4/14/2024 - TWSA Does not like this wine:

Nose: herbal, vegetal, mushroom, honey, green pepper, peach,
Notes: this is an interesting experience trying the so called cult Sauvignon Blanc from the lengendary maker. 2004 is still made by Didier before his passing. Nevetheless the wine is bit tired and seems to be over its peak already. This was not enjoyable and I still remain skeptical on the potential of this grape variety.
Drink: too old.
Rating: 86

4/13/2024 - Purple Tooth wrote:

Absolutely at the entrance of its drinking prime, the 2005 has gently stepped into the drinking window with just one foot while the other foot is still anchored solidly on the other side, providing structure and age ability. It was 3 hours after the fun had started when the real LB showed up to make a statement with its clear left bank demeanor and its Pauillac feel, shining in graphite and unsmoked tobacco. Really muscular underneath still, with great tug and pull, this has the ability to age and in my opinion, surpass the 2000. A relative bargain in the Bordeaux/Pauillac/2005 world. Drink or HOLD

3/16/2024 - Bosbevok Likes this wine:

Beautiful and deep burgundy in colour with the expected clay edges. As the evening wore on the wine opened up beautifully. For those of you that have posted negative reviews, you either don’t understand what a 30+ year old Brunello Reserva should taste like or you don’t have a properly operating cellar. The wine was perfect for its age. Still good fruit with tons of structure. Beautiful wooden and cigar tobacco notes. Dark 90% choc with a bit of fruit cake. This is all on the nose. In the mouth, the mouthfeel is excellent for its age with still a silky and smooth texture. Feels like 2% milk. The palate shows stewed red berries with lots of old world flavours. The wine actually got better after an hour of oxygen. Livio at 97 knows how to make wine! This bottle was purchased ex cellar. Bravo!

2/29/2024 - oenanthe Likes this wine:

Syrah at Cabotte with the TWS North London Group (Cabotte, London): Very dark red. Quite earthy and meaty on the nose, and for a wine approaching 30 years old absurdly tight still, as austere as they come. With a bit of swishing it gets going a little, some red fruit peeks out, but so so stern. This is a wine that I have absolutely no idea where it might go, and whether its best years are ahead of it or now a long way behind?

2/25/2024 - tedcholl Likes this wine:

Even at 19 years of age this wine needed 3, 5 min Vspins, and 8 hours in the decanter to fully open up. An elegant, balanced, well structured, and aromatic Pauillac. On the palate black raspberry, blackcurrant, leather, dried tobacco, cedar, cigar box, forest floor. A delight!

2/3/2024 - J_H Likes this wine:

- Blind, GE/AUT tasting
- Three Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese were served.

1996:
- floral, quince, honey but so lean and simply elegant and so complex but still precise. Has enough fullness and sweetness but balanced with a great acidity. Probably one of the best white wines I have drunk so far.
- 96p

2005:
- Riper and more quince and honey, more body and beautiful stony flavours. Compared to the other two, the most intense Prüm.
- 95p

2007:
- Aroma profile similar to the other two but leanest and most precise.
- 94p

6/18/2023 - Nothung Likes this wine:

From magnum. Decanted about 3 hours before drinking, which worked well. In a really good place now. A lovely Brunello.

1/18/2024 - aquacongas wrote:

not blind
Not reached his peak. Not alcoholic, very balanced, nice dark berries and extract sweetness. 96

12/29/2023 - Cailles wrote:

At 17 years, this Brunello is showing well, with the layered complexity as a highlight and it is quite accessible with its tannins structure nicely mellowed. A balanced, elegant creature. Yet it doesn't quite match the finesse of top Burgundies or Rayas, to which it's often compared. Nevertheless, this particular Soldera bottle was the most convincing I've tasted yet. Worth the price tag? Not to me (but price is not considered for my rating).

TN: Intense and vibrant, from the first sniff to the long finish. An array of red cherry aromas, from fresh to deeply ripe (cherry liquor) are at the core, enhanced by an enchanting rosehip layer and a rich herbal essence, highlighted by unmistakable tomato leaf notes. The intense earthy minerality adds to its depth. Its complexity is striking, with each aroma sharply defined. Ripe, quality tannins have softened beautifully, leaving a smooth, almost velvety texture. Well-structured acidity underpins its harmony. Quite complete.

Decanting: No extensive decanting needed, good from the go (but we enjoyed it in a higher altitude location which usually helped to mellow the structure).

1/14/2024 - Nmilau Likes this wine:

My third bottle with consistent notes each time. Not sure why this is so popular. I find it overextracted and the jammy, boozy body type suppresses the notes for me. I would not recommend this wine

2/10/2021 - DoubleD1969 wrote:

Last of a few bottles purchased from the winery. Like previous bottles (especially the normale), there is an issue with the cork. This one had wine stains 9/10 of the cork.

The color looked older than other 06 Brunello Riservas I've had. There is a slight orange tint where I was expecting to be more opaque. Aromas were subtle - crushed red fruit, vanilla, rose petals. Medium-bodied, a bit coarse, lots of cherry fruit and ample acid. It feels more primary if not in a dumb phase. But the cork condition worries me and think it may fail before this wine reaches its apex.

11/23/2023 - DoubleD1969 Likes this wine:

Last bottle of a 6-bottle purchase years ago. Very similar note to what I wrote in January. Crumbly and PITA cork. Double decanted and drank about half hour later. Delicious wine.

12/28/2023 - sirpat00 Likes this wine:

Tasted blind. No decant needed. Amazing depth and concentration. A varied and versatile nose showing rose hip and Jasmin tea. Red berry fruit of cherries, rose petals and notes of dried tomatoes, Ultra-soft tannin, intense and present from attack to finish. Another outstanding wine, interestingly felt somewhat more advanced than the 2002.

12/27/2023 - Juliansi Likes this wine:

Bordecembre.. hey, it's Bordeaux no. 29 this month!

Deep garnet, with barely any rim. This is aging effortlessly. New oak and a creamy mouthfeel, with chocolate on the med-long finish.

I thought.. New World!
Exciting that this is from the legendary 2005 vintage.

Blend of 72% Cab, 15% Merlot, 12% Cab Franc, and 1% PV.

The 2005 vintage.. Exceedingly dry, with moisture at the right moments. After a very warm growing season, relieving rains came in August.

Then warm sunny days returned in Sept, with cool refreshing nights too. Harvest was fantastic with Pauillac being the.. star!

Thanks for spoiling us on your birthday Hann Sze, two amazing Bordeauxs to help me on my Bordecembre journey!

27th Dec 2023
Tang Room, Malaysia

10/25/2023 - Philip67 Does not like this wine:

Disappointing. Lacks cohesion. Think this is a bad bottle. The individual elements are OK , the blackberry fruit is OK but not great, does not really cover the structure. the acidity and tannin are OK but seem to be separate from the fruit. There is the requisite tertiary leather note. Medium bodied, elegant. Perhaps a bad bottle. Medium finish, some complexity. Drink up, this does not seem like a wine with a long life in front of it.

9/15/2023 - TomTom wrote:

This needs more time, a bit disappointing. Seemed a bit disjointed.

8/7/2023 - jnewman77 Likes this wine:

Excellent stuff; golden color; screwcap; ripe apricot and peach with honey and orchard blossoms; beautiful and fresh with lovely density and length

8/5/2023 - LB88 wrote:

What a stunning bottle of wine, opened at 5pm for dinner drinking. This was drank at about 8 pm and the nose, typical rayas and very open and alluring. This was beautifully integrated on the palate, with fine tannins fully resolved with the strawberry kirsch and spices producing a superb delicate elixir. I haven’t had the 96 rayas reserve but I don’t see how that can be better than this.

7/8/2023 - SadEdjo wrote:

like new cork; some bricking; quick double-decant; lot's of sludge at the bottom. At first, rather disjointed. It started to knit together with tired dark fruit, soya sauce. Bad bottle? If not, time to drink up

7/1/2023 - joshabramson Likes this wine:

Even better than my last bottle 2 years ago, this wine is a killer! So elegant and pretty, with sweet and bright fruit.

6/15/2023 - paulst Likes this wine:

Rather simple; some cedar and earth with light cherry-blackberry; light fruit; mild finish.

6/14/2023 - tastefuldrop Likes this wine:

Still very much closed and young. I think it will mature into 98-100 pts in a decade or two.

This bottle was opened an hour before serving. The bouquet required another two hours in the glass to open up. Basically at this stage, the wine needs overnight decanting.

The noon after opening and at 18’C, the nose shows restrained dry rose petals, cassis, basil, bay leaf and green stone fruits. Then the music begins. The show on the palate reminds me of the intro to Enter Sandman - clean, dark, slowly building up. The tannins turn on their strength and edginess alongside a clean acidic freshness and then a clenching bite of alcohol. The wine attacks you, and you get the sense of the full body and width lurking from beneath this initial attack. Some sweet flavours just manage to come through: morello liqueur, red currant confit and other red fruits. An uplifting crispy minerality lifts the finish.

Give it a decade or two and it will turn into Thunderstruck.

6/3/2023 - canan wrote:

The wine seemed very old and have lost all its fruit. I did not find it defective in any way and it just felt boring and irrelevant. Quite a disappointing experience!

6/1/2023 - svdheijden wrote:

Have encountered this wine several times over the last 15 years or so. I always thought that the wine could hardly improve, but it did every single time. I don't need to describe the wine, because I fully agree with the tasting note of 'Wildemeeuw' below. One small difference: I am extremely privileged still having 8 bottles left...

5/27/2023 - ERU wrote:

5 hour decant. Fruit is muted. Loamy and some tobacco. This started as a bit of a letdown, but it steadily improved as we drank.

5/5/2023 - Ozen Does not like this wine:

This clearly is over the hill. Oxidative and that is not the first one, same for the 3004 several times, if anything it is an overdosis of raisiny flavours, very unpleasant. Makes me wonder how the 2013-2016 will hold themselves.

4/30/2023 - DoubleD1969 wrote:

I couldn’t resist. After trying the 1995 and feeling underwhelmed, I opened the 2010 several days later. Wow! There were similarities, but there was a lot more fruit - like Ranier cherries - that was nicely balanced by the tobacco, menthol and forest floor [not cedar] notes. Loving the 12.5 ABV. Pop and poured initially. Then corked it and later finished the following day. Enjoyed it so much I bought more.

4/2/2023 - Jimmy_D wrote:

The nose is the standout on this. Coconut and charry oak. Unfortunately doesn’t translate as well on the palate. Feels a bit generic and short on length. Two bottles back to back and both showed the same. I wouldn’t hold these much longer.

2/4/2023 - pelowino2017 Does not like this wine:

Normally don’t post punlically, but this was so bad I have to save people…

Tasted immediately after opening. No balance. Open, but with sense of deadness. Definitely not full bodied. I’m either off my rocker, or hopefully, bought a dud while on vacation… I’ve had 2005 Pauillac, and this is not that.

If you don’t know, now you know…

3/25/2023 - steinersing wrote:

Slightly tired and inexpressive - perhaps past it’s drinking window with fruit receding? Still many good elements.

3/19/2023 - manski Likes this wine:

Absolutely, positively incredible. Wine of the Year so far. Purchased directly from Biondi Santi “La Storica”. It took about 30min to an hour to open up, but this was just so complex and intoxicating. Tobacco, cassis, red fruit, chalk, and spice. This is truly magical, and very happy to have one more bottle left. Paired wonderfully with ribeye cooked on the big green egg and some homemade rigatoni vodka with guanciale. If you have the opportunity to try this I highly highly recommend it.

3/4/2023 - DoubleD1969 wrote:

Drank along side a 2005 Baumard QdC. Rieussec was apricots in the glass. Color was a sunset orange, a shade or two darker than the Baumard. Nose was of dried apricots, honey, and canned peaches. Palate was full of apricot jam and candies orange peel, was more viscous than the Baumard and lacking acidity to counter the sweetness. I am always hoping that Rieussec will transform into d’Yquem, but sadly, it did not. On this night, I preferred the Baumard.

2/26/2023 - Eantnay Does not like this wine:

In Feb 2019 this wine was rocking! Deep color, tantalizing nose, velvety tannin. One of the greatest wines I had ever experienced.

Today, that all changed. Sadly, the last two bottles I had were opened and both were over the hill, the first one being worse than the second. The color faded to brick red, the fruit was gone and the aromas went from tantalizing to medicinal. The first bottle did not have anything pleasurable to offer; the second was not as far gone and had some redeeming qualities, but could not hold a candle to what this wine was like 4 years ago.

The wines were stored laying down in a temperature controller wine refrigerator. The corks were in excellent shape. I learned a valuable lesson and will not hold the other vintages that I have of this wine as long.

1/23/2023 - joshabramson Likes this wine:

So elegant and feminine, but also quite powerful. Needs a few hours in the decanter to soften up a bit, but this is super tasty wine that will continue to evolve for decades. Still primary, but drinking well with air.

2/26/2022 - DoubleD1969 wrote:

Purchased a few years ago from Wegmans. I was skeptical, but price was reasonable. Label was in pristine condition. Opened last night on OTBN and paired with beef bourguignon.

Agree with many of the previous notes. Opened with an ah-so. Cork was in great shape - firm with staining only at the bottom. Poured into glasses and let it air out for about 30 minutes. Color was excellent with minimal bricking. Nose was very pretty and complex with dried red fruit, floral, used coffee grounds. Palate was rich, silky with sweet dried cherries and balanced by acidity that went beautifully with the food. This is the best old Burgundy I’ve had.

10/20/2022 - cephomer Likes this wine:

Mark brought to our CKH wine dinner Tuesday nite, and might've been my fave wine of the eve (not an easy feat as we had some fab wines!).
Nose exuded aromas of black fruit, herbs and leather. Lots of fruit and excellent complexity on the palate. This is a powerful, muscular, sexy wine that IMO is in a great place right now (whoever might think this wine past it's prime is nutso!). There's spice, leather, black cherries and some earth, along with solid acidity. Tannins are hardly noticeable, and well-integrated. Wonderfully long and luxurious finish. Loved this wine!

10/13/2022 - shirazity Likes this wine:

Absolutely spectacular still. Color deep ruby with no noticeable bricking. Fresh fruit and mild, but present tannins. Gorgeous nose with plenty of nuances. Amazing freshness for a 22yr old wine. Still could go for a number of years.

8/3/2022 - SonnyChiba wrote:

Needed a long decant. Still just not quite ready.

6/19/2022 - DoubleD1969 wrote:

Pop and poured. First of six bottles purchased over 10 years ago. Opaque almost like a young port in color. Nose of black licorice, cocoa powder, forest floor. Palate was full bodied with bitter chocolate, fresh plums and medium acidity. It felt rich and had a little residual tannic finish. Finished the bottle between two of us. It’s a good sign that it was a delicious bottle.

6/6/2022 - jaumealaska wrote:

Medium garnet with bricking. Cork was immaculate and almost new looking. I have had it cellared since 2013 and most of my wine age behind the usual profiles Because my cellar range is 48 to 58 degrees. However this wine showed significant age with prunish and sherry oxidation notes to the nose. The body was light with resolved Tannins but enough acidity to give some life. Decent balance and some dark fruit left. Medium finish. Not bad but not hoped for more. Bought from Premier Cru.

4/30/2022 - WildeMeeuw wrote:

Kleur: Licht goudgeel. Aroma / bouquet: Serieus tertiair bouquet met - net als in 2019 - aangename tonen van gist, madeira, botrytis en sinaasappelschil. Smaak / Afdronk: Uitgesproken en verfijnde, frisse zuurgraad. Mondvullend en sappig, rijpe en rijke wijn met een expressiviteit en een complexiteit die voor Sauvignon Blanc uniek is. Prachtige balans. Indrukwekkende lengte. Algemeen / potentieel: Volgens sommigen 'over de top'. Wat mij betreft de ultieme Silex! 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 13 + Smaak / Afdronk: 17 + Algemeen / potentieel: 9 = 94/100

Colour: Light golden yellow. Aroma / bouquet: Serious tertiary bouquet with - just like in 2019 - pleasant notes of yeast, madeira, botrytis and orange peel. Taste / Aftertaste: Pronounced and refined, fresh acidity. Mouth-filling and juicy, ripe and rich wine with an expressiveness and complexity that is unique to Sauvignon Blanc. Beautiful balance. Impressive length. General / potential: Some say 'over the top'. As far as I'm concerned, the ultimate Silex! 50 + Colour: 5 + Aroma / Bouquet: 13 + Taste / Aftertaste: 17 + General / Potential: 9 = 94/100

3/14/2022 - sirpat00 wrote:

Lynch Bages vertical (1986-2017): Lynch Bages vertical spanning 20 vintage (1986-2017) hosted by a private collector. My key observations were: 1/ The “twin peaks” of 1989 and 1990 continue to perform well, 3/ among the younger vintages 2017 and 2016 stood out, 3/ mid- to late-90ies were unimpressive as a group, rustic with harsh tannins, 4/ 2000-2008 showed extracted fruit profiles, but with juicier palates, 5/ After 2009 the fruit turned brighter and more red in nature, less extracted and fruit-forward palates. Note the wines were not decanted and served blind in flights of 4.

Tasting note:
Ripe, extracted fruit profile. Black leather and a bit of oak. Black cherry fruit. Pretty basic with limited layers. Palate rather wild with plenty of acidity and truck loads of tannin. But I wouldn’t write this off, could very well be another one of the notoriously late-aging 2005s.

11/14/2021 - connorpksmith Does not like this wine:

I have yet to try a Conti Costanti Brunello that I enjoy. Very disappointed with this as well. Nothing ever came together.

12/30/2021 - peter.mancell@mfg.com.au Likes this wine:

Got better and better in the air.
Still plenty of acidity and red fruit.
Texture nice but on the lean side.
May have held too long????

12/14/2021 - Kiranonwine Likes this wine:

Wow this is taking a while to bloom! After a 12 hour decant its potential shows but won’t open another bottle till 2025!

11/6/2021 - MC2 Wines wrote:

Charleston VI; 11/3/2021-11/7/2021 (Charleston, SC (various locations)): Not really how I remember this wine which is interesting. This poured a dark golden color and was all butterscotch and caramel flavors. Bigger wine. Aged honey style of SB.

11/26/2020 - drjb wrote:

Premoxed !

8/23/2021 - DoubleD1969 wrote:

Same if not similar opaque color. 2nd bottle from purchase. Aromas of macerated red fruit and a touch of vanilla. On the palate, lots of tannin and acidity that overpower the fruit. It’s nice with a juicy, fatty steak but not something you want to sip more than a glass on its own. For my taste anyway.

7/15/2021 - SacramentoCharlie wrote:

Bottle 1 of 3: 2hr decant and drank 1 night after a stellar 2003. It's good but just needs more time to really develop and shine. Will wait another 10yrs for the next

6/11/2021 - DoubleD1969 Likes this wine:

From magnum. Brought to dinner with friends. Clear pale yellow color. Beautiful nose of tangerine, jasmine, and sea spray. Palate is full of stone fruit with a citrus and mineral finish. Such a pleasure to drink by itself or with food. Simply delicious.

Note: Similar experience a couple of months ago with a 750ml.