With Dungeness Crab…. Much like my last review but a slight step back. Followed over 2 1/2 hours. Great salinity, tension and acidity and worked well with food but has lost some fruit and become slightly bitter. Some Tarragon.The freshness saves this.1 bottle left. Drink up?
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With Sushi… Pre meal-salinity, slight crushed rocks, Banana peel and lots of refined energy. Oily richness With Sushi- great precision and stability and very complimentary to fresh fish flavors. Hazelnuts Nose a bit restrained keeps the score down. Peaking Excellent!
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Used Durand to get cork out. Lovely gold color. White flowers and tropical fruits on the nose. On the palate this has exquisite balance with more acidity backing up the fruit than in other bottles. Long finish with no fading and just as good on day 2. This lacks just some of the minerality and unctuous intensity of the Marcassin estate in good vintages. Lovely wine and drinking beautifully at age 12.
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Very tight cork; needed Durand to remove. Medium yellow. Rather mute on the nose with some hints of tropical fruits. On the palate this has lovely viscosity, hints of marzipan and creme brulee and a touch of acid to round it out on the finish. Would rank higher if the aromatics were more interesting as the palate is lovely. Drink up I think.
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Buttery nose and texture. Vanilla, butter, biscuit and tangerine palate that opened more with time. This wasn’t eapecially powerful or complex but had a nice precision and class about it. 93-94 drink up
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Straw yellow. Ripe and unctuous tropical fruit, butterscotch and vanilla notes. Not at all flabby- this possesses plenty of crisp acidity to keep this interestingly balanced. These wines rarely disappoint, and are uniquely styled. Drink now.
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Aromas vanilla, caramel, clove, baking spice and marshmallow. Flavors of lemon meringue, vanilla, papaya, banana and pie crust. Ends with a long finish of 30+ seconds with lemon meringue and papaya notes. This is a bigger wine than the estate but still very balanced. Leans more toward an Aubert. There is no heat on this at all though.
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Kiawah Trip 2019; 8/24/2019-9/4/2019 (Kiawah Island): At an interesting point in the Marcassin lineup. It's still a large rich wine, but it's a little softer and more bright golden fruit compared to the Estate. Poured them blind, but it didn't matter you could easily tell the difference.
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PnP. Perfect cork. Medium gold. Nice nose of tangerine, citrus, and a touch of butterscotch. On the palate a bit awkward, rich, but with some edges. After an hour of air this became much better with a lovely linear flow from beginning to end. Went well with some cheeses after dinner. Drinking well but could certainly keep for a year or two.
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Vinetasters: Brown Bag (Skokie, IL): Served double blind. Quite some nice reduction on the nose, something that I love in chardonnay, but there's also this tiring heaviness, as well as oak. This has tannin on the back end. What the fuck? Heat on the back end with some sickly sweet tropical notes on the palate. Quite ripe and sweet. The lack of acidity had me thinking some garbage overoaked northern Rhone?
Solid Marc Chard. Loads of macadamia/hazelnut and ripe pineapple all the way through. Wonder if this would go well with a macadamia-encrusted halibut or would it clash? Hmmm...
Nice full, round mouth, nothing raw about it, decent 30 second finish. Nothing earth-shattering but a great drink right now and maybe for another year or so. Drink em if u got em!
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Blind Reds (Tilia): Served blind, we're all guessing big California chardonnay. Toasty, quite oaked, but not over the top for my palate. YMMV. This really shined as it got up to room temperature, with amazing flavors of toasted marshmallow and a lot of complexity. I'd like to try this again.
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Double Blind Reds at Tilia (Tilia, Mpls): Light gold color. Drank 1 glass over 40 minutes. This was very nice in a bigger style without going too far, but very close for my tastes. There is a fair bit of oak here that is pretty well contained by everything else though. It gives a nice toasted barrel aroma up front, smoke, with lemon, lemon curd, and pear on top of a healthy dose of vanilla. The palate has nice full body without being buttery. There's nice complexity to the ripe orchard fruits of pear, apple, and lemon, vanilla, oak, toasted creme brulee finish. 92+ to 93pts.
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The Aubert 2012 Eastside stole the show. Nice wine. Nose of subtle caramel, vanilla, white peach. Minerality and acidity but not as striking as usual Marcassin wines. On day 2 really amazing. Score mostly for the nose of soft, toasted marshmallow and caramel. Interesting nose of oak, pie crust, rhubarb, minerality. More interesting than 2 days ago...
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Heritage Blind Wine Challenge (The Milling Room): Wine #1: Ok - not incredibly surprising that I had a hard time with the Chardonnay and which region it was from other than very clearly knowing that it was Chardonnay. There's this almost cloying honey flavor that I get now kindof mid-palette on a chardonnay and then the aftertaste which still doesn't really do it for me. I thought white burg though - definitely not the overly ripe, etc. approach that I know many of the Cali producers have gotten away from, but that I still think of as Cali Chard.
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Heritage Blind Tasting Challenge (Milling Room): Served double-blind. Fairly easy to figure out that this was a CA chardonnay. Waxy, creamy, banana/melon fruit, rich with glycerin, not alcoholic or sweet or overly oaky but too flabby for my taste, just a hint of mineral. I guessed a 2012 Kistler Chardonnay. Not my style of chardonnay but hardly offensive either.
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Tasted side-by-side, double blind, with the Marcassin Estate bottling from the same vintage, the two wines were almost indistinguishable at first, both on nose and palate. At the evening's end, the Estate bottling started to show a greater sense of depth than this one, though I'm not sure the difference is worth the premium one would pay for the Estate. Stylistically, the wine was balanced and not over-the-top, as I expected it might be based on reputation. The terroir shows through and I did guess both of the Marcassins to be Sonoma Coast chardonnay, of high quality for the region. Lemon curd notes showed on the palate, and the nose showed the same as well as some mineral. However, this lacks the dynamics, complexity and harmony of a good Burgundy Grand Cru or even a good 1er cru, and is on par with many good Sonoma Coast chardonnays that cost much less. Nice wines though. 92
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Always surprised by the fact that I'm so intrigued by these despite the oak. Moving target wine as usual. Hard to describe also as usual. Yellow fruit oak and a kaleidoscope of flavors comes closest.
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This has the best vintage from this vineyard I've ever tasted. There is more than ample freshness to give a vibrant quality to the fresh, sweet, lemons, pears, apples and vanilla that permeate the wine. The finish is long, fresh, clean, combining minerality with lush textures, a hint of oak ripe citrus fruits and a hint of peach.
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This wine was drank without decanting at a local restaurant. It was not overly deep in colour and was clear yellow. With quite a bit of honey and a touch of orange citrus both on the nose and in the glass, it was wonderfully balanced tonight with a long finish. I am not very experienced with white wines but I really enjoyed this bottle and wish that I had more.
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Nose, of lemon, toast, butter popcorn and salt rock. Palate has more of the same with lemon grass, cilantro and a touch of heat at the end. Not as vicious as the estate bottling, almost a bit thin in comparison but this is a very good new world Chardonnay.
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A wonderful wine to commemorate the first signs of warm weather. Like springtime in a bottle. Deliciously smooth and integrated, with vanilla and butter leading the charge of flavors.
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Trelio with the fellas (Clovis Ca.): After the 12 PYCM CC…this was a lot richer in vanilla butter, honeycomb, oak barrel spice….but pure and bright fruits, not too oaky or sweet…love the chalk in this, honeysuckle citrus blossom florals….really nice!
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Should be left alone for 1-2 years, smoke, gunflint, citrus, cream, great balance, although it doesn't have the length of great Chardonnay. This is amazing as it stands now but should improve with a couple years.
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Big, rich, dripping with glycerin, and well cared for French oak. Very nice, almost creamy, and flavor packed. But I am drinking Chablis tonight. Brian and Jen's.
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From the first sip, wow, Marcassin is just in a class of their own. So thick, smooth, like some exotic butter cream laced with tropical fruit. Mouth feel almost erotic in its enticing grip on the palate. And of course, the nose is like the subtle breeze off a passion fruit tree.
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1/15/2024 - JoeDwine Likes this wine: 93 Points
With Dungeness Crab….
Much like my last review but a slight step back.
Followed over 2 1/2 hours. Great salinity, tension and acidity and worked well with food but has lost some fruit and become slightly bitter. Some Tarragon.The freshness saves this.1 bottle left. Drink up?
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1/27/2023 - JoeDwine Likes this wine: 94 Points
With Sushi…
Pre meal-salinity, slight crushed rocks, Banana peel and lots of refined energy. Oily richness
With Sushi- great precision and stability and very complimentary to fresh fish flavors. Hazelnuts
Nose a bit restrained keeps the score down. Peaking
Excellent!
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10/16/2022 - rosenst1 wrote: 94 Points
Used Durand to get cork out. Lovely gold color. White flowers and tropical fruits on the nose. On the palate this has exquisite balance with more acidity backing up the fruit than in other bottles. Long finish with no fading and just as good on day 2. This lacks just some of the minerality and unctuous intensity of the Marcassin estate in good vintages. Lovely wine and drinking beautifully at age 12.
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3/16/2022 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Smells very rich and powerful. And tastes it too. Luxurious. Fat massive.
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8/15/2021 - rosenst1 wrote: 91 Points
Very tight cork; needed Durand to remove. Medium yellow. Rather mute on the nose with some hints of tropical fruits. On the palate this has lovely viscosity, hints of marzipan and creme brulee and a touch of acid to round it out on the finish. Would rank higher if the aromatics were more interesting as the palate is lovely. Drink up I think.
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8/13/2021 - rustyRudy Likes this wine: 95 Points
Certainly less tart and a more elegant style than the Aubert Ritchie . Nice with lunch and cheese
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8/12/2021 - rustyRudy Likes this wine: 95 Points
Pale straw, minerals, hint of sulfur that blows off with time, elegant, white flowers, lemon, pineapple, tropical fruits but all done subtly.
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8/12/2021 - andrewdodd86 Likes this wine: 96 Points
Beach 2021; 8/7/2021-8/14/2021 (Kiawah Island, SC): Today’s lunch beer - 2010 Marcassin Three Sisters Chardonnay is all buttery oak & lemon curd central. Delicious. Honeysuckle
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8/1/2021 - Lord of the Bottles Likes this wine: 93 Points
Buttery nose and texture. Vanilla, butter, biscuit and tangerine palate that opened more with time. This wasn’t eapecially powerful or complex but had a nice precision and class about it. 93-94 drink up
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1/21/2021 - pjhr Likes this wine: 94 Points
Delicious new world chard with succulent fruit, mineral notes, and oak on a silky palate and long finish. Drinking beautifully!
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11/26/2020 - andrewdodd86 Likes this wine: 98 Points
Honeysuckle, bright yellow fruit, oak and butter are there for sure more than a typical Marcassin estate chard. Delicious. At peak, drink up
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5/23/2020 - mjf@ulkner wrote: 94 Points
Straw yellow. Ripe and unctuous tropical fruit, butterscotch and vanilla notes. Not at all flabby- this possesses plenty of crisp acidity to keep this interestingly balanced. These wines rarely disappoint, and are uniquely styled. Drink now.
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11/9/2019 - pjhr Likes this wine: 93 Points
Maturing gracefully! Quite decadent new world chard.
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10/12/2019 - slywka7 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Aromas vanilla, caramel, clove, baking spice and marshmallow. Flavors of lemon meringue, vanilla, papaya, banana and pie crust. Ends with a long finish of 30+ seconds with lemon meringue and papaya notes. This is a bigger wine than the estate but still very balanced. Leans more toward an Aubert. There is no heat on this at all though.
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9/4/2019 - andrewdodd86 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Kiawah Trip 2019; 8/24/2019-9/4/2019 (Kiawah Island): At an interesting point in the Marcassin lineup. It's still a large rich wine, but it's a little softer and more bright golden fruit compared to the Estate. Poured them blind, but it didn't matter you could easily tell the difference.
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4/22/2019 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Showing no age on the nose. Very thick and rich and rounded. Loads of alchohol. soothing for the soar throat.
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12/21/2018 - pjhr Likes this wine: 94 Points
Delicious new world chard with succulent fruit, mineral notes, and oak on a silky palate and long finish. Drinking beautifully!
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3/25/2018 - rosenst1 wrote: 92 Points
PnP. Perfect cork. Medium gold. Nice nose of tangerine, citrus, and a touch of butterscotch. On the palate a bit awkward, rich, but with some edges. After an hour of air this became much better with a lovely linear flow from beginning to end. Went well with some cheeses after dinner. Drinking well but could certainly keep for a year or two.
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12/3/2017 - acyso wrote: 70 Points
Vinetasters: Brown Bag (Skokie, IL): Served double blind. Quite some nice reduction on the nose, something that I love in chardonnay, but there's also this tiring heaviness, as well as oak. This has tannin on the back end. What the fuck? Heat on the back end with some sickly sweet tropical notes on the palate. Quite ripe and sweet. The lack of acidity had me thinking some garbage overoaked northern Rhone?
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5/11/2017 - VinoDiver Likes this wine: 97 Points
Lush and rich but very well balanced. Drinking very well right now.
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1/16/2017 - tp096255 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Solid Marc Chard. Loads of macadamia/hazelnut and ripe pineapple all the way through. Wonder if this would go well with a macadamia-encrusted halibut or would it clash? Hmmm...
Nice full, round mouth, nothing raw about it, decent 30 second finish. Nothing earth-shattering but a great drink right now and maybe for another year or so. Drink em if u got em!
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11/22/2016 - KenK Likes this wine: 93 Points
A beautiful wine
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10/29/2016 - galewskj wrote: 93 Points
Blind Reds (Tilia): Served blind, we're all guessing big California chardonnay. Toasty, quite oaked, but not over the top for my palate. YMMV. This really shined as it got up to room temperature, with amazing flavors of toasted marshmallow and a lot of complexity. I'd like to try this again.
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10/27/2016 - rocknroller wrote: 93 Points
Double Blind Reds at Tilia (Tilia, Mpls): Light gold color. Drank 1 glass over 40 minutes. This was very nice in a bigger style without going too far, but very close for my tastes. There is a fair bit of oak here that is pretty well contained by everything else though. It gives a nice toasted barrel aroma up front, smoke, with lemon, lemon curd, and pear on top of a healthy dose of vanilla. The palate has nice full body without being buttery. There's nice complexity to the ripe orchard fruits of pear, apple, and lemon, vanilla, oak, toasted creme brulee finish. 92+ to 93pts.
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10/16/2016 - effrom Likes this wine: 94 Points
fantastic chardonnay
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9/4/2016 - dlcass Likes this wine: 96 Points
The Aubert 2012 Eastside stole the show. Nice wine. Nose of subtle caramel, vanilla, white peach. Minerality and acidity but not as striking as usual Marcassin wines. On day 2 really amazing. Score mostly for the nose of soft, toasted marshmallow and caramel. Interesting nose of oak, pie crust, rhubarb, minerality. More interesting than 2 days ago...
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5/7/2016 - MC2 Wines wrote:
Heritage Blind Wine Challenge (The Milling Room): Wine #1: Ok - not incredibly surprising that I had a hard time with the Chardonnay and which region it was from other than very clearly knowing that it was Chardonnay. There's this almost cloying honey flavor that I get now kindof mid-palette on a chardonnay and then the aftertaste which still doesn't really do it for me. I thought white burg though - definitely not the overly ripe, etc. approach that I know many of the Cali producers have gotten away from, but that I still think of as Cali Chard.
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5/7/2016 - coremill wrote: 87 Points
Heritage Blind Tasting Challenge (Milling Room): Served double-blind. Fairly easy to figure out that this was a CA chardonnay. Waxy, creamy, banana/melon fruit, rich with glycerin, not alcoholic or sweet or overly oaky but too flabby for my taste, just a hint of mineral. I guessed a 2012 Kistler Chardonnay. Not my style of chardonnay but hardly offensive either.
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11/17/2015 - amateurwino wrote: 92 Points
Tasted side-by-side, double blind, with the Marcassin Estate bottling from the same vintage, the two wines were almost indistinguishable at first, both on nose and palate. At the evening's end, the Estate bottling started to show a greater sense of depth than this one, though I'm not sure the difference is worth the premium one would pay for the Estate. Stylistically, the wine was balanced and not over-the-top, as I expected it might be based on reputation. The terroir shows through and I did guess both of the Marcassins to be Sonoma Coast chardonnay, of high quality for the region. Lemon curd notes showed on the palate, and the nose showed the same as well as some mineral. However, this lacks the dynamics, complexity and harmony of a good Burgundy Grand Cru or even a good 1er cru, and is on par with many good Sonoma Coast chardonnays that cost much less. Nice wines though. 92
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11/12/2015 - Uglypinga Likes this wine:
Always surprised by the fact that I'm so intrigued by these despite the oak. Moving target wine as usual. Hard to describe also as usual. Yellow fruit oak and a kaleidoscope of flavors comes closest.
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11/2/2015 - PopularCar Likes this wine: 93 Points
Peaches, honeysuckle and minerality
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8/24/2015 - shaferguy91 wrote: 94 Points
Wonderful Chard !
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8/22/2015 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
This has the best vintage from this vineyard I've ever tasted. There is more than ample freshness to give a vibrant quality to the fresh, sweet, lemons, pears, apples and vanilla that permeate the wine. The finish is long, fresh, clean, combining minerality with lush textures, a hint of oak ripe citrus fruits and a hint of peach.
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6/27/2015 - Rosengoo wrote: 95 Points
This wine was drank without decanting at a local restaurant. It was not overly deep in colour and was clear yellow. With quite a bit of honey and a touch of orange citrus both on the nose and in the glass, it was wonderfully balanced tonight with a long finish. I am not very experienced with white wines but I really enjoyed this bottle and wish that I had more.
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5/31/2015 - pakabear Likes this wine: 93 Points
Nose, of lemon, toast, butter popcorn and salt rock. Palate has more of the same with lemon grass, cilantro and a touch of heat at the end. Not as vicious as the estate bottling, almost a bit thin in comparison but this is a very good new world Chardonnay.
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4/19/2015 - Cashious Likes this wine: 93 Points
A wonderful wine to commemorate the first signs of warm weather. Like springtime in a bottle. Deliciously smooth and integrated, with vanilla and butter leading the charge of flavors.
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4/15/2015 - Mrbuzz Likes this wine: 93 Points
Trelio with the fellas (Clovis Ca.): After the 12 PYCM CC…this was a lot richer in vanilla butter, honeycomb, oak barrel spice….but pure and bright fruits, not too oaky or sweet…love the chalk in this, honeysuckle citrus blossom florals….really nice!
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3/7/2015 - pakabear Likes this wine: 94 Points
Great example of new world Chardonnay, similar to estate but there is a bit of heat and less complexity
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12/10/2014 - pakabear Likes this wine: 94 Points
Should be left alone for 1-2 years, smoke, gunflint, citrus, cream, great balance, although it doesn't have the length of great Chardonnay. This is amazing as it stands now but should improve with a couple years.
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12/9/2014 - peternelson wrote:
Big, rich, dripping with glycerin, and well cared for French oak. Very nice, almost creamy, and flavor packed. But I am drinking Chablis tonight. Brian and Jen's.
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11/20/2014 - shadow wrote: 97 Points
From the first sip, wow, Marcassin is just in a class of their own.
So thick, smooth, like some exotic butter cream laced with tropical fruit.
Mouth feel almost erotic in its enticing grip on the palate.
And of course, the nose is like the subtle breeze off a passion fruit tree.
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