3/29/2023 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Lovely, deep, vinous. Bruised strawberry in colour. Good acidity. Wild forest strawberry, a little Pinot noir Christmas spice, blood orange. Weighty and very much a food wine.

2/7/2023 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Very restrained on opening, all Lemon rind and chalk. After about 1.5 hours opened up to smoke, very faint burnt sugar, loads of mineral and orchard fruit pith.

Lovely

12/4/2022 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Cloudy dark reddish orange but very much alive. Honeycomb, orange peel, wild forest strawberry.

12/4/2022 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Consensus was that this tasted exactly like southern French tondonia. Lively and fresh at this age.

12/2/2022 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Lush, velvety, christmas spice, cocoa, blackberry & black currant with some stone minerality and enough acid to hold it all together. Certainly on the plusher side but quite beautiful all the same. Very moorish.

11/21/2022 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Simple, loads of apricot and an intense bitter almond note on the back end.

10/29/2022 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Overwhelmingly perfumed. The same dried apricots you get from a older Quarts de Chaume or Sauternes. I don't know if this has marsanne but it tastes like it. Bitter green almond on the back end and like a lot of aged Rhone whites, lacks acidity. Still a wonderful wine.

10/8/2022 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Dark golden. Loads of acidity, brulee pineapple, cooked apricot, marmalade. Low sugar.

9/27/2022 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Fully tertiary, loads of leather, bramble. Quite a good amount of acid and tannin with fading fruit.

5/30/2022 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Singing. Mineral, apricot, candied kumquat and mission fig. Medium short finish is the only thing holding it back.

1/31/2022 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Full throttle Napa Cab. Very nice for the style and a good QPR for the genre. I found it a little cumbersome and velvety and a bit more high tone and lift would have propped it up a couple of points. Sill, a crowd pleaser and it's easy to understand why.

11/8/2021 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Juicy, rich without being over ripe. Very enjoyable, not into tertiary but still fully resolved.

2/3/2021 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

This champagne was absolutely, totally in my wheelhouse style wise. 55% Meunier, 30% Chard, and 15% Pinot Noir, 11 years on the lees, 100% oak.

Great autolytics, red apple, dried red berries, good minerality. Big, deep champagne but still lively with good lift.

2/3/2021 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Very Modern but a lot of structure. Still years of life left.

1/25/2021 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Painfully young

12/3/2020 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Lovely deep gold colour, good autolytics, fresh, obviously low dosage. All the right things but not earth shattering.

10/26/2020 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Not massively corked but even to my non-sensitive to TCA nose it was undrinkable.

9/22/2020 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Dead as a doorknob. Perfect storage since release, tasted like a stewed dead Italian wine, all prunes and balsamic. Threw off massive sediment.

4/1/2019 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

A serious rose. No a serious wine. As another poster mentioned, almost a malo complexity and creaminess to it. Dark strawberry, flower petal and a lot of depth.

2/25/2019 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Time has done good things to this. Rounded it out, deepened it. Now a light, golden honey yellow, the previous pithy lime peel has turned more into a candied lime, not sweet but no longer with the scorching acidity. The Chenin is in the forefront but the blend keeps a lot more minerality in the wine than a straight Chenin would. Surprising amount of sediment.

12/10/2018 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Massive but balanced in every way. A joy to drink.

11/8/2018 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Superb. Large but not massive with a great balance. Certainly not a overwrought cult cab that uses extraction to gain points but this isn't a small wine. Great acidity, fresh, dark fruit, wonderfully smooth tannins.

10/9/2018 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Great nose. It really comes across as a rich wine from a harsh site. Not quite sappy but with a great backbone of gravel.

4/9/2018 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Starting to darken, honey notes and some RS that is very well integrated. Lovely.

4/2/2018 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Significant tertiary flavours but still very much alive and singing. Underbrush, smoke, frankincense, black fruit.

4/2/2018 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Dangerously easy to drink. Should gain some complexity with more age but certainly not shut down.

4/2/2018 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Needed an hour of air. Still quite young. Upside potential.

3/6/2018 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Had a little funk to blow off but an hour slow-ox created something spectacular. This was very much alive. Most of the sweetness is gone but there was a wonderful burnt toffee aspect that spoke of sugar decades ago.

1/2/2018 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

From Magnum. Exceptionally good, best of three mags that I've enjoyed over the past 10 years. No signs of slowing down, didn't break down after being open for a couple of hours, no bricking, ripe dark fruit though no prunes, stewed or heaviness. Very distinct smoke on the nose and palate that was unique to this bottle vs my previous two.

11/23/2017 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

2006 Disgorgement. Very mature though not sherried. All hazelnut and dark cocoa. First 5 minutes of the bottle were the best and it slipped a little over the course of 40 minutes. Still a stupendous bottle of champagne.

10/30/2017 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Massive in every way but so balanced that you can't tell.

9/11/2017 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Delicious. Serious but so easy to drink, this was young but in no way painful. Plenty of acidity but deep enough to not need food (though greatly enhanced by some roasted chicken).

4/7/2017 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

A baby.

4/7/2017 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Superb. Ages ahead of it.

1/3/2017 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

The hype is real. This was superb. Best young Spätlese I've ever had. So pure, so layered, so driven. Like holding a massive weight and jumping into a lake of flavour, you're pulled through layer after layer with no way to get off the ride and no end in sight.

1/3/2017 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

From Magnum. Easy to like from first pop to many hours after Christmas dinner when it was finally finished (not a lot of white drinkers at the table). Certainly bloomed with some air.

1/3/2017 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Superb and got better the longer it was open.

1/3/2017 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

A lot of pear and quince, very nice. Most people at the table thought it was esoteric grower champagne.

12/12/2016 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Opened very austere but opened over an hour to gain weight and tropical fruit. Quite lovely.

11/3/2016 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Simple but fine. Well made, good typicity, the definition of a good table wine.

10/24/2016 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Singing and not tired in the least. Candied lemon with massive acidity which as it warmed and aired backed off a bit leading to a very interesting vinous/concord grape finish.

10/24/2016 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Disgorgement date said 2020 so I'm assuming a typo and it was 2010 as more likely than 2002. Fairly dark gold, still good acid and minerality to go with the usual selosse autolytics. Everything you want and look for in a Selosse.

9/12/2016 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

93-94 points. Not shut down at all. Mellowing from the last ones I had about 18 months ago. A little darker, VERY bollinger both in nose and palate. Autolytic dominant (biscuit, a little graham cracker, some grilled brown bread) with some bruised apple.

9/1/2016 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Massive acidity, lemon verbina, lemon oil and lime peel. A little whiff of fresh hops. Opened and gained weight with time.

8/22/2016 - Rob_Sutherland Does not like this wine:

Underwhelming. Easy enough to drink but very little going on. Hides its alcohol well.

7/5/2016 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Super quaffable, lighter weight, amazing red fruit. Great QPR

7/5/2016 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Completely tertiary but still alive with deep dark fruit, the vague memory of blackberry jam, cherry and fig compote and ample heat.

6/6/2016 - Rob_Sutherland wrote:

Fine. About as expected, a little one noted and simple but very good for the price.

5/31/2016 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

In a lovely place. Elegant, subtle but with a strong backbone. Everything you wish and hope for in a mini-Rayas.

5/30/2016 - Rob_Sutherland Likes this wine:

Obviously massive bottle variation but this was full on sweet. In and around the range of a demi-sec and maybe even a doux champagne. Very very smokey with bruised pear and apple