7/18/2018 - Rexel Likes this wine:

Fun to try and good QPR.
Funky smell with rubber, herbs, wet stone. Good acidity, balanced and medium length.

4/19/2018 - karl.1480 Likes this wine:

BYOB 2018-04-19 - Blind tasting (Göteborgs Vinkällare): Medium garnet color.

Wow. This nose is just lovely with impressive depth and complexity. It's bursting with dried strawberry, dried cherry, black tea, oriental bazaar, dried flowers, cured meats, balsamic spice, sous bois, mushrooms, beet roots and what not. There's so much going on here that it's hard to put it in words. VERY Burgundian.

Medium bodied with super silky texture, vibrant acidity and great concentration to the flavors but still light as a feather. Again very savory with mushrooms, oriental spice, balsamic notes and dried red fruit. Seamless transition to the finish that lasts for minutes. Amazing.

I could've sworn that this was a mature Burgundy of noble heritage. Impressive to see that Châteauneuf can show such qualities. This bottle was so damn good and I wouldn't wish for a day more aging to it.

3/3/2018 - Omar Khayyam wrote:

It starts out quite charming, with classic Rioja oak on the nose, but also fruit (sloe berries), but on the palate it's more about drying fruit, old wooden barrels, spicy bitterness, astringent finish.

It's not bad, but also not the bargain steal that it is sometimes made out to be here in Sweden [edit: including by me previously, in a note from 2013 concerning the 1998 vintage!]. Clearly, this is one of the better vintages, and it has a lot of varietal or regional typicality, while still not achieving the full aim of being interesting. On the other hand, this is close to competing with a Bordeaux a more than twice the price that I tried the other day so it's not necessarily the wrong choice for an everyday wine, with some grilled meats. It's just not very interesting.

[edit: thx Lilja for pointing out that this wine is also to be found in the UK, as opposed to only in Sweden. I tried finding a trace of this wine on the producer's homepage but could not, so my conclusion is that this is a cheaper product that they concoct for some export markets and domestically don't want to interfere with the main brand]

2/6/2018 - appel54 wrote:

Gul lite grumlig färg

Citrus, lite jästigt, svavel?, kvalmigt och lite dammigt

Markant syra, lite småbitter i munnen, medium längd

Kul med ett vin från Kanarieholmarna. Dock inget som jag kommer att köpa igen.

1/27/2018 - appel54 Likes this wine:

Guldgul väldigt oljig färg

Väldigt mycket ylle initialt. Med lite mer luft träder det fram mer citrus och CH karaktär.

Stramt och svalt med en hög syra. Relativt slankt med en helt okej längd.

1/25/2018 - Lilja wrote:

Julgodis! Torkad frukt, saffran, knäck, grädde och kanderade apelsinskal. Bra syra och ganska måttlig sötma. Mognare i smaken än doften och saknar kanske lite intensitet på mitten och avslutar med en aning beska. Men det är petitesser och på det hela ett kanongott vin!

12/1/2017 - Trydebull Likes this wine:

87+
Genomskinlig I glaset
Elegant doft
Skor, rostade vita rotfrukter

11/2/2017 - Mascarello59 Likes this wine:

Oaky with a slight oxidation with provencal herbs. Full bodied, rich yet elegant with complexity and a rather high acidity. A typical food wine which went extremely well with the rich lobster full flavours sauce starter. Very interesting but definitely a food wine.

5/17/2014 - Lilja Likes this wine:

This is either a fake or a wine with an incredible vitality.

Brown edges, but still plenty of red.
The nose is unmistakenly that of old Bordeaux, but I would have guessed a good Chateau or vintage from the 80's. Dried fruit, leather, coffee, and boiled vegetables.
There is a suprisingly vibrant fruit on the palate, smooth tannins and a dry finish.

Im highly suspicious, but the wine is nevertheless quite good!

2/2/2017 - appel54 wrote:

Vinröd färg med tät kärna

mycket lingon och blåbär, väldigt aromatisk, kryddigt och något alkoholstickig på doften. Väldigt träiga toner

I munnen är det lite stabbigt. Torrt, medium+ längd. Rätt så fylligt och härligt runt i munnen.

1/7/2017 - Mascarello59 Likes this wine:

Very delicate and complex nose of rose petals, mature strawberries, touch of tar, licorice, violets, orange zest. Extremely fine tannins and a beautiful mix of fruit and acidity to lift it. Very elegant long balanced finish. Tried over 4 hours and by the end the tannin had markedly softened. A stunning wine that much to my surprise drinks well already. Even better than I remember from the en primeur tasting 2 years ago.

8/12/2015 - buckeye76 wrote:

RASPBERRIES, BLACK CHERRIES, LICORICE, AND SOME EARTHINESS IN THE NOSE AND FLAVOR. NICE COMPLEXITY AND A MEDIUM TO LONG FINISH

8/12/2016 - gbgpatrik Likes this wine:

Crisp and dry, green apples. Elegant With saffran tones. I would say it's about ready to drink now!

8/11/2016 - karl.1480 Likes this wine:

I fully agree with previous tasters of this wine. Expressive nose with cap gun smoke, toasty oak, yellow fruit and orange blossom.

Medium(+) intensity and great harmony on the palate. Lots of creamy yellow fruit and toasty oak along balanced by almost electric acidity. Drinking great today but has potential for further aging. Great QPR!

8/2/2016 - appel54 Likes this wine:

Mörk tät färg. Tankarna drar åt Tannat eller Taurasi

På näsan är det oerhört mycket svarta oliver. En del kryddor i form av mynta och sen en del björnbär. Efterhand drar det mer åt gröna oliver

Väldigt torrt och strävt vin. En underbar längd på det. En viss värme i avslutet som förmodligen kommer från den höga alkoholen.

Ett väldigt spännande vin. Som en kebabpizza med extra allt som ändå inte får en att vilja spy...

7/27/2016 - nzinkgraf wrote:

Day 3 and drinking great. Plump red cherry to the palate. Looking a little turbid tonight. Fuck, is is really good wine.

7/17/2016 - AllRed wrote:

38th Annual Zinfandel Retrospective - the 2011s (R&D's): A touch on the ripe and pruny side of things. Finishes well, but it's a bit more ripe than I would like.

6/15/2016 - europat55 wrote:

This took a big 2 hours in the glass before opening up which makes me believe it is still too young to unleash its full potential.

4/15/2016 - Omar Khayyam Does not like this wine:

The nose is not so bad but the palate is just awful.

Like a cheap vodka and vermouth cocktail that someone decided to treat with 300% new oak (although that might be overselling it); harsh pulp mill vanilla esters, astringent bitter herbal notes, very high alcohol, oily texture.

We could not finish the glass.

Poured some of this into a cream sauce before tasting it (just smelled to see it was not damaged) and the sauce turned out quite well so that's what keeping my score above 70.

6/30/2016 - rhit Likes this wine:

Somewhat savory, with funk, stone, and herbs over dark, rich fruit. Not quite silky, but soft and very approachable. Great acid. Good and tasty, but not sure of the value given the price.

7/6/2016 - bevetroppo wrote:

I enter this tasting note not out of enthusiasm but more as a warning should I encounter this wine again and think it might be good. It's barely good, showing modest varietal character and only a pale imitation of the Etna terroir and volcanic energy I look for. There are hints of alcohol on the nose and finish, and it's thick and pudgy in the middle. No way to go through life, son. One of the least pleasant Etna wines I've had. I could go on and say, it's weary, flat, stale, and unprofitable, but that's just piling on-and this is a '14? Fie on you. Hey, Marc de Grazia: non grazie.

3/5/2016 - Lilja wrote:

Modern style. Lots of ripe fruit and new oak. Plenty of Cabernet greeness. Polished on the palate with good intensity and a rather long finish. Not that fun, but for a cheap end super tuscan this delivers well over its price point.

11/11/2015 - Lilja wrote:

Absolutely outlandish stuff. This is quite far from what to expect from a Champagne. Deg. 2009.

Deep golden, almost with hints of amber. Viscous with distinct legs and with a bit of cloudyness.

Nose is all over the place with lots and lots of ripe, browned apples, baking spices, curry, butter, tropical fruit, a bit of funk, nuts and gravel. Complex and multi layered. Brilliant!

Quite round on the palate but with fresh acidity. A fat texture, full bodied, high intensity and a long, long finish. Not a lot of mousse. Given a few minutes this would easily have been mistaken for a full bodied white wine.

Very interesting, very good and a big treat to try. Wouldn't recommend it for lovers of Champagne, but if you're looking for something out of the box this is a sure bet.

5/27/2015 - rjonwine@gmail.com wrote:

Very dark ruby color; roasted red fruit, tobacco nose; tasty, savory, roasted red fruit, tobacco, dried red berry palate; needs 2-3 years; long finish 92+ points

Components:
Parcel 5 - dark ruby color; roasted raspberry, black raspberry, charcoal nose; delicious, roasted raspberry, black raspberry, charcoal palate with ripe, sweet tannins; needs 5 years and should go 30; long finish 93 points

Parcel 15 - dark black-tinged ruby color; tar, roasted cherry, black raspberry nose; tasty, roasted raspberry, black raspberry, charcoal palate with ripe, sweet tannins; needs 6 years but should go 30-35; long finish 93+ points

Parcel 9 - black-tinged dark ruby color; tart cherry, roasted cherry, charcoal nose; tart cherry, roasted black cherry palate; long finish 92+ points

7/21/2015 - Rexel Likes this wine:

Great nose with flower, cherry, herbs, leather.
Taste has red berries, choclate, herbs, pepper, salmiak. Medium acidity and medium + tannins, but quit soft and very good balance. Like it a lot.

7/13/2015 - karl.1480 wrote:

The wine is clear with a medium intensity, lemon color.

Youthful nose with a medium intensity. Aromas of yellow apple, green pear, tropical fruit, cherry blossom and wet rock.

The wine is dry on the palate with a medium acidity and body. Medium intensity with flavors of mixed apples, green pear and some diffuse hints of flowers. The finish is medium.

A bit one-dimensional and boring today. Maybe some cellaring would help.

7/2/2015 - pmk wrote:

classic NZ style, but lacking that special character. Not well integrated and shallow palate, lacking in complexity.

7/14/2015 - Lilja wrote:

Very mature on the nose with lots of bread, yeast, apple cores, spices, cinnamon, raisins and ripe lemons.

Medium+ acidity, medium bodied, medium intensity, medium+ length that finishes with a slight bitterness.

Really enjoyed the nose, complex with lots of maturity. Decent on the palate, but I would have loved to try this 5-7 years ago. Probably past its prime, and is starting to fade a bit on the palate. Has this typical watery mid-palate and bitter finish that I usually find in old champagne. Also it lacks the gun powder minerality that I love in recent vintages of St.-Vincent.

This was the green label, old release. Stored in private cellar.

7/7/2015 - Lilja wrote:

A really poor showing. Diluted and alcoholic. Nose is muted with some wood, strawberries, herbs, some mature notes of dried fruit and a little tobacco together with some dry bread.

Medium(-) acidity, sweetish fruit with dry, slightly woody tannins. Medium+ body with a poor intensity and a quite short finish.

Not that by expectations were very high, but it still managed to disappoint. Good price (on sale) if you want a label that says CdP, but 170SEK is rather steep for this, and especially it's normal price at around 220SEK

6/7/2015 - Lilja wrote:

Developed nose with medium intensity and aromas of crushed stones, wet stones, moldy root cellar, more stones, a bit of funky sweaty cheese, hay, dusty gravel, cilantro, peach, canned mushrooms, burned rubber and did I mention stones? Intriguing nose with good complexity.

Too bad the palate can't deliver what the nose promise. Medium acidity, fatigue fruit, medium intensity and a slightly short and bitter finish. Says halbtrocken (off-dry) on the label, but this is almost completely dry.

This is past its prime by a few years. Incredible nose, but no fun drinking. Don't buy, don't keep!

5/4/2015 - Lilja wrote:

Very good for a big production and quite mainstream Geuze. Not nearly as funky as a few others I've tried lately. But fresh, acidity, good body and a long finish.

Will keep buying!

7/9/2014 - amateurwino wrote:

(EDIT: note was for another edition of this wine, note now moved)

2/20/2015 - matpre wrote:

Reasonable

4/3/2015 - Hazevedo wrote:

- Yellow gold color - Worst than first. You can find an Australian or chilean white for 10$ better

4/1/2015 - Lilja wrote:

Had this together with the 2012 Boekenhoutskloof Syrah, and this wasn't nearly as good. Even though this is of high quality, there is this note of smoky ashes that ruins the party for me.

Intense nose with lots of smoke, ash tray, something green and something perfumed (Nivea soap) together with greasy oak in the form of coconut fat and dill.

Medium+ acidity, dry with some tannins and a medium+ body. Medium+ to high intensity and a medium+ finish.

Can't stand the nose, but the wine is very well made and very polished.

1/19/2015 - Lilja wrote:

FW-BYOB-HT-15#1; 1/15/2015-1/19/2015: ¤FW - This is ALOT more interesting than it is good. In fact, in my opinion this is not very good at all. But each man to his own.

Way over the hill on the nose with mainly sherry aromas of canned mushrooms, honey but also a little rubber and flowers.
A skeleton of high acidity and dry, tired fruit. Decent intensity and quite a long finish. I'm sure this was a decent sparkle 10 years ago!

2/20/2015 - Mattias S Likes this wine:

Oh my god! Detta rockar helt ordagrant vid första sniffen. Näsan fylls omedelbart av ett helt grustag och därefter kryper smått överdrivna toner av grillad grön paprika och rotfrukt fram som tar över det mesta. Lite tjära tittar fram också, men också tomatsås som kokats lite för länge på rostig spik. Helt obefintlig frukt i munnen och slankt på gränsen till dött. Klart över kullen och syran dominerar för mycket.

Synd, med lite mer liv så hade det kunnat vara fantastiskt (jag håller tummarna för att min flaska hemma är mer välbevarad). Kan dock inte såga det helt, då det ändå har en hel del kvaliteter.

2/16/2015 - Lilja wrote:

No proper notes, but I really enjoyed this and wanted to make sure I remember!

Nose is full of flint and tinder, crushed stones and sulfur minerality. There is also quite a lot of fruit, exotic fruits, passion fruit, star fruit and ripe apples. High, fresh acidity, medium+ body and a good intensity and length. I would say this is terrific for only 200SEK ($25).

2/11/2015 - Lilja wrote:

Even though this is too much oak (by a lot!) for me, I can't argue with the high quality and uniqueness of the wine.

100% Viura and only 1,500 numbered bottles. Multi-vintage of 5 different years (doesn't state which though) and all vintages rested for 6 months on lees and on average 3 years on American oak, French oak and acacia.

Thanks to user, Los 12 Glotones for this additional information:
It's a blend of 2006-2007-2008-2009-2010 and 2011 (50%-50%). Wines from 2006 to 2010 age in "tinos", big oak barrels, and every year a part is replaced and used for blending with last harvest (2011) that has been ageing in oak barrels as well.

But all this oak comes through like a smack in the face, a smack with a freshly sawn piece of timber. Slightly sticky nose of resins, terpentine, rubber, dill and vanilla. Not a lot of fruit, but there's a little pear and orange peel. Lots of spices and nuts. But mainly oak.

Medium acidity, a bit of bitterness, dry and full bodied. HIgh intensity and a medium+ length. Slightly warm finish.

1/25/2015 - Lilja wrote:

FW-BYOB-HT-15#2; 1/24/2015-1/25/2015: When poured from the decanter it had a couple of very strange, white colored, cloudy particles floating around in it. I'm afraid the the wine could have been contaminated either by mold on the cork, or by mold in the decanter (a dark green wine-bottle that we reuse for blind tastings, and maybe someone had forgotten to rinse it properly last time around). The wine had an incredible smell of green stalks and green bell pepper. And maybe the wine was OK, but our minds where so tainted by the goo in the bottle it wouldn't have been fair to taste or score.

2/16/2014 - calodo2011 wrote:

DAMMIT!!!

1/20/2015 - Lilja Does not like this wine:

Stay away from this. Sticky fruit on the nose with some acetone and ethyl acetate. Add to this yeasty fruit, mainly synthetic banana and cherries. Top it of with some oak. Medium acidity, lots of sweetish fruit, medium body, rather thin and no length to speak of. For 100SEK ($12) you can get so much better wines.

1/3/2015 - drcuisine wrote:

I found this sitting by the counter of my local Chinese market. Nicely packaged in a display box with a booklet written only in Chinese( I realize Chinese is not a language but I am not educated enough to know the difference )

Based on the presentation and the boxes of remy martin xo all around I figured it would be around $85. Not so, it was $18 and not worth much more. Still a competent wine from china!

Turns out the Golden Icewine Valley is no joke. It's a serious undertaking and I'm sipping the low end stuff.

The bottle was from 2005. Who knows what type of abuse this bottle has had before getting to my refrigerator.

I had a 1988 375 of D'Yquem sitting next to it in the fridge. About the same gasoline color. The fruit is faded, who knows if it was there at one point. It has kind of a rhubarb cooked strawberry fragrance. Acidity is present but not overbearing. The finish is short. There is a somewhat unusual Asian pear lychee character on the finish. My guess the rs is about 11%. A little petrol but not like German Riesling at all.

Not great but not terrible. I'm curious to what their top end wines are like. Based on this bottle this is definitely not a long term keeper. Also curious as to what this wine might be like on release?

Better wines to be had, even at that price but it was my first Chinese wine and that is something. I read up a little about this place. It's no small production. This is serious wine making with real history and much thought and effort put into making great wine.

12/29/2014 - drwine2001 wrote:

Medium center, light edge. Old fashioned, savory Chateauneuf nose with a compelling mix of blue and black fruit, potpourri, tobacco and licorice. Similarly savory in the mouth-chewy, ripe but dry fruit, bark and tobacco leaf, fine acidity, and significant soil and minerality at the end. My one and only other bottle of this was a complete mess, whereas tonight, the wine was triumphant with real old vine depth and complexity.

After being recorked overnight, it held up really well-more creosote and tar on the second night, but solidly persistent, redder fruit and now some spice. No oxidation. This is very well constituted stuff.

12/12/2014 - Rezy13 Likes this wine:

Galoots Lunch (Double Zero Napoletano- Sandy Springs): Good garnet color with nice clarity; tasted side by side with the 2007 this was amazingly fresher, ripe but cool dark red kind of a blue hue to the fruit, leather, lots of berry, dark cherry and raspberry, clean, deep though fresh, very Burg-like to me; palate is very similar with refreshing acid, ripe but not overdone; not as good as the one served during the 2000 retrospective but a well stored and great example of how brilliant this wine can be.

12/4/2014 - Wineguy76 wrote:

The 2009 is clearly Chateau Gloria's greatest effort to date. It is a powerful, muscular wine that boasts a deep, thick ruby colour and diffuses intense perfumes of raspberries, blueberries, vanilla and led pencil shavings. Although it isn't one this beauty undoubtedly behaves like a Grand Cru Classe with its fleshy, tannic and unctuous texture as it mesmerizes the palate with an overload of dark fruit, cinnamon and white chocolate, and lingers on with a delightfully silky 45 second finish. A remarkable success and truly outstanding value. This infant will benefit from another year or two of cellaring before reaching its maturity plateau, where it should cruise comfortably for two decades.

11/23/2014 - Lilja wrote:

Had mme fooled for a pinot on the nose with distinct gun powder, orange peel, red berries and slight vanilla. Round acidity, light bodied and to be honest quite thin. Nothing exciting at all, and terrible QPR for 30€ (300SEK).

12/17/2014 - Rexel Likes this wine:

Doft av fat, vanilj, blommor, peppar, bär hallon?
Smaken är lite bärig, peppar, chark, lite fat med inslag av vanilj. Medium syra med mjuka tanniner och ganska lång eftersmak.
Ett riktigt gott vin!

11/26/2014 - Lilja wrote:

Very well made and with a great balance on the palate. But this is just too much smoke paired with green grassy aromas. Smoked meat and hints of plastic. Finish is long but with a slight bitterness. Good intensity and as long as you can cope with the nose a good quality wine!

11/24/2014 - carnetor Likes this wine:

Minerals woods and a little miss covered log. Solid with stinky cheese. A keeper