12/25/2023 - dagij wrote:

An unexpected design did not exactly boost my expectations. But this is really, really good. Deep dark, almost black (like the bottle) color. Fruity nose dominates by blackberries, blackcurrant and blueberries, but also with fine hints of vanilla, coffee, and a mineral streak. Full bodied and smooth attack, really refined tannins here! High acidity lifts the mid palate to a fresh and salivating finish. Great wine. Good to drink now, will keep for decades

8/18/2023 - dagij Likes this wine:

Clearly aged with an amber rim.balsamic notes of cedar and furniture polish emerge from the glass combined with notes of tobacco and dried fruit. Medium bodied attack. A very dry mouthfeel kicks in on the mid palate. The wine has clearly lost most of the fruit, and has passed into old -almost senile - age. Lots of balsamic tones in the aftertaste, little fruit excepr some dried prunes. Good wine, but drink up.

2/19/2023 - dagij Likes this wine:

A wonderful, classic Riesling, drunk much too young, much too late in the evening, after much too many other bottles of good wine. Lemon, lime, green apples, and lots of petroleum on the nose. Good volume in the mouth, high acidity (surprise!), good green apple fruit, and a long aftertaste dominated by lemon and green apples. A smashing Riesling, give it at least five more years.

5/1/2022 - acyso wrote:

Vinetasters: 2019 Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Skokie, IL): Served double blind. A mix of red and black fruit, but slightly stewy and feeling dried out. Thin and empty on the palate, missing midpalate, but with structural elements all jutting out, especially the alcohol and tannin. Feels like a wine that has dried out. My 5th, group's 5th.

12/27/2021 - dagij Likes this wine:

Another one opened just to confirm (or disconfirm) my previous rather disappointing encounter with this wine. Light red with a rather light rim. Quite classic nose dominated by red cherries, some warm earth and dry wood, and a hint of licorice in the background. Medium bodied attack, cherry fruit on the mid-palate, a hint of licorice, fine tannins and good acidity. Medium length. A very light version of BdM, quite pleasant, but somewhat boring. The first impression is confirmed: this is more similar to a good Chianti (at half the price at least) than a BdM.

11/1/2021 - dagij Likes this wine:

First taste of this vintage. From magnum. Deep ruby color with few hints of aging, almost black core. Decanted 4-5 hours before serving. Nose dominated first by dark berries (blackberries, hints of black currant) and blue plums. After a while in the glass, wonderful gushes of provencal spices complement the sweet fruit. And, after some more hours, a mineral, steely tone fulfills the complex aroma. This is really great. Full bodied attack with smooth tannins, high concentration of fruit in the middle part, and a fresh and spicy finish. Long and mineral aftertaste where the fruit and the spices compete for attention. Remarkably elegant in the mouth. The tasting curve is linear, fresh, nicely balancing dryness and sweetness. This is the best edition of Trevallon I have tasted. Will only get better with age, but is superb right now.

10/29/2017 - dagij wrote:

This wine has lost some popularity in recent times due to a rather strict and traditional style which makes it quite difficult to taste young. Now, having reached it´s 23d year, it is just a wonder. Almost like a classified Bordeaux. Colour is light brown with a purple core. Explicitly aged aromas of leather, tobacco and strong animal tones (almost like smelling a barnyard), but also with some tones of prunes and sweet cherries. Medium to full bodied, smooth but rather dry tannins, sweet attack in the mouth which then gives place to more animal and leathery tones in the aftertaste. Has lost some sweetness, and is dominated by tertiary aromas, but still has enough fruit to make a sweet impression in the mouth. Long and fresh. This is just impressive, and even better: it is just 12.5 % alcohol which underlines the elegance of this wine. I hope the new versions of this wine will age as beautiful as this.

12/3/2021 - dagij wrote:

This wine really started reflections on tasting wine, describing it, and scoring it. I bought this wine non-tasted on the quality of being number 12 on the Wine Spectator's list of wine of the year (score 97), and being available. The color is rather light, reminiscent of a (serious) pinot noir, with a hint of brown at the rim. The nose is rather muted, even after several hours in a carafe, but exudes tones of cherry and red berries with hints of dry earth. Medium bodied, nice balance, but doesn't have any punch as I expect from a Brunello. Fine balance, but the main impression is just of a modest wine in the mouth. The aftertaste does not fix the mouth impression; it's easy, light, and quite short. There is nothing wrong with this wine, it's just unimpressive, ordinary, and - well - quite boring. How anyone can rate this at 97 is beyond my grasp. If this is 97, how do you score a 1990 Latour or a 1988 Sassicaia? This is the last time I buy wines on recommendation from WS. Whatever; I now got some bottles for grilled sausages.

10/1/2021 - IamNotDrinkingAny#@!%Merlot wrote:

This either needs a lot more time in bottle, or a much longer decant. Opened it - no decant - first sip an hour later. Light and elegant but lacking depth and complexity. Tasted more of a simple Chianti to go with a pizza. Will give this another go perhaps in a year or at least with a serious decant.

7/4/2020 - Tom Henriksveen wrote:

Decline stsrtet, drink up!

10/7/2021 - dagij Likes this wine:

Clear greenish straw, very young appearance. Classic nose when aired for about an hour and raised to a tempereature of approximately 14-14 degrees Celsius: first tones of exotic fruit (peach and lime, pineapple), next a touch of nuts and honey, and finally a clear mineral tone of slate (almost a bit "oily"). Full bodied, high acidity for a Meursault, lots of lime and pineapple in the first part, then the wine fleshes out to a more mineral finish with a searing acidity and a lime and citrus dominated aftertaste. Very good length. This seems a bit too young at the moment, and will probably flesh out and become more "nutty" after some years. The potential is clearly there. A superb wine that wil earn a (much) higher score in 3-5 years. Drunk with a classic (and a bit old fashioned) "sole Walewska" with crayfish, lobster and sole, A stunning combination.

9/8/2011 - huse wrote:

An absolutely delicious dry Nahe Riesling with a great mineral personality, grown on the quartzite-slate-basalt soils of the steep, south facing ‘Felseneck’ vineyard (Bockenau, in a side valley of the Nahe). Bright lemon yellow in color with a greenish glow and a gorgeous aromatic bouquet with intense scents of peach, fresh apple, stone fruit and abundant mineral elements. The complex, powerful palate is dominated by ripe and succulent Riesling fruit, an unctuous mouth feel and a beautiful layer of acidity that holds it all together. This wine finishes impressively long. Although already very approachable, it is in my opinion still too young now ; it should develop nicely with 2-3 additional years of cellaring.

Een heerlijke droge Nahe-Riesling met een geweldige minerale persoonlijkheid, geteeld op de kwartsiet-leisteen-basalt-hellingen van de steile, zuidelijk georiënteerde 'Felseneck’-wijngaard (Bockenau, in een zijdal van de Nahe). Schitterende citroengele kleur met een groene gloed en een prachtig, aromatisch bouquet met intense aroma’s van perzik, verse appel, steenvruchten en overvloedige minerale elementen. De krachtige, complexe smaak wordt gedomineerd door rijp en sappig Riesling-fruit, een weelderige mondvulling en een tintelende, frisse aciditeit, die het geheel mooi schraagt. Indrukwekkend lange finale. Hoewel al zeer toegankelijk, is de wijn (naar mijn mening) nog wat te jong ; geef hem nog 2-3 jaar kelderrust.

4/29/2021 - dagij Likes this wine:

Just a short note: this is an incredible Brunello-value, although not amongst the very best. Deep garnet, enticing nose of dark cherries, warm wood and dry earth as well as a mentholated note. Medium to full bodied, sweet fruit all the way to the aftertaste. Finish is fresh and with fine grained tannins. Medium to long aftertaste, somewhat warm but not alcoholic. Beautiful to drink now, but will keep for a decade and improve for at least five more years. My last note was with the wine to accompany hearty food, and it fared less well with that food. This time it was drunk on its own, just for the hell of it. OK, so the note didn't get that short... (what they call manic descriptive?)

2/7/2021 - dagij Likes this wine:

A favorite Bordeaux that never deceives. This is incredibly young for a fifteen year old wine. The color is still deep purple with only minor hints at brown. Primary fruit still dominates the nose - blackcurrant, blueberries - combined with vanilla, dry wood/tiles and a nice smoky tone. After an hour or so in a carafe, a tone of dark chocolate emerges to add complexity. Medium bodied, very fresh attack in the mouth, then sweet blackcurrant fruit takes over on the midpalate, while the aftertaste is lifted by a very fine freshness. Tannins are ultra-smooth, but still with tight grips. Long aftertaste. Maybe I expected more complexity and more tertiary tones, and thus became a bit disappointed. This is clearly a very good wine, but is it a bit too simple? I have some bottles left, and I'm unsure whether it is a clever move to age them further, as I have hinted at in earlier tasting notes. Will the fruit survive the tannins? Now I'm not sure. Still a beautiful wine performing well above its class.

2/5/2021 - dagij Likes this wine:

Straw yellow, on the verge of becoming golden. Open and inviting nose with classic Riesling aromas of green and red apples with pronounced mineral aromas of petroleum, gun powder/iron and slate. Mouth watering! Medium bodied attack, citrus and green apples in the first part of the mouth, then it expands with some mineral/petro tones in the end. The wine expands furthermore in the aftertaste giving room to tones of more mature lemon/lime and green apples. High acidity adds freshness, and lift the aftertaste into an almost etherical finish. Very long, but a bit tart. The final impression is bit hard, very mineral, perhaps too young. I do not have experience with this wine, but I'll keep my other bottles for at least five years (a promise I'll surely break....)

1/17/2021 - dagij Likes this wine:

At fourteen years of age, one should expect a wine to be quite mature, even in a Vintage like 06. This is still extremely young, something that is displayed clearly in the ruby, almost black color. No hints of ageing. Muted nose at first (decanted one hour before drinking), slowly opening up to tones of cherries (red) and blackcurrant, complemented with more classic tones like warm bricks/earth and chocolate. Medium bodied, high acidity. very fine tannins, beautiful fruit that emerges on the finish: cherries and blackcurrant. The whole is complemented by that minerally feel of warm bricks. Beautiful with a "bistecca fiorentina", but a bit tart to drink on its own. Keep for at least five more years, This will need time.

10/30/2020 - dagij Likes this wine:

In a tasting of Barolos from B. Giacosa, G. Mascarello, A. Conterno, G. Conterno, Roagna, Anselma, and more. Light brown-red. Nose dominated by a sour tone a-la red currant and red cherries, but also with notes of dry wood, licorice and some vanilla. Medium bodied attack, fresh/acid fruit like red currant on the mid palate. Next the quite brutal tannins kick in, overwhelming the fresh fruit. The aftertaste is dry and tannic, with a stinging acidity, and a fruit that seems to be on another track. This is a wine that just isn't joined up. All the single parts are impressive, but the totality is not.

6/7/2020 - dagij Likes this wine:

Aged, amber-red with nice colour concentration. This bottle is much more evolved than when last tasted a year ago. Aged and mature aromas of dried prunes, nuts and a spicey tone reminiscent of thyme and menthe. Some smokey tones emerges after a while. Medium bodied, sweet fruit (prunes and black cherries) combined with nuts and dry wood/warm earth. Finish is quite dry with rustic tannins and a clear hint of warmth (alcohol). Medium length. Struggles to keep up with a grilled chicken. This is a good wine, but far from what one should expect from this producer (and at this price).

6/1/2020 - Julian Marshall wrote:

Better than the last bottle, probably because it was decanted in the morning. Quite a leafy bouquet, with understated aromas of dark cherry and blackcurrant, plus a touch of cedar. The attack is muted at first, with notes of blackcurrant which never really get going, but with a refreshing acidity mid-palate and some good notes of blackberry and black cherry on the finish, plus some hints of raspberry somewhere in the mix. It did gain in intensity as the evening progressed, providing quite a decent drink but somehow never getting out of second or third gear. Not bad, if this had been another vintage it would have been OK, but it's a 2000.
Again, frankly this is a wine to avoid - I love Chinons, but this is not so much green-tinted as unripe. For SM, this is a car-crash vintage.

Having said that - there are clearly good bottles around - nobody could accuse RMP of liking unripe wine or Chinons (!) yet he gave SM 00 four very good to excellent reviews.

6/16/2019 - dagij wrote:

A quite different wine. From what? From every expectation of what Spanish wines are about. The colour is the first surprise: extremely light red, almost like a rose-wine. It also has a somewhat bleak tone, far from any brilliant colour tones. The smell is also somewhat surprising, with a dominance of very acid, almost tart, red berries like red currant and somewhat unripe raspberries. Underneath, a clear mineral, iron-like tone. Then the mouth surprises even more. Although it is highly acid, it is also quite sweet. The fruit converges towards more ripe raspberries and strawberries, the tannins are very smooth, and the freshness is well balanced by the sweetness of the fruit. Long, almost Burgundy-like in its sweet lightness. Drunk with grilled kid, a match almost made in heaven as the wine kind of expanded in the encounter with the light, but savoury meat. A beautiful wine.

2/28/2020 - dagij wrote:

Strange wine that is impossible to evaluate seriously now. Reductive nose that stays that way for the whole evening. Being on the positive side, one can detect some aromas of honey and white flowers. Not very lively in the mouth, quite dead aftertaste and finish, mostly on the acid side. It is all very strange as the wine is not oxidized or corked, it is just "dead". Is the wine in some kind of phase? If so, it is the first time I have encountered a champagne in phase. A pity, the Comte is always a treat to drink.

1/24/2020 - dagij wrote:

This is close to dead wine, if something like that exists. Aromas of sour smoke, tea, and dry wood. No fruit in the mouth, high acidity, almost citrusy aftertaste. Not bad, just 30-40 years too old.

1/26/2020 - dagij Likes this wine:

IN a totally different style than all other Barolos in the tasting. This is much more Burgundian, both in aromas and in moutfeel and texture. Light red with a brown rim. Extremely aromatic, but the nose is mostly dominated by new barrels - liquorice, vanilla, cinnamon - in addition to sweet cherries. In addition there is a green, underripe tone that disturbes. Sweet fruit in the attack, raspberries, strawberries, almost flowery. The middle part is sweet, nicely balanced by tannins and acidity, while the aftertaste contains aromas of new barrels in addition to sweet fruit and some spices. But at the end, the green, underripe tones reemerge, and reduces the positive mouthfeel. Is it the hot vintage showing up here? A wine at this price level shouldn't be cluttered by wine making faults like that.

3/9/2019 - dagij Likes this wine:

Amazingly deep colour with few hints of brick, somewhat suprising. Strong and pronounced aroma of cedar and menthol, backed with a core of sweet berries, almost on the stewed side. Full bodied, sweet attack in the first attack on the palate, then quite dry and cedary, masking some of the fine fruit that is still present. Lomg, fresh, and a bit alcoholic aftertaste. Dry tannins. I find this wine somewhat overoaked resulting in some dry tannins. Still; this wine is impressive given that it is almost 20 years old. Somone claiming that Burgundy do not age as well as Bordeaux?

12/9/2018 - dagij wrote:

Deep ruby colour, almost violet at the rim. Intriguing aromas of strawberries, raspberries and cherries, in addition to some balsamic tones with hints of leather (sorry for being so dramatic, but this wine is complex). Full bodied, sweet attackt on the palate, almost without tannins, but with very high acidity. The taste is dominated by the red berries found on the nose, but with additional aromas of iron and stone. This is so young, and still so approachable. Should be cellared for at least five years, probably more. I wonder whether the mineral tone will become more present over time. Super wine.

3/26/2013 - KeithAkers wrote:

01 Barbarescos Blind (Antico, Chicago IL): Nose: Very aromatic and complex nose filled with tones of roses, red fruits, fresh picked berries, red cherries, roasted herbs, tar, and wild flowers. There is very good depth with very good layering as well.

Taste: Silky and regal medium body with medium/high acidity and some very chewy tannins. The structure is very imposing and showing the youth of the wine. Beneath the structure are layered tones of roses, red fruits, fresh picked berries, roasted herbs, and wild flowers.

Overall: This was stunning and extremely young at the same time. This has a long way to go and can get even better with age. I would love to see where this is in another 5 years.

10/14/2018 - dagij Likes this wine:

This is a very good Cantemerle in a very fresh edition, very typical of the 2010 vintage. Still extremely young, Deep ruby colour, intense aromas of dark cherries and black forest berries. More on the fresh sidem than on the sweet. The nose is confirmed in the mouth:bracing acidity gives a very fresh impression aslmost on the raspberry side. Good concentration and length, medium tannins, high acidity in the finish. A wine for food now. Will it get better? I don't know. I feel that many '10s lack fruit to match the acidity, and this is exactly in this vein. I'll open my next bottle in two years or so.

12/8/2017 - dagij wrote:

A wonderful, elegant champagne, even in a rather weak vintage like 1999. The colour is clearly aged with a straw yellow tone. Bubbles are small and persistent all the way through the time (2 + hours) it took to finish the bottle. Yellow apples, lime, brioche and yeast on the nose, in addition to an aged tone of honey and wet leaves. Medium bodied with a wonderful mousse that fills the mouth, caresses it, no aggressive acidity but still very fresh and clean. LIme, citrus, green apples (not yellow!) dominates the mouth, while the aftertaste adds notes of honey and newly baked bread/yeast. Verylong and fresh. A luxury wine worth all its cost.

5/17/2013 - Karlaar wrote:

Deep color, sediments, nice. Warm, some spice, clear cherries on the nose. Smooth at the start, develops nicely in the mouth, very long and lasting finish that ends with warm, sweet dried fruit added some spices. A very good wine.
Around the summit now, will probably not develop more complexity to come. Drink over the next two years.

3/23/2017 - dagij Likes this wine:

Deep ruby red. Fantastic aromas of bblood, dark cherries,black olivesb and black pepper.full bodied, velvety tannins, sweet dark cherries, combined with smashing acidty. A slightly bitter oak tone emerges on the finish. Long, very long. A general favorite in a tasting encompassing the three la-la-las from Guigal.