3/4/2024 - mike Likes this wine:

These Rieslings need age to transform.

It has become more petrol on the nose and drying out on the palate.

It has become very drinkable.

1/17/2024 - mike wrote:

Very much as Thomas describes below. Orange gold colour, touch of tropical fruit, persimmon, white jasmine/pepper/origanum... Nicely drying with a bit of age

1/15/2024 - mike Likes this wine:

Drinking well. Persistent length with a little age character coming through, a hint of dryness on the finish. Beautiful gold colour indicating it's age

10/22/2023 - mike wrote:

Great riesling, nice and dry, very ripe fruit but not cloying, great lift on the dry finish, impressive...

7/18/2023 - mike wrote:

Great over 3 nights just kept on improving day to day.

11/25/2022 - mike wrote:

Another bottle, unbelievably youthful, just seems to improve with age.

9/12/2022 - mike wrote:

Full bodied, vibrant black fruit, very ripe, great length and clean finish.

8/20/2022 - mike Likes this wine:

Very similar to my last note 4 years ago. This is aging very slowly and remains youthful.

7/18/2022 - mike wrote:

Seriously good, a beautiful wine. Both savoury and sweet with soy Asian spice elements.
Great length with clean long and refreshing finish. My first bottle, I purchased this as part of the hospice group though it is not a hospice wine.

7/9/2022 - mike wrote:

Lovely seaside honeysuckle aromas. On the palate though nice and dry it has richness and weight. It is crying out to be matched with crayfish or other rich seafood. Unfortunately neither are on the menu tonight.

7/4/2022 - mike wrote:

Lovely young wine with good power of black boy peach and black cherry. Notes of wild thyme and Otago scrub. Succulent with long fresh and clean finish.

7/2/2022 - mike wrote:

Bouchard elevage/bottling.
Very powerful, dark fruits, dry, long palate that finished clean and relatively light and uplifting.

6/14/2022 - mike Likes this wine:

Pulled the cork last night but I felt it needed another 24 hours to open up.
Very pleased I did this as it is now showing well. Great balance of dark savoury berry fruit flavours and smooth structured tannins.

2/8/2022 - mike Likes this wine:

Lovely wine, still very youthful, straw colour. Green Apple and early peach flavour with some hint of walnuts. Lean and mean in the best possible way.

1/18/2022 - mike Likes this wine:

In line with previous notes. Still hanging in with great acidity keeping order. Love the lychees and spice.

1/9/2022 - mike wrote:

Great wine still primary. Starting to look at my 05s

11/17/2021 - mike wrote:

Much the same as my previous note but with a few more years highlighting increasing purity.

6/29/2021 - mike wrote:

Drinking beautifully, qualitive edges of youth have evolved to complete seamlessness resulting in its perfect expression of Barbaresco.

4/20/2021 - mike wrote:

Great wine drinking well

1/29/2021 - mike wrote:

Great wine. Fresh and focussed with lovely detail. Unending finish. Hints of nectarines, strawberries and cream.

7/27/2020 - mike wrote:

Great wine, perfect balance, both dark and red fruited, Rugiens at its best.

6/3/2020 - mike wrote:

Beautiful wine refined and perfectly balanced. I can't imagine it can get any better. A great wine.

5/16/2020 - mike wrote:

Great wine as described by others

3/14/2020 - mike Likes this wine:

Lovely wine though very primary sitting on it's lovely fruit, it really needs time though very enjoyable now in its youth, a great burgundy.

1/22/2020 - mike wrote:

Beautiful, powerful, perfectly balance. Very typical of the Frederic Esmonin unworked style

11/15/2019 - mike wrote:

Dark Ruby colour. Perfumed and quite detailed and dry though it has fruit balance. Raspberry and dark cherries, earthy rather than sous-bois, lifting savoury finish.

9/21/2019 - mike wrote:

Seriously good, thick textured and rich, think of a great Chave Blanc but made with Riesling. Honeysuckle with nice mineral character persisting to clean refreshing finish

6/5/2019 - mike wrote:

Great wine after a day walking and swimming in Capri, not too serious but possibly better for it on a sunny Mediterranean day. Lovely fruit sweetness balanced by fine drying tannins. Classy Vino.

10/20/2018 - mike Likes this wine:

Sane as below, great wine. Sweet fruited and relatively unevolved.
Many 1ers in 2002 are great and this is among the best.

6/11/2018 - mike Likes this wine:

Lovely Riesling - mineral, wet stone, apricot, mango. On the palate full and fruit driven. Lingers on the clean finish.

3/31/2018 - mike wrote:

Took three days to open. Day one and two nothing much showing. Day three finally opens to something quite special. Crisp and crunchy, intense and detailed, fruit sweetness, long finish. Needs aging.

11/12/2017 - mike wrote:

Beautiful fruit driven wine exotically spiced with the finest tannins. Perfectly balanced in a elegant style. Fine clean finish.

2/18/2017 - mike wrote:

Lovely nose dusty tannins tar and roses, wild blackberries. On the palate very floral and though tightly knit, also generous due to the perfect balance. A complete wine.

1/18/2017 - mike wrote:

Dry and mineral, does not shout out Riesling (Chablisish), beautifully thickly textured with subtle complexity that opens with white florals, beeswax, white stone fruit. Already drinking very well for what looks to be an ageless wine.

12/2/2016 - mike wrote:

Colour more like a Bordeaux than burg, deep dark red, no browning. Wonderful nose of black cherries and truffle. On the palate it is powerful and sweet fruited, though the finish is long and lingering with a touch of bitterness. Needs another decade or two before being ready.

5/20/2016 - mike wrote:

I am with the critics, great wine and a baby sitting on primary fruit. Has all the power and balance to age and evolve into something special, just need another 20 years or so.

5/15/2016 - mike wrote:

Very nice, I think this will evolve further, still no real tertiary notes. Very much what I would expect of a Courcel in 02. Good power, black fruits, spice, mineral and smoke.

2/2/2016 - mike wrote:

Great bottle. Honeysuckle nectar, exotic, light yet with great character and intensely flavoured. Lingering on the finish with purity. A great Riesling.

1/19/2016 - mike Likes this wine:

Pale gold, fresh nose, white stone fruit- nectarines, mineral, oyster shell, firm structure, good acids, detailed and precision. Has rich oily structure and length. First Testut chablis from great terroir, will buy again.

1/15/2016 - mike wrote:

Browning colour, lovely fresh nose of dark fruit and oak. On the palate it is clean, detailed and dry with a fruity persistent to the length which suggests, along with the aromas, there is great potential to develop. The flavours of dark fruit and oak come through with further evolved flavours of mushroom, forest floor and minerals. As with many 2006's there is a lack of the serious power and breadth that one finds with the likes of the 2005's but that is not necessarily a bad thing as you enjoy the wine for its transparency. I like it.
BTW it was much less challenging than the 05 F Esmonin Lavaux drunk a couple of days ago, a wine just coming into the zone.

1/6/2016 - mike wrote:

Dark red with a brown tint. Powerful nose of black fruits, undergrowth, brown spices, tar, flint and iron. On the palate very ripe fruit dominates but then the fine tannins take hold and linger through to a long clean finish. A wine to pair with game.

12/5/2015 - mike wrote:

Light red but slightly browning in colour. Good fruit and acid detail on the palate with length but not much breadth. Flavours are interesting and red fruited, savoury, forest floor, white mushroom, truffle, though the wine is fresh, could only be Burgundy.

11/7/2015 - mike wrote:

Funky, dark cherry, truffle, earth, savoury, bone dry, nice oak. Excellent village and very Gevrey. I like the dryness but see others wanting more fruit sweetness.

1/26/2015 - mike wrote:

With the talk on 2010 Barolo decided to buy this. So pleased I did. This hits all the my senses in the right proportions, which means detail, complexity and balance. This may be a 40+ year wine but it is pretty good now.

1/18/2015 - mike wrote:

Discussion on Clos Vougeot on WB instigated opening this, what was, very reasonably priced GC. Starting to see some browning in the otherwise bright red colour. Complex and vibrant aromas - bramble, sous bois, violets, spice, black cherries, truffle. On the palate still very primary with great detail and acid cut which I like, nice oak integration with potential for it to be fully resolved as there is ample fruit sweetness. Good wine, expansive on the long finish, and what I would expect of a good 2001 GC, nice surprise. I see Raphet has two holdings in Clos Vougeot - one nearer the top next to Anne Gros (this has similarly detailed to a A Gros wine), and another plot at the bottom bordering one of Leroy's holdings. So it is a blend of two different Clos Vougeot climat as most others are. I guess the question is whether Clos Vougeot should be considered as one terroir or multiple. Personally I would like to see it divided to help identify typicity. Cheers Mike

12/30/2014 - mike wrote:

Vibrant aroma, not red, but more dark fruited - blackberry, blueberry, and black boy peach. Finely structured on the palate - savoury and vinous with a touch of bitterness though nicely balanced with light lingering fruit sweetness. Fine tannins pull the wine together resulting in a near perfectly, reserved, well defined wine.

11/16/2014 - mike wrote:

Still very primary, though the wine has softened from its earlier, on release, disjointed tannic structure. Great detail and very minerally with long pure finish. This may well creep up a point or two once more sous bois/aged characters show through.

10/29/2014 - mike wrote:

Having just finished a great, though rather evolved (even on opening), bottle of 2010 Blain Gagnard Volnay Les Pitures 1er opened a couple of days ago, I headed down to the cellar having decided to look at a 2003. What better than a Les Suchots, the heart of Vosne Romanee and typically reserved and not too powerful. How would 03 impacted on the climat?
First impression is primary ripe red fruit, 10 years and still a baby though big tannins are there to overpower the fruit, a balancing act. My thought is that the fruit is so youthful and sweet, almost Californian, it is a keeper. Day two update and the wine has not moved - a keeper.

10/22/2014 - mike wrote:

The importer had a few of these so thought I would take a look again to decide if I should stock up on some more.
Jaw dropping power though on this showing beautifully proportioned and balanced, a complex and complete wine. Where you would find roses and tar there is a much more reserved and dusty "metal road" impression that reminds me of driving in remote parts of the Coromandel where blackberries and manuka line the roads. The tannins seem to be bound to the savoury dry fruit which end in a clean mineral finish. I think I will get the remaining 3 bottles.

10/16/2014 - mike wrote:

Red fruited, with some cool vintage herbal notes. Medium sweetness, not much complexity, structurally quite light needing age development. Be interesting to see this in a few years.