December 30, 2023 - Ripe fruit; complex; rich/deep. Delicious!
May 16, 2023 - Getting more ready since I last had it
March 13, 2023 - Holding up well.Rich; dark chocolate & plums. Should last a few more years if properly stored.
July 29, 2020 - I have very mixed feelings about this wine. It is tasty and enjoyable. But, for a top wine from this winery, from an excellent wine maker with many Pinot Noir offerings, it remains disappointingly lacking in greatness. No top level richness, lushness, complexity, and depth. Instead of being soaringly great, it remains just good, with a nice balance of fruit, acid, and tannin. The glass bottle is deeply punted and extremely heavy, out of place for so modest a wine inside.
May 5, 2020 - Drank over a few hours. Drank in Grassl Cru.
Appearance is clear, pale intensity, ruby colour. Legs.
Nose is clean, medium+ intensity, with aromas of sweet florals, earth, sous bois undergrowth, red cherries, hints of cola. Developed.
On the palate, dry, high acidity, medium alcohol (13.5%), silky integrated medium tannins, medium body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of red cherries, bits of darker red cherries and cola, sweet spices, sweet melted earth and some undergrowth. Long finish.
Very good quality. Drinking at peak already. Don't hold on for too long more. Elegant and going for a more Old World feel though the New World fruit ripeness is certainly still there.
April 30, 2019 - Dinner at Shishen Hanten (Shishen Hanten, Mandarin Orchard, Singapore): This was quite nice. The nose was a pretty mix of sweet dark cherries, berries and spice, along with just a twist of earth and burnt rubber at the edges. The palate had a nice round feel to it, with ripe, full, rather thick flavours of sweet cherries and dark berries seasoned with a good bit of spice. The thickness of the fruit spoke to the new world, as did the ripe sweetness, but there was a sense of classical structure to it, with nice acidity and fine-boned tannins leading into a nicely lengthy finish marked with earth and spice. A good wine, drinking nicely now, but one that should continue improving over the next few years.
October 4, 2018 - Dark red, great clarity of flavors, penetrating acidity, and a very long aftertaste of black raspberry and black cherry, without being the least heavy, sugar sweet, or flabby.
March 10, 2017 - Having 7 more bottles of this wine, I can with great relief finally report that this 10 year old wine finally shows the greatness one would hope for from the top Pinot Noir made by Au Bon Climat, after being opened for 4 days. Begins the darkest it has ever been, just short of being black. The nose is richly perfumed, with pomegranate, red and black cherry, violets, a mushroom that was never in the younger wine, plus a hint of forest evergreen. The mouth entry features a new upfront lushness. The swallow showcases tannin with a rounded edge and no astringency. Finally, the flavors are smooth, well integrated, and near seamless. Patience rewarded.
April 14, 2016 - This tete du cuvee wine made from selecting the best barrels across vineyards, is picture perfect in its firm acidity and tannin - bright, refreshing, cleansing, and drying. But the same cannot be said for the fruit and mouth feel, which falls short of being rich, caressing, lush, or especially delicious. One might hope for better with additional age, but for the first 9 years, it remains stuck on a reef of leanness compared to the great Pinot Noirs, without showing any progress toward achieving true greatness.
December 8, 2015 - Delicious fruit and a long finish.