9/10/2023 - jfpwine wrote:

Deep yellow gold. Lemon curd, ripe pear, honey, white flowers with a grassy undertones. Full body, intense, low acid and medium+ finish. This is very much a New World wine.

4/8/2024 - jdrosen wrote:

23 years of aging has brought out tertiary notes of butterscotch and raisin. However it has lost a lot of acidity and complexity and was in my view overly sweet at this point. Was disappointed.

3/26/2024 - Lipsman wrote:

Past its thrilling peak of complexity. The buoyant fruit and lifting acidity have subsided leaving a still unctuous and delicious Sauternes that is now leaning into middle age. Drink now.

1/17/2024 - wren460 Likes this wine:

This is a must wine. If we read the descriptors for this wine we would find many because each and everyone of us have different ways to describe a wine. I will only say that this wine is what I want to drink forever specially at this price. It is extremely elegant and polished with a sublime sexyness hard to imagine. This wine is pure silk, an imaginary breed of Napa meets Bdx or viceversa. It is one of those wines made for us that love Napa and love Bordeaux. In all honesty I believe there is no better QPR out there. I cannot think of another wine that delivers so much in this price. Bought a case after the tasting. Right now delicious with a 4 hrs decant, but will be in its prime around 2030

7/17/2023 - Burgundy Al wrote:

Burgundy Dinner with Friends (Formento's - Chicago IL): Powerful array of ripe orchard fruit with no shortage of structure, all in the right place. Long, lingering, powerful finish.

11/1/2022 - Decanting Queen wrote:

From a restaurant menu and not my choice. Some tropical fruit, medium bodied, fairly simplistic. Needs some age and probably not my favorite style of chard.

2/28/2023 - bsbrown05 Likes this wine:

Opened after I got the new release offering. Good wine, and finished 3 days later without it having lost too much of its verve—but was a little on the heavy side. Even with low production, and not wanting to count out TRB’s winemaking ability, it is not a good value, however, when compared to Marcassin and The Judge.

6/17/2023 - Montesquieu Likes this wine:

Rather an exotic blend that might therefore polarize. I liked but didn't love it. Very different wine after an hour opening. At pop and pour, it tasted like a blend of rich Chardonnay and Semillon (though that wasn't in it), but after an hour, it tasted more like tropical fruit and melon.

6/22/2023 - Derek Darth Taster wrote:

Late night at home. Drank in Gabriel Standart and Grassl Cru.
Appearance is clear, medium intensity, yellow lemon colour. Legs.
Nose is clean, pronounced intensity, ripe melons, green mango, ripe citrus lemon, creme brulee, honeyed cream, hazelnuts, integrated vanilla oak. Developed.
On the palate, dry, medium acidity, high alcohol (14.6%), full body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of sweet honeyed butter cream integrated vanilla oak, creme brulee, hazelnuts, ripe melons, ripe citrus lemon curd, mangoes. Long rich creamy finish with some salty minerality.
Very good quality. Ambitious concentration and oak that has integrated nicely now. Drink up. Acidity on the worrying side and definitely flirts with flabbiness if drank warmer. So yes, drink it more chilled.

6/19/2023 - twain Likes this wine:

Out of this world. Mineral and melon nose. Perfect drink window with unworldly mango fruit and it's mango acidity. I sincerely hope your bottles show like this one.

4/17/2023 - csimm wrote:

With a makeup of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon (per Valandraud's spec sheets. Note, however, that I've seen other erroneous "pro" reports that list the CF as high as 15% and the CS at 5%, which appears to be incorrect), the 2016 Valandraud has instant appeal. It is deep and broad, with an unctuous but weightless viscosity that I can't help but fall in love with. It stops short of being too chewy, but the texture creates a satiating mouthfeel that I often don't experience east of the Atlantic. Purple and black-fruited, with an inky, staining profile that saturates the mid-palate with ripe fruit while also invigorating on the back end with perfectly balanced acidity, finishing with a well-defined grip of rock and dark earth at the tail. Medium-to-full bodied without ever being "medium."

I know the adjectival accolades may make some far-right traditionalists nervous, as though I am delicately dancing around a modern rendition of Bordeaux skirting Napa-esque fruit ripeness. Allow me to ease your troubles... to some extent. So, if you want tart red currant and sour red cranberry, best find some young 2021 Left Bank and drink it now (or some random Cabernet Franc out of Finger Lakes... or Cleveland).

For Right Bank aficionados that are tired of titillatingly filling their e-cart with the Angelus-es (Angelui?), Chevel Blancs, and Ausones of the world, only to fail to find the courage to hit the "Purchase" button, the Valandraud is at a super-attractive price-point where you won't find yourself selling repurposed diapers on the corner just to make ends meet. It may not cater to whatever case of curio-strange the ultra-elite wine celebrity may be looking for on any given day, but it is just simply a grubbin' wine with the requisite complexity to keep you coming back for another sip. This 2016 is in a great place for my palate. Yeah I know, wait 3-5 more years for "prime time," whatever that means exactly, but... I'll pop these things now with zero regrets. Let it open up in the glass and serve at cellar temperature and see what I'm talking about. Cool, classy, and luxuriant all at the same time. I'm into it.

3/24/2023 - DrZett wrote:

Elena Walch is one of my absolute favorite producers in the Alto Adige region in northern Italy and her wines are definitely worth a try. This is a beautiful cold climate Merlot with elegant red and dark fruits, soft earthy and some spicy notes in the background. It feels like it’s in the perfect spot now, no need to wait any longer. Enjoy now or within the next 6 years. Very good QPR. (IG)

3/7/2023 - Jacbowron wrote:

This bottle was corked. Nose of dog sleeping on a cardboard box in a rainstorm. Palate of a baileys from a shoe. I wanted to cry as I poured this $120 bottle into the sink. Instead I got drunk on some lagavulin. Lagavulin never gets corked.

11/23/2022 - BernieMSY Does not like this wine:

3 hour decant. incredibly concentrated, and over the top jammy.
Incredibly extracted overripe fruit. Not my thing,

1/15/2023 - Healdsburg82 Likes this wine:

Aromas of chocolate and dark cherry. On the palate, fruit forward, dusty tannins, and peppery finish. Medium body, freshness, and balanced acidity. Thinking this will benefit from more cellar time, as the tannins need more time to integrate. It paired well with beef tenderloin glazed with denissimo balsamic.

10/19/2022 - Condrieu82 Likes this wine:

Licorice, plums, black currants on the nose. Fresh and round, good balance, a touch of alcohol, black fruits, medium tannins, medium ending with vegetable notes. Young, but already very drinkable. These are impressions from day 1 - will see if it improves on day 2.

Day 2 - Much better. More open with a nose of licorice, black currants, blackberries. A hint of alcohol. Still fresh on the palate but more complex, nice acidity and grainy tannins, very nice black fruits (blackberries and dark cherries), cocoa, a hint of led, underbrush, then a long, warm finish with some oak aromas to balance the rest. 93 on day 2.

10/2/2022 - Condrieu82 Likes this wine:

Nice deep ruby color with small bricking on the side. Nose is intensely aromatic with blackcurrants, cherries, smoked meat, forest floor, sandalwood. Palate shows great balance with nice acidity and integrated tannins, lots of blackcurrants, cherries, lavender even - but there is so much more going on with sandalwood, pencil, very evocative. The ending shows a nice, balanced oaky tones and it lingers on and on for a good while. A great wine!

8/29/2022 - Lyubomir Lefterov wrote:

Dark fruits, cigar box, dusty tannins, slightly closed, might be a good idea to wait for the 10y mark. Classic showing and possibly a bit underripe, but I like it the way it is.(Etihad Business Class Lounge - Doha)

10/24/2021 - bevetroppo Likes this wine:

Day later from memory so no detailed note. For once I won't bury the lede and will start with the wine. Burnished gold color, effusive nose requiring no coaxing whatsoever to reveal ripe yellow orchard fruits, a touch of wood, lemon curd and stony minerality. Interestingly and much to my liking, not a touch of reduction, ie. no matchstick, gunflint, or other distracting winemaking signature of the kind.

Glorious across the palate, perhaps lacking just a touch of depth on the mid-palate but seamless, juicy and deliciously rich drinking.

Now for the sub "plot." The bottle was discovered by me on a high-end steakhouse wine list for the somewhat absurd price of $99. I assumed it had to be a mistake, but still, what are one's obligations under the circumstances? It was printed there in black and white and available for anyone else to select. By the way, this was probably the most expensive restaurant within a 20-mile radius in NJ so you had to assume they knew what they doing. In any event, I ordered the bottle immediately from a waiter and had it ceremoniously opened and poured by a jubilant sommelier who needlessly told me it was a Grand Cru. The wine was great as described above, and my dining companions who were not accustomed to such exalted pedigree wines went bonkers (I told them before ordering that it was probably mispriced and no one said "stop, you have to say something..."). The food by the way was terrific, too.

When I ordered a second bottle, the sommelier returned and made the somewhat strange pronouncement, "so you want to order another $400 bottle?" Did he think we had made a mistake or that we couldn't afford it? Well, naturally we protested and to his credit, he went back to his station, grabbed a wine list and we could see his entire posture sink as he realized the error was his. He came back and said, ok, you can have the first one for $99 but not a second. Seemed fair to me, but I said we'll order something else instead. He was kind of a prick to me the rest of the evening, and I had to smile when I saw the $300 "discount" on my check.

Net net, am I guilty of anything but being an informed consumer? Should I have done anything differently, like said before ordering, "Are you sure $99 is right?" By keeping quiet, did I betray the brotherhood of the bottle? At the end of the day, my feeling is that any place that advertises a $165 salt-aged steak can fend for itself. As my brother aptly put it, caveat venditor.

8/4/2022 - heythatslife wrote:

First SQN. The best way I can describe it is that it's like somebody took the most luxurious berry crumble imaginable, laden with spices, and liquefied it. It's honestly amazing that you can squeeze this much flavor into wine. Surprisingly approachable for its youth but at the same time kind of hard to pair with food, at least in its current form. No idea how this will age.

9/13/2022 - bucktooth22 Likes this wine:

Decanted an hour. Light ruby, long slow legs, on 👃 cherries, nectarines, light peppercorn. Dry, highly acidic, strong frontal tannins, somewhat one dimensional sweet cherry finish. This bottle tasted like past its prime.

5/31/2017 - beezer6 wrote:

Chris' Farewell Dinner at WF OB: Holy moly folks. This is absolutely where it's at. SQN eclipses all other CA Syrah producers by miles. No one comes close. This is one of the best SQN experiences I've ever had and it absolutely blew me away. Where to start.
Classic SQN nose. Creamy, buttery plush savory stewed vegetables, camphor graphite. Dark cherries, wet iron, smoke and so much more. This is absolutely incredible and finish goes on and on. Flawless finish. This is as good as Syrah gets in the New World PERIOD. This is one of the highest wines I have ever rated and it deserves every point.

6/19/2021 - SixHedgehogs Likes this wine:

Rhone / Barossa Comparisons (London): Dark red. Spicy aroma. Really bright cherry fruit, luscious texture, but with a lightness and delicate touch of acidity. Mellow, earthy, spicy aftertastes. Exquisitely balanced. Interesting to taste after a 94 Hermitage. This was the lighter wine. Not decanted, but bottle opened for two hours in advance.

7/16/2022 - Odedis.Wine.reviews Likes this wine:

To celebrate my 7,500th wine review on Vivino, here is a hundred point wine from Santa Rita Hills.

Dark inky in color with a short purple rim.

On the nose black cherries, blackberries, tobacco, chocolates, light vanilla, cedar and black pepper.

Full bodied and soft, with medium acidity.

Dry and fruity on the palate with blackberries, black plums, cooked cherries, cedar, vanilla, spices, chocolates, tobacco, herbs and peppercorn.

Long finish with round tannins and tangy cherries.

This 12 year old Syrah is drinking beautifully now. Well balanced with nice complexity and a great, soft mouthfeel.

Doesn't feel like a Syrah, but it's really delicious. Drinks more like a Napa Cabernet, which is fine with me.

This wine is so special, that it was made only in this 2010 vintage. A gorgeous Syrah from a Single Vineyard that will continue to age nicely in the next 10 years.

Wine Advocate 100 points.

Good by itself as a sipping wine, and a very nice wine to share with friends and talk about. Good right out of the bottle, rich and extracted.

Alcohol is nicely integrated by now, so you better watch out.

A blend of 96% Syrah, 3% Roussanne and 1% Viognier. Aged in all new French Oak barrels for 42 months.

15.6% alcohol by volume.

94 points.

$1,000.

8/4/2022 - Condrieu82 Likes this wine:

Decanted for 3 hours. I was cooking calamarata with a fresh pomodorini and ricotta pesto, so I needed a nice Sangiovese. This would do.
Deep ruby color. Tightly sounded nose, with cherries, tobacco, a tad a licorice shining through and some oak. Nice balance with slightly chalky tannins; dark cherries, tobacco, leather - very earthy and complex. Long finish, with some toasted oak in it. This is young and needs more aging, but with proper airing it showed all of its potential. Very good!

11/20/2021 - rocknroller wrote:

Big Al & Janelle's Spanish Inspired Blowout (Big Al & Janelle's, St. Anthony, MN): Dark red color. PNP, drank a glass over an hour. Loved this with its pretty mix of black and blue fruits, pencil, savory, anise, tobacco, great aromatics, and fabulously lifted nose. Excellent bottle.

2/18/2022 - TurFam Likes this wine:

Despite the cork crumbling, still tastes great. Really softened over the years. Almost no acidity left. A little more oak this time. I could see this still being drinkable after another decade.

8/23/2021 - to_sty Likes this wine:

Great mineralogic with long salty dry finish. Seems to be getting in it's phase now. Now we're talking :)

9/4/2020 - Warren23 wrote:

First bottle. Wonderful length, with fine tannins and good structure. Drinking beautifully right now. Notes of rose, spice, sweet blueberry and raspberry. Only drawback is slight lack of concentration.

12/17/2021 - greedy wrote:

Really good. They taught us in a wine class years ago that you cannot age and cellar Shiraz. They’re completely wrong. This wine has gotten way better with age. I think I drank this a decade too early as it’s just starting to take on some nice tertiary flavors.

8/24/2021 - EdwardsCellar Likes this wine:

oh very young but I can't resist this beauty. dark red cherry fruits. smoke. earth. leather. 2 more in the cellar. I have zero confidence that I can wait 8 years.

5/5/2021 - pedros2 Likes this wine:

ok so I’m a first time user and had told the system to keep all my stuff private for me
It clearly didn’t
I score things for me alone and have a different system than most of you as for me a system which has a score of 0-100 and in effect only uses the 30 points from 70-100 for wines “above cooking standard” needs review. It’s stupid to have to have all nice wines clusters between 90-100.
In my personal scores 70 is fine
90+ is for the 10% of the very nest wines I have ever tasted in my life - and most wines I drink are already 80+ on the traditional scale
So not a troll for those who suspected me
Just someone who doesn’t comply with the standards of an industry and didn’t want anyone else to know

3/21/2021 - Two Winos Likes this wine:

Decanted. Opened up well over about 45 mins. Probably would continue to open up, but it went too well with the steak. Classic Duhart. Many years left.

5/26/2019 - RonT Likes this wine:

My wife rated this one at 90 - sweet and balanced. A summer warm weather patio wine. I took a sip and spit it out.

12/24/2020 - Condrieu82 Likes this wine:

Decanted one hour. Pretty yet subdued nose of dark and red fruits. The palate shows still good acidity, soft tannins, dark fruits and lots of graphite. Great finish with dark fruits and a hint of red fruits. This is great - ready to be drunk!

11/1/2020 - Condrieu82 Likes this wine:

Drank out of my wine fridge, poured with. Ora in, no decanting. Tight nose, but great mid-palate with primary plum and some red fruit notes. Round, soft tannins. Good length. Very enjoyable but still young.