3/16/2024 - Gdubya Likes this wine:

Dark fruit, good acidity, felt fresh with good form and nice structure. About 93/95 for me. Will likely improve, but felt somewhat open for business with appropriate air time

3/8/2024 - Harfouch Does not like this wine:

Deserves a low rating. High tannins. With an off-putting bitter finish.

10/18/2023 - Motz wrote:

Tasted over two days, alongside the same vintage Giscours.

Considerably more violets and purple fruit and berry-driven perfume, compared to the red fruited Margaux. It also features striking blackcurrant and scorched earth markers. Exceptional tension between two descriptors: Regal and Rustic.

More of the same on the palate, at all phases. Seductive textures, weight, and balance. Highly appealing terroir markers and astounding persistence. Powerful structure, modest oak treatment, seamless alcohol. The whole package!

All elements point to a medium plus maturation curve. Bottles should age gracefully for at least another decade. Likely to enter finest form after 2035. Strong QPR. 95-96.

8/6/2023 - Motz wrote:

Pulled the cork on the bottle accessed by Coravin in November and drank over three days.

Consistent with the note of November. This delicate vintage did not deserve the oak the winemaker threw at it, which masks terroir and nuance.

The second and third days revealed the wine's likely character in a decade or so. Medium to medium plus acid, powdery and steely tannins, gripping finish of very good length.

Marginal improvement seems possible after five to seven years. Drink by 2035. Strong QPR...even with the lumber treatment. 92-93.

11/28/2022 - Jeff Leve wrote:

Mark my words, this is a future legendary vintage for Canon! It gets everything right from the moment the wine hits the glass. Aromatically, the wine offers flowers, crushed rock, black and red fruits, spearmint, licorice, and hints of tobacco. On the palate, it is even better with its multiple layers of silk-drenched fruits, cashmere tannins, and seamless, over 60-second finish. This is so good now, and it has only started on its journey. Drink from 2022-2060.

11/23/2022 - nwebstar Likes this wine:

Bordeaux 2019 Langtons Arrival Tasting: While I’m talking somewhat prospectively this was WOTN for me. This showed the greatest classical structure. Had great depth of flavour and fruit with a beautiful firm young structure. It was piercing and complex. Dark fruited with licqorice, spices, violets and dark chocolate.

7/30/2022 - Motz wrote:

Five 2015 Classed Growths (Left Bank) Tasted Over Several Days: Tasted over three days, alongside the same vintage Lynch-Bages.

Riveting bouquet - shading to Margaux - of ripe berries, thick petal flowers, plum and berry compote, Crème de Cassis, berry liqueurs, potpourri, 'sweet' herbs, molasses, pipe tobacco, and gravel. As with previous bottles, the bouquet also shows Burgundy-like elements. In a word: ethereal!

Equal parts piercing and deep. Incredible saturation! Merlot shows prominently upfront, its suave velvet draping a deep purple core. Exceptional balance of fruit, terroir, structure, alcohol, and oak. It changes inflection throughout, consistently delivering Crème de Cassis and blueberry liqueur top notes.

Even better on the second and third days. It matched the Lynch-Bages in tension and lift, and delivered greater range and depth. Mint and eucalyptus essences dance offer titillating interplay with the crimson and purple berry notes. While hinting at Margaux in perfume, the middle to back transitions leaves no doubt as to its Pauillac provenance.

A next level offering! Truly profound! Likely to peak after 2040, probably around 2045. Drink by 2050 or so.

7/8/2022 - Alexander Smith Likes this wine:

The 2010 is developing nicely, and at 12 years old still has potential to age graceful over the next 15 years. This really shows the true potential of Australia and easily justifies itself as one of the top Australian Cabernets along with Moss Wood. The nose explodes with minty notes, along with dark cassis, blackcurrant, cedar and tobacco leaf. The palate is super elegant and refined with dusty yet firm tannins, evolving dark fruit, cacao and a savoury mid-palate. the finish is refined. 94+

7/3/2022 - Gdubya Likes this wine:

Double decantered. Drunk 2-4 hours later.

A slight astringency on the finish. Nice wine, but tastes quite young still. One bottle remaining, will try and hold for 3 years. 92-93++

11/2/2021 - Motz wrote:

Drank over two days, which were the second and third days that I drank the same vintage PdB Asili. This bottle helped confirm my impressions of the Asili.

Marginally more open bouquet than the Asili, although disappointingly short of what one might expect for a highly praised Montefico, with a listed abv of 15 (big alcohol enhancing a bouquet's loudness). Also, more expansive and gritty than the Asili. However, the back and finish revealed a green bite, similar to the Asili, which was partially masked by Montefico's more overt tannic presence. Recorked about 15 oz and hoped for a fuller bouquet and less bitterness.

The bouquet changed little on the second day. Montefico's strong tannic structure, however, came forward in a big way on this day. The green bitterness, somewhat typical of excessive pressing (not extraction), but more commonly, phenolic ripeness issues, with stems and pips less ripe than the fruit, was more pronounced.

Overall, this is bigger and bolder than the Asili, typical of terroir differences between the two crus. Both wines offered light to moderate bouquets, particularly underwhelming for such a highly touted vintage. This wine, while bracing on the second day, still showed greenness at the back and throughout the finish.

Was this Montefico locked down? Absolutely! Do locked down and green share any direct correlation in Piedmont Nebbiolo? Nope!

Ripe Nebbiolo tannins are bracing, gritty, some might argue, soul-destroying, but they are not green. This wine, and the Asili more so, show intense greenness at the back and throughout the finish. One of my favorite domestic producers, Bill Steele, owner of Cowhorn, who chewed stems around harvest time to verify full phenolic ripeness, once told me as we discussed greenness wrongly interpreted as locked down tannins in young, bold reds: 'Green is green, and green never integrates.' I agree!

I do not expect the greenness in this wine, nor the more overt greenness in the Asili, to fade.

Also noteworthy: I am currently tasting a still completely locked down 2010 Damilano Cannubi. It features a massive tannin wall, but not the slightest hint of greenness.

9/19/2021 - Cailles wrote:

12 Vintages of L’Eglise-Clinet vs La Conseillante (1993-2015): Enlightening head to head of two Pomerol heavyweights. All wines tasted single blind, not decanted. A few observations: 1) La Conseillante (LC) is the winner with 7 vs 5 wins, a higher average score (92.1 pts vs 90.8 pts) and a much better consistency over the years. 2) The LC showed more harmonious and inviting, less extracted and with a good ripeness as well as a seductive creaminess. 3) L’Eglise-Clinet (EC) only started to get good to great in the past 10 to 15 years. Most older wines showed too ripe, too extracted and often with a drying finish. 4) Not surprisingly, the best vintages got the highest scores (2015, 2010, 2009) with the highest scores awarded to the EC 2010 and 2015 (96 pts), LC 2015 (95 pts) as well as a quite strong LC 2003 (95 pts). 5) The race for the better Pomerol is open! Since 2015, L’EC got higher critic scores than LC as well as more perfect scores (11 vs 5; 17 critics/6 vintages) but I’m not yet sure if I like the riper and slightly bolder style of the EC (and LC is not really famous for its lightness or restraint either). But I got the feeling (or hope?) that the more recent vintages of EC will at least age much better than their older counterparts.

TN: Like other 2015s, this wine is slowly sliding into a more muted phase. With a bit of swirling the wine open-up slightly and revealed its luxurious and elegant but slightly slutty self with intense, ripe but not overripe dark fruits, some more red fruit, a beautiful sweetness which is probably too sweet for some palates but still ok for me, earthy notes and some minerality to keep it all in check. Very velvety tannins and a creamy texture with enough freshness to keep the wine balanced. This is quite promising but will need to flash out and add tertiary notes. Needs 10-15 more years in the cellar. Consistent with a bottle 18 months ago (rated 95 pts) but not as alluring as right after arrival back in 2018.

Decanting: Not decanted, an hour or two would be good at this point.

Duel: Win for L’Eglise-Clinet rated 96 pts

7/31/2021 - Screwcaps Likes this wine:

12 Moss Wood.

Pop and pour.

Deep, opaque, colour. Very little sediment.

Nose mute on opening.

Full bodied on entry. Intense, rich predominantly red and some black fruit.

Glides through some coffeed oak, in to a very long nori and tapenade finish. Tannins are ripe and in perfect harmony with the wine.

This is very long, it just keeps on rolling with all of that torque like a freight train.

It’s clearly in the outstanding zone, but still so dense, polished, elemental and primary and powerful with a touch of coffee oak to lose.

Now, on a quick taste, it’s 95/6 for me and feeling like I’ve opened it 10 years too early. Upside here is enormous, I get the hype, and also comments around oak treatments.

7/16/2021 - Gdubya Likes this wine:

Decantered 8+ hours. Primary Cabernet, red fruit and faint touch of pencil. This is obviously very young, but definitely has potential for a couple more of my points. Hold for 3years. 92-93++

6/23/2021 - Cailles wrote:

24 Vintages of Pichon Lalande: All wines tasted blind. A few general observations: 1) Most wines showed the typical Pichon Lalande elegance. This is certainly one of the more delicate and elegant Paulliacs. 2) The relatively high Merlot content (often 20-30%) showed in many wines with fine, fresh rhubarb, rosehip and floral aromas I wouldn’t necessarily associate with a Medoc - all adding to the sensuous quality of the wines. 3) A few vintages showed the very sexy burnt sugar/coffee notes you associate with the 1982 Lalande or a Mouton or a Cheval Blanc - unfortunately, not to an extent and with an intensity to truly excite. 4) Following the legendary 1982 and until the most recent vintages (starting with 2014 but especially with 2016) there are three decades of pleasant Pichon Lalandes but hardly any vintage has the depth and length of truly great wines. The best wine tonight was the 2009 (rated 95+ points) with many more in the 92-94 point category.

TN: This is the first time I’ve crossed path with this vintage and it delivered. Seductive on the nose with creamy red and dark fruits. Very inviting and quite precise. On the palate lots of power with an array of rather red fruits and floral aromas balanced by a smoky minerality and a layer of herbs. The structure is very good with fine tannins and a high but well integrated acidity. Very balanced and harmonious with a creamy texture and with good tension. Medium+ length. Overall a very good wine which has some upside with more age and complexity. 94 to 95 points.

5/16/2021 - Screwcaps Likes this wine:

Tannins and depth of flavour most impressed in this five way blend. Med to full bodied, wait 3-5 years for more detail to emerge from its sheen of classy oak. Very enjoyable drink, wait for sophistication to emerge with some more time. Hard to pick blind at this time due to composition and generous winemaking- from my limited experience with Woodlands (Nicolas and Wilyabrup) this seems true to a ‘polished’ house style. Agree with previous note, a big plus sign for future upside. Thank you Duck for sharing.

3/9/2021 - Motz wrote:

Coravin pour.

From the outset, the bouquet offers a seductive amalgam of black fruits, accentuated by red fruits, mint, essential oils, and dark chocolate, along with Cabernet Sauvignon markers of pepper garden, graphite, and gravel. Merlot, here, is particularly vivacious, offering floral and sweet berry notes. Seductive to the core!

A powerhouse! As with the bouquet, purple and black berry flavors dominate the attack, in perfect harmony with red berry essences, which together, deliver tremendous juiciness. The middle graces the entire palate, with gripping and velvety textures. Luxurious tannins make their presence known at the back, and help carry the energetic, indeed, intoxicating finish.

Overall, a massive wine, somewhat modern in style, but perfectly balanced and judiciously oaked. The wine imparts the impression that it will turn more traditional as it evolves, and it packs the substance to do so through 2030-2035. Even then, it should hold for a decade thereafter. In its own way, it put my mind to the 2010 Pontet-Canet. Improvement seems likely. 95-97.

P.S. Compared to the 2015 Lafite tasted recently, this represents crazy good QPR...and I would take four or five of these over that overstated offering.

12/4/2020 - Gdubya Likes this wine:

Drunk over two nights. It’s all about the fruit, mouth feel and potential. A little incohesive on day one but the last few sips on day 2 indicate where this could end up. Day one 91-92. Day 2 92-94. Would guesss day 3 better again, but didn’t last that long. Great and very interesting wine. Hold remaining bottles for 2-5 years

7/14/2020 - nwebstar Likes this wine:

Excellent wine. Balance and elegant (alongside Coonawarra Cab Sav). Well structured with dark and blue fruit. Violets and gentle wood spices. Presented better - more complete than last tasting.

5/29/2020 - Neras Likes this wine:

Magnificant straight put of the bottle, with beautiful light transparent red colour and wonderful nose. Fruity, balanced on the palate with many layers. Fresh. However, after a couple of hours it falls a little apart, and the last sip is not as interesting as the first. Wonder why. I have another two bottles to check out.

5/27/2020 - Motz wrote:

Tasted over three days. This correct and layered Cabernet Sauvignon features balanced fruit and earth. It shows well upon opening (Stelvin) but needs several hours to reveal its finest qualities. Enjoy now after a 4+ hour decant or hold for another five to seven years, perhaps ten.

3/21/2020 - Gdubya Likes this wine:

Decantered at 3pm. Drank over 2-5 hours later.

Big whack of cherry on the nose. A bit missing from the mid palate. Slightly drying tannins. Nice, but not spectacular. Probably needed a longer decant. 92+

Note to self. Don’t try another bottle until 2025

3/2/2020 - csimm wrote:

Crisp sour cherry, cranberry, purple plum skin, limestone, raspberry seeds, and some citrus. Rides crunchy, high, and red, with a puckering acidity that didn’t let up at all over three hours of decanted air. Stayed in the upper register mid-palate, finishing linear and bitter with more bracing acidity. A bit of a teeth-clattering experience. Threw off a ton of sediment.

This behaves more like a cranberry juice cocktail in its current state. In desperate need of 10-15 years of slumber. 90-91+? points.

The 2014 was unconvincing as a wine to follow. This 2015 hasn’t made that much clearer for me. I can recognize its potential in one sense, but I’m not sure how folks are getting so much enjoyment out of this right now. I like me some acid and all, but this enamel-stripping lacquer varnished-off a solid layer of taste buds on the ‘ol palate. Yikes.

12/22/2016 - Collector1855 wrote:

A visit to Margaret River; 12/17/2016-1/1/2017 (Margaret River): Second vintage of this and I am still not impressed, drank this over two evenings. This smells and drinks like an extra virgine cold press extract of oak and cassis. Where is the refinement, drinkability and elegance? A wine that seems to come from the laboratory, even though the back label on the bottle tells all the right stories around biodynamic, moderate 13.5% Alc, etc. I see from my previous notes that I tasted. 2005 when it was 10 years old and it eventually came together, still lots of oak and ripeness though. Anyway, keep clear of this wine until 2022 at least is my recommendation. Today this was so undrinkable, that my wife, an experienced Burgundy palate, did not even take a second sip.

6/8/2019 - Gdubya Likes this wine:

Obviously very young, but gave this a try. Great smell with some black cherry on the palate. Loads of potential for the future

5/28/2019 - chatters wrote:

Bordeaux 2018 - En Primeur in Australia (pyrmont wharf, sydney): <shrugs> smells roided. Monolithic. Ripe blackcurrant. Oak. Tight tannins. Juicy big black fruits. Long. Very long in fact. Obviously very good quality but not for quite a while.

9/23/2017 - SlimShaney Likes this wine:

Drinking now first 3 hours 89. Breath 3+hrs 90+. 5 years time 92-94. Better in 2020, better again in 2025 ... for sure.

Looks and smells absolutely Marananga. A wine completely true to the place. And a place I know and revere.

First sip you know the grapes are great quality but the wine is absolutely not ready. First 2+ hours just isnt that pleasurable. There's an inhospitable sharpness. An acidity that will keep it for 20 years and favour you then but not today.

Either decant for minimum 4 hours or preferably leave for another several years ... this is great fruit that isnt ready for drinking pre 2020 minimum.

Everything classic Marananga. So many similarities to Two Hands Zippy's Block I swear I could have picked it blindfolded. Maybe a bit of Greenock Creek too, this region is so distinctive.

All in all its great fruit here but enjoyment is inaccessable at present.

9/21/2018 - Gdubya wrote:

Quite tannic still, even after a long decant (6+ hours). Doesn’t taste very Barossan.
Not bad, not great. quite medium bodied. Will keep the final bottle for a few more years. Seems like no hurry on these