1/6/2014 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Interesting nose. But the mouth is sweet, hot and syrupy. This is so out of balance, can't believe there was a time when this seemed good to me.

8/31/2013 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This bottle was in better condition than the one SimonG reviewed, because this had no port/fig notes. Very nice, mature but still structured, good find if you can get the provenance.

6/21/2013 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This was not terribly complex but in early maturity and could actually go even longer. For its level and what I paid at auction (<$15) as part of a mixed lot, I award myself 100 points. If you cellared this, 200 points to you.

4/28/2013 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This needs a ton of time, with still-primary fruit and sandy tannin.

4/6/2013 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Isaac hits the qualitative notes - I think this gets *really* good in 5 more years.

1/16/2013 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Bottle variation - fruit was much more tired on this one.

11/4/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

$14 Auction Bottles of 10 year old Chinon (Basement): This is drinking very young compared to the others of this vintage I've tried. Fruit is plush but very clean, secondaries in the form of ashy earth. Less rustic, more polished than most 2003 Chinon, but not quite elegant.

11/4/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

$14 Auction Bottles of 10 year old Chinon (Basement): This bottle had more than a touch of brett-a-funk, and even after the decant mellowed it, it showed more limpness than the finesse described by tasters before me. I felt it lacked any sort of attack and was almost watery on the mid-palate. I'm attributing it to bottle variation or a provenance issue.

11/4/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

$14 Auction Bottles of 10 year old Chinon (Basement): Have had a couple bottles, and there's some variation on the amount of brett, creating different presentations of the same fruit. The one with less brett was pretty darn good, as it felt much lighter on its feet as a result, and you could even sense the minerality more. The other bottle had an earthier and denser feel, with barnyard and tobacco notes making the wine more of a sipper than one for dining. The latter wasn't entirely unpleasant, just more brooding.

11/4/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

$14 Auction Bottles of 10 year old Chinon (Basement): This was very slightly browned purple, concentrated with blackberry and tinged with brett. Even after a decant, only black licorice and oak showed through the brett. Could have been a flawed bottle, but I think more likely a sloppily made wine.

11/4/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

$14 Auction Bottles of 10 year old Chinon (Basement): I'm with Mr. Cooper below, this is a very nice mature Cab Franc with a great deal of interest. It's a bit lightweight but there's an iron and blood minerality to go along with a very clean cherry core. I emphasize clean because a few of the 2002 Chinon I've tried have been tinged by too much brett. This is gentle enough to apply to a variety of foods but has enough character to be drunk on its own. For the $14 I paid, a steal.

11/4/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

$14 Auction Bottles of 10 year old Chinon (Basement): Definitely needs a decant to shake off the brett. The core of the fruit is nice and there's minerality and a bit of anise that is nice but it's a bit fat and any nuance is again overtaken by the barnyard on the finish.

10/28/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Cooked auction bottle

11/4/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

$14 Auction Bottles of 10 year old Chinon (Basement): A bit more brett than I'd prefer, and a bit lean on the first night, per drwine2001... but the second day it showed much better, as florals and tobacco overtook the brett and the mid-palate became fleshier. I'd say this wine shows signs of maturity but still has years ahead.

10/20/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This is nice for the price but still quite young. Tannins a bit grainy, a bit lean. Not ready. Hold.

10/19/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Commenting on the same bottle as Tooch and Isaac, I thought this was good but not great - I didn't get the truffles nor the pickles, but I also tasted this earlier in the evening when it was still pretty monolithic and full of tar and leather.

9/8/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

The majority of the brett blew off after an hour decant to reveal more cigar and iron, but it did distract a bit from a very nice wine.

8/31/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

In terms of the cuveé, this is 2009's more slender and angular, but more graceful sister. Both are beautiful, this one a little less forward. Which kind of makes you want her more. Looking forward to both in 10-15 years.

8/3/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Good note by AJnate, but this bottle only held there for about 20 minutes before fading.

7/3/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Past. Drat.

6/29/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Surprised at the treat this was after the first taste about 2 1/2 years ago - this is beginning to resolve although still very young. No longer vegetal. Acid and tannin certainly remain, but now the fruit is very deep and multilayered, and the nose less herbal than I remember. Lovely illustration of the simple requirement of maturity - the question is whether the time aided the palate or the wine more.

5/21/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

I found the fruit on this too dim a light by which to read the rest of this very masculine peppermill of a wine. Tarry coffee finish goes on and on, but this bottle was more salty figs than berries, and unless the rest of the fruit is still hiding behind the stubble, on the whole, it's just less than I was seeking.

4/28/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Overpaid on restaurant list by a good deal - this is a pretty but simple wine with not many secondary notes, other than a touch of dill and a bit of something savory. The fruit is clean but the wine slightly overoaked, resulting in a vanilla-cherry thing that you can achieve at a much lower price point than even CT average. The fact I paid three times that makes me feel a bit silly, even if the best aged choice on a restaurant list.

4/25/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Gosh, I like this wine - so fragrant with spring fruit blossoms, and the fruit so clean and pure against the soil. Can't wait to see what's in store for it with some more bottle age. Literally, can't wait - have to stop my self from popping these.

4/18/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

A bit new world in style in terms of body, oak and sweetness, but the Merlot carries this wine to higher ground with a nose of freshly sharpened pencil and dried thyme.

3/17/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Overly round, overly sweet, overly oaked and even a bit hot. No evidence of any evolution. Might as well pay $20 if you feel this is permissible. This is a useful wine for adding those who feel this is 92+ to my ignored note authors.

2/17/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This notes the same bottle as Keith. I thought its cherry fruit seemed nicely corseted by the tannins and loved the savory notes. Where the oak showed, I thought it charming and well-toned. I didn't ding it for the admitted softness because I knew (b/c I brought the bottle) that it had been open longer than the others by about two hours. In retrospect, I should have called that out at the tasting.

2/7/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This was fun and did a bunch of things in the glass, but it seemed kind of all over the place. At first, loads of barnyard and an unpleasant band-aid aroma worried me a bit, but those aromas mellowed and moved toward leather and tea and I got excited about what was to come. But then, in the mouth, the fruit was narrow and thin compared to the amount of dusty earth and a bit of rose hips. This wasn't dead or damaged by any means, but it just wasn't all that pretty.

1/27/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This bottle was overwhelmed by brettanomyces that would not blow off.

1/16/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Iron nail, cedar, tobacco and tar on the nose - with 30 minutes of decant, initial acidity in the mouth flattens out a bit and sour cherries show a hint of sweetness. Still some tannin on the transition to the finish, which is long and full of saddle leather. The only thing that holds this back is the slightly high-toned fruit - if it were a bit more supple, this would be off the charts.

1/14/2012 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Salil's notes are spot-on - the fruit here was very fresh and even a bit sweet, but you still get the tertiary old Bordeaux notes. I couldn't stop thinking of the aroma of my dad's old leather driving gloves that as a kid I used to borrow from the dusty cardboard box in the bottom of the entry foyer closet. That was probably 1983 too.

12/20/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Wonderful wine. Initial nose of gamy meat gives way after decant to forest floor, leather, violet, and lots of bay leaf. In the mouth, startlingly young, with very clean fruit whose clarity of focus was made more evident by the more plummy and round but still strong 1997 La Chapelle drank by its side. Bacon flavors add savory notes to the mouth. The finish is full of tar and long, with the bay leaf note poetically returning at the very end. But despite a truly great showing, still got the sense we were seeing only half the page - that when this fully unfolds it will absolutely astound. Even the final glass after 5 hours of air had aromas I associate with Rhone gems in their infancy.

12/11/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This auction-acquired bottle underperformed compared with the one drunk nearly a year ago with tooch and gblacave.

10/28/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This is at a good early middle-age point, with plenty of fruit left but more complex perfumes of lilac rising gently above a still relatively brawny and even meaty core. The aroma continued to improve in the glass over the course of the evening, trading amplitude for nuance. This was in contrast to a quality Volnay of the same vintage drunk next to it, whose initially more floral and exuberant nose faded to relative silence in about 30 minutes.

10/24/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This notes the same bottle as tooch. I felt this was quite lovely, if a bit taut. Its nose was much quieter than its curvy younger sibling (1999) drunk alongside, but its fragrance was more distinctive, reminiscent of violets. It also offered a more precise and mineral-driven finish.

10/24/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This notes the same bottle as Tooch. I spent some more time with this one after guests departed, and it surprisingly continued to evolve, with the meatiness subsiding and the piney garrigue being joined by a soy element before the tar on the finish.

8/27/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Another totally dead and poorly stored bottle direct from the shelves of Total Wine.

8/14/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This is past its prime and should not be selling at Total Wine right now

6/13/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

I found this initially promising but ultimately too concentrated and severe to enjoy with food. No excess heat, but just sticky with leather, tobacco, barnyard and funk, poured over dark fruit. Perhaps with a cigar? Too much for me.

6/9/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This was in perfect line with salil's 3/10/10 notes, with some additional wooly complexity on the nose - and the nearly stinging minerality of the saline finish is quite compelling.

5/12/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Buttered apples and a hint of petrol on the nose, sweeter than expected on the palate, but lovely mouthfeel balanced by good minerality and decent acidity accentuated by a lemon drop finish. This is just getting into the petrol stage and is sure to be very different in 2-3 more years. Good different.

4/30/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Kdawg's note from 2009 likening flavors to hoisin was a hint this might work with Korean short ribs, and my, did it. This wine is clearly just entering its wheelhouse, because it's shed the heat people have referenced, but it's still pretty coiled up on the mouth for the first hour or so. After that, though, it really comes to its feet, with the sour cherry rounding toward blue fruit, and the nose throwing off leather and forest aromas. I noticed that the average auction value of this has ticked down, and while that helped me rationalize popping one, this is a definite buy right now if you can hit that price.

4/22/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This has big notes of vibrant plum and currant and cocoa, barnyard, tobacco florals and earth, all features I love. And although there's no doubt this is a well-made wine that achieves balance, overall, this just has too much amplitude on every note, making it severe, ultimately. I'd liken it to a beautiful woman, with ideal proportions and striking features, but who's six foot two. While the quality may be undeniable, that's just too big for me.

4/12/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Great aromas of leather and licorice, wonderful secondaries on the palate of earth, but only some very muted sour cherry for fruit, and most of the interest that remains is in its minerality - this bottle was 3-4 years from its prime.

4/10/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This notes the same bottle as tooch. We had a chance to savor this and it was a beautiful wine and a great learning experience. I agree with tooch's comments on the flavor/scent profiles, but I'd posit that its nose evolved more dynamically than the palate. It went from bright sour cherries and loam, through to the iron nail/blood thing tooch notes, and finally, forest florals and mushrooms, before falling apart. The palate itself I think was relatively consistent, although it began with more acidity and ended with more minerality. And I also got the charcoal notes that Richard Jennings cited. Really cool.

4/7/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

This was great for the price. Leather, cassis, floral nose, good mouthfeel but a touch of excess heat for a wine this resolved, blackberries and more licorice and leather on the finish. Drink now as it's not going to get better, but I'd bet it will keep another year or two before declining.

4/6/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Terrific wine, in a style I love - big earthy nose, with tobacco, cassis and sage, great minerality and smooth, cool plum fruit. Really impressive finish as well. Was nearly as impressed that it was exactly in line with the notes of some of the CT tasters I trust most - below, Eric, Tooch and Isaac.

4/4/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

Agreed with those who say this is shut down. Confused about how it tasted basically like watered down bourbon. The only fruit note I got was a hint of apple. Will wait at least a year until I open another.

3/31/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

North American Pinot Dinner (Ris Restaurant): This bottle seemed to be dimming a bit, with some metallic hints, but some pineapple, a touch of papaya and lots of buttery apple.

3/31/2011 - ianinvirginia wrote:

North American Pinot Dinner (Ris Restaurant): This was more showy than the 2002 drank alongside, with huge amounts of apricot and a viscosity that rivaled the Sauternes drank next. Acidity keeps this from getting fat but it's voluptuous. Delicious.