4/9/2024 - Iskama wrote:

The wine has definitely entered a new phase since my last bottle. Beautiful and typical nose, but the palate was all stems and pretty devoid of fruit. My concern with 2018 was whether the fruit would come back, and if it did, what kind of shape would it be in. Still a fascinating wine to drink and we agreed that blind it would be pretty difficult to identify as Barolo. Looking forward to continuing the journey with this one...

3/6/2024 - Iskama Likes this wine:

This is in a really fantastic place right now. Hard to say if this bottle was aging ahead of its curve, but it was showing lots of caramel and toast in good balance with the fruit, acid, and bubbles. Really nice early aged champagne, wish I could get more but sadly that ship has sailed.

2/25/2024 - Iskama Likes this wine:

The most open and enjoyable VV I’ve had on release, maybe since the 2016? Pear and red fruits, savory and mineral, and the je ne sais quoi that I am always looking for from a bottle of champagne. Showing better than either the 2020 VV or 2018 UR did on release, both BdNs which will need much more time to develop in bottle. Wonderful.

2/1/2024 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Good. Enjoyable. “Classic”, on the lighter end of the spectrum, nice peppery streak on the finish. Opened up really well with air. Compared favorably to Frog’s Leap at this price point, maybe a small step behind DI CO for me. Would rebuy though. Nice!

1/27/2024 - Iskama wrote:

I love the KF wines. This is extreme though. Very watery rim. Nowhere close to the potency of the 2019. People say these gain weight with age but I have a hard time seeing this having much held in reserve.

12/29/2023 - Iskama Likes this wine:

I was a little apprehensive after reading some recent notes on here but this stopped us in our tracks. Initially had a very spicy birch beer type of flavor after opening, but well balanced. Mellowed out after 30-45 minutes with the fruit taking center stage and the alcohol more noticeable. But this was shockingly fresh for a 60 year old wine and it has at least 5-10 more years of good drinking ahead for well stored bottles. An absolute treat. We drank this next to a 2004 Taylor and that wine felt way too young, I would’ve wanted at least 20 more years for it to approach anywhere close to the complexity and ethereal character of this 1963 Dow.

12/29/2023 - Iskama Likes this wine:

You know how sometimes you open a premium wine very young and it doesn’t show much, and you say, it must be closed down or it’s too young, it’ll get better, caught it at a bad time. But you really don’t know. This was maybe the first wine I’ve had where I could see clearly into the future - and there is greatness ahead - but I would say to absolutely not open now, or at least not without a long decant, and not serve too cold.

On night one has a sweet and salty lemon flavor, lemon dominant, acid, very very mineral finish, very good. Day two gets hints of tropical fruit like passion fruit and papaya, but not in a ripe sense, just hints of complexity. It’s all there but it’s whispering to you, not overt, very subtle but coiled and clearly heading for the moon in about 5 years.

I loved this. Clearly a lot of others do too because I’m having a hard time backfilling a wine that seemed easy to obtain just a few weeks ago.

9/23/2023 - Iskama wrote:

Ruby red color. Tasted like an effervescent Pinot noir with a hint of citrus and herbs. The first rose I’ve had that smelled like roses. I don’t know if I’d say it’s more interesting than good - it’s both - but it’s definitely more intellectual than hedonistic, nowadays worth the price of admission once but I wouldn’t crave it regularly.

9/20/2023 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Better than expected. Had a really nice complexity to it. Some bottles of this cuvee tend to have a one dimensional apple flavor but this definitely had a lot more going on.

9/19/2023 - Iskama wrote:

I honestly hated my first bottle of this a few months ago. New world oak monster. But I loved the bottle I opened last night. Was it the pairing with a hearty chicken soup that stood up to it? Maybe… it definitely tasted more integrated and the oak didn’t stick out as much. A little more noticeable on day two but still a pleasant drink. Perhaps needs food.

8/6/2023 - Iskama wrote:

Base 17 disgorged 7/22. I usually like my rose much closer to disgorgement than regular champagne (or at least in that vein - high acid, steely, mineral) but opening this was a complete waste. Zero fruit. Maybe a victim of a weak Pinot noir vintage, tried giving it a few hours of air but not much change. This was my first dance with Egly’s rose so I’ll pick up an older disgorgement for comparison’s sake, seeing as a lot of trusted tasters really love it.

7/5/2023 - Iskama wrote:

Fine, but not particularly interesting. Apple, lime, acid, acid. A little creamier on day two. This feels like what people have in mind when they use the term “grower champagne” as a pejorative.

6/8/2023 - Iskama wrote:

A nice wine but it feels atypical for Frog’s Leap. It’s lighter, less black fruited, more earth than bell pepper. Some spice on the finish. No green streak. Not like the 15, 16, 17, 18 which were all classic and easily identifiable. I like it, but I probably won’t be reloading.

6/4/2023 - Iskama Likes this wine:

This is in a really great window. I love Fabio’s Langhe for its freshness and usually enjoy it most right after release. I remember the 2018 at this stage taking a real turn for the worse (for my palate) and the 2019 really maintaining its youthfulness. This bottle is showing a little development and maturity and I find that little added complexity an improvement from the usual linear red-fruitiness. I ought to hang onto these a little longer instead of going through 6-12 bottles in a flash and moving onto the next vintage. Alas… drink up

5/23/2023 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Sixth bottle in the past year. What I might appreciate most about this wine is that each showing has been perfectly consistent. Feels too rare in the world of artisan wine, in my experience at least. Here I know exactly what I’m getting every time I pull a cork.

The aromas are perhaps not as explosive as a few months ago, which leads me to think this wine will shut down. More tannic than I recall from previous showings which were pure silk. Too bad as I’m not sure I’m ever going to like it more than I did on release, and accordingly I’ve been going through my bottles with reckless abandon. I wouldn’t intentionally age this wine , but will probably end up with a few left over and it’ll be interesting to see where they go.

5/21/2023 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Loved this. Perfect bottle. Same notes as soyhead. Everything in great balance and harmony, with minerality, lemon, a deft oak touch that creates a little roundedness that brings everything together. Cohesive. Wish I had more.

3/9/2023 - Iskama wrote:

Super oaky and rich on day 1, balanced and delicious on day 3. Pretty good!

1/22/2023 - Iskama wrote:

En magnum. This was excellent. Way, way better than expected. Just perfect balance between white fruit, florals, and toast. In the upper echelon of champagnes I’ve had in a while. Magnum effect, or just a really good wine?

12/21/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Beautiful and classic Collin nose. Pear, jasmine, ginger, peach, mineral, blah blah etc. Palate hasn’t caught up though. The 2017 was more open on release. Bury these for a few years…

12/21/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Loved this. Easy drinking, light but structured, classic Burlotto signatures. If a retailer ever blew this out for <$50 I’d buy a case and drink it over the next 2-3 years. Maybe it will age well but the combination of approachability, freshness, red fruit, and spice makes it delicious now. I see no reason to wait long on this - for my preferences, I’m not sure it’ll get better. Next I’ll try side-by-side with the 2020 Langhe Nebbiolo as I’m curious to see how this stands up at twice the price. I see some similarities but the Barolo offers much more depth and a little more structure, as one would expect.

10/21/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Had this a few times now, very consistent showings. It’s a really beautiful wine with great aromatic complexity and the silkiest of tannins. It mops the floor with every other 2018 I’ve tasted. I personally prefer it to the exotic nature and sandy, drying tannin of the 2017. But it’s also much more delicate and lighter bodied. No idea how it will age but it sure is good now. 95-96?

It’s really a shame how expensive these are if you don’t have an allocation. This might be my favorite red wine out there and I still wouldn’t say it’s worth $300+ or whatever… I’ll look forward to opening these with less of a mental hurdle than the 2013 or 2016.

9/25/2022 - Iskama wrote:

I seem to be in the minority here but this was not particularly interesting. Fine, elegant, and very much identifiable as Bouchard. But a bit simple and to me not worth any more than the €130 paid off the list (based off today’s showing). I do think this has a ton of room for improvement so I wouldn’t open another bottle for at least 5 years, and it can definitely go a whole lot longer than that. But for now probably the least exciting of ~10 different RdJ bottles I’ve tried. Also a stark contrast to a 2015 opened a few months ago that was absolutely rocking, maybe not a surprise given the vintage… that was really, really good.

9/10/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Muted on PnP. Decanted for 5 hours, tons of sediment already, very little perceptible tannin. Really liked where this was after a decant but not what I was expecting. Lot of herbal character, which I liked, some bell pepper. Black fruited and very classic. Not much signature Saint-Estephe smoke, ash, incense I get sometimes. Saved a glass for 24 hours later and it was not quite as expressive, but creamier and a little more exotic like the 2018 with none of the bell pepper from the night before. I’m 93-94 on this, but I really liked it night one so 94 it is. However I was drinking side by side with a few other bottles that night including a 2018 Frog’s Leap. For me that wine is a very good value at $60, this one at $175-200 is not. Enjoyable but not a rebuy. I’ll go with the frog and if I’m going to splurge I’ll trade up to Montrose or Pichon Lalande for another $25-50.

8/21/2022 - Iskama wrote:

Beautiful perfume when I pulled the cork. Roses, tar, licorice, a little cherry candy / slight medicinal, really nice. I then double decanted 4-5 hours before serving later in the evening and that was probably a mistake because the wine was very closed down all throughout a long dinner. PnP was probably best bet, or opening the day before, or the wine is just closing down (which other notes don’t really seem to indicate). First bottle in close to a couple years I think and this definitely didn’t put on the same show my last one did.

8/8/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

First dance with LON19, disgorged probably 7 months ago (didn’t check before tossing the bottle). I found the 16 and 18 to be very tight and stony on release. They didn’t show much and didn’t change my mind that Longitude needs years to express itself. Well, the 19 is incredible. I don’t know why, I don’t know how (hard to think that the shorter amount of time spent on the lees explains it), but IMO this is in another class from every base vintage going back to 2012. It’s spectacular. It was also best on day 4, so it has a very long life ahead of it. Even with a significant price increase for this vintage it’s worth every penny, and I can’t wait to try the CdA when it’s released in 5 years…. In the meantime I’m upping my annual 6-bottle LON purchase to a case, and I can only hope the rest show as well as this one did. Maybe a conservative score. 93++

7/21/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

I love this wine with every ounce of my being. It’s not complex. The flavor profile is absolutely perfect. Explosive aromatics. I could drink it every day and will miss it when it’s gone

7/21/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Beautiful, translucent, shimmering magenta-ruby color. Smells divine - complex, black cherry and raspberry fruit, giving way to some aged lavender and spice aromas I associate with the vineyard. The palate, though… Great on PnP, feel like I have a “clean” bottle. Then this slightly funky animal musk flavor rears its head after an hour or so in the glass. I swear this same musky flavor has ruined some other bottles of Brovia in this age range , a few 2010s and another 2006, it’s not cork taint but I just don’t know what it is… muddies the wine and is hard to get past. Left half the bottle for day 2 and thankfully it had receded quite a lot, and was just lurking a bit in the background. I could see a really pure, beautiful wine hiding behind it that I’d score a 95 but with all the baggage this gets a 92.

7/9/2022 - Iskama wrote:

This has huge potential but it needs 2-3 more years at least. Not showing much now and took a few hours to open up even a little bit. But I think it could be special. Oddly I think the 08 Special Club is just entering its window but this really needs time. Hold.

6/19/2022 - Iskama wrote:

Decanted for a few hours and then back in the bottle. Decent amount of sediment. A little funk on the nose, very grippy tannin. Nice but tastes a little more mature than it should while staying very tannic. Day two, comes together more, albeit a little anonymous and not super exciting. Based on this bottle I don’t know if this will ever hit the bullseye, but I have a few more and think I’ll wait a few more years to find out.

6/3/2022 - Iskama wrote:

This wasn’t as much fun as the last couple bottles I opened maybe a year ago. A little bitter, tart, something missing on the mid-palate. Either not a great bottle or not a great time to drink. Will wait another year to check back in…

Edit - definitely waking up after a few hours. Give this at least a couple years and it should be worth the wait.

5/15/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

First bottle in at least a year, maybe a little longer. I thought it would be more evolved by now but it really hasn't budged much. Righteous juice that may be at it's best in another year or two. Still bright, fresh, and youthful. Love it. My go-to for domestic chardonnay when Chablis is off the table.

4/12/2022 - Iskama wrote:

Second to last LON12 (1/17 disg, already plowed through all my 1/16). We’ve finally passed the peak for this vintage. Still big delicious yellow fruit and toast, a little caramel, but it’s lost a fair amount of its freshness and bubble after a few minutes in the glass. Ends up falling a little flat on the palate. Also much more noticeable oxidative notes than my last bottle, maybe due to storage. This old timer had a heck of a run, and actually works quite nicely as a still wine after a little while. Last bottle in the next few months.

NB: In January, Arthur Larmandier commented that 2012 and 2016 were the most difficult vintages of the last decade. 2012 has always been wide open and accessible to me, as were 14/15. LON16 was the first one that, on release shortly after disgorgement, was really tight and needed more time in bottle. I wonder how the 2016 will age in comparison to the 2012. I still feel that the sweet spot for this wine is around 3 years after disgorgement.

4/9/2022 - Iskama wrote:

Beautiful wine in a perfect spot. Cork was soaked and the bottle actually leaked quite a bit in transit. But was actually a little tight on opening, a little tannin, opened up with an hour of air and really settled in. Bright red fruit in perfect harmony with everything else going on. Loved it. Best $50 I ever spent with K&L in January 2022

4/3/2022 - Iskama wrote:

Deg. 3/21, 48mos. This was the most reticent of the 6-7 different bottles I’ve had on my Collin journey. It really needed air more than any other, and benefitted from warming up in the glass. But interestingly once it opened up it showed similarities to the 2014 Enfers 60mo tasted a couple weeks ago - a signature almond paste, jasmine-y and lemony palate. It’s like a JV version of that wine in that it’s not as textural or powerful. But that wine feels like it’s in a perfect spot now whereas this one will really benefit from a few years’ aging. Not quite what I was expecting but still very happy to have several more in the cellar. Also a sign to stay away from my 2017 Pierrieres 36mo for a while.

Update: we gave this the champagne coravin for a week and came back to around 40% of the bottle. I think the comparison to the Enfers is even more noticeable. If this wine can put on some weight after 3-5 years while retaining its freshness, it’ll close the gap quite a bit. Question is, will that wine, which is so perfect now, manage to get even better with bottle age?

3/22/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Probably way too young. Pretty linear and not all that exciting or memorable. It did definitely become more interesting with air though. Boat raced by a couple bottles of Ulysse Collin from the same trip

3/7/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Nose to die for. Sweet red cherry candy, citrus, smoke, incense, pine, some savory character. Brighter than I expected, but the richness and savoriness is still closer to the 2016 than the 2013. The palate isn’t quite there yet. A little one dimensional. Needs a couple hours of air to come together but as the fruit comes out the tannins come out too. Some alcohol showing. Give this three more years and wait to open till it’s 15th birthday at least. Should be a stunner with more time in the bottle.

2/27/2022 - Iskama wrote:

Delicious. Red cherry, intense but not overripe or even ripe, some earth, smooth tannin, a really nice 2015 that can be drunk now or given another ~10 years if you prefer.

2/7/2022 - Iskama wrote:

Crazy wine. Should go for 30-40+ years. Wish I could get more

1/29/2022 - Iskama Likes this wine:

A beautiful wine and one of the best Oregon Pinots I can remember having. Ripe red raspberry fruit in perfect balance with medium acidity and light-medium body with well integrated oak. I’m sure this could make older bones, but I actually think this will be at its best in 2-3 years when the fruit is still vibrant but develops more complexity and secondary flavors. Bravo Marcus.

12/31/2021 - Iskama wrote:

Difficult to evaluate right now. Smells like rocks, tastes like lemon drenched rocks. Creamy texture with an endless minutes-long finish. Pretty obviously closed down, but you have to give credit to 13 year old juice that tastes like it was bottled yesterday.

Will it be monumental in time? Probably. Would I just pony up another $75 for 08 Cristal instead? Probably. But (budget notwithstanding) I’d drink that wine anytime, this one I’d give 10 years minimum in the cellar and probably longer. It could very well be legendary, but I just don’t have enough experience with young champagnes that became legends to say this is a done deal. To me it’s very different from the 06 and 07 and clearly built much more for the long haul.

12/28/2021 - Iskama wrote:

Next to a 1989 Yquem that tasted flat and a little dull in comparison (perhaps due to poor storage?), this was stunning. It had such amazing freshness and acidity that blind I never would’ve called an 89. So youthful. Flavors of orange marmalade and crème brûlée. A perfect Sauternes for my palate that easily has 20+ years to go in 375ml format. Need more of this.

12/1/2021 - Iskama Likes this wine:

First one in around a year. Still love it. The pure, red dusty cherry fruit aroma has gained a hint of violets that I’ve gotten from some other 16s like PdB Rabaja, Vietti Rocche, Brovia Villero, Vajra BDV. Fleeting and not as pronounced but gives it some complexity it didn’t have before. Nicely sweet red fruited palate that’s buried by tannin and a clipped finish that keeps this very good wine from being great. Very interesting on day 1 but probably drinking best on day 3. Will try to wait a few years before opening the next one.

11/20/2021 - Iskama Likes this wine:

My first experience with this wine in any vintage. Surprised to see only 70 bottles in cellars. At first sip this feels a little out of balance in that the acidity dominates. However the flavor profile is young and fresh so I think in 3-5 years (probably closer to 5) this will be excellent. Drinking surprisingly young for an 11 year old white, this is definitely an ageworthy bottle. I’d guess more so than the 2009. Right now I might prefer to drink a Capellania or CVNE Reserva Blanco, but no question this has a brighter future ahead.

11/7/2021 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Cork came out pristine, appears to be in perfect shape. Lots of tertiary and a little musty right off the bat, but after 2-3 hours in the decanter this is a gorgeous wine. Tastes so much younger than it is. Red fruited with some savory and sous bois and classic tobacco. Plush texture somewhere between silk and velvet. This bottle would easily have 5-10 more years to go if not more. Really nice!

11/1/2021 - Iskama wrote:

Madeirized

10/31/2021 - Iskama Likes this wine:

It’s good. Generous, toasty and peachy upfront. Long finish. On day 2 I find some very noticeable bitterness and greenness on the finish. There’s this odd dissonance between the leanness in terms of mouthfeel and the evident dosage. I wanted to like it more, as it can be found for very cheap if you play the game. I won’t be backing up the truck on this one but I expect the 243 will be better and the 244 even more so.

10/23/2021 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Strawberries and tannin. That’s the note

Day 2 update - still very fruity but starting to develop some nice complexity, very herbal, a little bit of Christmas spice (different from the licorice-y flavor I often get from their normale), peppermint. Tannins settled down. Should be really nice in ten years

10/13/2021 - Iskama Likes this wine:

The wine is medium-bodied, tannins present but not aggressive at first. They gain steam. Dark red black cherry fruit. A bit muted and one-dimensional at PnP. Very good balance, plenty of depth. Gaining complexity and a bit of a savory quality on the finish after a couple hours of air. A nice wine for sure, I think it lacks the vibrancy and purity of the 2016. That wine is exceptional though. Seems like this one is just exiting it’s youthful phase and should improve considerably in 3-5 years. I’m a fan and might buy more.

10/3/2021 - Iskama wrote:

Corked. Animal or something. Too bad because the color was deep red and probably a great wine underneath

8/10/2021 - Iskama Likes this wine:

Pours a really, really light salmon hue. You can barely tell it’s rose. I almost thought it might be flawed but it’s not. It’s awesome. Sharp, acidic, but fruit forward and fun. A little reminiscent of the Hugues Godme rose but less likely to strip the enamel off your teeth. Pretty aggressive mousse. Easy rebuy at $40 and a good value relative to other house favorites like Bara, Veuve, and Billecart.