8/30/2020 - aagrawal wrote:

Stood up for a month, decanted with a normal amount of settled sediment for its age. Light ruby color with slight hint of bricking, younger than expected for Nebbiolo at this age; nose is moderately aromatic with some roses and red fruits; palate is light-medium bodied with a velvety texture, tannins present but well integrated, medium-plus to high acidity, high alcohol (15%) but well balanced and not hot; finish is medium length and balanced with some dominant tannin. This is a very nice barolo, well balanced, at a good stage for drinking, though I agree with other notes that it is just a bit lacking personality. This certainly isn't unexpected for a Barolo classico, and this does not strike me as overpoweringly modern, so overall nice. 89
Tasted over 7 hours: no additional complexity, tannins if anything became a bit more intense. Acidity is still high and refreshing, but this is still a darker Barolo, not a lighter ethereal style. 88-89
Day 2: This held up surprisingly well, without any dropoff but also without gaining in complexity. A good food wine, excellent balance without anything out of place.

9/24/2018 - COWineLover wrote:

Nondescript. Nothing special. Drink.

5/29/2023 - landonemory@gmail.com Likes this wine:

I gave this a 9 hour slow ox. Then served it at a friend's house in which we drank it over a 3 hour window of time.
The bouquet immediately compelled my intrigue with glorious
aromas of violets , sage , basalmic , ripe figs. One of the most attractive gathering of smells I've ever experienced in a Bordeaux.
We couldn't stop whiffing it. My friend said this was the 5th time he has had the '05 Montrose and every one of them smelled just as amazing.
On the palate it was just as spectacular with such precision and purity of all elements coming together with no one component dominating. Blackberries, blueberries, and mission fig melded with savory thyme as a necessary graphite frame pulsed through the mid-palate and beyond .
Tannin , acidity , fruit and secondary flavors were all in harmony to create a fantastic wine experience. I give it 96 pts and ponder if it will get WAY better than this in the next decade. For me and my friend Nick it definitely doesn't need to wait any longer but the key to that conclusion is giving it lots of patience by slow ox as stated earlier. Maybe the only thing lacking is the finish could be even longer. It was a 15 second length.
On an extra note , we started our tasting by drinking a 2000 Leoville Las Cases followed by a 2002 Chateu Musar from Lebanon and then the 2005 Montrose. We left some of the first two bottles to revisit. The Musar was absolutely delightful and had an almost brandy like quality on the nose. The Las Cases was good but for some reason Las Cases has never performed as well as expected given the cost.
I would describe the '05 Montose as a girl next door kind of beauty that does seduce you but not in a slutty way. This was pure class and that's the way I prefer it to be.

7/5/2023 - nkirsch wrote:

The cork was dried out as were a few other bottles. I think this wine is 5 years past its drink by date. Wine was alright, and drinkable, but nothing special

6/30/2023 - robmatic wrote:

Super dense, blueberry milk shake, could dilute this 50/50 with water and have two bottles of wine. Great stuff if you're in the mood.

3/11/2023 - Venice Al Likes this wine:

Remarkable at 50! From a 750 that was stored at the Wine Locker untouched since 1976. Great fill, cork saturated but intact with Durand. Significant bricking and in a tasting pour can see through to the stem. On the nose it clearly shows age with tobacco, dried flowers, cherry fruit, cedar, a nice saline mineral component. On the palate it is consistent with good acid - tannin balance and great mouthfeel. Fruit is still alive - though if I had well stored bottles, I would drink it rather than risk decline. Beautiful showing from this “regular” Napa cab!

4/9/2021 - Owen97 wrote:

A tad light on intensity, found myself constantly swirling to try to grab more aroma. That said, there is some juicy cherry fruit along with a hint of some forest floor complexity from the bottle age.

Not overly interesting. Probably not getting any better for most, but I’m keeping hold of the rest of mine for a couple of years to see if it changes into a mushroom fest, as the balance is there to hold a few years.

1/24/2021 - Francophile Does not like this wine:

My wife and I try to agree a score on our evening wine. Her comment about this was it is very acidic has no fruit and the smell of this wine is not nice. I drank my glass, I would agree that it was difficult to find the fruit but I thought the smell just bland and lacking fruit. I see others thought this wine was good and mine has been kept in ideal conditions. Maybe this bottle was off but we tossed it away.

1/24/2021 - klezman wrote:

As others have noted, this is a perfectly fine bottle but nothing special. Nice with food.

12/31/2020 - TexasBob Likes this wine:

Medium garnet color blended with a burnt orange hue. The bouquet is a broad mish-mash of multiple fruits I can’t even begin to deconstruct, but mixed overripe red berries stand out from the rest of the contributing pack. Very soft and smooth texture with notes of stewed raspberries and, unexpectedly, prunes and figs. It almost has a ripe-year Madeira aspect, which could be indicative of subpar storage, but the overall effect is quite pleasant. .

12/15/2020 - dase13 wrote:

Oxidized. Won this at auction on winebid.com. The bottle also had a sticker on it from a prior Zacky’s auction. So, I guess it was a well traveled bottle, which unfortunately developed some problems overtime.

11/5/2020 - Seth Rosenberg Likes this wine:

Just got it, so I cracked one. Super primary. This is a big wine - not shy , but pretty packed to the gills. The fruit is bright and blue-purple with blackberry, black raspberry and a touch of blueberry. There is some nice spice here and a bit of florals. Definite graham cracker sweetness and it is lively. A touch of orange zest. Again, on the palate, this is a big wine - tons of dark fruits, a dollop of citrus, graham cracker. This isn't light and elegant Pinot, and maybe verges on being a tad big for me, but it does have some lift, good acid, and crunch. Honestly I can't tell if this is just really young or if it is a bit modern for me. Nice drying tannins in the finish go with the dark fruits and the florals. I've been drinking some of Marcus Goodfellow's Pinots lately and for the price, his style is more in my wheelhouse than this right now, but it is still quite good for the price and could have a lot of potential if it expands and develops with air or age. Nose - 5/6, Palate - 5+?/6, Finish - 4.5+?/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1/2 = 15.5/20 (with 15.5-16.5/20 potential).

Day 4: this has finally opened up. It’s still big but the fruit has come out over the acid and the structure and it’s really enjoyable and juicy now. Nice plushness and a bit of seve. Fine drying tannins still on the finish. Very good QPR. Now probably a 16/20.

3/11/2018 - Seth Rosenberg Does not like this wine:

Big spicy oak banana. / ripe. Too heavy. Very oaky. I just can't drink these young. Way to much oak for me. Will it age? the older ones are much better but who knows.

5/24/2020 - schwank wrote:

Another corked bottle. These are terrible, across multiple 90s vintages from this producer, they get popped and poured down the drain.

10/13/2018 - James Kim Likes this wine:

Decanted. Now 2.5 h later. Took about 2h in decanter to open up. Beautiful tart cherry, blackberry aromas intermingled with herbs, some green stems and mild baking spices. Palate is more blackberries with bark, herbs, and unsweetened chocolate and some minerals. Definitely more bass notes on palate compared to nose. Mild tannins on the midplate. Finishes with cherry fruit, earth, and bark. Very good acids give this lift but more toward the weightier side of medium bodied, which caught me a bit off-guard. Still very nice.

5/15/2019 - MrOctoberfest Likes this wine:

Very nice Bourgogne rouge, but their village Volnay is a huge step up. Also, what’s with all the different labels? Mine said Pierrick, others said Reyanne et Pascal. Plus, what is up with that freaky black label? Is it the same wine?

7/28/2019 - 3daywinereview.com wrote:

Citrus, dough, baked pie crust, sour apples and toast points. Complex and medium plus finish. I had this for about 2 years and the cellaring has paid off.

11/2/2019 - James Kim Likes this wine:

PnP at gathering. Lovely aromas of green stems, damp earth, bar, and ripe red cherries. Flavors mirror the palate with excellent acids in a medium bodied frame. Elegant but with very nice concentration. So German - no way to mistake this for anything else but German pinot. Will be great to see how this evolves with time.

6/7/2014 - alittle wrote:

Super Tasting 3 of 5; Going, going, back, back, to Cali, Cali (Maciej and Steve host a 1994 California Horizontal) (George, Toronto, ON): Served blind. Popped and poured. Deep garnet in the glass. On the nose, quite simplistic again. Dark fruits, menthol, brown sugar, raisin, vanilla, wood, and a touch of heat. On the palate, ripe prune, vanilla, wood, fruit cake and alcohol lingering on the back end. Not particularly enjoyable, and surprising to compare with the Special Selection on reveal.

9/1/2015 - Frank Schneider wrote:

This is a cooked prune stew !!!!! Overripe and tired. No freshness. i will sell the last bottles !!!! Dont touch !!!

10/25/2014 - RussK wrote:

Russk K&A's Group at Vienna Cafe . Nose over mature. Rancid nose. Wine drinkable.