4/28/24, 6:26 PM - This is the most flawed case of wine I have ever purchased.
4/15/24, 12:51 PM - 13.5% ABV.
3/22/24, 11:03 AM - "약간 정크푸드 같아요." 정말?
3/18/24, 8:58 AM - Also: Antonio Galloni of Vinous reset the drinking window to 2025-2045. So...
3/17/24, 5:34 PM - Solid info, LIMBUS LAFAYETTE, but I'd be curious to know your experience of this wine.
2/9/24, 10:44 AM - SMZ, scores, as you know, are subjective, vary widely among Pro reviewers and, with the rest of us, depend on mood, company, appetite, palate condition and the bottle itself. I've had the occasional bad bottle in a DFW batch, but that would be a Flaw. When we score on CT (I've had a mild argument with another user about this, who actually set me straight), we are ostensibly using the CT scoring system, in which a 90 denotes an excellent wine, and even an 89 denotes a very, very good wine indeed. Your 93 and your subject's 90 constitute the range of Excellent wines: better than Very Good but not Outstanding. On this you agree.
12/24/23, 7:04 AM - _Xenon, that might be a nice way to remember your Dad. OTOH, some tasters seem to have found these bottles to be superb. Maybe give it away—with a caveat? Merry Christmas to you!
12/8/23, 12:07 PM - Hi EWSDS, when you write "the price I had to pay for it" rather than, e.g., "the price I paid for it", you imply a gun-to-the-head situation. So, I am curious about your phrasing. Further: when you write "the hype of the producer" do you mean the producer's own hype, or media hype concerning this producer?
12/3/23, 1:35 PM - Zinfandel, or Zinfandel field blend, absolutely, PurpleTooth.
10/19/23, 5:55 PM - I have six; I probably won't open the first of these for a couple-three years, and per your note, I will be hoping that's not my mistake.
10/4/23, 12:09 PM - ARTY2012; may I suggest that you change your rating to Flawed and NR, rather than drag down the cumulative scores of the 198 notes who did NOT experience a flawed bottle? Seems only fair to the wine and the winemaker. Full disclosure: I have two left.
9/21/23, 12:49 PM - Okay, then, no numerical score!
9/8/23, 2:47 PM - I'd never heard of B Cellars, so looked up their various wines and the interesting things people had to say about them. But with Aubert UV-SL Chard in the bd mix, your wife and I are on the same page. I was planning on letting my duo sit for a few more years, but I do take your point about the tamed nature of the wine after seven years of cellarage (which may be true, in a way, of all fine wines, though this is in general a desirable passage.) I await your future notes on Aubert. (Fine Zin, otoh, doesn't sing for me these days until about ten to twelve years from vintage, in contrast to the wild zins of my youth.)
8/3/23, 10:35 AM - Eighteen CT users peg the drinking window as between 2025 and 2042; AG of Vinous suggests a twenty-year window beginning in 2046. I do appreciate it when folks (like you, in this case) weigh in on wines before they are considered ready to drink by most; it's all good information. I have a six pack: I plan to open my first of these in 2029 or 2030.
6/26/23, 2:14 PM - Thanks for the tip, Marc, I know I would enjoy that visit—and I do occasionally make the trek from the Northern Catskills to South Florida! Jeff
6/27/23, 1:09 PM - I took your advice, Marc, and found three LeMoine Nuit St. Georges that are ready to drink. Older LeMoine's are not easy to come by! (I think my runway is too short for the recent vintages.) I'm excited to try these soon.
7/16/23, 12:23 PM - Hi Marc,I just read your tasting note: sounds like a truly wonderful bottle. Leaning red and long fond of Nuit St. Georges, I found and ordered from Costa Mesa a 2012 Les Cailles and a pair of Les Vaucrains from 2006 and 2013. I'd call the "civilized" (AM) 2006 as drink-now, which I'm eager to do, but these won't be traveling cross-country in the summer heat. Good to know that 2013s are ready to go; ST had given a 2019/20 begin for Vaucrains and AM 2028, in contrast to this year from both writers for the Caillerets. Best,Jeff
6/22/23, 7:10 PM - I love this note. "I know patience will be rewarded. I'm also reminded daily that tomorrow is not promised." So well put, and so on point for any of us with any kind of cellarage.
6/18/23, 3:04 PM - Antonio Galloni's drinking window of 2024-2056 is the longest I've seen, by far, for any non-fortified wine. I have but one bottle, which I hope to live to enjoy in 2040, a scant seventeen years from now.
6/4/23, 7:50 PM - Steve Tanzer rated this 87-89 in 6/06, Neal Martin 90 in January of this year, the latter giving a window of 2023 to 2036, which sounds about right, as few of the 2005s in my experience are even at the beginning of their ascent. Perhaps the vintage of the century for some bottlings, but too early to really know. I have two of these; I'll hope to wait another six years before opening one.
4/28/23, 6:13 AM - Half price? Lucky you!
5/1/23, 3:12 PM - $40 to $55 online in NC atm.
3/26/23, 7:44 PM - Wait: so why have you tagged this wine as "flawed"?
3/22/23, 5:22 AM - 25% Chardonnay? You sure about that?
12/19/22, 5:27 AM - Do we understand you to be comparing a Sonoma Pinot Noir with a French Chardonnay at the same price point? That makes about as much sense as comparing a Cabernet Sauvignon to a Sauvignon Blanc.
11/26/22, 4:29 AM - John, I like the new tweak to your opening disclaimer; this renders your scoring crystal clear.
11/16/22, 8:45 AM - John Nezlek, your personal rating system may make sense to you, but here in Cellar Tracker, 99.99 % of reviewers use Cellar Tracker’s point system. Your eccentric scoring is inappropriate, as it serves only to confuse and confound the reader. Maybe just review without adding a score?
11/17/22, 9:06 AM - Hi John (I'm Jeff; nice to meet you), thank you for responding. My quibble stems from your opening note, which implies (to me) that the scoring system you use differs from the standard CT score (otherwise, there would be no need to for a reviewer to note his or her point system). And hey, your score is your score and your palate is your palate, but in my many years as a CT user, I would venture that an 85 score generally represents the very lowest end of very good. This is, after all, a wine that pro reviewers have scored from 90 (RJ on wine.com) to 94 (Antonio Galloni of Vinous.com). As I have yet to crack my case, I can have no opinion on the wine's overall quality, so if you feel that your bottle was a bare point above merely "good", I will believe you! It's just that 87 is a score usually assigned to affordable, well-made quaffables that require little aging. Of course, this wine, as you have written, is an entry level Bordeaux, but most Bordeaux, even the relatively inexpensive examples, need some years to develop. An 87 score comes off to me as somewhat dismissive, but you have tasted this and I have not, so perhaps the wine merits no higher score. In any event, I'll likely be opening my first bottle next year: look for my review, and we'll compare notes on our future experiences with this wine. Best wishes to you.
11/17/22, 9:42 AM - No disagreement from me on any of the points you make. I, too, am likely guilty of score inflation, primarily because, as you note, there is a herd mentality to scoring that's difficult to buck. Good on you for sticking to your guns. (Also, full confession: I should know better than to write to anyone about anything a day after surgery and general anesthesia...)
11/17/22, 10:13 AM - Thanks, and a happy T-day to you, John!
9/25/22, 8:33 AM - stokeme, I opened a second bottle a few weeks later; this was without flaw. Very nice; thank you for your encouragement. At your suggestion, I will inform the Dehlinger folk of my experience with the two bottles.
8/1/22, 4:28 PM - Hi UpFromtheCellar. As you point out, this wine did indeed earn at least one high score—94—from a reviewer (Ian d’Agata, Vinous) and, while he tends to be slightly more generous than I in points awarded, I do see his point, and the wine has on occasion been that good. One can tell by the mouthfeel that is does not present as a “fine”wine (a bit more glycerine that expected, and tannins happily integrated) but that is part of what makes it outstanding in its class. Is a 94-scored Grand Cru Burgundy or First Growth Bordeaux more deserving of a 93-94 score? Certainly, if you can nab one for ~$US18. But you can’t. By all means, pay hundred or thousands for a serious powerful wine, if that’s your thing (and why not?) but all factors taken into consideration, I have had no problem in scoring bottle of this wine at 93-94. (And it’s not like I’m not fussy…)
8/2/22, 2:39 PM - smcisaac, James Suckling is the highest scorer among high-scoring reviewers; it guarantees that sellers will use his name in blurbs. Ian d'Agata, who I sometimes follow, often scores a point or two higher than I sometimes might, but he points up fascinating Italian wines at great values. My tastes, and thus my scoring, always seemed to align best with Steve Tanzer, who usually awarded a couple-three points lower across the boards than Robert Parker and Neal Martin and one or two lower than Antonio Galloni.
6/4/22, 5:40 PM - Galloni's window begins at 2024 and end ends at 2056. Perhaps you opened a bit early.
5/30/22, 1:43 PM - SchlaepDog, yes, that or Muscadet (which is also the most misapprehended (Muscadet? Muscat? Muscatelle?).
3/21/22, 3:45 PM - Sometimes it's enough just to simply enjoy a fantastic wine (not that I don't favor notes...:-) ).
3/10/22, 1:16 PM - A year decant seems like overkill, by about 364 days…
1/12/22, 3:03 PM - Wait, so how was this "flawed"?
12/13/21, 12:21 PM - Hi jjlgd, I have six left (of fourteen) and I've rated them as high as 93 and as low as 86 or Flawed. I'll be trying one of these over the weekend with a few other 04 to 08 Barolos; I'll post a note.
4/6/21, 1:45 PM - FDWines, I liked this wine also, but I wonder about your scoring: by most standards (including CellarTracker's and mine) an 80 is the lowest score possible for a wine one might classify as merely "Good" (and anything below 70 is considered essentially undrinkable), but from your description, you liked it very much. Hence my question, and the reason your score matters is because an individual score will affect the aggregate rating.
4/4/21, 9:24 AM - yeti575rider, the bottle's cross-country travels could certainly be an issue, but in my experience, the only 2005 BDX that are truly ready to go are the lower-end Right Bank wines. I have a couple of these 2005 Pontet-Canets, and I hope I live long enough to drink one (because I do buy to drink, not to collect; wish me luck!), which will not be for another seven to nine years at the earliest.
3/19/21, 3:36 PM - I've consumed two of my four; the first, four years ago, was very good; the second, two months ago, was excellent. These have been in my cellar for a little more than a decade, purchased from Gary's (NJ) for ~US$60. Perhaps your bottles suffered some abuse before you purchased them?
3/19/21, 5:58 PM - As someone once said, there are no great wines, only great bottles. Cheers.
3/15/21, 6:32 PM - How many days between taking delivery of and opening the bottle?
3/16/21, 10:09 AM - Thanks for the info.
3/5/21, 9:52 AM - John McCabe, the Tanbark Hill bottling IS a second wine; Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon is the vintner's flagship bottling.
2/21/21, 2:22 PM - I read your note, and yes; we do agree on the evolution of this wine!
2/12/21, 1:24 PM - Yes, I agree!
1/15/21, 2:06 PM - From your notes, it doesn't sound as though it's past it's peak; I'm curious why you believe it to be.
1/21/21, 11:48 AM - Wicozani, thank you for your response; that is very helpful!
1/2/21, 4:58 PM - Why a plastic pitcher and not some sort of glass decanter--especially with a wine of this value? ? Alcohol will react with many plastics...
1/2/21, 5:42 PM - I hear you: decanters can be a pain. I have found that Target sells Reidel decanters, together with other glassware in that line, at a very attractive price-point. (You could probably sell your expensive decanter on ebay, and buy two or three of the Target Reidels.) Works well and just needs any kind of simple bottle brush with soap and water. Nearly every material other than glass imparts a flavor: for example, I've tried brewing water for tea and coffee in glass and metal, and man, is there a noticeable difference.
12/28/20, 3:00 PM - Ten more years.
12/17/20, 4:44 PM - I had two of these, and on reading your note, decided to open one for yesterday evening's meal of hearty soup (sort of pea-potato-ham stew; really tasty, made by a good friend and neighbor and left on our stump[county living]). I ordered a case this afternoon, and we finished the remaining third of the bottle this evening. Your tasting note is SO spot on; thank you for sharing.
11/21/20, 10:51 AM - That is a very long time to be anxious!
8/30/20, 10:27 AM - Second.
7/7/20, 6:09 PM - Oh, ouch—one would not expect that in a 5L, and how disappointing! TCA can strike anywhere, it seems. But good on you for donating to the cause.
5/13/20, 6:38 PM - Yes, but I am continually learning about drinking windows, so I'll try not to leave Barolos to the last year. I recently attempted a 99 Cappellano, the earlier bottle of which had been off the charts stellar—ten years ago. Down the drain, sadly, with its fellow. One left; we'll see: AG/VM's window is 2013 to 2027; Community is a 2015 to 2028...
5/8/20, 4:50 PM - So...you don't favor Barolos? (or is it Baroli?)
5/8/20, 5:00 PM - Ah. Well, then! (Me, too.)
5/3/20, 11:57 AM - Jaumealaska, I'd take that bet—just for grins—but you are probably right!
1/9/20, 4:04 PM - Fair question, and hard to answer. Both my dining companion and I have been enjoying Sagrantino for more than twenty years: Ruggiero back when it was still imported, Scacciodiavola, Còlpetrone, Arnaldo-Caprai, Napolini, others. It's a fun varietal with a lot of energy and character; generally a pleasure to drink with strongly flavored apps or entrées. This bottle, which I was very much looking forward to trying, just seem tired and without energy, maybe aged out. Which it should not be at this point, but you know what they say: there are no great wines, only great bottles. I do have two more, and will hope for a better encounter next time.
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