1/3/2024 - jvphoto Likes this wine:

Stating to lose its edge

12/24/2023 - vino_per_tutti wrote:

Hadn't had one of these in a while, and like many fellow CTers, largely disappointed. Thought the "Kim Crawford of Champagnes" had to be an exaggeration, but not far off. Many of the box-checking characteristics you would expect: pale yellow color, some citrus, vanilla and toast, and bubbles. But as many have said, palate is diluted and undefined, and the finish meringue sweet. Average is a pejorative, given past vintages. Embarrassed to have brought to Christmas dinner, especially at the current price - which is up at least 33% in the last couple of years.

6/15/2023 - MeasuredTime Likes this wine:

Damn! I was at Costco this morning and saw this was still there but I had not tried it yet so didn't buy any more. This is really nice. I get some nice reductive notes and good fruit as well but what sets this apart is the weight to the wine. Has a great mouth feel, good acidity, just an overall delicious wine. Probably will be gone by the time I get back to Costco in about 2 months.

12/2/2023 - 3daywinereview.com wrote:

It is truly amazing that this is the number one purchased wine on Cellar Tracker. This mass produced Champagne is terrible and the Piper Heidsieck sampled today blew this out of the water. Sampled this 3 times from two bottles and it is simple with some toast, floral notes and some minerality. Very short finish and lacks concentration. For sure the most overpriced Champagne on the market and glad I did not spend $60 to write this note.

10/27/2023 - AllRed wrote:

Medium mousse. Notes of brown apple and marshmallow. Orchard fruit on the palate.

8/17/2023 - UFGators Likes this wine:

This is spectacular. High acid and sweetness in perfect balance. Perfect for spicy Indian food. One to drink anytime. Delicious.

6/15/2023 - jhanne8 Likes this wine:

So good. Great Beaujolais. QPR off the charts

5/24/2023 - Rocks1970 wrote:

Gift

4/3/2023 - jviz wrote:

I really love these wines from Thibaud Boudignon. This one has been consistent over 5 bottles. Petrol on the noise, honey and lanolin. It’s really excellent, and the SVDs are even better.

2/24/2023 - Sarastro wrote:

Slightly corked

1/28/2023 - UFGators Likes this wine:

Not the most complex but so unqiue and interesting and almost too easy to drink. One to drink now.

12/9/2022 - galewskj wrote:

Consistent with previous notes. I hope their whites and sparklers are better.

12/7/2022 - Steve Simmons wrote:

Meh

10/28/2022 - MJP Hou TX Does not like this wine:

Hopefully just a bad bottle but I suspect it's vintage. This bottle was left as a gift and hopefully not by someone that will be reading this review! I've liked this bottling in the past but this was brutal.

Black licorice and medicinal. Cough syrup.

10/27/2022 - redknife Likes this wine:

Opened 90 mins before dinner with the Thursday group at Christys
When I first poured into the decanter the nose was beautiful grenache, white pepper and meaty aromas
Palate was a bit tight, dry fruit and very strong tannins
I think wine is closed now Or needed more time on the decanter go open up

8/19/2022 - rbrater Likes this wine:

This rose packs a punch. Strong, robust flavors of strawberries, white peach, kiwi, and clementines. Really tasty.

8/4/2022 - YMChan Likes this wine:

Pale orange

Smell apricot
Semi dry
Taste
Fruity, apricot, minerals
BLIC, 1, 1, 1, 1
Outstanding

3/14/2022 - winepog wrote:

Interesting

11/6/2021 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine:

First of 3 ($42.99@) from online wine clearinghouse #2. On the fairly subdued nose and palate, herbal earthiness, light florals, red cherries and currants, a savory, saline note, and smoke. Medium garnet, light to medium bodied, medium legs. Powerful acidity, medium+ tannins, no heat. VG intensity, medium+ persistence, medium complexity. Time was, my cracking a 6 year old Barolo would signal time for a mental competency check, but with the usual excuses--have 2 more, CT reviews indicating readiness, and a general feeling that the '15 vintage is readying faster than many of its counterparts, away we go. This tumbled out the bottle electrically, with jolting but by no means unpleasant acidity, which after a couple hours of air, remained very present, although largely integrated. Super vibrant, food friendly (shining with both crab mac & cheese and a broiled pork chop and veggies) and shockingly balanced for a young barolo, nothing was out of place here, and this highly accessible wine was a pleasure to drink. But what this wasn't, at least at this point, was tremendously profound nor expressive. Much like your top of his junior high school class nephew who keeps interrupting his teachers and otherwise falling short in the social graces, this may well develop, and it could find some more interesting notes, but at this point, this enjoyable wine isn't qualitatively or quantitatively different than the '13 Ascheri barolo I reviewed recently, and, even at the clearinghouse price, was 40% more (let's not even go into the wine.com price), and it bears about as much resemblance to the earlier in the year '12 Vajra Bricco as my syntax in these TNs does to a Shakespearean sonnet. I'll hold off on my other bottles for a couple of years, but you're certainly not committing barolicide if you drink it now. 91-92

9/21/2021 - lightning wrote:

Similar to edeon..."I think/hope it was flawed. Seemed a bit oxidized, watery and sour. Poured most of it out."

9/10/2021 - jmcmchi Likes this wine:

Initial impression of significant oak on nose. Over time this dissipated and left with white berries and mineral

Best as accompaniment to a meal but still interesting as aperitif

Edit. Erroneous rating removed

8/22/2021 - CheapAndBest Likes this wine:

Poured half into carafe and drank after vigorous decant and half hour. Was nice and did well with pizza. Rest vacuvin and fridge

Opened vacuvin half bottle after 3 days. More as apertif..with some nuts and such. Delicious! Chocolate, spice.

2/12/2021 - winepog wrote:

Tastes like a balanced syrah. Decent value here. Better than I expected. Cheers!

7/26/2021 - Ikesmith Does not like this wine:

Really want to like it so I can buy some 1.5L and 3L local retailer has on fire sale prices...

At PnP reminds me of the '90s toasted marshmallow Merlot fad. Boozey, weak finish. Barest hint of tangy fruit hiding under all that damn diacetyl. Whiff of sulfur at finish?

Buttery popcorn mostly gone day two but so is everything else except some heat and some pepper.

"70-79 C Below/Average" but allowing some people like wine that tastes of margarine. 84, I guess.

6/14/2021 - winepog wrote:

I think this could use some more acidity and fruit.

4/25/2021 - BCFrench1527 Does not like this wine:

A good wine, but the punishing acidity was offputting. Definitely unique and didn't go well with the cheese and cracker tray that I had with it.

4/7/2021 - SoGoode Likes this wine:

Very pleasant and well-balanced wine that improves a bit with some air. Notes of coffee and dark berries. Good acid and integrated tannins with a long finish.

3/20/2021 - MattFultz wrote:

Wine Spectator was nearly right. Alas, 2021 is a year too late for my bottle. Not quite the funk and niceness I noted in 2019, but a good bottle nonetheless. A nice way to break in a new patio.

PnP has a sour taste - give it even 20 minutes to blow off and you’ll be rewarded. Subtle fruit, earth and mushroom. Drink up now, me thinks.

2/22/2021 - swyang wrote:

This is one of the most masterful bottle I have ever tasted and counting with only one hand. I could recall a surreal La Tache 1961, a magistral Dom. Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet '98, a splendid Musigny 2001 from Freddy Mugnier, and Ch. Latour '90.
Upon opening this delivered the most intriguing aromatic balance of dried apricot, pineapple, grapefruit, quince, honey, flowery, marzipan and slightly nutty. In the glass as it is being poured it delivers most suave colors of orange, gold, light earthy brown color which already promises to be gorgeously yet delicately oily. On the palate, well this was a masterclass of exquisite balance, of the qualities above mentioned but added to it a remarkable, energetic, vivacity, combined with sheer uplifting waves. The acidity level is incredible and cuts through the initial sweetness effortlessly providing a huge wave of delicious conflicts of sweet/saline combination which is irrestible!
It starts with this gorgeous taste of sweet dried marmelades and above mentioned fruits but then from the mid palate it delivers a swirl of flavors of dried orange, grapefruit, apricot, honey, salted caramel, gorgeous acidity, which by being combined create a tornado of freshest energy, uplifting our whole body and coating each of the taste buds available and making us all feel totally at awe and up in the clouds.
I simply cannot understand how so many profiles and qualities can coexist within the same bottle and only Santa(some would call god) could deliver something so far beyond our expectations.(and trust me, the expectation was high!) An incredible masterwork and a big applause to Noël Pinguet, whom I hear is now a painter... Wow, unforgettable. Cheers,

2/6/2021 - dase13 wrote:

Color of medium red, slight lightness around edges. Scents of raspberry. Tastes of raspberry and strawberry, with a much more mellow mouthfeel than you would get in a brand new vintage of KB pinot noir. With this age, it’s no longer a fruit bomb, which I don’t say as a negative.

1/21/2021 - Rhwinetracker wrote:

Drank after a one hour decant. I love Williams Selyem wines, but this one was not my favorite. Lacks the bright red fruit, plush mouthfeel, and complexity/spice of their best wines (and even their Sonoma County PN in very good years). The nose is mostly dark fruit more suggestive of Sonoma Coast than RRV. On the palate, there is very prominent acidity, new oak, and some sour cherry, but nothing complex or exciting. Will try again.

12/12/2020 - daved Likes this wine:

Started closed, tart with alcohol nose, then improved over the evening. I'll lay the rest down a year or two.

11/30/2020 - RedLoverJim Likes this wine:

NR. This was a bottle recently found tucked away in a liquor store that's very much non-fine wine oriented. From the label style, cork, and known ages of some other NV Champagnes I found with it, it dates from around 1999. While currently it was on its side in a darkish corner at sub 70F conditions, I couldn't guess at storage conditions for the last two decades. Still a little hiss upon opening. Oxidized in nature. It wasn't spoiled at all, but it was over the hill in the same way some women are still sexy in their sixties. Past prime perhaps, but still a lot to offer. Glad I have a second bottle of it.

10/1/2020 - forceberry wrote:

A blend of Tempranillo (80%), Garnacha (15%), Mazuelo and Graciano, the grapes sourced from the El Bosque vineyard. Fermented spontaneously in old and very large oak fermenters, aged for 5 years in barrels and then for a further 3 years in bottles before release. 13,5% alcohol. Tasted half-blind.

Quite dark, somewhat translucent and relatively youthful deep ruby red color with a pale garnet rim. Fragrant, sweet-toned and somewhat perfumed nose with aromas of wild strawberries, some raspberries, light wild floral tones, a little bit of exotic spice, sweet developed hints of wizened red fruits and marmalade and a floral touch of violets. The wine is dry, firm and relatively acid-driven on the palate with a medium body and precise, elegant flavors of tart lingonberries and cranberries, some savory old wood spice, a little bit of marmaladey raspberry, light ferrous notes of blood, a hint of ripe black cherry and a touch of farmhouse funk. The wine has a lovely, silky texture yet it sports wonderfully precise structure with its noticeably high acidity and somewhat grippy medium-plus tannins. The finish is firm, moderately grippy and very long with complex, dry flavors of sour cherries, some leathery funk, a little bit of crunchy cranberries, light notes of savory wood spice, a hint of sweet-and-sour lingonberry jam and a touch of earth. The bright acidity makes the wine end on a quite mouthwatering note.

A wine that came across as noticeably different from the other red wines in our Spanish Tempranillo half-blind tasting. If such an analogy makes sense, all the other wines felt more "Cabernet" in style - the classicist coming across as Bordeaux, the modernist more like Napa Cabs - while this wine was the only one that was distinctively "Burgundian" in style - lighter in weight, more delicate in taste, wonderfully perfumed in the nose and sporting beautiful, Pinot Noir-like acidity. Many said this wine was underwhelming and most likely not going to age that well in the cellar, but I guess they were just expecting a more robust style of wine; for me, this was a classic, well-made Bosconia showing outstanding freshness, precision and sense of sophistication. Still a mere baby at the age of 14 years, I expect this wine to age gracefully for another two decades or so. Excellent value at 22,25€.

9/3/2020 - RichardsEric1 wrote:

Purchased at an out of the way store for $12 for a split. A bargain! Rich notes of orange peel, lime, whte flowers, tangerine, and honey. Lot's of honey.

Taste is luxurious and lasts a solid minute. Having tried this same village and vineyard combo from 2011 and 1983 and 1976 I can say this wine is in the same league. The wine is loaded with acidity and has the thick viscousity to last for decades.

8/19/2020 - Laz4wine wrote:

A lot of bottles in cellars and not enough CT reviews...the JS95 / WS94 / IWR94 hype offset by WE89 and VM88...JR 16.5/20 seems in between. So is it worth nabbing @ $30 Net with so many other amazing 15 BdMs out there?!?! Anyone...Buehler?

8/4/2020 - kdubler wrote:

FWS Exam Event: Hard to give this wine a fair review. Right before this we had a Muscadet that had so much more depth and was just clearly a better wine. What makes it tough is I got this wine and the Muscadet from the same vendor, and the uscadet was actually cheaper. This wine is not bad, but almost taste watered down, next to a Muscadet, which is saying something.

7/8/2020 - Eslotnick.es@gmail.com Likes this wine:

Really nice summer white, pale yellow citrus Loire Muscadet. No seafood around, but lots of hellishly hot weather all around. Went nicely over two nights with grilled, marinated chicken..Great QPR--and even a nice label to convince anybody around your pandemic table that this was "good stuff."

5/29/2020 - bluepeter2020@outlook.com Likes this wine:

I believe Cellar Tracker intends this wine to be the Chalk Hill Estate Chalk Hill wine, not the Sonoma Coast.

5/29/2020 - dhewko wrote:

James Suckling

6/3/2020 - Big Juicy Red Does not like this wine:

Completely closed. No nose at all, and almost no taste for the first hour. At 90 minutes after opening there was a bit of spice and a strong bite of alcohol (I know it’s only 13.5%), but that’s about it. If I tasted this blind I couldn’t even tell what varietal it was. I’m disappointed, and hoping maybe this is an off bottle, as I’ve got 2 more.

4/13/2020 - winepog wrote:

Somewhat muted. A very reserved wine. Perhaps its brilliance lies in its economy.

4/25/2020 - BRogo Likes this wine:

Nose of black currant, blackberry, cracked black pepper, and a bit of tree bark. Still pretty grippy tannins and acidity that runs down the side of the tongue. Palate similar to the nose. Can probably use a few more years, but drinking well now.

4/17/2020 - BrunelloBob wrote:

Corked, WTSO
A shame, this one had a pretty good fruit load and would have shown better than last bottle

10/5/2019 - Mjladha Likes this wine:

Surprisingly ready to drink straight out of the bottle. Sweet and lush but not very complex.

8/25/2019 - gspier Likes this wine:

Excellent. And I really liked meeting Virna in Barolo

5/24/2019 - KVM wrote:

Sound. Good intensity and power. More to mineral and animal than to fruit.

4/23/2019 - gew71walsh wrote:

Based on prior comments, don't know whether this is waning or result of bottle variation, because it was rather thin with the fruit rather muted. Seemed in balance, but no complexity. Drinkable, but not memorable.

8/10/2016 - Mscruggs wrote:

Don't know if this was past it's prime or not but bottle seemed off, have 3 more to try.

2/9/2014 - JuliannaD Likes this wine:

In flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco. Light berry nose followed by tastes of spice, tart blueberry, and a hint of chocolate. Moderate acidity and tannins. Medium finish. I'll try the Shiraz next.....