5/6/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

My last bottle of this, a wine that barely exists. Bought from the Rudi Wiest action. The fine folks at MFW didn't even have any information on this release, which carried a sticker from the 1999 VDP auction. How many bottles could there have been? This was a magnum, a big, sticky, leaky magnum, with the cork pushed 1/2 a cm out and nearly disintegrating. The color poured basically salmon, the color of a rose champagne perhaps. At first slightly flabby, back on the ice for a few more minutes, and then boom goes the dynamite. It was a long night with many bottles opened so a detailed description is a bit tough, but one sip of this and it's quickly obvious that this is a special wine. A huge wine that explodes in the glass, still very sweet, tons of nectarine, with a spine of acidity that provides a shot to the palate at the end of a long night. It's certainly aged but no hint of decline despite the obvious wear and tear of the bottle. Riesling is immortal!

4/29/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

Folks who visited seemed to think this was the most wide open of the 2019s, so I figured I'd give it a go. Well, they were correct, and this wine is really lovely and wide open at this juncture. There is a plenty of tannic backbone so I would have no issue aging for 5-10 years, but drinking really nicely now. It has much less green than the last few Betas I've had (admittedly all much older releases...have put most into deep storage), with nice medium weight fruit, good but not overwhelming acidity, no notable alcohol. Really just a delicious wine.

4/8/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

Wonderful spicy burg nose. Palate is fairly ripe but with enough acidity to balance it out.

4/3/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

This is simply stupendous. On day 1 it is Chablis dialed up to 11, all lemon curd and shells. After a day open it picks up a ton of richness and drives a bit from chablis over towards meursault. Yes it's a very pricey village wine but at "fair" retail (150 US or so) it's hard to argue it's overpriced compared to other white burgs.

4/3/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

A nice wine with ripe fruit and tons of stems. Maybe the fruit veers slightly grenache -y but it works for me.

4/3/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

A bit disappointing showing, quite closed and never really opened up even with a half day decant. Outshined by the 01 next to it which was surprising.

4/3/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

Needed about a half hour to break out of a very hard shell (honestly the tasting pour had me nervous) and then opened up gloriously over the rest of the night. Such great wines, pure fruit, not overly reductive, showing the fruit rather than the winemaking.

3/11/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

Premoxed.

2/12/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

A bit of VA that takes some time to blow off. After that...fruit has darkened up a bit but still nice and crunchy and gluggable.

1/22/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

Give this a ton of air if you want to open a bottle. First night it was a bit heavy, flabby, too much oak, reduction but without fruit. Second night it came into much better balance, with reduction and oak receding and a bit more acidity and fruit coming out.

1/12/2024 - Tubulus wrote:

Chambolle with a German accent. Someone manages to combine very low alcohol with fairly deep fruit, mostly red but not veering far into crunchy territory, with a bit of darker notes thrown in. So much energy, the balance of acidity and minerality makes it so good and easy to drink. Would be hard to argue this is the best wine in the world but it certainly might be my favorite.

12/18/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

A bit muddied and purple-ripe at this point, nice enough but needs some time.

12/18/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

12/18/2023 Drank together 2019 Dujac MSD and Duroche Gevrey Le Clos. A nice contrast of two very successful but very different 2019s. The Dujac explodes with spices and some green from the whole clusters, while the Duroche is all pure purple-ish fruits. I loved the Duroche for drinking now, and lock up the Dujac for a decade.

12/18/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Drank together 2019 Dujac MSD and Duroche Gevrey Le Clos. A nice contrast of two very successful but very different 2019s. The Dujac explodes with spices and some green from the whole clusters, while the Duroche is all pure purple-ish fruits. I loved the Duroche for drinking now, and lock up the Dujac for a decade.

12/18/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

An excellent 20, certainly ripe fruit but well balanced.

12/18/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

This is a stunner. Gotta love some reduction but it's impeccably balanced against white fruits and a strong vein of acidity.

12/5/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Beautiful, zippy, balanced. Definitely slightly off-dry

12/5/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Nice enough but to me this was way outclassed by a Haart it was paired with. Nice fruit and a lot of mineral and grass but agree with the other note here that the body was a bit thin, and a bit low acid.

12/3/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Even out of magnum this is wide open and beautiful.

7/18/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Same bottle. Smells like Vosne (or is it that the Vosne nose is the DRC nose ..) with a brighter fruit profile. Drinking mighty fine now.

10/30/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Not in a great place for me. Fruit seems to be on the downslope but there's still some drying tannin and a hint of alcohol.

10/5/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Same bottle as Lolo note. I also had the Weissburgunder this week and weirdly the WB tasted a lot more like a burgundy Chardonnay than this, despite this one being well...chardonnay...and being grown on limestone. But yes this has a very different fruit profile...floral and very slightly tropical, decent body with even a bit of a waxy texture. Not what I expected but still a very delicious wine and drinking very well now.

9/28/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Drinking incredibly well right now, such a different wine from some of the Chinon cab francs I've had (Baudry, Raffoult, etc). MOst of the table thought it was a northern rhone as it had darker fruits, white pepper, even some bacon.

9/28/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Feels fresher than prior tasting note, probably as it's been in my 40 degree fridge for most of its life. I think the best description is a Keller Riesling but with a much more tropical fruit basket of flavors. Mango, guava, maybe pineapple. Great acidity, nice sugar balance. Great pairing with Cuban food.

8/5/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

2016 base, 2021 disgorgement. Felt a little clunkier than me than other disgorgements, a bit lower acid and sweeter than normal. Still, solid effort.

7/19/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Drinking very well already. So much energy, tropical nose but leaner fruit palate. Salty finish goes on for ages. Will age for years but no harm opening now with food.

7/14/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

The late picking is quite obvious here as there is a density and fullness that reminds me of 18s. No idea what it was like in it's youth but it's decidedly not high acid right now (far from flabby though). Solid white fruits. Would be curious to see what happens with this over time.

7/5/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Joyous, ageless

6/27/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Drinking nicely, there's still a drying austerity here, but there's enough fruit to balance it out. I want to think it can age longer but perhaps the structure will outlive the fruit.

6/27/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Like the other bottles on here, the cork was soaked most of the way up. Drank this double blind next to 1995 Cos which was quite instructive. Nobody guessed a Bordeaux grape/blend for this. There was a hint of VA along with very lifted blueberry-ish fruits, some guesses for Musar or perhaps Rioja, and even for a top beaujolais. It did still have a decent amount of tannins on the back end, but they did not lead to a feeling of clenching austerity (like perhaps the Cos next to it). It had a refreshing and lifted feeling, really delicious, and a nice dinner companion.

6/3/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

It's DRC, it's 2010....it's great. Tasted twice in a short period in verticals of DRC Ech and dusted the others every time.

5/21/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Solid BB for under $30. White peach, tiny bit of reduction, minimal oak. Mid palate is a bit thin. I wouldnt say this drinks above it's designation but it is excellent for what it is.

5/21/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

First time with this producer. Not at all natty/reductive, this reminded me of a Hudelot-Noellat with a lot more stems. By that I mean very pure red-fruited but on the darker-red spectrum, not strawberry/cranberry. Spicy but not green stems. Good acidity. Pretty open for business but probably improves.

5/21/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Shockingly good bottle of what shouldn't be a particularly great wine. Pours a nice medium ruby color, saturated to the edge of the glass, from the visual no indication that this is a 40+ year old wine. There is still some structure and fruit along with mature notes of cedar and leather, which come to the fore after a few hours open. Frankly this is showing better than an 82 I had a few months ago.

4/21/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Double blind - the nose has a bit of coconut and new world-y oak that led most everyone to say California, but the palate has apples, minerals, excellent acidity, dense but not overripe, spoke more to Burgundy or perhaps a clean/non-oxidative Jura like Pelican. The reveal was a fun one!

4/21/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Horribly corked.

4/20/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Not quite pre-moxed but showed a good deal more advanced than it should have, was quite clear from the moment it poured many shades darker than the 2012 Rhys chard next to it. a bit of bruised apple showed through. Though if you re-labeled this with a 10-15 year older vintage tag I would have said it was sound. So drink up...

3/26/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Chunky dark fruited syrah, this definitely needs food and, more preferably, another 5-10 years.

3/23/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Decent, but I think the structure here has outlasted the fruit a bit. The 2010 Chenes and Ducs are insane so maybe the village fruit didn't quite have enough concentration to last.

3/23/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

The case I bought of this must have been stored at 50 degrees until recently at this is just sooo shut down and young. Still tough to get a read on.

3/2/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

In a 10/12/17 vertical flight. Not surprisingly a bit behind the 10, but to me it more than held its own. There is an interesting oily texture in this bottle that doesn't show itself in the other vintages.

3/2/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Killer bottle. Rich nose explodes out of the glass. Full texture, tons of minerality, ripping acids.

2/19/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Slightly dissapointing, a bit of reduction and then a fairly linear wine. Didn't evolve into much with two days open. Good but for the price expecy better. Needs time?

2/19/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

A wee bit of reduction but that's not the main takeaway here, rich fruit, full bodied, outstanding for the price.

2/19/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

5 years after my last disappointing bottle the 2014 is finally coming out of its shell. The nose is absolutely explosive on the first pour, nothing shy about this wine anymore. Compared to the 13 this has a richer, fuller body, with a bit less acid. I would not pair this with delicate food, in this case it worked perfectly as a post-red-wine break.

2/13/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Beautiful pure nose but the palate had way too much reductive funk on it. Hadn't noticed in prior bottles.

2/5/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Way too young for me at the moment, all acid and no fruit.

2/2/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Confusing bottle. If I didn't see my notes from the last bottle I'd assume this was stylistically almost like an oxidative Jura wine. And in fact I see notes on other vintages that sound like that. So maybe that's just how this wine evolves. But it still has a relative rich body but nowhere near the waxiness or bitterness of a Rhone white. Acidity is also high enough to cut through, though again there's no hint of lemon. I like it but not sure what to make if it.

1/20/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Opened two bottles. One was pretty closed up. The other much more open even after just opening the bottle, beautiful and elegant. Not your typical Rhone though, very little meat or olive or bacon fat but there's just a hint of something that did lead most of the guesses to the northern Rhone.

1/10/2023 - Tubulus wrote:

Most recent bottle of this was a bit of the "height of toomuchery" to quote the Family Guy. In a weird spot and I'll let my next bottles wait a few more years.