July 22, 2020 - Aged too long in cellar
March 14, 2017 - Very fine wine in peak condition; balanced, lively, clean fruit and tannins.
January 11, 2011 - This bottle showed well -- better than it should be for $5; ready
November 3, 2010 - At $5/bottle this wine is friendly. Have paired it with tri-tip (on the spicier side), grilled sausages, vegetables and a variety of noodle and pasta dishes. With stronger cheeses (blue and vintage cheddar) it struggles. Otherwise a good experience.
October 5, 2010 - Best use: drank a glass, which was, by definition, completely drinkable, and added the rest to a lamb marinade
October 3, 2010 - Choked it down with no real difficulty; ready
September 21, 2010 - Very easy drinking, light body, smokey finish, light on the fruit
September 15, 2010 - With the right food, this sang -- a pasta dish of shitake, chicken, and radicchio; after dinner, on its own, unlikeable; ready
September 12, 2010 - Prototypical cheap, aged Bdx -- fruit is resolved, and the wine has little life or zip; worth its $5 tarif but not a whole lot more; might buy a couple iff I needed drink-now reds
August 17, 2010 - Tested warm and cold. Said I wouldn't buy another but I did, and this bottle is much better balanced and integrated than the bottle I tried in March 2010. Rich nose and taste, acidic when you first open but the fruit expands and acid decreases to acceptable or good levels after a day or two vacu-corked in the fridge. Classic bordeaux taste, while it looks like the abbey sits in Entre-deux-Mers, wine is a right bank blend but tastes more left bank, with smoky dusty stony mineral and fruit on the nose with wood and licorice or tar in the finish and flavors of all these plus ample red and black fruit in-between. Hope the next bottle is the same. Excellent QPR, USD6 as tested. 70% merlot, 20% cab, 10% cab franc. 13.5% abv.