6/17/2021 - jdtonic wrote:

This little darling was “found” in a box with my name on it in a warehouse Miss managed by heritage auctions Los Angeles— depending on who you believe there are 8 more bottles worth 3500 or 38 more bottles worth 43,000 dollars left at this particular auction house. It’s crumbling cork was misinterpreted TWICE as belying bad wine.

I say here absolutely for the record and all time that unless you are selling thru Hart, Spectrum, Sotheby’s or Bruun— you are an idiot, andor know more than I do about this graft-, contempt- and corruption-plagued industry.

[Yes: Getting your fully priced wines out of those salt caves and onto American soil is a-whole-nother animal, BUT THE STARK HONESTY OF THE DANES I WILL PAY A FAT PREMIUM FOR UNTIL MY DYING DAY, as will anyone who has been put through ringers named things like A.M.C. & K+L Wines ((shudder, flinch, vomit)).]

Long Live Bruun Rasmussen!!

If properly stored the ‘75 LMHB is a melange of stewed plums, baking spices, pencil lead, teak oil, bruised strawberry liqueur, singed granite, smoldering cedar and bay leaf. Outstanding.

This wine was deemed unsaleable (though apparently stealable) by some lords of HALA, and I popped it on the spot with the warehousemen therein. COUNTERPOINT EFFECTED!

Delicious.
Superb.
-Dillard.

4/6/2021 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

From OC
Perfect.

Hazy Ruby to the Rim.

This beauty is singing right now.
Elevated floral notes and raspberry cobbler on the nose, and her notably LIFTED palate follows exactly with bits of thyme, duff, flowers & plum.

Thumped a trio of pinots at 2-3x her price point, but no surprise here: Melville, like Calera and Brewer-Clifton and still Hitching Post, is one of the houses who does the heavy lifting to keep the following statement safely and utterly true:

“The Top Deal in Fine Wine is Californian Pinot Noir.”

The 2016 Sandys is similarly stunning.

94

4/4/2021 - jdtonic wrote:

From Wood.
One Owner.

Ok— It’s like this:

The 96 KCM is better with beluga, as its cut is a touch sharper.

And the 96 KV is the toasted nut/richness champ of the bunch... so, along with being most affordable, it’s a great aperitif and the best of these with chocolate/dessert.

But the 96S, under 8 bills per unit, is the star, IMO.

It’s the most difficult of these Champs to find fresh, however, and I might switch the 1996 Salon to “magnum only” status shortly. I admit that the Krug Mesnil’s price is distracting.

98-99 pts

4/5/2021 - jdtonic wrote:

A behemoth.
Probably the best burgundy I’ve ever tasted.

If it’s cherries here, they are very dark and very sweet, but my previous note is closer on flavors..

(She just kicks the shit out of the 2005 La Tache.)

98-99 pts.

*An absolutely must taste wine —like a 1996 Salon or 2007 Eagle. It’s really as simple as that, bud. The concentration is like top Petrus— it simply does NOT oxidize noticeably over 2 days IN A GLASS...

Dillard

8/28/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Shiny Dark Red Purple
Out of Wood Perfecto
Goblet See-Saw/Red Meat Entrée “Decant“

I was worried when I kept bribing the X with “2007 Sloan” or “2007 Harlan” because I had decided at the last minute to sell those cuvées to justify drinking a 2010 Eagle here in the Merry Marmot Motel in Los Angeles. (I prefer the Anjelica Huston/New York Wop Mafia pronunciation of “Las Angle-Ease.”) My refusal to remember i had the 2010 Eagle suggested to me that I knew that this wine was the wrong choice, and that I should have taken only a 2007 Harlan and, you know, really Slummed it Up On the Strip some...cuz the 10E is two young.

Deliciously deep, dank, drifting, decidedly dryly decadent black currant, bramble-berry and beef blood nose noted, now noticeably fresh ferns fun forest flowers, sweet cinnamon stick supporting some sexy saline minerality mainly mid-palate-marked at maybe plus/minus forty minutes. A Very strong wine.

The much mentioned magic mouthfeel some say so specific quintessential cult cuvée king rises rather remarkably right on the hour, replacing all astringency and any “angular amped acidity affliction” besetting my big buck bird bottle by me bought, brought, and basically balanced blithely ybetween beauty and beast.

The ex-girl said “oooh: black cherry pie!” and also, after a long lacuna between burrata and beef to chase down her 2 year old twins, admire my car, and hear through tears that, sadly, her marriage sucks, “it is SATINY like Margaux in Paris and there’s baking chocolate and nutmeg or something, too!”

I told her that the “SILKY or VELVETY” mouthfeel phenomenon of some better Margaux vintages in many individual bottles actually continued beyond the boundaries of the Isle de France. Susan looked sad. “Are you sure? Our relationship didn’t.” Her twins were suddenly staring at me, and the uglier one said something utterly unintelligible. Susan gave him the shades off my face...

I reminded her that we lived in the East Village awhile after Paris, that I thought cloves and mint were trading places between the attack and mid-palate, and with perhaps a pinch more passion, that her shot-shoulder husband should at least do the caviar/über shuffle and “SHOULDER” more family shit. “I mean exactly what kind of womanizing weasel wetback does this godless greaser/grifter he think he is anyway?!” The table next to us is eight arms waving wildly for their check.

Better back below barrio bedroom.
Big. Beautiful. But Brawny.

Better beg-off buddy.
Best beside bloody bovine bbq.
95 Nasties.

8/16/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

translucent reddish purple

there is indeed some pink and grape bubblicious on the nose, along with tart strawcherry, a medicinal note more common to northern rhônes, some animal funk, alfalfa and muddy boot leather. also heat.

palate jumps around like a skittish muddy colt bolting through a marion berry thicket then flying thru a cherry tree, and bucking you into a pond, where floats a bit of hay soaked in moonshine.

Persistent finish of tart raspcherry, heat and edible flowers maybe.

This wine is young.
Hope the marion berry and loam win the steeplechase.

The non-pinot drinkers liked it better today and tonight. No complaints—disappeared quickly—and much more going on than within and without the 45 dollar la crema sonoma coast nearby-but also more volatile.

Saved a bit in tumbler under saucer might report back.

better with food - or a drink in u.

93+
hold

7/14/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

i’m basing my score on the last half glass drunk warm from a hotel crapper tumbler the next day. with a hangover not just from alcohol.

after a swig of the 1989 Petrus, “stored” similarly, which was eye-bulgingly delicious, i felt smo ready to be disappointed by the 96KCM revenant.

NOT AT ALL. These wines defy logic and simply do not oxidize by any traditional understanding of the word, nor according to any normal schedule.

delicious. still a tiny bead too— apples and flint and honey and warm almond croissant batter and i forget..

8/9/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

For those of you contemplating, say, the merits of a five-hundred dollar bid on something like a 1976 Chateau Y versus a nine-hundred dollar bid on the 1967 Chateau Y....

The answer is Buy the ‘67 Yquem.

It was The Summer of Love and The September of Sauternes.

Jerry Garcia Forever.

8/12/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

The weight of this wine is considerable, and it will crush any flavors but the strongest cheese or spiciest barbecue. That said.
Is a spiny round Mace being swung by an angry and drunk black-armored knight “well-rounded?” Well: there’s a steel ball in there somewhere, but you won’t see it until it shimmers with your blood.
THIS WINE WILL MAKE A GREAT SANGRIA —and a lot of it - cut 2/3 with raspberry orangeade..

Very Strong stuff.
crazy eights.

8/7/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Plum

Brine, cherries vanilla and plums on the nose.

Yummy fruit on the mouth. Some so-called toasty oak ta boot.

Haven’t had the 2014, but who thumbs their nose at cherry coke with 15% alcohol? In any case, you can get some cola out of this 2013, if you squint a bit, but it’s really more like sassafras or “notions of mr. pibb.”

Yes, the 2005 La Tâche tastes better, but not MUCH MUCH better!

Rochioli- if i gave a shit about money, I’d have begun buying every bottle 15 years ago— THANKS ROCHIOLI FAMILY.

dillard

7/27/2020 - jdtonic wrote:

Wine Lovers of The Earth:

I Was Sold the Irish decanter bottle of 1965 M filled with stale Macallan 12 and made to look authentic by counterfeiters whom are either attached to, or nearly attached to ACKER MERRAL & CONDIT in Hong Kong. Very glad i opened this fraud with the attorney gf present, and promptly took it to a closed bar where i know a guy—to begin comparison tasting.

A ten-thousand dollar PLUS rip-off, which i had taken lying down, until they [Acker Merral & Condit, NY] recently neglected for a year to ship me 20k of my wine, then decided to leave three (3) 2012 Steaming Eagles out of the box. And then stopped replying a fortnight hence to requests for recommence. I will be picketing the shop on the West Side in cooler days this summer. And suing.

Believe the rumors— in a world of bent wine people who resent their clientele: ACKER HAS TRIED TO DEFRAUD ME DIRECTLY [AT LEAST] THRICE— The “Magnum of 1982 Lafite” with which i was on my way to that SF based authentication lady- (who had more words about this outfit that I actually feel comfortable repeating)- was quickly and quietly bought back a few years ago in a move WHICH I FOOLISHLY MISTOOK FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE, and never mentioned again— a phony!

BEWARE: ACKER MERRAL CONDIT !
BE AWARE: CRACKER BARREL ABSCONDS IT !!

James B Dillard, 2d.
New York City
*Please Disseminate As Widely as Thou Wilt*

7/25/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Out of Wood
Holograms Intact

Rose Gold

[The truth is that I cannot myself improve on the excellent note by Issac below EXCEPT to mention that the chick I’m with calls the color ROSE GOLD, and on the palate it’s SALTED watermelon rind, dammit.] [Sez Me.]

A very tasty rosé, in any case, and who knew that Rose Gold is indeed copper-colored?
Upside here below 56F.

Hold
94+

7/11/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

My feeling was this wine needs more cellaring—A little headstrong, not ponderous exactly but maybe brooding in her pile of ripe currants and pencils and duck fat and blackberry-cedar sap...

Kera the front desk night girl disagreed strongly and before I could finish the sentence grabbed the cork out of my hand and took the last glass home.

It WAS better the next day! she cried happily, the day after that, and asked if I had any more. I asked her when she was going home to Florida to lose some LA loneliness.

She’s gone now.
And I DO have some more...

94
Hold

7/11/2020 - jdtonic wrote:

From Wood.
Huge. Enormous.
Saturated Ruby Purple.

I will withhold formal notation, but testify thusly:

On the second day after sitting overnight (again) at 43F, her persistent KNOCKOUT NOSE of candied lavender, boysenberry (fruit-on-the-bottom), sandalwood, honeysuckle and little purple flowers gave me goosebumps— which return perforce onto my forearms as i tap this little note to you:
FIND THIS WINE. STEAL IF NECESSARY.

My god —I still have a glass.

Suicide prevention is, of course, mothers and cats and music and not wanting to be shot in the face, BUT ALSO: having a case of 2005 Rousseau BÊZE.

Gigantic.
Sell Your Blood.
98+

7/9/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

out of wood
ruby red
splash decant

A reticent nose of red fruits, funk and yellow flowers. a fluid carnival atmosphere, with smoke, steam, and various other attention diversions and impediments to good taste —and tasting well- stole a point maybe, and another rolling party where the best company was french- and at work. (They assured me that the wine was outstanding. wink.)

The waiter mgr wished to add ‘champignons du bois’ to her profile. I agree that the red fruited palate was nice but shy — a little more plummy the next afternoon. Some spice emerging. Rose water. Ennui?

Admittedly, I felt she ~ Tasted Young ~ a ubiquitous term often used to defend the speedy monoliths.

I found myself searching out the word “precise” to describe the subtle palate of this wine— another term sometimes deployed to assuage the creeping realization that a 2016 rhys alpine would have a been a far wiser choice of beverage on Thursday. (But that’s on me, and not the Civil Society of Romanian Counts or anyone else.

HOLD OFF
94-95

6/22/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

good purple
unfined

nice black currant/cassis, fennel/licorice (unresolved)tannin and loam.

notions of blue and blackberry and enough heat to bury these day 1.

some upside— a good choice on the rail with a fatty new york strip.

92+

6/5/2020 - jdtonic wrote:

Corked.
“After 15 years there are no great wines, only great bottles.”

6/4/2020 - jdtonic wrote:

*was actually making a mental note of "wet cardboard" before I realized she is CORKED.
hahahahaha-- anyone have any strawberry fanta?

6/3/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

from .375

bright gold into deep gold
early nose of botrytis, leaded gasoline and lemon oil

She darkens noticeably with some swirling and the petrol blows off into beeswax, botrytis infused pineapple, apricot jam, honey, yellow rose and marzipan.

Early palate of mulling-spiced cider, grilled pineapple, botrytis, lemon oil, apricot, white pepper and, indeed, both the flavor and heat sensation of jalapeño jelly! Very, very tasty, and longer than either of us have patience to explore..

"Settling into" a nose of grilled pineapple, honey-roasted almonds, marzipan and fresh golden apple.
I think i put my glass down 2 minutes ago, and she isn't finished as a cornucopia (in the main listed above but with other nuts/spices) of fruits including cinnamon, mango ,,, ends in my mouth at 3.5 minutes with the smell of new Pirelli tires crushing wasp-apples...

(end day 1)

..ok, the half sip left in glass (no longer) was a very distinct blend of lemongrass and vanilla bean.

97

June 4, 2020.
Day 2 starts with amber-tinged gold, like mildly occluded yellow diamonds.

Nose of Pledge (lemon oil, verbena, furniture polish, propellant) In Toto, canned peaches, and ... wait for it... BOTRYTIS! Actually this is somewhat unusual in my experience. Someone earlier commented that they sensed "finest botrytis." I am forced to echo.

After a swirl, she's just the peaches (in sweet syrup) and the polish on the nose. Ahhh, polish gives way to pineapple and that apricot tart.

Silky mouthfeel odd in a beverage with the consistency of 5W-30, very nice acidity here--and all honey, peach syrup and noble rot on the tongue. A little weaker, relative to her nose, are her gulp flavors, this evening. More yellow rose and
honeysuckle on the nose with air..

The flavors work up, but a bland note -- like the flavor of the actual rose petal if chewed, seems to "clip" her finish. (clipped at a minute -ish)

My gosh, hard to not swig this down. Her sediment is actually sugar! A little whiff of brine on the palate this sediment. [Indeed it is nearly pure sugar.]

The last smell into the split is very yellow and woodsy, and boasts the most lifted aromas of canned peaches, lemongrass, and ---- vanilla inflected-----* ---BOTRYTIS.***

97
Hold

(got peach crême brulée clearing my glass.)

6/3/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Another perfect bottle
cellared since release.

chardonnay/straw yellow
10 second mousse (in a white wine glass), and
a very fine, more persistent bead.

The fates put another of these lovelies in my path very quickly, and, indeed, a superior and more giving drink is being roundly enjoyed. And rounder!

Nose of sourdough, flint, steel, and magnolias-- white flowers, anyway, with a whiff of sweetness!

Here on the palate more dough than before, and limestone, but with also increasing white peach pith, and honeysuckle nectar. The steely mineral element however is as persistent as her little bubbles, and the result is an inner mouth tension reminiscent of Krug and Salon from this same vintage.

The nose at 30 minutes is yellow flowered and distinctly honeyed.

Something green in here as well, like unto the skin of a granny smith apple, but with (if at all) the merest suggestion of actual apple. Very tasty and very popular. Just poured a glass rudely full. Fuck it, I'm with the paying percentage.

Mind: I am 24 hours without cash or working card, and in no mood to flatter. at all. Delicious.

95

6/2/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Purple-Garnet w/
Faint Bricking in a Perfect Bottle

As someone who has had this wine half a dozen times from 2005--2020, and this evening in concert with the 2001, let me assure you that while she will probably taste well right through her twilight into the wet leaves on the dirty ground, the lovely 97I is approaching the end of her high plateau, and tasted best tonight between 30-60 minutes after opening.
[She will begin her descent at 7:45pm on October 5th of this calendar year.] Decant unnecessary.

(Boulevard, for their part, never fumbled my wine again, and book Table #30 is my counsel there.)

Tertiary notes include stewed cherries, fig newtons, a whiff of marzipan and eucalypt.

Drinking alone on the roof in Los Angeles watching The Fall of New Rome. Drink up---and let's all hang BLM banners on our homes to appease the mob!

5/7/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Pale Straw.
Shy fine bead.
The Moose Bolts like a White Tail.

Sharp nose of Blue Steel, Bee Pollen and Sourdough Biscuits.

Strong but austere and almost completely lacking fruit. But very precise Limestone, Molten Pig Iron and A damp White Labrador Retriever.

Stick with Dom P in 2002 The 05 Rosé and 2008, among stronger Vintages, anyway. Been this way. Still this way.

Eventually got some Yellow Apple Cider, and maybe peach Tea, but witch Hazel cast a THINNER SPELL ON this bad girl imo...

93+

5/11/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Out of wood from a pal from ChampagnE..
[Both of thEm] [Zut! Tous Les Trois! The vine, the buddy and Le Bois!!

Pale pink salmon.
Very fine bead for 95 minutes and a cappuccino mousse for 25 seconds per pour. [Wine is noticeably strengthening in ten martini minutes, THANKS GOD

First out of A Custom Crate gifted me-- and A Very tasty wine. Better than the o2 DP Straight Rosé, (which, rather oddly appeared more Luminous in a Reidel Chard. as I recall...

Strawberry/Rhubarb Shortcake on the nose.
Her Yellow Rose Aromas increase with air and I'm off to see Texas, fake tits and bigger hair...

Red Apples, strawberry yogurt, nectarines and one half baguette with flint and sugar and (the good sort of) attic dust. Roses and Raspberries increasing and the attic dust phases into a more sweet cellar mildew (the kind of which you want more increasing, and the Flintiness is resolving as white pepper and clam boil or wet limestone and

Dom gets the Mousse and the 2002 Vintage as well as Salon, imho. (That is exceeding hi praise Par moi...)

Find under Four Bucks and Be Glad,
Cue the Big Hurt, "And She will Be, Too!" [WINK]

95/96

5/10/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

From .750

The first from a new shipment: Delicious. Perfect Bottle.

A Knockout Bdx (à la Rive Gauche) Nose-- Flowers, Sweet Cedar, Strawberry, Cassis, Clay (Red), a bit of vanilla pipe tobacco there --- all lifted and poised. Approachable within 30 minutes, and if anything: her palate SURPASSES her Perfume.

Consistent notes; a SUPERB Margaux; cool spring water is harder to sip.

97-98+

Though this o5 is a Fruitier vint, she's at least as equally tannic as the 2000 Margaux at the same age. Ergo: wants two or three more dark years..

Ergo: 3-4 hours of slow air, or plus 90mins in a decanter.
Then, my friend, this wine will --like a fine Pinot-- improve any/all foods; I know of no food that improves 15-30 year old Chateau M from top vintages. I need to find more of the 2000, as do YOU, is the takeaway here!

4/9/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Perfect since Release
From The Wine Bank.

Opaque purple, garnet rimmed.
Minimal fine sweet sediment.

Nose of Amarena Cherries, Black Currants, Pine Sap, sage and sweet tea.

Moist Black Loam, Morello Cherry, Raspberry liquor and some cedar on the tongue. Notions of plums and herbs de Provence emerging. A big and deep wine just encountering secondary flavors and aromas. In a very good place. Wants food, but past delicious on its own.

*The service has suffered and the costs have blossomed at the Winery over the last decade. What kind of dump demands a business card to “Prove” industry? Then charges 135 dollars over retail? Then reneges on a tiny tasting b/c we tasted two “good wines?” CHRIST WE BOUGHT THE BEST BOTTLE ON SITE AND TARRIED TWELVE MINUTES. The girl was shocked.
Be advised.

95-96 points

4/8/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

From Menlo Wine Bank
Picked by the girl, who’d had it before at a South Bay Tasting, in a failed wine cost-cutting gambit at our visit thereto...

Orange
Nice mousse
Persistent bead.

Requires a minute to settle, being a bottle of wine:

Yeasty Baguette, Stewed Strawberry-Rhubarb, and a subtle but distinct and tasty white cheddar note (one of the harbingers of oxidation) on the nose.

More dough on the palate along with a bit of damp straw, strawberry, wet clay and orange bitters on the palate.
*If not well-cellared, ergo: at Retail: these necks (of this 3/18 offering) are fading out, FYI.

Some ox, a bit of heat, but we like it, and WHERE'D THAT BOTTLE DISAPPEAR TO?

Worth looking into at 40 clams, indeed.
The first pour Stood up to ice.
92

4/7/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Recent and sustained forays into 2016 Napa wines of all kinds have been very good to us, of late, indeed.

From Vintage on The Row
Saturated Ruby

Blood Orange, Marzipan and Cran-Raspberry juice on the nose. Something like icing on balsa wood— a bit of French Oak—! as well. A delicious nose. We like THE MONKEY.

Candied cranberry, cherry compote and brioche on the tongue. The citrus notes are persistent, registering mostly as tangerine and sweet ruby red grapefruit.
A bit of mineral, a bit of twigs.

So-called “mouthwatering acidity” in abundance and truly very lifted aromas here. This is a great showing for Donum.
95-96 pts.

4/6/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

I'm with the boosters here.
Perfect bottle bought from restaurant cellar during the plague in Los Gatos...
Had it for the second time last night and it outshone a pair of more expensive vints from napa and spain. The profile has improved over the last 20 months---Cassis, plum, baking spices, toasty oak inflected topsoil.

If you can find a case of this around 65 per neck, it'll make a great house cab--I'm cleaning out a struggling resto right now with this in mind.

3/17/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

From Jero.

Exquisite and unequivocally superb.

Obtain, Covet, Cuddle Amongst.

98-99.

3/18/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Open the case, baby, because the 99B is starting to sing!

Enough fine sediment to warrant a decant, though sweet enough that none is required.

Pitch perfect Estephe Bordeaux notes of charred pencils, purple purse leather, pure cassis and pouting Francophone.

Lovely with the ribeye frîtes at Bouchon, and a ‘14 Promontory on hand for an easy and max enjoyable lesson in “NorCal v. Bdx.”

Everybody drinks; Everybody WINS.

3/15/2020 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Coming into its own, now.
X-chateau dropped at Solbar.
Red Violet with minimal fine sediment.
Lush juicy and inviting.

Promontory winery is one of the places at which I consider showing up with a carload of canned fish and weapons when the REAL virus washes the streets of the West in blood.

Cheerio!
Dillard

6/24/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

The only vintage available midtown this morning, and easily supplants memories of recent forays back into the woods if not badlands of nv bubbly.

But, one should consider twice both bottles and glasses of 2007 Champagne imho. And not just for the simple reason that 2004, 2005, 2008 and increasingly the six and nines are “better.”

When I started keeping and tradings wines in Paris in 1993, I was made aware by nego friends that INDEED, tossing off the chaff to the US market (as well the markets of Europe and AsiA, etc) was more “a big deal” than “a bit real.”

Basically, as reflexive acts of both patriotism and economics, shittier wines get pushed OUT of France, while superior bottlings “mysteriously” linger in the caves in-country.

Naturally, this is to some degree a matter of common sense, but worth keeping in mind as a retail consumer always. This is the second 2007 Salon I’ve bought at retail because either midtown (west) LA or NYC had nothing else. I hope it is my last. I was out the door under 5 bills this time, but you know: Basta.

93-94 a bit thin.

6/24/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Still have NO IDEA where folks are getting vintages for this or Laurent brute Rosé! Far as I know, it’s made up by republicans or some other sort of skinny head.

In any case the more pink, more berried and finer beaded nv Billecart Rosé is the superior drink to the Laurent Perrier Rosé, as expected. Perhaps this is why Laurent brings the metal box into play. Both are off dry, so to speak.

Likely the Laurent is a shrewder gift, more French sounding, a shiny box, AND ALSO MAY BE CONFUSED WITH PERRIER JOUËT, which, I submit, is likely a well-known/loved phenomenon over at Laurent Perrier.

More precise, balanced and longer, if a touch sweeter than L-P, better logo, girls seem to prefer it as well. (Could be a in part a salmon crossover.)
91-92

In summary:

P-JOUËT vint Rosé a notch over nv B-Salmon, which a notch over nv L-Perrier, which a notch over
vn Veuve-Cliquot, which is now just over the line of what I avoid due to quality concern.

I advise drinking Salmon Rosé exclusively in order to fund real champagne nights/flights of Salon and Krug- To whom now I retreat hastily back into company with. Ciao. JD

6/22/2019 - jdtonic wrote:

I’m a little confused— me and the guys at Sutton Wine Shop can’t find any dates on any Billecart or Laurent brut rosé. Or perhaps Brute Rosé.

So I’m reviewing the NV Laurent Rosé. (Does the cellie translate bar codes into vintages? I was feeling so on top of things earlier, too..)

A light orange pink, quick-vanishing frothy mousse, but a very persistent bead of six or seven streams of tiny bubbles. (A few neon tetras could easily become a school in there.)

I have a some hay flax and strawberry notes, a bit ponderous, but not bad. I think it’s more mineral and a bit of stems than grapefruits but I gotta say ok to Ruby Reds. Tough to shake the idea (and scent) of pink grapefruit based on the color of the beverage alone. (It’s uncannily like the juice left in the bowl after a grapefruit was therein devoured.)

90-91
I think I prefer billecart but this stuff’s similar.

(I been spoiling this bistro. I came in with this swill tonight and they said corkage if they sell it — I said how much for either and turns out they don’t sell it. POURED 1994 Hillside, 2000 Yquem, Multiple Deuce Chambertin, 96 Margaux, etc liberally all around here lately. Ah human nature.)

6/20/2019 - jdtonic Does not like this wine:

One 115 buck outlay, on a persistent “tip” (I knew better than) from Sherry Lehman later, and reality bites! I gave the 2/3 remaining in bottle to a thirsty cabbie. Funny watching my mannerly French waiter work his way to “This Sucks.”

I mention the poor retail advice only because of zero offer of recompense the next day from Sherry-L. I feel so abandoned—-And HOW on earth will I find another wine shop near midtown Manhattan??
Kidding.
Sure—But another S-L recommended Chambertin will be drunk tomorrow. A Gallois charmes with which I have experience...

The 2007 Champy GC is Too acidic, with muted tho spiced red fruits on a stove, and a weak palate. Finishes clipped and south of 88. I say about the only thing worthy and present in this vint, ironically, was the price and the not inaccurate whiff of gevrey spice. (See what leaves Lehman’s for 100 bucks from the Cotes de Nuits.) (Memories?)

87-88
Avoid the (false) bargain.
-Dillard.

[With a 2013 Estournelles St Jacques and maybe the stray lucky bottle of Gallois CC may one duck a rather $erious ‘hate-bang-for-burgundy’ herein.]

6/21/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

That pronounced ‘saline bitterness on the mid-palate’ which I saw mentioned in these pages detracts from this not-yet-ready-for-prime-time player. Great yeasty sourdough though. And yellow apples are peeking up like Garcia Lorca from behind unripe watermelons. Interesting...

I think it (that bit of December Gulf Stream) resolves into the ‘titanium peach pith’ of its older brother, but maybe not/ not until NYE 21-22. I don’t think the very picky/wealthy will waste too much time here with the 1996 still readily available, which means, by all means, buy her now if you BELIEVE.

(But I do wonder, was “saline bitterness” mentioned in early tastings by zither/ür/ersatz Illuminati in Krug juveniles from stellar vints like the 1996? Hmmm...)

Delicious with nothing at all while Mr. Chow shouts, sighs, and dies behind me on 57th. Gives battle-fatigued resto staff a noticeable lift for a while, anyway.

94-95 pts
Hold

6/18/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

My third bottle.

I dropped one outside flatiron wines SF one day, and a hobo commented on the GORGEOUS bouquet when I got back in the car a half hour later, due to her

Fine Blue/Black Fruit & Good spice as mentioned. I do really enjoy this wine, and, at the risk of seeming more daft than usual: it always feels and pours and tastes and seems very PURPLE to me. So herein: Blue and blackberries really are just trying to get to dark grapes in a sense. Sorry. I resist saying more for mysterious personal reasons. Ok: THIS WINE CONFUSES ME. I have only had one DRC Riche, the 05, and it was bigger. With the Méo 13, I suppose, there’s a “dry extract” issue. I wanted more, And, so,
As tasty as this wine very much presents,

I feel obliged to mention that I paid too much for this vint. For good or ill, as trading out at par or better—as with the 2009 Crow— has proved challenging, I will suffer through the six packs... Ha.

(I believe many men have overpaid for bottles with RICHEBOURG written on them. Yes: It helps.)

They run, thus far:
93-96 pts,
based largely on variable perceived extraction.

[ok-Will make a point of a little meo camuzet tasting with other wine studs for our mut Ben later.]

6/19/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Sometimes I think I’m a suckling kinda grade pig, tossing out As willy-nilly, all giggles and self-congratulation and flatulence — ok no offense intended here to James Suckling at all, indeed, we have never met, and that person has nothing to do with any of this...

So I worry I’m not strict enough, or I just don’t always get picky enough, etc , etc , ,
but then I open a bottle like this, with someone having opened it at age four (meaning age 1) and saddling her with an 89 and I realize no: I don’t know and care less what others are drinking, or where when or whence they bought or stored their vints & beverages. . .,

But this 2007 GC Lorentz Late Vintage Gewurtz is an OUTSTANDING wine of power, breed, & finesse.

Just about the best thing to wash down pâté on the earth, both subtle and electric, soft and intense. Lovely. White peach, beeswax, more things, mint, basil butter, lovely and unique.

Someone said it’s like Sauternes— and I left Vendôme and ran and grabbed a 2000 Yquem, thinking it may somehow befuddle or even surpass the Semillon, and you know what: THE YQUEM WAS BETTER. (I’m just spoiled by familiarity.)
But who but me starts any hint of a fight with Yquem?? Yquem is like the Eminem of wines!!!

AND almost completely different anyway and (even my precious 2k) too sweet to drink (unlike this Gewurtz) with more than a bite of food.

95-96points
sublime

[98 points the lovely and likely underrated 2000 Chateau d’Yquem. And Somebody needs a nap.]

6/18/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Clear purplish ruby.

Reticent nose of topsoil, gevrey herbs, forest berries and plum.

With air, some piquancy to herbs and intensity to both red and blue berries. Legs like corduroy.

On the palate, racy notes of soil, sand and strawberries. Like a motorcycle race on the Isle of Man which ends early but gently.

A terrific 1er Cru.
93-94 points and bottle open 15 minutes.

At 185 out the door, among the “deals” at Sherry Lehman.

6/17/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Tighter and tastier than the 2005, and

Yeah it’s a treat,

Like a cash offer 26% over asking> Praise God.

Dried red currants, fine fading bead, some potpourri, only notions of strawberries here, and stainless steel such as delivered by fighting knuckles. (Excellent with the Ning Lobster rolls.)
Tastes better with a girl around, though hip-hop legends blunt the burn a bit. Some salty brioche.

(The Bjork Box is lovely though tonight it reminds me of Sith Sabers, failed friendships and- YEEZUS- only one left, tbh. I have replenishment to effect across every board but maybe Napa Cabs ok...)

6/15/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

From two glasses at Caviar Russe

Glass one better mousse but leaden. 90-91

Glass two fresh bottle better bead 93-94

Red Apple and Bosch pears and dough.

6/16/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Is New York City the greatest town?

Well, I miss the edge more than most, gentle reader, and neither mainly for my communist leanings nor easy hard drug procurement purposes..

Why then, do I so miss the obliterated edge of Manhattan? Cuz it seasons the stew. That’s why. What fun is Meyer Lemon tart without a bit of blueberry coulis? WHAT FUN IS WHITE TAILS AT THE OPERA WITHOUT A LITTLE (Árôme du) BUM PISS ON THE WAY TO THE CAB?? [Aside: Get the lemon blueberry Mille Feuilles at Balthazar whence that cool coulis bit.

And so then: Why is (a relatively edgeless) NYC easily still the greatest of American cities? Because one can decide to walk anywhere in Manhattan and in the first wine shop one enters grab a 2012 Spottswoode for tomorrow night’s repast..,

..And in the second shop grab the 2012 Monument Tree by Copain... Oh, For whatever they may serve at some hotel bar or other...

Unusually lifted (esp. for A-Valley) aromas of dirt, strawberries, cranberry juice and maybe spruced loam.

Palate is more of the same bright flavors with that evergreen element resolving as a mint note, and truly bracing and mouthwatering acidity.

“Wow” was heard sharing this perfectly-cellared Copain, btw..

Oh look! Here comes a milk-piglet from Nomad!

Sigh...
94-95pts

6/16/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Coming around.

(Handles her booze better than splits of the 15 Vieux Lazeret, I promise you THAT.)

6/16/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

Yeah, I expected more, too, but given only my recollection of the wine itself. The problem, I suppose, is that I was just a twig-bundling peasant slogging thru the rafts of 40-80 buck chuck so very recently, indeed.

Dirty ruby— like Grenache with some Syrah and Mourvèdre thrown innit.

Raspberry schnapps, garrigue, heat and marzipan on the pointer.

I just reördered the same butternut agnolotti here at Balthazar to give her some time to lose her sharp astringency- On verra- and to stuff my pie hole FURTHUR.

6/13/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

The bottle before this last one was muted and inexpressive. Perhaps a 94 point effort.

I told mgmt—they seemed notably unperturbed. Anyhoo, boo—So I brought one to NYC.

Just a joy. Tough to beat this wine on a good night.
Very.
97-98.

6/14/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

I suspected that I’d regret getting only a half case of this wonderful vint, and here we are. All gone, so time to fess up and score it where it deserves.

The 2005 Dominus is like the Insignia taken as a brand. It is a benchmark bottling. Why are the French here in force: This is why. The easy richness, power and poise of this wine is the sort of bottling folks on 2nd or 3rd growth land in France spend a lifetime attempting to create.

Clear opaque purple. Not a hint of brick.
Sweet cassis, leather, clean brown soil and black cherries on the nose.

The delineation of the wine is such, that, if one were so trained, the relative quality of each variety in bottle can be ascertained. Gorgeous cherry, glove leather, herbs de pro, red currants, and salted chocolate nuances in the palate. Superb.

Perhaps the best steak wine in the entire world, but both paradoxically reserved and giving enough that could be paired -enjoyably- with Dover Sole.
Difficult to imagine any vinous individual not adoring (blind, gagged, neither both) this drink.

Still tannic and youthful.
Will try to find another tranche.

Obtain-Drink-Repeat
—next 15 years.
96-97pts

6/10/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

This bottle not as expressive as the last pair,

But the 2Deuce is the my favorite of the wines reared by the late Joseph Roty. A beautiful thing.

Down to two necks.
(Not panicking, exactly... more like Wistful with noticeable tremor..)

5/29/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

I drank one glass on the property. Stunning! Just Stunningly good. I swear to god, I think Ms. Fleming must somehow engineer these (based on my first ever bottle): LUDICROUSLY LOW scores/empty reviews.

Q:: BUT WHY???

I had really wanted to ambush the maker before reporting this, with suitable cash and fair wine trades in hand, but it’s an injustice to THE TRUTH itself to not leave anyone looking here with a taste of reality. (Pardon)

We drank the other glasses over dinner at SOLAGE, where my not easily impressed vampire companion made big goggle-y bug eyes at sip #1.

Likewise the sommelier. Fleming is His workplaces’ neighbor. He asked for the bottle and tapped into his phone a changing priority...
And one sip to the not expressly vinous waiter got the same wide-eyed amazement. I had to chew (ample) sediment (in both the bottle and then in my pie-hole to find a taste anywhere NEAR 92 pts.

MAYBE ITS A SLEEPER.
WIDE AWAKE NOW, Bud.
Fabulous purity. Superb flavor. Beyond notes
Not a millimeter into stew, heat, flab or twilight.

97-98 points.

A::: MORE FOR THE CASA!
(Duh)

Am very truly and dead seriously contemplating this instant a run up to Calistoga with treats from my cellar to get more TODAY.

I’m going up.
Life is short.
Napa close.

5/31/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

One of really only two wines to cut thru a pretty standard-plus tourist/Bataan march of easily forty 60-160 buck Napa cabs, in eight houses. The other was a Kelly Fleming 14.

Sometimes I go along. Rarely quietly. Did ok yesterday tho. (Some folks were tasting the whites too! I was concerned that I might never enjoy wine again, and nursed watered-down cape codders at dinner —with effort.)

Could definitely use another year or two underground, but this 2014 Oracle has good flavors, texture, mouthfeel and balance here right out of the gate. EAT WITH FOOD!
A standout beverage, among those sourced and sold in this valley at this price.

Deep opaque ruby purple. Intense cassis, granite, red plum, and —- let’s say “clean wool/wet soil/olive tapenade/aggregate stew.” Palate tired.
But The intensity — wow—and the sharpness of the black currant fruit liquor and her minerals elements here recalls immediately like either a pubescent Latour-a-pomerol or juvenile Graves of good quality and provenance. Great balance, ((tho I’ve had toobmuch wine to measure finish tbh. And I will have to re-taste to confirm the notes—))
But a persistent and tasty, and well-structured wine.

Easily the Best drink tasted here since.. ok.. hmmm... why try this?? Dunno the othersuro good one ::: This is One of only two times I found a bottles for sale here to lay down. Another time I got one to I see upside, personally, but I’m wrong a third of the time — ok I will report back if suits me/ wine survives. ((Hoping for 150-200 buck Napanook Dunn return flavored on this 70 buck Oracle blend play)) ((Dunn. Graves. Pomerol.)) hybrid

Ok— it is coming back vis: my previous Miner overachiever: I had, I believe, something like a ‘97 or 2001 Flagship miner in late 2006 on a tip from a local female punchdowner— And all of these — (equally, I mean: the wine tip, the lady-factotum, [then working at Green and Red] who provided the tip, and the 1997 Miner Cabernet ) - I found to be Very enjoyable bargains. THOSE three bottles of whatever it was by MINER- did indeed improve steadily —and punch (up) above weight class until gone. (And the friendship with that human chick failed. Of course.) That’s my memory.

Anyhoo—- so I check in at Miner every 3-4 years, and never any regret there, purchases made or nay. Miner is old school and if you’re industry or just a pushy snob willing to pay to taste what indeed you hope to buy, is... always.. and forever..

. ..A friendly house, improved now, elevator option to a nice porch facing West across the Silverado (and off the beaten-) Trail toward the sinking sun and the Great Calm Sea. The Miner vibe is more relaxed than most, and so, particularly if a good wine is found, can be very RELAXING. Sunsets here are recommended.

No doubt miner has sourced great berries, though the Franc still bosses her Merlot. Wait another year. Or decant 2-3 hours. Hope this “Oracle” is a “Harbinger” as well.
Thanks Miners.

93-94pts

3/4/2019 - jdtonic Likes this wine:

On a rare time when the staff was -(willing/able/both/neither/insane and/or renegade enuf)- to pour the 13, 14, 15 by side: I chose the 14.
(That horse blanket aroma cloying upon on the 2013 recalled -a tad for myself, too close for comfort— that odor redolent of goddam baking soda-heavy cream from the TL, tbh, and was as evident six months hence, as well.)

I prefer the 15 over the 13 for the same reason today, (Tho the non-erasure oA