11/29/2023 - pgb67 wrote:

Thanksgiving 2023 (Dogwood Grove/Rock Spring, Virginia): This wine blew everyone away and easily won WOTN. Silky mouthfeel, a harmonious palate with complex red fruit and earthy notes (raspberry, rose petal, mushroom, toasted oak) and a long finish for a fairly gentle wine. Seemed to be in a perfect drinking window.

6/5/2023 - Snowey Likes this wine:

Nose was open for business showing lovely Burgundian scent. Flavor was a bit heavy while oak was more integrated than last bottle. Is over extracted the right term here? Body was full and it went well with a steak but didn’t have the lightness you expect in a lovely burgundy.

5/27/2023 - Sundbyberg wrote:

Napa evening with one bottle of Bordeaux (semiblind):

2016 Dunn Howell Mountain: A bit thin, lacking power. I have only had the 2013 before, but it was better. Wait 5 years or so: 92 pts.
2017 Beringer Private Reserve: A really good wine with depth and seductive fruit, without being over the top. 95 pts
2018 Gallica - I really liked the 2008 but the 2018 was just so-so: 91 pts
2019 Chateau Issan: Not convincing. Loved the 2018 but the 2019 did not deliver. 90 pts.

All bottles were opened 5 days in advance and then decanted before dinner. They all improved during our dinner.

4/18/2023 - Derek Darth Taster wrote:

Wine from dinner courtesy of Asparagus. Drank in Grassl Cru.
Appearance cloudy from bottom part of bottle, ruby colour. Legs.
Nose medium+ intensity, with initial blast of high toned florals that fades off, perfumy dark red cherries. Developed.
On the palate, dry, high acidity, medium alcohol (13%), medium- tannins, medium body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of sweetish dark red cherries, cola, salty savoury earth with mineral edge. Medium+ finish.
Methinks drinking as good as it gets probably already. Will drink up my last remaining bottle sometime later this year.

4/19/2023 - WoodieBayArea wrote:

not notes, but remember this being very very good over two nights... complex flavors riding alongside the fruit on night two... very 2016 I remember thinking

1/26/2023 - sh6k Likes this wine:

Tastiest Yquem of the evening (out of 6). Spicy, perfect, banana caramel.

Rankings for the night:
1. 1946 (best overall)
2. 2010 (most delicious)
3. 1967 (most interesting)
4. 2015
5. 2005
6. 1976 (likely flawed)

2/12/2020 - Nanda wrote:

Tasting at Domaine Henri Gouges (Nuits Saint George): Pretty red cherry aromas. Round and fresh on the palate with a gentle structural stature. Generous vs. imposing. Some nice savory earth tones. 89-90

10/23/2020 - hrazdiiv Likes this wine:

Hard to believe I am the first person to ever review this wine (what am I missing?) but here goes. A nice, full bodied Barolo that displays an uncharacteristic dark purple color with no crimson at the rim - fairly rare for a 19 year old. Initial nose is very pleasant and consistent with the observed dark color: clearly full bodied with notes of dried roses, sandalwood, and dried cherry. Tannins are still very muscular with a complementary acidity giving it a firm backbone. Finish is still very "full bodied," once again the acidity providing the dominant backdrop, with some nice notes of burnt caramel rounding it out. Length on the finish is medium. I didn't decant but the wine held up nicely, perhaps just a touch too acidic on the last sip. Nonetheless, well made, modern style Barolo, though I am still puzzled as to why no one has ever reviewed this single vineyard from an eminent Langhe producer.

11/7/2020 - COWineLover wrote:

Opened without decant and poured 45 minutes before consuming. Light ruby color. Aromatically this has a predominant strawberry, sous bois, bing cherry, and cinnamon. On the palate this has good vigor with prominent acidity that lashes your tongue with cinnamon and cranberry before shifting to a noticeably tannic mid palate. This settles down for a strawberry influenced finish. Nice length with a subtle spice.

A good Village level wine with great overall balance. While this probably benefits from more bottle time, I would drink now through 2028 to enjoy the spice and strawberry pairing.

5/1/2021 - Will Devize wrote:

Coming along nicely following the slightly mute bottle 3 years ago. Now showing notes of grilled bacon which underpin the delicious red fruits and lovely sweet oak whilst fine tannins cosset the palate in a most charming way. Texturally subtle and understated with a deft silkiness on the finish.

4/27/2021 - classicalspin wrote:

A disappointment. Was expecting a lot more. Acidity predominates. Positive: tastes young and fresh. Negative: oak, tannins, even the fruit is obscured: lack of integration. At 12 years out, I don't know if some more bottle age will rectify the situation. I have three more bottles. Advice appreciated.

4/10/2021 - Decanting Queen Likes this wine:

An interesting mix of power and softness. Tannins are still big and grippy and need time to settle down, but the fruit , tobacco and soft leather keep it somewhat in balance. This needs cellar time and will only get better. We were not able to decant and I am sure this would have been even more excellent with 3 hours of air time.

1/25/2021 - sbfoote wrote:

Dark ruby beginning to brick, still somewhat reduced, ripe dark cherry, smoke, saline finish, plenty of tannin, excellent power and balance. Needs a few more years but great potential.

Day 2, reduction gone, tannins consolidated into a bitter, stemmy spine. Big step back.

Day 3 Much better, nose open for business, sweet dark red fruit with an orange zest finish. This one is going places. Hold.

8/2/2020 - afields wrote:

At first this is all oak, needs a good hour in the glass; really should have decanted ahead of time. Remains oaky in a dark and spicy way, with tobacco/cigarette ash tray, dark woody spice, pinecone, and on the palate some vanilla and some raspberry. M tannin, M to M- acid, M to M+ body. There’s not a lot of fruit here which leaves me wondering why I opened a young Bordeaux. This was a 375ml but even still, feels like it needs 5 more years of bottle age, not because it’s especially closed or tannic right now but for the oak to integrate and tertiary character to develop, without which this feels a little pointless. Other notes suggested drinking early so maybe closer to release (or in larger format bottles) there was more fruit here. For me, as is, this is like ~5/10.

Had this with tofu in Memphis-style bbq sauce and cheddar fontina Mac and cheese. A good pairing in principle but between the spice in the sauce and the oak in the wine it didn’t quite come off.

11/8/2020 - Snowey Likes this wine:

Post issue:
Drank on night of Biden projection as President Elect. Enjoyably crisp though not incredibly memorable (i have yet to meet a memorable champagne—maybe I’m bad at appreciating it :( ).
Nose had a robust presence and was the feature that stood out the most.

1/4/2021 - Snowey Likes this wine:

Gorgeous! Nose and flavors were closer to old world than the standard strawberry west coast pinot. Really enjoyable and it improved over the second day in the fridge. Looking forward to trying B, C and D cuvees!

11/4/2020 - Xavier94 Likes this wine:

Reminds me of the gorgeous 2009 rendition; this is like violet water with a lithe impression of pomegranate, raspberry fruit that conveys a powdery, airy character. Mineral, red licorice, violet perfume on the nose and in the mouth and a whiff of juniper berry. Spicy texture with fine tannins. Like drinking a Chambolle at much less money!

10/14/2020 - pclin wrote:

PnP. ABV 13%.
Floral and expressive, smelled like it’s open for business. On the palate, this was lighter than ‘15 vintage. Bright acidity and slightly lean. Fine tannins and approachable, still all primary red fruits. Just okay length. Good balance with no hint of alcohol. Okay wine but not as good as ‘15 vintage for sure. Drank 1/2 bottle of this while listening to Kenji Sawada’s “From Yamato With Love” on repeat for hours....You could feel the sadness in Sawada’s voice singing for the brave crew of Space Battleship Yamato or was it for the crew of battleship Yamato sunk by the Americans while on the one-way mission to Okinawa.

9/17/2020 - Snowey wrote:

Post issue:
Under cork closing (not sure about the other commenters talking about screw cap).
Didn't love this. Color was dark. Upon opening had quite a bit of oak and an alcoholic burn on the back end. Followed it over two days and it never really opened the nose.

Maybe its too young? Or maybe this producer isn't for me.

6/17/2020 - MTC2 Likes this wine:

Consumed over two days. Still incredibly “fresh”. Everything you could want in an aged 1er cru Chablis. Lemon, butterscotch, hazelnut and oyster shell-minerality, finishing with perfectly balanced acidity. Really hard to believe this is more than 4-5 years old.

5/23/2020 - skycap05 wrote:

Ok la

2/15/2020 - msuwine wrote:

This elegant and layered wine is drinking near its peak right now, with a sophistication and class that are hard not to adore. Cherry red in color; medium in body; with an enticing nose of sour cherry, pomegranate, and rose petals. The flavors are similarly delicate - but delicious - with notes of dried strawberry, rhubarb, anise, and white pepper.

As someone who drinks a fair amount of New World Pinot, I found this a compelling reminder of all the Old World can offer. The fruit here was more subtle and less candied, with a lighter mouthfeel and more subtle finish; yet, this wine lingers more in the mind than all but the best domestic domestic pinots. Drink in next few years.

4/13/2020 - rc@ughey wrote:

Delicious villages that exemplifies what I like about Red Burgundy. But this was also an exercise in why you need to let certain wines breathe. Upon opening, this shows the bad side of 08. It is initially very acidic, quite lean, and lacking in fruit. Although I often enjoy bright, angular Burgs, this is an extreme example -- at least initially. But with 2-3 hours in the decanter, it begins to show everything great about 08. The fruit really fleshes out and the acids mellow. And with 4-5 hours in the decanter, the fruit becomes even more beautiful and layered but without losing the initial brightness. When it all comes together, this wine is just a flat-out gorgeous Chambolle, with crunchy red fruits, fine details, and real minerality. This is a wine that would never, ever be confused for anything but Burgundy, and it's not one that would appeal to a New World palate. But it's so satisfying for what it is.

11/5/2019 - Sean Tay Likes this wine:

Mushroom, truffles, wet forest, red fruits, mineral, medium+ body, medium+ finish, medium+ acid, medium tannin. Tasting at Domaine Pascal Marchand.

1/16/2019 - nskelsey wrote:

Oh dear, what has gone wrong here. The great Thierry Brouin retired last year after almost 40 years at the helm to be replaced by Boris Champy of Louis Latour and if this particular bottle sample is typical then a serious inquest needs to take place. In colour it's medium light in colour, we're talking strawberry juice tones here (not a bad thing) and on the nose there are pleasant spicy red fruit notes, but then it all goes seriously downhill. On the palate it's medium-light and dilute while the finish is, well, there isn't one! Not sure if it was me I handed a sample blind to a respected vigneron who confirmed my impressions, stating he thought is was "feeble" and was shocked to learn the origin. We're talking £250 a bottle here and it was the worst wine out of 72 red Burgs on offer. The doubt that is in my mind is that the cask sample notes from some top professional tasters view this wine completely differently, but I can only state it as I see it. If you're thinking of buying this I would urge you to taste first because on this showing there were basic Bourgogne Rouge wines at 1/10th the price that were more satisfying. Estimated maturity: Irrelevant on this showing and I gave it 89 because I lost my nerve looking at the name on the label

3/28/2020 - vfccpa123 Likes this wine:

Enjoyed this wine over dinner in the car as we begin our takeout date nights at pretty panoramic locations around the Maine coast where we live. Very nice aromas and medium length finish on this wine that went very well with our food. If we can duplicate this experience again getting during the period of social distancing it will be just fine with me.

2/17/2020 - Xavier Auerbach wrote:

Amsterdam UGCB Tasting and Winemakers' Dinner (Beurs van Berlage / Eden Hotel): Magnum. Lively and vigorous but starting to show maturity, quite a full body but balanced and fresh, the tannins are softening.

2/18/2020 - cfk49 wrote:

Back in a good phase with roundness to go with red fruits and slight spice. Still a bit of tannin on the back end of the palate. Cellared since original release.

1/11/2020 - Djfermentation Likes this wine:

I hazard placing a score on this but not because it isn’t awesome because it is. A wonderful relative freshness. Some citrus (lemon and lime) but with a creamy nuttiness. A stellar pairing with Rogue River Blue Cheese and then with a mango, jalapeño chicken dish. Fantastic

12/27/2019 - JonathanP Likes this wine:

Slow ox’ed for 4 hours before drinking and it was open enough to show some black cherries, earth and some nice rocky detail. Floral too. Nice concentration for the vintage and not overly bright. In fact it’s very well balanced. I think this will be better in a few years but not a crime to open now with a decent airing.

12/25/2019 - timothynbond wrote:

Very tart and acidic, lighter body than I anticipated. Decanted 1 1/2 hours, but was still better at the end of the meal than beginning. This was a crowd pleaser, but I was expecting more. Will try again in a couple years. Paired with beef wellington.

12/15/2019 - llindahl Likes this wine:

Red fruit in abundance, cherries and fresh figs. Some oak and stable on the nose. Classic Bordeaux, well balanced acidity. A nice classic wine