7/24/2022 - csimm1161 wrote:

Although I typically don't like to use the word "Burgundian" when describing any wine that isn't actually from Burgundy, especially a Syrah, I couldn't help but the utter the word to describe the style currently being exhibited from this wine. What is initially surprising is the amount of energy here. Lighter-bodied and lithe, almost the exact same color as two actual bottles of Burgundy at the table, this Guigal offers interesting garrigue and red/black cherry notes that are complimented by earth and pine notes.

If you're into Mollydooker milkshakes or blackberry neutron bombs, this is so left of center from that style you might as well scratch the d'Ampuis completely off your list. This was an excellent food wine, and was a perfect pairing with Mediterranean fare. Score higher if you prefer more airy versions of this varietal. Score lower if you prefer to chew your purple juice until your braces chafe off.

7/22/2022 - Burgundy Al wrote:

Birthday Dinner with Wine Legends (Oriole): Black cherry, plum, and berry accompanied by a massive baking spicebox. Rich and opulent, yet this easily manages to seem wonderfully fresh for a ripe vintage wine at this age. Great now and for years to come. I could have easily mistake this for a Vosne-Romanée Grand Cru.

6/21/2022 - scamhi wrote:

tried another bottle that was PnP and amazing. full of life no rush to drink or hold

8/14/2021 - Wine_Poobah Likes this wine:

Extremely complex bouquet, notes of earthy red fruit and yeast. Earthy red cherry flavor with notes of strawberry, raspberry, red currant, and a faint hint of orange peel. Very long ripe cherry finish with some spice and yeast. Plenty of chalk and minerals on display. Extremely smooth and well balanced, with a nice core of acidity this will help this wine live a long time. Powerful, but nuanced, and constantly evolving — a chameleon in the glass, with flashes of this and that. Give this wine some time to breathe.

Absolutely delicious, but this is not my preferred style of rosé — this leans heavy, earthy and vinous. It is the antithesis of Krug Rosé, which I prefer more for the same price.

3/4/2022 - paul195 wrote:

82 Bordeaux Dinner @ Union Square Cafe all wines were purchased on release and double decanteted at 4:00.

Second Flight - Gruaud Larose, Leoville las Cases, Ducru Beaucaillou, Palmer

This bottle of Léoville was consistent with prior bottles from this case, Young, full bodied, layers of rich dark fruit. Fine tannins, perfectly balanced. For me this was edged out by an excellent, elegant Palmer tonight

3/15/2022 - paul195 wrote:

3 of 12 Decanted @ 4:00 served @ 7:30…. Dark core, deeply fruited nose after two hours in the decanter. Certainly early drinking window with a few hours of air this wine shows beautifully, rich layers of dark cherry fruit, spice, framed by fine tannins and acidity. Beautifully integrated and balanced with a persistent finish. Delicious now clear upside over the next decade

10/1/2021 - paul195 wrote:

6 of 18 The last bottle was so delicious I grabbed another for Friday afternoon road trip to Bigelows in Rockville Center…. Perfect with piles of perfectly fried clams, oyster and scallops

5/21/2021 - brooklynguy Likes this wine:

Decanted about 90 minutes before serving. Absolutely gorgeous wine, just stunning. The nose was immediately vibrant and just kept growing. Cassis, red fruit, cedar, earth, under-wood, on and on, and I can't name it all - it was a peacock's tail kind of wine where the complexity and breadth of aroma and flavor just burst and spread out. One very experienced blind taster knew that it was right bank from the roundness of the flavors, he said, but guessed it to be an 82 - it's still showing so energetically. Just a glorious wine that is showing at its apex, i would think. If I rated wine I would give this the highest possible rating - there was no way to improve upon it.

12/22/2020 - BradE wrote:

Absolutely fantastic. A cornucopia of flavors, including a large dose of earthiness to complement the tremendous fruit. From an Ex-Chateau case, and happy to have eight more of these. Terrific.

12/5/2020 - paul195 wrote:

1 of 24. This has calmed down quite a bit since I last had it in May. Still has an energetic mousse, lovely tension, packed with white fruits, minerals and floral notes. After two hours some of the DP creaminess started to show. A very pleasing young DP with the stuffing to bring years of drinking pleasure

11/19/2020 - Paul S wrote:

1990 Barolo dinner (Lafiandra, Singapore): Wow. I feel quite privileged to drink this again - what a beautiful wine this was. The nose was a killer. Deep dark berries and black cherries, earth and meat, and then a lovely blush of herb - thyme and rosemary, oregano and menthol - and then drifts of smoky tar and dried flower petals. The palate was absolutely wonderful too, with a tremendous energy and clarity that just belied its age. Juicy acidity, fine-boned tannins, and a crystal clear transperancy resounding through its pure, limpid flavours of red berries and dark cherries, herb and smoke and florals. Layer after layer after layer, just unfolding inexorably though the mouth and into a wonderful long, orange peel and sour cherry, spice and dried-flower infused, palate-staining finish. Powerful, inexorable, yet effortless and elegant. This was a complete experience, drinking beautifully, almost ethereally now. Wow.

10/28/2020 - paul195 wrote:

A nice punch of fruit as I decanted it at 4:00, haven’t had this since last summer. By dinner this was ready to go, still showing very youthful fruit with impressive density, fine tannins, perfect balance leading to a persistent finish, as others have noted best glass was the last glass. A beautiful drinking Barolo in early maturity

8/25/2020 - chablis28 wrote:

R&Rler's btl at our 65/60/40 Bday Trifecta dinner at Minnikada Club in Minneapolis. This was in remarkably good condition for a 50yr old wine and especially from 1970 when wines were generally mishandled by the distribution system in the day. My dad sold these in his store and I remember these sorts of wines regularly showing up on hot trucks. That said, many owners of those wines did a better job of storing them once in their possession. And, back then when there were few critics and no scores everyone was calling 1970 the next 1961. The vintage was heralded on release by the wineries and the importers. Today in hindsight, I'd guess its rarely compared to 1961. Ok, I was excited to try this and at the same time apprehensive about the provenance of any wine from 1970. Well, this did not disappoint! In fact, it was my BDX of the night. Loved the unexpected richness and energy combined with resolved silkiness and plush fruit. This was truly special Chateau Haut Brion only bested by a crazy good 1955 birth year HB a few years back. That said I likely drank the other HBs too young. Now I need to try a 2000 some day. Classic Bdx loaded with tertiary notes on both the nose and palate along with a surprising delicious fruit core. Thanks Kevin, have a 2000 in the future?

8/15/2020 - paul195 wrote:

Had a bottle of this 18 months ago and was blown away at its explosive fine mousse, bright fruit and mineral cut. I purchased a case and put it in my cellar. This is my first revisit since then, it has settled down a bit and picked up complexity, wider range of white fruits, added limestone notes It is weightless but persistent, Good acidity, excellent balance with an impressive finish.

12/21/2019 - paul195 wrote:

Consistent with my last note. Energetic vintage characteristics provide an interesting foil for the house style. Very nice young champagne indeed. Corked half of the bottle and had it the next night alongside the 2008 Cristal. I was pleasantly surprised how well it drank the next night, retaining quite a bit of energy and opening up to reveal richer tones. That being said and taking nothing away from this delicious young DP the 2008 Cristal was a full step up in every way, it is an extraordinary champagne.

9/5/2019 - paul195 wrote:

First bottle of a mixed case of Raveneau 04s bought on release. Bought, along with a 2004 Leflaive Batard, to drink with friends Thursday night at the Acker Auction held at Le Bernardin Prive.

Light yellow color, tight clean bright nose, the initial palate showed crisp fruit, citrus notes with hints of sea salt. Texture and acidity provide an energetic frame which serve the wine well. A delicious bottle of wine. Given the embarrassment of riches at these events I moved on to taste other goodies and revisited this a few hours later and this bottle was hitting at a grand cru level.

As was true with a 2004 Rav Foret at a friends 40th dinner a few weeks ago, this bottle of Butteaux was youthful and still quite primary and drinking 10 years younger, wow I haven’t said that about a white burgundy since roughly 2004 and we said the same this about 1989s which were 15 years old.

Sadly the 04 Batard which should have been a baby at 15 years old started out well but after 45 mins showed oxidative notes which blemished a wine which used to be, in vintages prior to 1996, a consistent top performer.

Glad I brought the Butteaux

3/2/2018 - paul195 Likes this wine:

This was part of an unbelievable wine evening at the Grill Room. The theme was Champagne, Chevalier and Chambertin. The Chambertin line up included:

85 Trapet Latricieres Chambertin
91 Leroy Chambertin
93 Rousseau Clos de Beze
95 Rousseau Chambertin
96 Rousseau Clos de Beze
96 Trapet Chambertin
96 Leroy Chambertin
02 Chezeaux/Ponsot Chambertin
02 Faiveley Latricieres Chambertin
02 Rousseau Chambertin
02 Rousseau Clos de Beze

This was my contribution to the Chambertin lineup. As has been noted this wine has layers of bright red berry fruits, good minerality, excellent balance, fine tannins and lingering finish. In early maturity took some time for the nose to really open. Should improve over the next decade.

Among this stiff competition this was my #2, behind the 1993 Bèze.

3/2/2019 - jaylew1 wrote:

I have to agree with the May of 2018 tasting note. Coming out of its shell, but still plenty of room to run. Accessible now - the next 10 years should be a lot of fun for this one.

7/24/2018 - Geoff7777 wrote:

First of three excellent bottles from a good cellar. Colour is medium gold but not advanced. On opening, tightly coiled and with very little to show for itself other than the spine tingling acidity. 6-8 hours later, the wine had taken on a nutty richness with some air, with sweet stone fruits on the nose and a balanced palate still dominated by the cut of the acidity. On the evidence of this bottle, no rush to open the remaining two bottles as this wine has indeterminate longevity. I would decant well in advance next time.

7/30/2017 - paul195 wrote:

First of a six pack purchased on release. Beautiful medium yellow core, lighter at the edge. A beautiful nose of white fruits, mixed with hints of citrus and floral notes leapt from the glass. Refreshing acidity, lovely texture, perfect balance and finish. Consumed over two hours it was clear that this wine is just entering early maturity the fruit is just starting to show its complexity with a compact core of white fruits laced with hints of lemon, apple and melon. Currently drinking very well with upside over the next few years.

5/16/1997 - paul195 wrote:

Lighter color and brighter fruit than her 69 NSG 1er and Echezeaux tasted earlier this year. Fragrant strawberry fruit with a touch of tartness, bright acidity, some earth and hints of spice. Nice medium length finish

9/18/2015 - paul195 wrote:

Opened two hours before. Deep, bright ruby color with a maturing edge. The initial bouquet had an almost dusty, candied cherry component which two hours later was replaced by what I have come to expect from HB the mix of cigar box, leather, dark fruits, minerals and earthyness. Clearly a fully resolved 1975, this is beautifully balanced, with silky tannins and a layers of fruit and spice. It has a lovely elegant finish. It shows the depth, complexity and texture of a first growth and demonstrates to me once again that HB is the most consistent deliverer of what I expect from a mature first growth

9/8/2015 - Burgnick Likes this wine:

The nose was lovely with honeysuckle, cake, minerals, mango and stone fruits. However the palate was not deep and complex. The acidity was still there, but it is drinking nicely now with lots of life left.

6/8/2015 - BradE wrote:

Lunchtime kickoff for tomorrow's 60th birthday. A very nice bottle. Beautiful nose, lovely palate that just got better and better as it opened.

4/18/2015 - Ron Slye wrote:

Seems a bit sour and stewed on the nose, with aromas of acidic fruit, with a slight hint of acetone. A bit sweet on the palate, with hints of milk chocolate. This is not holding up very well. Did not get better with time. I don't think it is a bad bottle. Just wine that did not age well. I initially had a low score on this, but have removed it as it might be this was an off bottle. I have four more, so am looking forward to trying them to see if this is an anomaly or not!

2/27/2015 - Curiosovino Likes this wine:

I found this to be really sensational. Hints of apple, lemon, creme, mint, spice, with chalkiness and good intensity. This got better and better with more time in the glass, making me believe this wine still have many good years ahead of it. My last glass of the wine, about three hours after the bottle was opened was my favorite. It maybe doesn't have the power or super rich intensity of the Batard or Montrachet, but it has a good mix of intensity and elegance to it that is very appealing. As previous reviewer mentions, it is bottles like these that makes one forgive the sins of the premox problem in burgundy.

6/5/2014 - Le Musigny wrote:

In a great drinking window right now. Good minerality and this added weight over the course of a couple of hours. V