French wines and French food (Bar Marta): Nose: The nose is open and friendly with raspberries, cranberries, tobacco notes, leather, spice box, and some red currants. There is a tartness to the fruit, but it lacks some depth and expression.
Taste: Medium bodied with medium acidity and medium+ tannins. the tannins are a little on the hard side with raspberries, cranberries, red currants, and some tobacco notes.
Overall: This feels like it's drinking at maturity. There is a darker quality to the fruits, but there isn't much expression or depth on either the nose or palate.
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Straightahead no-frills Bordeaux. Cork crumbly and came out in two pieces. Lots of settlement. No real bricking to notice at the restaurant. Decanted for one half hour. Nose, unmistakably Bordeaux. Fruit still there, some good secondaries, nice soft Mouthfeel. Lived up to its billing.
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Earthy, nice bouquet, acid hits you but the finish dies, good wine, drank with 03 Sansonnet, which was much fruitier and had a long finish, drank with veal loin chops, love Bordeaux wines. Would drink again.
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As I was pouring this my wife smelled it from across the kitchen. Nice intensity and balance with good acidity, significant tannin still to resolve. Some secondary cedar and lead pencil characteristics coming out, a bit of the vintage heat showing, but not enought to distract. Doesn't have serious depth but I thought this drank quite well, solid BDX experience for the price. No rush to drink.
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A delicious wine. Good red fruit, cherry, asphalt, tar and some espresso beans. A little modern in style but very showy and a little brassy. We had this with a pheasant, duck and port pate to start, and the rest with roast rack of lamb with an herbal spice rub. So glad to have another 6 bottles. With Laurent, Carine and Jen in Princeton.
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Delicious wine. Very good red fruit, asphalt, graphite, tar and cherry on the finish. Delicious pairing with our roast rack of lamb with an herbal spice rub (rosemary, thyme, sage, garlic, sea salt and black pepper), in a classic French way. Great QPR. Drink now but no rush, one can hold for a few years as well.
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Was looking for a 2003 vintage wine on a Tuesday night as my wife had just given her company her early-retirement notice that day after working for them since 2003. Wanted to celebrate her 10 year tenure with grapes harvested 10 years ago. This wine fit the bill perfectly. A little tight out of the bottle I used this neat decanter that I have that you stick the bottle into the stopper and let the bottle drain into the decanter then you invert the decanter and let the wine drain back into the bottle. It aerates the wine in both directions. Of course you can hold in the decanter for as long as you want. Classic nicely aged Claret with leather, cigar box, dried fruit, spices and complexity in each sniff and sip. A wine that changes a bit with each taste as your palate senses different elements. A wine for thinking, contemplating and celebrating my wife's release from the Corporate World. Cheers!
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Decanted for two hours before service. In the glass, dark red shading to auburn at the rim. On the nose, a nice mix of tobacco, mint, and cassis. On the palate, more cassis and tobacco, dark fruit, and a touch of graphite, initially smooth texture on the mid-palate with an assertive tannic finish that only started to soften after another 90 minutes in the decanter. I wasn't expecting this to perform as well as it did, and based on this one bottle, there still seems to be room for improvement over the next 3 years.
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Great nose of fruit and earth... Classic Bordeaux with leather, pencil shavings, berries, and a touch of something floral. Very nice with beef and with dark chocolate. Good qpr
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Tasted non blind at home. First glass was PnP, then decanted and followed over 4 hours. This one was very alive as soon as the cork came out and didn't change appreciably over the evening. Beautiful nose of dark fruit and violets. More of the same on the palate with cassis and a hint of leather in addition to the multiple dark fruit layers and floral notes. Long finish with more cassis, some sweet berries with rubber at the very end. Mostly resolved tannins and a nice chalky/powdery texture. Impressive wine for a so so vintage. B-B isn't that widely distributed in my area and I paid closer to $50 a few years ago vs. the low to mid $20's others referenced. Even at the higher price, I'm enjoying it very much.
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PnP. Nose has charcoal, black rubber and a hint of olives. Medium body and quite dry. It's definitely softened up a bit from 2 years ago. It's still a bit tight but a very good wine and a great value at $21.
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yeah: sweet, jammy/plummy merlot action, quite fragrant. Mid-weight, black fruit on the palate, smooth, some texture, perfectly pleasant. very soft hints of tobacco, which is nice.... and the whole mouthfeel is juicy soft and pleasant - slightly awkward finish... and a weak structure. Has 4 to 5 years MAX left in it, but get stuck in NOW
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Pleasantly suprising balance despite the vintage. This pushed all the right buttons and made for perfect drinking now. Fresh and delightful cherries and berries supported by firm but delicate oak. Nothing exciting but good predictable bordeaux wine.
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Big, full and dry. Notes of charcoal on the nose. Roasted veggies, stones and just a hint of green olives on the palate. Tannins are fine and the wine is overall nicely balanced. The most prominent feature is the dryness. I'd say it's just a bit on the young side but still enjoyable. A great value for $21.
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Medium dark garnet ruby. Easygoing easy-appeal aromas of coffee, cigar and plenty of ripe fruit that straddles the line between red and black. Generous yet not fat on the palate, with enough flavor to fill in the flesh. Ends dry in flavor but not texture. For my taste, a highly successful right bank '03, with none of the muted aromatics, unbalanced profile, or harsh tannin that plagued others of its type.
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Bordeaux Today: 13.5% alcohol. garnet purple color. great nose... dark fruits with hints of veggies, olives, tar, molasses, and a little muskiness. great balance of ripe fruit and soft smooth tannins, complex and easy drinking.
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This is very modern style. Big, deep red color. Candied fruit, menthol, cedar. The tannins are strong, but actually hidden nicely by the fruit. Low acid and fleshy. It is drinking well, except the oak is too dominant. This is so close to being very good, but I can't get over the overdone wood. This may get better with time to absorb the wood, but it is a little overwhelming.
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oh man, this stuff is sooo tasty. no aeration necessary, already open, no funk. gorgeous floral, blackberry and licorice aromas. a tad oaky at first but hey, its a baby. nice compexity that should gain with age. soft ripe tannins. huge huge finish. i am almost blown away here. great wine for the price and fantastic for the vintage. bravo! 92-94pts
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Captivating nose of black cherry juice and licorice. Sweet and perfumy. In the mouth this is multi-faceted. It has intensity and concentration of sweet, ripe cassis, blackberry and cherry fruit. Licorice and a little mocha. At times it has a chalky quality. You can feel the tannins coating your mouth, but they are so fine, ripe and gentle that it is as if they aren't there. Oak is unoteicable except a faint tinge of char. Drinking fantastic right after opening. Somehow the wine shows body - an elegenat, feminine style. While the acidity is not prominent, I would say that it has some time to age in the bottle.
My first taste from bottle of the freakish 2003 vintage. I visited and tasted this wine from barrel in 2004 at UGC. Loved it then. love it now. I gave it a 90-92 score from barrel and now from bottle I think it scores on the high side of the range. Just a gorgeous wine. It is sexy in a refined, elegant and graceful way.
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11/5/2022 - booksmiths Likes this wine: 89 Points
Starting to fade, but still nice with roast duck.
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4/25/2021 - mwneil wrote: flawed
Bottle was not good. My friend kept it too long.
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7/21/2020 - TashNYC wrote: 93 Points
Best bottle ever of this wine. Cherry, caramel, coffee, tar. Perfect.
At an outdoor bonfire with Janet and Craig - and 1000 fierce mosquitoes! Would also be great with roast chicken.
Drink now; skip the insects.
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5/4/2020 - booksmiths wrote: 89 Points
Still drinking very nicely.
It was better the second night, so this one still has a few years left.
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12/9/2018 - booksmiths wrote: 90 Points
Not terribly complex but a very enjoyable mature Bordeaux
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7/7/2017 - Magic Slim Likes this wine: 89 Points
WHINO said it all! Thoroughly enjoyable.
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2/15/2017 - KeithAkers wrote: 88 Points
French wines and French food (Bar Marta): Nose: The nose is open and friendly with raspberries, cranberries, tobacco notes, leather, spice box, and some red currants. There is a tartness to the fruit, but it lacks some depth and expression.
Taste: Medium bodied with medium acidity and medium+ tannins. the tannins are a little on the hard side with raspberries, cranberries, red currants, and some tobacco notes.
Overall: This feels like it's drinking at maturity. There is a darker quality to the fruits, but there isn't much expression or depth on either the nose or palate.
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2/4/2017 - Whine-oh Likes this wine: 90 Points
Straightahead no-frills Bordeaux. Cork crumbly and came out in two pieces. Lots of settlement. No real bricking to notice at the restaurant. Decanted for one half hour. Nose, unmistakably Bordeaux. Fruit still there, some good secondaries, nice soft Mouthfeel. Lived up to its billing.
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10/2/2016 - TashNYC wrote: 90 Points
Cherry, caramel, tar but not as exhuberent as before. Rest of the Coravin pour.
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9/17/2016 - TashNYC wrote: 92 Points
Cherry, coffee, caramel, tar. Drinking nicely now. Good with roast chicken. Coravin pour
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12/25/2015 - TashNYC wrote: 92 Points
Great cherry fruit, earth and fine tannins. A great pairing with our roast lamb. Merry Christmas.
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10/17/2015 - mwneil Likes this wine: 90 Points
Earthy, nice bouquet, acid hits you but the finish dies, good wine, drank with 03 Sansonnet, which was much fruitier and had a long finish, drank with veal loin chops, love Bordeaux wines. Would drink again.
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7/18/2015 - joshbryer Likes this wine:
As I was pouring this my wife smelled it from across the kitchen. Nice intensity and balance with good acidity, significant tannin still to resolve. Some secondary cedar and lead pencil characteristics coming out, a bit of the vintage heat showing, but not enought to distract. Doesn't have serious depth but I thought this drank quite well, solid BDX experience for the price. No rush to drink.
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6/8/2015 - khmark7 wrote: 90 Points
Elegant classic styled Bordeaux. Would not have guessed 2003 vintage.
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11/4/2014 - TashNYC wrote: 92 Points
A delicious wine. Good red fruit, cherry, asphalt, tar and some espresso beans. A little modern in style but very showy and a little brassy. We had this with a pheasant, duck and port pate to start, and the rest with roast rack of lamb with an herbal spice rub. So glad to have another 6 bottles. With Laurent, Carine and Jen in Princeton.
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10/21/2014 - TashNYC wrote: 90 Points
Delicious wine. Very good red fruit, asphalt, graphite, tar and cherry on the finish. Delicious pairing with our roast rack of lamb with an herbal spice rub (rosemary, thyme, sage, garlic, sea salt and black pepper), in a classic French way. Great QPR. Drink now but no rush, one can hold for a few years as well.
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5/14/2013 - Arch57 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Was looking for a 2003 vintage wine on a Tuesday night as my wife had just given her company her early-retirement notice that day after working for them since 2003. Wanted to celebrate her 10 year tenure with grapes harvested 10 years ago.
This wine fit the bill perfectly. A little tight out of the bottle I used this neat decanter that I have that you stick the bottle into the stopper and let the bottle drain into the decanter then you invert the decanter and let the wine drain back into the bottle. It aerates the wine in both directions. Of course you can hold in the decanter for as long as you want.
Classic nicely aged Claret with leather, cigar box, dried fruit, spices and complexity in each sniff and sip. A wine that changes a bit with each taste as your palate senses different elements. A wine for thinking, contemplating and celebrating my wife's release from the Corporate World. Cheers!
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9/23/2012 - jshufelt wrote: 91 Points
Decanted for two hours before service. In the glass, dark red shading to auburn at the rim. On the nose, a nice mix of tobacco, mint, and cassis. On the palate, more cassis and tobacco, dark fruit, and a touch of graphite, initially smooth texture on the mid-palate with an assertive tannic finish that only started to soften after another 90 minutes in the decanter. I wasn't expecting this to perform as well as it did, and based on this one bottle, there still seems to be room for improvement over the next 3 years.
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8/18/2012 - Kevdog wrote: 89 Points
Great nose of fruit and earth... Classic Bordeaux with leather, pencil shavings, berries, and a touch of something floral. Very nice with beef and with dark chocolate. Good qpr
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6/15/2012 - floydtp wrote: 92 Points
Tasted non blind at home. First glass was PnP, then decanted and followed over 4 hours. This one was very alive as soon as the cork came out and didn't change appreciably over the evening. Beautiful nose of dark fruit and violets. More of the same on the palate with cassis and a hint of leather in addition to the multiple dark fruit layers and floral notes. Long finish with more cassis, some sweet berries with rubber at the very end. Mostly resolved tannins and a nice chalky/powdery texture. Impressive wine for a so so vintage. B-B isn't that widely distributed in my area and I paid closer to $50 a few years ago vs. the low to mid $20's others referenced. Even at the higher price, I'm enjoying it very much.
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12/8/2011 - Mout72 wrote: 90 Points
Nez très élégant sur les fruits noirs et la vanille. Belle texture de bouche soyeuse et finale assez longue.
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10/23/2011 - bcannedy wrote: 90 Points
Needed an hour decant to open up
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2/2/2011 - plitton wrote: 90 Points
PnP. Nose has charcoal, black rubber and a hint of olives. Medium body and quite dry. It's definitely softened up a bit from 2 years ago. It's still a bit tight but a very good wine and a great value at $21.
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5/6/2010 - Alwolf wrote: 89 Points
The bomb for a low 20s wine. Great after 2 hours of air
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4/17/2010 - sooper65 wrote: 89 Points
yeah: sweet, jammy/plummy merlot action, quite fragrant. Mid-weight, black fruit on the palate, smooth, some texture, perfectly pleasant. very soft hints of tobacco, which is nice.... and the whole mouthfeel is juicy soft and pleasant - slightly awkward finish... and a weak structure. Has 4 to 5 years MAX left in it, but get stuck in NOW
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3/11/2010 - signotim wrote: 88 Points
really tough after pop and pour. mostly wood. much better on day 2, cassis & black currant come forward, wine showed good length.
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12/10/2009 - Alex H wrote: 83 Points
Pleasantly suprising balance despite the vintage. This pushed all the right buttons and made for perfect drinking now. Fresh and delightful cherries and berries supported by firm but delicate oak. Nothing exciting but good predictable bordeaux wine.
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3/1/2009 - plitton wrote: 89 Points
Big, full and dry. Notes of charcoal on the nose. Roasted veggies, stones and just a hint of green olives on the palate. Tannins are fine and the wine is overall nicely balanced. The most prominent feature is the dryness. I'd say it's just a bit on the young side but still enjoyable. A great value for $21.
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10/29/2008 - tcfishler wrote:
Medium dark garnet ruby. Easygoing easy-appeal aromas of coffee, cigar and plenty of ripe fruit that straddles the line between red and black. Generous yet not fat on the palate, with enough flavor to fill in the flesh. Ends dry in flavor but not texture. For my taste, a highly successful right bank '03, with none of the muted aromatics, unbalanced profile, or harsh tannin that plagued others of its type.
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5/4/2008 - signotim wrote: 89 Points
currant and licorice on the nose. berry fruit and graphite on the palate. nice wine.
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10/27/2007 - wcacern wrote: 91 Points
Bordeaux Today: 13.5% alcohol. garnet purple color. great nose... dark fruits with hints of veggies, olives, tar, molasses, and a little muskiness. great balance of ripe fruit and soft smooth tannins, complex and easy drinking.
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3/31/2007 - toddjerry wrote: 87 Points
This is very modern style. Big, deep red color. Candied fruit, menthol, cedar. The tannins are strong, but actually hidden nicely by the fruit. Low acid and fleshy. It is drinking well, except the oak is too dominant. This is so close to being very good, but I can't get over the overdone wood. This may get better with time to absorb the wood, but it is a little overwhelming.
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12/15/2006 - paulst wrote: 91 Points
Blackberry and raspberry creamy coffee explosion, rich but not overbearing with a moderate finish.
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10/5/2006 - paulst wrote: 84 Points
Young and unbalanced plum and blackberry.
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8/2/2006 - cormyr wrote: 92 Points
oh man, this stuff is sooo tasty. no aeration necessary, already open, no funk. gorgeous floral, blackberry and licorice aromas. a tad oaky at first but hey, its a baby. nice compexity that should gain with age. soft ripe tannins. huge huge finish. i am almost blown away here. great wine for the price and fantastic for the vintage. bravo! 92-94pts
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1/12/2006 - Jay A wrote: 92 Points
Captivating nose of black cherry juice and licorice. Sweet and perfumy. In the mouth this is multi-faceted. It has intensity and concentration of sweet, ripe cassis, blackberry and cherry fruit. Licorice and a little mocha. At times it has a chalky quality. You can feel the tannins coating your mouth, but they are so fine, ripe and gentle that it is as if they aren't there. Oak is unoteicable except a faint tinge of char. Drinking fantastic right after opening. Somehow the wine shows body - an elegenat, feminine style. While the acidity is not prominent, I would say that it has some time to age in the bottle.
My first taste from bottle of the freakish 2003 vintage. I visited and tasted this wine from barrel in 2004 at UGC. Loved it then. love it now. I gave it a 90-92 score from barrel and now from bottle I think it scores on the high side of the range. Just a gorgeous wine. It is sexy in a refined, elegant and graceful way.
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