March 29, 2024 - This full-bodied and massive wine is in a great and balanced phase at the moment: the lush fruitiness is still there, but the tannins have softened and integrated. The taste is very rich, deep and captivating, providing alluring notes of ripe blackberries, blueberries, plums, tar and herbs. As a whole, the wine is really enjoyable now. I am not sure, if it will still get better; the answer likely depends on how mature Rhône wines you just prefer to drink.
February 12, 2024 - Always one of our favorite CNdP
January 13, 2024 - Coravin. Big and bold with sweet dark red fruit. On the nose, blind I would have guessed a port. Garrigue, smoked blueberries with an alcoholic sting. Not really my style but like it anyway. 91 p.
January 6, 2024 - Dark fruit, licorice, smokey BBQ sauce. Very concentrated, a bit hot but it works. Massive!
October 25, 2023 - Remaining half of a coravined bottle. Served cool, this did not display alc heat that others have noted. Rich and layered, this was well balanced and gorgeous. Still showing primary fruits and a bit of tannic grip, there is plenty of time to allow further development.
October 15, 2023 - Viel besser geht es kaum, jetzt schon perfekt und noch viel vor sich, 100 PP nebenbei
May 28, 2023 - From magnum popped and poured. Nice dark fruit some spice. Not overly hot. Drinking very well with some unobtrusive tannins with the finish
April 29, 2023 - Reynaud Tasting (Freiheit Vinothek, Ulm, Germany): Glass: Spiegelau Universal
All wines tasted blind/blind, opened a few hours before and decanted right before the tasting.
Clear, deep ruby color -> Pirate.
Bold, fat, dark fruity nose.
On the palate very dense, deep, warm, dark fruit, sweet cherries, spices, hot, overextracted, massive. Creamy texture. Long, hot finish. Will this still existing baby fat ever melt down? This is certainly a very well made wine but never 100+ at the moment. Potential? I don't know? 89-90
January 27, 2023 - Heady nose of baked blue and blackberry cobbler with black plum reduction, herb de Provence and spice. Very full-bodied, rich and alcoholic. This singes the nose hairs and burns the palate. There is blueberry reduction, blackberry jam with an assortment of herbs on the palate. Spicy. This is still moderately tannic with good acidity. This could probably use another few years in bottle to shed some tannin and reach full maturity. That said, it's quite a mouthful right now. Drink now-2035 94
November 21, 2022 - This wine is in a stage where it openly exhibits its flaws - and it has them. Way hopped up alcohol, prevalent on the nose and in the mouth and contributing to a finish that is chopped off by a metallic end note along with the fine-grained tannins. The nose is spicy with charcoal and licorice notes. In the mouth and up until the finish, the wine is flatly fantastic - smoky, charred blackberry and macerated black cherry. Notes of fig and carob. The finish is fine for about ten seconds and then it just goes sideways - closing up with what I described as the taste of metal. Unpleasant. I think this would show ever so much better with really big food - heavily marbled beef steak, a pork roast with roasted vegetables, even something like beef bourguignon. That might help with the finish and let the wine strut a bit. Note to self - don’t drink this without food ever again. Tasted alongside a 2010 Beaucastel, fantastic by the way, in a blind Zoom tasting. My tasting partner nailed both wines to year and producer - an impressive showing for tasters at our decidedly amateur level.