May 7, 2021 - Tea, olive, kirsch, dark currant, iron, earth and forest. Punchy and masculine palate with smooth finish. Not as round and finessed as the 90.
March 6, 2021 - The best Rhône I have so far. Breathe for 3 hours in bottle, right at its peak. It is hard to recognise all the flavours because it is very complex and depth. The tertiary aroma evolves extremely well, leather, Chinese tea, tobacco......so enjoyable! Now I under why my best friend (and wine teacher) love well aged Rhône so much!
November 1, 2020 - Not a wine I see often, here you find an expression of rocks, stones, herbs, kirsch, spice and grilled meat. At almost 33 years of age, this is still showing incredible concentration and a wild elegant character.
September 11, 2020 - A perfect condition bottle bought on release and never moved. Quite dense and furled still. Darker fruits. But remarkable balance and depth here. Agree w/ others that nose is strangely elusive even over 2+ hrs in decanter. Very good, possibly great in certain sips, but not truly transcendent, just something that didn't quite cohere here overall.
January 25, 2020 - Corked although still drinkable to the TCA insensitive.
May 7, 2019 - Served blind, so I wasn't aware I was about to try one of the most legendary wines there is. Slightly hazy. Mediyn to deep purple to ruby. A developed nose. Pepper. Spice. Barnyard. Medium to high tannins. Medium to full bodied. A great wine. The group guessed Southern Rhone from the heat. Balanced. Such a treat. From TL
February 2, 2019 - La Tablee: Celebratory Dinner (BYO) (26 Bridge Street, Brooklyn): Really fabulous. Definite contender for WOTN. This is a pretty wine and still a very powerful one. Still on the young side. Lots of floral and potpourri and red fruits. Very tasty. Very well done. I really enjoyed this.
July 23, 2018 - Zurich Supper Club Rides Again...in London (CVA, Andrew, Paolo...missing Benoit...) (67 Pall Mall - London, UK): This one contributed by CVA, a nice interlude with CdP between the old Barolo and Grange before getting the Calif Cab. Decanted for about 90 minutes prior to drinking.
Medium core color, mild separation at the edges. Nose a bit reticent , started with animal notes, mushrooms...dusted red fruits underneath. Palate showing aged red fruits, plums, licorice, baking spice, pepper, cardamon (?) and garrigue. Fruit still very expressive spices were really showing through on mid palate...a lot going on here.
Nicely aged and in its zone, should drink at this level for a while but I dont think it improves much. A great CdP from a great vintage, in its zone right now. The decant/air time here helped the bottle show better (IMO)
August 3, 2017 - Tightly wound with dense dark fruit and dark soil notes, but not particularly expressive on the nose. Begrudgingly gives up dark spice notes. Could have benefited from a longer decant. Still needs more bottle age. 94+
July 22, 2017 - Over the hill. Faded example.