1/14/2020 - busboy wrote:

Bad cork, bummer. France needs to get with the programme on screwcaps. I've had a bad week for corks, such a waste of money. Even very serious wines age very well under screwcap. I have now tasted a huge range of wines up to 18 years old sealed with a cap and my support for it is now virtually without reservation. I'm not sure a cork has any advantages really...

1/14/2020 - busboy Does not like this wine:

Held one bottle back to see if age would do something imteresting, but it didn't.

1/14/2020 - busboy wrote:

Hot, stale.

12/29/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

This stuff really is the business.

12/29/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

Good, but not as good as it should be for the price (even in NZ). Perhaps I kept it a bit long, but French equivalents age this far without much trouble. Over the years as I drink more of the competition, I am slowly souring on Millton.

12/29/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

Amazing stuff. Turned out to be pretty well completely dry, very fresh, citrus, straw, no petrol, great intensity. It had been recorked in the 1990s, someone obviously thought it was worth looking after.

12/29/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

Very nice, quite delicate. Didn't survive two days in the fridge very well.

10/11/2019 - busboy Does not like this wine:

Bland and unimpressive.

10/6/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

Really enjoyed my last bottle. At 7 years, the wine is rich and harmonious, not porty, succulent, running the gamut from red fruits through to leather.

5/27/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

An above average performance from my bin of mystery old Rieslings (and the average quality is quite high). Tastes not unlike a young Riesling, plenty of acidity to keep it perky, but it has a wonderful golden colour and aromas and flavours of straw, beeswax, granny smith... No meaningful amounts of petrol. Not the best ever, but definitely good.

4/28/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

Chardonnay is rarely this good for €6. A slightly simpler version of the 1er cru version, but still a lovely wine. Luscious and generous with much ripe tropical fruit flavours and a satisfyingly buttery mouthfeel. Both this and the 1er cru at a 50% higher price are outstanding value in good vintages (and reasonable value in bad ones).

4/26/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

Delicious :)

4/26/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

Given the inflated prices for Pinot Noir, this wine stands out as being pretty bloody nice for €9. Medium body, medium tannin, reasonable bouquet, nicely integrated and harmonious.

4/26/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

Still very good, 10 years in.

3/29/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

Still excellent.

3/20/2019 - busboy Likes this wine:

Frankly pretty good. On the lighter side.

12/26/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

A really full flavour number. Ample sugar, acid, and kerosene. A little bit funky. Off dry but tending towards medium.

12/20/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Was pretty happy with this second bottle. Silky smooth tannins and plenty of fruit still going strong.

12/16/2018 - busboy wrote:

A difficult year. I was looking for a bargain Pinot but it didn't really pan out. It's not a disaster of anything, but it won't be my stocking-stuffer.

12/16/2018 - busboy wrote:

Good but not the best in my view. Off dry style, nice balance, but of lighter intensity and complexity.

11/27/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Really quite delicious!

11/27/2018 - busboy wrote:

Kept a bottle back a few years to see if it went somewhere interesting. Can't really say that it did.

11/27/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

The junior wine from this producer, and admittedly not quite in the same league as their top drop, but nevertheless it is excellent. Like its big brother, it is a festival of hidden flavours, rewarding careful quaffing. That said, it is also eminently drinkable, very elegant and harmonious. The fruit tends more on the tropical side, and there is plenty of acid keeping it upright. Presumably it will drink well for some years yet.

11/24/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Where do I start? This is weird stuff. It smells almost overpoweringly of molasses. There's some rhubarb if you look for it, and a boatload of sultana. Oddly it doesn't smell or taste particularly of botrytis. As it warms up other fruit can be detected, strawberries, apricot, banana, green apples. Cinnamon or cloves, perhaps? There's something reminiscent of heavy oil or grease. Plenty of sugar, but nothing crazy, and an appropriate level of acidity to hold it together. I like it more and more as I get over the initial shock of all that molasses.

11/11/2018 - busboy wrote:

Nasty aftertaste, a bit astringent. Something gone wrong.

11/1/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

A difficult wine to review. Both bottles I have opened I have been less impressed with than when I bought them. There is an unusual smell and flavour, vaguely reminiscent of the more farmyardy red wines. Silage, one might say. This isn't necessarily bad, but it is unusual. If you can get past this (or indeed once it has burned off after a night in the fridge), there is some undeniably delicious tropical fruit stuff underneath, and a nice rich oiliness or tardiness. It has great mouthfeel. But somehow these two aspects don't mesh together in a way I enjoy. You should still buy a bottle for interest however, if you're contemplating it. The producer also has plenty of other outstanding wines (at prices lower than this one).

11/1/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Quite a lively acidity not hiding behind the oak at all. Still, this is a strongly oaky wine, and a fine example of the style.

11/1/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Good but not as good as some of its peers.

10/14/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Starting to taste like its age, but I'm not nervous yet.

10/9/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

I continue to be quite impressed by this wine. Definitely worth topping up in future good vintages. Light and fresh and elegant, fruits tending towards the more tropical end, if there's any wood it's bloody well hidden.

9/26/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Still delicious. The epitome of soft velvety tannins.

8/25/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

It's a testament to the quality of this wine that it could still be delicious after 14 years. That is unprecedented territory for a Chardonnay. This was my last bottle, and it did not disappoint. I found a lot of bottle variation over the course of a case, despite the screwcap, with some displaying markedly more oiliness than others. I drank the first at 10 years of age, and the wine did not develop noticably over the following 4 years. Crisp acidity still shines through and doubtless helped the wine stay fresh this long. I found that once opened the wines tended to deteriorate relatively promptly even under vacuum and refrigeration. I suggest a brief airing followed by consumption at around 12-14 degrees in one evening or over two at a pinch.

8/25/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

A huge wine, very animal. Drank very nicely fresh from the wine fridge at about 14 degrees, but I found that after it warmed up further the leathery, foresty, and animally stuff was so powerful as to obscure the rather lovely fruit background, so I kept it in the fridge between dinners.

8/25/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Lovely. Still tasting fresh thanks to a lively acidity. Classic chalk dust and citrus stuff with a good whiff of something from the world of petroleum without being the full kerosene experience. A drier and sharper smell. And also something that could be coconuts? Not very much sugar, but it's not bone dry. Perhaps not the very best from my lucky dip old Rieslings, but definitely good.

8/25/2018 - busboy Does not like this wine:

It had the tannin to go the distance, but nevertheless didn't. Boring.

7/14/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Definitely a great wine, and probably interesting for people familiar with Bordeaux wines as an international comparator, but as more or less by definition the case with premium wines, the quality can simply never live up to the sticker price. Having tried a few more of the "original" French competitors to this wine in recent years, I wouldn't pay beyond about €25 for this in Europe. That's still very much premium wine territory in my book. With taxes in NZ you could double that figure but that would still represent a very cheap acquisition for a bottle of this overpriced prestige product. To my tastes it is drinking perfectly now, but I'm not rushing to finish up my stash. A very professionally made wine, all beautifully integrated and harmonious. Black fruits, tobacco, oak, smooth tannins, just enough sweetness. Lovely. It would be my go-to Bordeaux style wine at a third of the price!

7/14/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

I'm not enough of a Barolo expert to judge the intricacies of this wine, but my overall drinking enjoyment was not as high as it ought to be for the price. A decent - and certainly different - wine, but probably too old, even for something as impenetrably tannic as Barolo. A touch of madeira and interesting but not outstanding aromas and flavours in the red fruits and dried herbs departments.

7/14/2018 - busboy wrote:

Cork damage, madeirised contents.

7/14/2018 - busboy wrote:

Burned out, just the alcohol left really.

7/14/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Love this stuff. Two for two, both bottles excellent and very much the same.

6/20/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Great stuff. A bit more of the barnyard and leather in this year, but the intensity of fruit is still there. A more interesting wine than I recall from previous years (not that I ever failed to love it really)...

6/20/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Fantastic. Amazing how well this stuff ages. A very tropical number, intense floral aromas and great richness of fruit. Sweet but by no means cloying. Certainly an apero type wine, too sweet for most food matches but not sweet enough to be a dessert wine. Happily, it packs ample punch to be appreciated on its own. Glad to have another bottle of this.

6/7/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

A perfectly fine wine but not all that memorable.

5/19/2018 - busboy wrote:

Past it.

5/6/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

I thought this was great. Aside from the kerosene notes, you'd think it was bottled last year. Great freshness and vibrancy, citrus blossoms etc. But also a chalk dust smell and a light to medium kerosene note. Pretty well bone dry with a robust core of acidity.

4/26/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Definitely a hit, but a bit long ago to give a detailed review.

4/26/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Happily, the pleasure contained in this bottle confirms that the first was simply a dud. Great intensity and depth, black currants right through to leather. A lovely wine.

4/17/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

I'm pretty new to ice wines, so my points of comparison are mainly all the other styles of dessert wines out there. Of which there are a great many interesting and delicious things! This wine is certainly nice. Very nice. It is a beautiful apricot gold, pours with a wonderful viscosity, and smells of stonefruit and melons. In the mouth it's more pronouncedly apricot, with a sweetness that gets if anything a tad ahead of the acidity, but its poise is not lost. It's very clean, the closest you get to an off-piste (or even non-fruit) flavour might be something beeswaxy in the finish.

4/14/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Outstanding. A dark rich wine with great power and length. My recollections of previous bottles were not as good as this one. Not sure if that's to do with age or bottle to bottle variation.

4/8/2018 - busboy Likes this wine:

Excellent. Very harmonious, very elegant. No dominant characteristic, but very evidently chardonnay. A classic, basically.