12/25/2022 - fadincvaros wrote:

Bottiglia 4 di un lotto di 6, la prima che mi è piaciuta, soprattutto il secondo giorno di apertura dove il vino si è aperto e sgrezzato notevolmente, sopratutto al naso.

2/8/2024 - Dionysos55 Likes this wine:

Alors là, un énorme moment!!! La robe est toujours très sombre,malgré l'âge vénérable.Le bouquet est réellement sensationnel d'intensité et de complexité:tabac,cigare,cèdre,menthol,réglisse,café,cassis,mûre,thé,un vrai festival.Le palais est sublime:entame serrée,milieu impeccable,finale très longue tout cela dans une suavité exceptionnelle,un écrin de velours étourdissant.Clairement un des vins du millésime et certainement supérieur à Mouton qui est faible,Latour qui me semble plus fluide,Lafite moins accrocheur.Seul actuellement Montrose et Grand Puy Lacoste m'ont procuré des sensations équivalentes sur ce millésime.Un très grand moment,la quintessence du cabernet sauvignon.

8/24/2023 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine:

Second of 2 ($140 total) from a lot of 1 ‘08 and this bought about 4 years ago. On the nose and palate, moderately vibrant notes of red cherries, red and black currants, black plums, strawberries, blackberries, figs, pomegranates, anise, garrigue, smoked meats, exotic spices, tar, dark chocolate, tobacco and black tea. Dark maroon, medium to full bodied, thick legs. Light-ish tannins and acidity, no heat. Excellent complexity, VG+ persistence, good intensity. The ‘04 of this bottling was my gateway drug to CdPs generally, and this has remained my narrow but definite favorite over Janasse, Usseglio, Pegau, Beaucastel, Sabon, etc. over many vintages, particularly in the aughts, since. The fruit here continues to be opulent and well-focused, the secondary notes diverse and interesting as always. What keeps this bottle of this vintage a notch below the best of the Clos is that the tannins and acidity, so potent in other bottles I’ve had, are close to invisible here; more of a presence would have been a welcome counterpoint in this still delicious wine. Probably not surprisingly with that in mind, this was good to go off the pour (I gave it a 2 hour slow ox with the thought that it might need aeration), holding well over a second night but pretty flat on a third. In light of all of the above, I think that this wine is a bit past peak (although in this hot vintage, who’s to say how potent the tannins and acidity were earlier?) and should be consumed sooner than later, at least based on this bottle, which, like all single bottles in particular bought 10+ years after release date at auction can be taken with a grain of salt. Equally enjoyable on its own and with mixed grill. 94+

9/29/2023 - Dionysos55 Likes this wine:

Assemblage sauvignon-sémillon Nez intense et exubérant d'agrumes (pamplemousse-citron-écorce d'orange).La bouche est également digne d'intérêt avec une acidité très présente et qui permettra une longévité accrue.Belle lognueur finale.Rapport Q/P exceptionnel

4/8/2023 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine:

First of 2 ($112.50) from a recent purchase via a large online consolidator. On the nose and palate, wild, vibrant notes of mixed red berries and currants, black plums, dried Mediterranean spices, anise, wildflowers, forest floor including mushrooms, earthy minerality, and on the end, increasing over time, mocha. Medium garnet, medium to full bodied, medium to thick legs. Intense acidity which mostly integrates with air, medium+ tannins, no heat. Off the charts complexity, length and persistence. Vintage after vintage, no wine roars out of the bottle like Flac, not unlike that surly Aladdin coming out of the lamp after centuries of captivity in the immortal Bugs Bunny cartoon. The elements are as compartmentalized as Bill Clinton’s personal life and his political one, yet, wistful recaller of the 20th century that I am, they likewise seem to work together, however they may seem, with an appealing fractiousness. With a couple of hours of air, more or less, this grows up and (mostly) calms down, but it’s definitely not wearing blue and brown, a still fiercely engaging quaff that demands you pay attention to it, engage with it, a perfect cure for this wine drinker for Caymus, Rombauer and even the cult cabs at higher price points which flood the zone with vanilla, alcohol and oak. Arguably and incrementally the best Flac I’ve had in a bottle I owned (I’ve had pours of the ‘16 at tastings, which will be epic, probably surpassing this at some point, but it’s still too much like drinking water from a firehose, even if it is very, very good water), it’s still certainly of a kind with other vintages—I truly believe I could pick out Flac in a lineup with myriad sangios—but is just a bit more of everything good than others I’ve had, and I’ve had many. While I loved drinking this wine on its own, if being grabbed by the lapels—remember lapels?—and shaken isn’t so much your thing, this wine is, surprise, surprise, just stellar with food, first spaghetti and meatballs then mixed grill. The last glass on night 2–what, you didn’t really think that this would make it to a third night, did you?—burned like a Roman, or Tuscan, as the case may be, candle, making me think that in the near to medium term, this is more likely to get a bit better than worse and may last as long as our planet is habitable (CT window risibly short). A wonderful emblem of my beloved Tuscany in my beloved Italy, not the Tuscany of the jam-packed Uffizi in July and overflowing tour buses, but the Tuscany of the Palio, ridiculously distinctive, untamed, mesmerizing. Like this wine? I loved it. 97-98+

This cuvee has become one of my special wines over the years, and this was a particularly meaningful bottle, coming on the second anniversary of my rebirthday, with that date, 2 years ago, celebrated with nothing stronger than a cupcake with a candle in the midst of a long period of forced abstinence and accompanied by the nursing staff of the Palo Alto spa and medical clinic singing a desultory happy birthday (the first anniversary was a lot happier, spent on a warm afternoon on my deck with great CT friends cyclist and A_M drinking C. Coast Rhones). What better way to spend this anniversary than a quiet dinner with my wife, with a vinified beverage which appreciated my reflective mindset. Stay healthy, my friends.

2/25/2023 - Wine Diplomats Likes this wine:

Differs from most Bordeaux Blanc since it's mostly Gros Manseng and Sauvignon Gris with a bit of Savangin and Mondeuse Blanche. Nose salinic, flinty minerality. Palate has good length and grip of acidity. Medium-light body but building. Like this palate better than the Soave next to it but the nose is a bit shy now. Still an excellent wine now with potential to open up more.

https://winediplomats.com/

4/14/2023 - d'Artagnan wrote:

Dégustation bordelaise 1989-1990 (Chez François G.): Un peu de chanvre au nez, au début, qui disparaît ensuite pour des notes plus classiques: Fruit noir, mine de crayon, tabac, un peu de cèdre.
La bouche est ample et droite à la fois, d’une harmonie admirable, avec des tanins soyeux. C’est long et profond, il fait très Pauillac avec cette structure racée, cette finale précise.

Superbe et difficile de choisir un préféré parmi ces deux premiers vins. Celui-ci entame à peine son plateau, il paraît plus jeune que le premier, peut-être pas encore à maturité. En fait, à l’aération, il me paraît même un peu plus tannique, promis à une longue vie. 95+ pts

4/29/2023 - d'Artagnan wrote:

Ouvert 15:00 bu à 19:00

Un nez absolument charmant, enivrant, avec des notes florales, de fraises des champs, des herbes séchées et même une pointe d’orange sanguine.

La bouche est assez puissante mais c’est fin, racé et raffiné, il nous laisse une sensation de plénitude. Savoureux, dans un style un peu plus « sérieux » sur ce millésime, il est encore fougueux, mais l’équilibre est excellent. Seule la finale de longueur moyenne m’empêche de donner encore plus de points.

Un magnifique vin de la commune de Gevrey, peut-être le meilleur Charmes que j’ai pris. 94 pts

3/1/2023 - Pontifax Likes this wine:

New vintage for me.....my week for red Rhones.
On nose: ripe cherries and smoke.
On palate: the above notes amplified, with baking spices, black pepper, meatiness and density, with sage and Kona coffee.....far better than the Domaines de Dionysos CDR 2019 sampled yesterday....in SPITE of the fact that this clocks in at 15% alcohol...unheard of in the Rhone valley....however the heat is minimal, and this vintage does taste more like a Napa valley Syrah than an Old World wine.....also $4.00 LESS per bottle than the Domaines de Dionysos....will buy again.