4/18/2019 - All Is Whale wrote:

The last wine I recall at Wallys Napa tasting and only one word comes to mind : Pleasure.

4/15/2019 - All Is Whale wrote:

Tasted at an event. And what I gathered is those who have the money happily drink bottles and bottles of this while they spend all day making million dollar deals riding around in their BENTLEYS. And I am not mad at that!

4/15/2019 - All Is Whale wrote:

Another one I tasted at Wallys Napa event. Had a few pours by now but two things I recall are 1) the LONG LINE and 2) the very funky taste (mushrooms). Its hard to say I'm not a fan of funk when talking about such an expressive wine but I will say Keeping It Real (who is a fan of that taste) really really really enjoyed it. HE SMILED! Hahaha

4/15/2019 - All Is Whale wrote:

Tasted at Wallys Napa Event (which was great btw). A wine both novices and well-honed palates can enjoy. Composed and stylish. Stands up to the big rep all things considered.

Oh and very high tannins if I'm not mistaken.

4/15/2019 - All Is Whale wrote:

Tasted at a frenetic event but first impressions were giving plenty NOW. A bit expensive imho but certainly the most delightful Staglin to date.

4/15/2019 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Tasted at a teeming event but first impressions were impressive, inviting, thicc...The superlatives keep coming and coming. Plenty to enjoy now with plenty in reserve to enjoy on a pleasant date.

WOTN

12/1/2018 - All Is Whale wrote:

My last bottle.

First day tasted like GUNK.

Had half the bottle left on day 2. Tasted as nature intended; fruit opens up and the only trace of gunk was some pleasant charcoal.

It's a filling kind of wine.

Not one I would cellar again.

5/18/2018 - All Is Whale wrote:

Skittles. Alcoholic Skittles. Still not every sip but getting there.

BTW - Anyone who tells you caps age slower than corks is effing w/ you. Had this just last year and did not like it tasting all over the map. However, this one took a giant leap towards consistency. Need to stand capped bottles instead of laying on their side which is another track altogether. But now you know.

Almost liked it. Fulfilled my alcoholic fantasy of "adult" skittles anyway.

3/11/2018 - All Is Whale wrote:

Concentrated spicy rasberry nose.

Goes down smooth tho.

Not much fun but not a chore either.

Great vintage obvi

1/23/2018 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

@ Wine House (LA) Napa Tasting

I'm glad :)

Not as mouth-filling as others but stylish AND attractive.

Memo : thx to sales team for the calendars. #Presents that dont suck #Brownie points.

1/21/2018 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

@ Wine House (LA) Napa Tasting

I LOVE this wine. Graceful, mouth-coating, and delicious.
Out of all the wines at $130 (ish) this was my favorite (def top 2)

1/21/2018 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

@ Wine House (LA) Napa Tasting

Same as previous note on Howell Mtn except tony.
Would not be mad.

Keeping It Real said, in his experience, Mt. Veeder would age graceful while it's best to drink Howell Mtn now. My door is open ke ke ke

1/21/2018 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

@ Wine House (LA) Napa Tasting

Family-owned.
Smooth and sated. When I think of wine, THIS is what I imagine.
Also, while all the others seemed to race to the finish, the slow pace of this caught me off-guard...beautiful and slow. I might just drink O'Shaughnessy from now on. 100% serious.

1/13/2018 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Ruby. Medium body.

BARNYARD NOSE and a bit in palate.

Smooth entry. Acidic mid and the fruit (sour cherry + strawberry) to match.

Sangiovese was once described to me as "Delicious". And you know what? Even tho this has elements I Hate (barnyard, high acid, spicy) I actually like it. Accept the equally potent fruit flavors of Chianti.

QPR.

12/31/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

PRETTY.

Looks pretty. Smells pretty. Tastes pretty (fruitosis tanninyus loosely translated as pretty with a bit of dazzle).

Happy New Year.

12/25/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Tar-infused nose.

Smoooth and grippy. Fruit and floral (not the jasminy variety but mellow and lovely). Someone said "potpourri"...spot. on.

Finish just keeps coming back. Or is it me who keeps going back? kekeke

Merry Christmas aka "What's chewing?!" Day.

12/23/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Really pretty good if you can get over how bad the grape sounds.

Candy at pnp but even then it had depth.

Was humming at about when the orc cop in Bright had his "blooded" experience with the elf.

Something tells me this wont be my last Ridge XD

12/21/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

This the one you give to people who dont wine or who dont alcohol, in general. You know why? Cuz its sah-weet. JUST. SWEET.

12/14/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

Not too good. But not too bad either. Safe.

Rock and citrusy lemon. Not working together just yet.

Of course the sub $20 tag doesnt hurt :)

Couple minutes in glass helps.

12/2/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

First thing I noticed was the light color. Some people would think it too blasphemous to even touch (it is THAT light). To them I would say You missing out.

Palate had equal parts ripeness (pomegranate) and fleshy juice (blueberry, dark cherry). And something foreign about it (plum and wood?)

Enough here to like.

11/26/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Fruit forward. Acidic. Clean. A bit inconsistent but always good stuff.

Dude........dunno how this will age but at 70% the price of the Kistler in previous note, I may never buy an expensive white ever.

Not patrician like the aged Kistler but young and lively. Like it.

Screwcap btw.

11/23/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

Went to this winery back in the day and remember quite liking this. Not complex - just had a flat out good taste. And most times that is good enough for me.

This one tasted medicinal, however. Other flavors are there too...good flavors of dark berries and some cocoa. But the medicine is in the forefront...ick.

Doesnt smell half bad...I'll drink to that :)

More tannin than anything I've had recently (puck puck)

You won't find a better bottle at this price. But good luck finding one.

(Give it some air and enjoy)

11/20/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

LEMON. Like biting into an actual lemon.

That Sancerre/pho life

11/13/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Light and smooth. Very nice. Clean.

Got grapefruit towards the end but whatevers.

Who knew Keepin It Real had Whites !?!?

10/30/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

"Chateau Liberace!" (she's cute just go with it :)

But quite honestly, this WAS a joy.

The usual dark flavored variety but always a little extra nuance ( hit of sweetness or smooth vanilla cinnamon cream). Better than average.

10/22/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

So honestly, bought this only becuz I misread it as De La Hustle. But you know what?

Rubber nose. A fruited condom? (cuz its sexier than saying fruity rubber bands)

First sip was ... lets just say theres something very very good about the back end ... meaning I tasted something very very good in the back of my mouth (mentioning this because it happened EVERY sip).

Hi acid. Good drank.

10/16/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

One note wonder. But when its this good, what else you need?!

Im talkin about canned peaches (don't front...you know how good they were when you were a kid).

Also, citrus and grass or something.

Like it enough.

10/14/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Revisited at a wedding.

Just tasty juice man.

And for those of you in Napa who happen to read this, what are you still doing there?? You need to get the hell out of there XP . . .

10/11/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

Smells funky like horse farms. Less funky glass 2. Thankfully nothing funky about the taste. Mingling of fruit and mint julip (?). At this price a no brainer. Cranberry juice and watery finish. If this is good, YOU KNOW 2010 was awesome.

UPDATED : Opened bottle after keeping in cooler 2 days (day 1 was with coravin). And I gotta tell ya. I mean, I guess horse funk nose was still kinda there its just ... it smelled GOOD this time. Soft horse funk, I suppose. Palate seemed aged also. Cranberry juice and an "interesting" mid.

9/26/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

NICE. %15.5 but no heat at all.

Balance of nice fruit and earth. Nice whiff of tobacco. Got candy as night went on but still goes down nice.

Only one word I can think of : NICE (you guessed it)

9/24/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

Good enough. Bit flat but the sweetness comes through to make you forget.

Had with pho. Mmmm..mmmm...mmmmmmm

9/21/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

MY First La Tour! okok. But this IS my first Margaux and I. Am. Glad.

Red fruit or flora nose. V. soft, elegant, not a bad smell at all.

Red fruit, FLORAL, and that energized part of a ripe green pepper palate. A bit watered down. But man I "get. it". I get why everyone says Margaux wines are so florable (hehe)

9/17/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

SPICY. Coated plum (quite good when present which is from entry to finish soz).

Medium to medium+ tannin. Another great 2014 Bdx qpr.

I think it will get vegetal past peak. Best to drink 1-2 yrs, Id say

9/12/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

Good (strong) nose of dark fruit and gas (dunno which one just v. gassy).

Tastes the same except sweet (too sweet she says).

If there wasnt such a thing as whiskey I might like this.

9/7/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

Flat. Bit alcoholic (v. slight). Undecided. I guess Napa decided to go BIG alcohol one day. Not sure how I feel about that either tbh.

9/4/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Winner Winner...Hint of cherry coke on palate (gotta like that). More acid and less flesh than last bottle in January. But same exact taste from glass 1 to glass 3 (balance of fruit and acid). Nothing out of the ordinary.

Memo : Black coffee might've swayed my tastebuds but ane asy drink, I'd say.

9/3/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

PnP. Was super good on open but then a chore after about 30 min. Oak and pepper nose. Not a particularly good sniff, but palate more than makes up for it. Super tart and fresh...in a word DELICIOUS. Then...I dunno.

8/27/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Crisp and clean (enough).
Worth noting : fruit forward first day. buttery second day. Dunno why it would last that long 4u tho kekek

8/21/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

For $20 this is great. Only thing is a bit vegetal. Otherwise, nice and sweet.

8/10/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

PnP - Just OK - Alcohol

8/6/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Spicy Red Fruit (not mingling yet, but there). Slight expanding candy finish (cranberry juice). Dude, didn't think I'd like this as much as I did. Delighted. Opens up in glass. This and beef jerky = not bad.

Day 2 - kinda flat. Cranberry, black fruit, alcohol.

Verdict - Drink now. Its a good time (pun intended)

8/2/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

Have one for the craggy old hag in your life...You wont regret it.

7/30/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Absolute gem. Cant say anything bad about this affordable red (first I recall). Nothing off-putting. Just dam good. Only advice I can give is age it age it age it. Wish I aged it. Buy one (case).

7/23/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Cheap and tasty.

7/20/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

Drink now to get new shoe (athletic one, like running shoes). Drink next year to get mix of fruit (blackbeery, cherry) and sweet green pepper. Bit vegetal.

Memo - Day 3 Coravin - Fran said "price appropop"

7/16/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

CREAM. Grapey. This one only lasted 20 min in glass but ALLOWING wine to age makes a better tasting experience than drinking them young for sure. Gonna have to age more wine lol

7/11/2017 - All Is Whale Likes this wine:

-Gooddddd
-Smells tart. Tastes sweet (close but not candy)
-Juice fills out enough.
-Except for watered down herb finish, LIKE IT.
-Time and again Bdx makes the tasty affordable wines too. CRAZY good. I
feel like if I ever visit, forget drinking it. I'll swim in it

7/10/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

Everything CWilliam said plus an earthy (the good kind) finish - Alcy

7/6/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

Oldie but goodie - Cigar box in full effect - Shout out to Keeping It Real - I'm at home and I STILL taste it

7/5/2017 - All Is Whale wrote:

Smells pretty good - Blackberry vanilla hints of chocolate oak add depth - Acidic structure keeps it together - MINTY - Q.P.R.