity for me, but that didn't really matter with a garbage salad full of prefect spring veggies. Yum.

5/9/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Elegant, rich, and floral without being sweet, cloying or unbalanced. Singular wine.

5/9/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

The only way I could love this wine more is if it was on tap in my kitchen. Juicy, fruity, crisp, funky, palate cleansing, moreish. Damn, son.

5/9/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Has really turned a corner and opened up sometime in the last 6 months. An absolute delight with tajarin and lamb sugo.

5/9/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Hitting its stride, comfortable enough with itself that all the pieces are on display. Lovely.

4/21/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Young yet, but the full throttle fruit is beginning to pull back a bit, giving more space for the smokey/meaty/savory qualities to step forward. Really shines with roasted sweet potatoes and a meaty kitchen sink soup.

4/21/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Perfect partner top opah and roasted heirloom carrots. The skin contact works especially well with a little lemon-butter couscous.

4/21/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

First time with this - surprisingly restrained while still showing California fruit. Complexity where you wouldn't expect it. Plays acoustic counterpoint to a rich, meaty dinner, rather than being the amp cranked to 11.

3/28/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Lovely, but doesn't hit my sweet spot like the Syrahs do. Much better and more complete than it was a few years ago - nice balance, lots of flavor and texture packed onto a medium weight frame. Great with dinner.

3/28/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Young yet, of course. Juicy, pure, QPR champion of new world Syrah.

3/28/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

I really want to like this wine more, but it just doesn't do it for me. Perfectly lovely Chenin, varietally correct and easy to drink, but I just don't get the complexity or elegance that other notes have suggested. Tasted over multiple days and temperatures - definitely better with some time open and a little warmer, but still... Horses for courses and all that, I suppose. This one's just not for me. The reds, on the other hand, are compelling.]

3/28/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Built to age, but lord knows how I'll manage to keep my hands off them now. Acid driven, tons of pretty red fruit and florals, underpinned by darker, wilder stuff. Dynamic on the palate. So freakin' good.

3/23/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Needs time yet to reach full potential, but really enjoyable now with bright citrus, a pleasant herbal undercurrent and plenty of palate cleansing cut. I expect this to soften, spread out a bit and lose some of the brightness over time, so if that's what you're after, drink now. I like these with a couple years on them, as they start to reveal the more savory, herbal side.

3/23/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

With the '15 on its way, it was time to check in on the '14. Turns out, still delicious. The addition of a year in the bottle has softened the edges a bit, and what it's lost in crispness it's more than gained in harmony and fullness of fruit. Yum.

3/17/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Just killer with a roast pork loin and fennel/leek chutney. What it may lack in zippy energy, it more than makes up for with burnished complexity, depth and persistence. The joys of older riesling!

3/17/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Early yet, but joyful in its youthfulness. Lots of red fruit, moderate tannin that sneaks up on you, and an extra order of florals. The last glass on the third day (don't ask me how that happened, usually these only last hours...) is the most interesting, complex and complete. Bodes well for the future.

3/17/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Caught this bottle at the perfect time. Beautiful, balanced, nuanced. The only thing that separates this from a Cornas is the higher ABV, but the whole is so well integrated that it just comes across as a little more palate weight. Outstanding.

3/17/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Very dry, very vinous. Beautiful, weighty, complex, compelling.

3/17/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Missing a little bit of the jubilant fruit I've associated with this wine in the past, but still delicious, funky, bright, savory and great with food. Nice QPR.

3/17/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Full of roasted walnuts, honey and quince, along with a taut, papery, wooly quality so common to older Chenin. This bottle was pretty dried out on the palate, though others I've opened have carried more fruit. A complex and heady wine, more enjoyment from the geek perspective than pure pleasure.

3/6/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

On the wheel of Dettori roulette, this one came up clean. Lovely fruit, just the beginnings of some oxidation (presumably from the older vintage wine), and nice funk. Great with food, though worth noting the last glass at the end of the night, by itself, had become almost frooty, losing some of the complexity that kept things interesting earlier in the evening.

3/2/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Classic Rioja, full of dark cherry, plum, leather, balsamic and a healthy dollop of American oak. Doesn't knock my socks off, but exceptional at the price point/availability.

3/2/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Pretty dynamic with food - one bite would bring out the grassy citrus of the Sauv Blanc, the next slightly different bite would make the wine feel rounder and expose more of the Semillion. Classy, but a little overwrought for my taste. The rest of the table adored it, so it's probably just me and my lean, oak-averse, acid driven ways.

3/2/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Great tension between the fruit and the herbal - lots of cranberry and sour cherry against fennel and thyme. Stemmy, but in the best way. Compelling in the glass, and very drinkable, especially with food.

2/17/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Shows the strength of the vintage, with lots of depth of character and power without super-maturity. Early yet, but delicious with a little decant. Drink and hold.

2/17/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

A touch of oxidation, a boatload of acidity, and VA right up to that line where it's not flawed, just Italian. Juicy, great Nerello fruit and Sicily all the way. A bargain.

2/17/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Transitional. This has always been acid-driven, and remains so; right now the fruit is starting to pull back a bit, and the savory, minerally, earthy side is showing more. Intellectually very satisfying, but I think there will be more pure enjoyment down the road with some additional cellar time. The parts sure are nice right now, and it's tasty after a bit in the decanter, but it needs a bit of time to come back together and be all of a piece again. NB: Tons of sediment.

1/29/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Starting to show a little more maturity right out of the bottle. Still, it doesn't kick into high gear until after a couple hours in the decanter, when the darker fruit aspect of this wine really starts to open up, deepen and gain complexity. Lots of layers in this wine on a fairly lightweight frame, enticing with a juicy accessibility rather than an aloof elegance.

1/26/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Some years this is exceptional at the price. Some years it's just a fine vin de soif. This may not be an exceptional year, but it fits the bill of a lighter weight, fruity, Southern France table wine. Happy to have it with dinner, but I'm not racing out to get a bunch more (as I have in prior vintages).

1/26/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Fairly shy at first, this took a while to wake up in the decanter. Even then - on it's own - it remained quiet and a little soft with melon, citrus and tropical fruits. Paired with Moroccan spiced halibut, however, this was the perfect thing. That softness allowed it to spread out a bit and support the food, becoming rounder and fuller as the two played off each other. Tasty.

1/23/2016 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

This is not great wine. But it is perfectly lovely and palate refreshing with a light chill alongside a burger. And somehow it made it to my table from halfway around the world, through an importer and three tiers of distribution, for under $10. I live in CA. Why can't I get a bottle like this DTC for $5 or $6? Property costs that haven't been absorbed by generations? Fruit that would go into this sort of bottle being purchased by the big boys (Bronco, Constellation) and made into Menage a Trois? It's not like there aren't bulk producers in Italy or multi-generation growers in the U.S. I don't get it. [Sorry for the rant ]

1/22/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Savory San Diego Carignane. The lifted nose is a nice counterpoint to the meaty and funky palate. Fun wine.

1/21/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

All the bright red fruit and none of the funk or huge dollop of American oak. Fine, easy drinking in the modern style, but nothing to write home about. I see below that Parker gave this an 93? Must have been a helluva barrel he tasted...

1/18/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Delicious high acid blue fruited Northern Rhone meaty syrah. Woefully young right now, though.

1/18/2016 - stubbie999 wrote:

Save your '12s. Save your '14s. Drink your '13s now. With pan-seared halibut, if possible.

12/18/2015 - stubbie999 wrote:

Cool wine. Hard to make sure I've got the right bottling from them - I don't think this was aged under flor, but whatever. Bright and alive and full of peaches. Less cut on the palate than I would normally choose, but man it works well here. A great beverage to go with food (Mahi Mahi, kale, rice), just makes the dinner better. I dig it, and outstanding at the price.

12/7/2015 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Delicious, light, savory and lively. Doesn't quite get the imperative nature on the palate as the best Jura versions, but that may just be a function of time. I'm happy to wait and see on my next few...

11/25/2015 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

A little quiet out of the gate, but rounded nicely into form after about an hour. Tough vintage in Rioja, and this definitely leans more on the feminine and acid driven side, which works for me. Classic Rioja, red fruit, leather, dust, balsamic and oak - beautiful with a rack of lamb.

10/2/2015 - stubbie999 wrote:

Solid. Doesn't disappoint, though for my tastes there's still a few years yet before it's fully integrated. Easy crowd pleaser.

10/1/2015 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Worth every minute of letting this sit in the cellar. More understated and seamless than it was in its youth, now quietly complex and richly complicated.

10/1/2015 - stubbie999 wrote:

Nice. More about the barrel right now than the sour, though that may change with more time in the bottle. Easy to drink, balanced, with enough funk so the oak doesn't become cloying. A brewery to keep an eye on.

10/1/2015 - stubbie999 wrote:

Good, and more evolved than a bottle a few years ago. Finally getting into its window, but no rush. This is big and dense and grippy and more about black and blue fruit than about green pepper pyrazines. Enjoyed it, but it needed a bolder food pairing than what we gave it - if you have braised short ribs or the like, this will do.

10/1/2015 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Great and fresh and alive. Juicy, but in no way fruity (or frooty). Makes you seem smarter, your food taste better, and your spouse look more attractive (as if that was even possible!). The kind of wine I want on tap from a keg in my house.

9/25/2015 - stubbie999 Likes this wine:

Nice, and still fresh. Lots of juicy red and black fruit, secondary development of tobacco and cedar. Well balanced bell peppery herbal pyrazine kick. Perfect for a garbage salad.