Timuquana BYO (TCC): Drank next to the 1988 of this (which was out of mag). This was in a bottle. A bit more lift than the ‘88 and maybe a bit more evolution and in fact it seemed like the single bottle might have helped the wine a bit to develop some more. Spice and fruits.
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Mostly Burgundies: Had this last month and this showed quite differently. At first this was rather plummy and stewed without much structure, someone commented that this was over-extracted which I agreed with. At the end of lunch this gradually came into balance and showed more like the one that I had last month which was very impressive.
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Still very young in terms of color or palate. Very structured wine, even bigger than ‘93 Faiveley Beze next to it. Not your typical elegant and silky Volnay, still need time.
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Chambolle / Volnay: Initially a little rustic and earthy, but it had an immense structure that seemed a little brooding, so I guessed a stronger vintage like 99/02 Clos des Chênes. Fruit became more apparent with time, very impressively concentrated dark fruit that went on and on for the finish. Didn’t like it as much as others at first but eventually became my favourite at the end of the lunch.
Superlative wine with beautiful structure and balance from a bygone era. Not sure the wines made these days will age so well in 30 years. This drank like a wine from the 2005 or 2002 vintage with primary fruit and a bit of secondary characteristics. It got better and better with air. This will age easily for another decade picking up more tertiary aromas. At current pricing, this is a steal.
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Excellent showing against a pair of ‘93 GCs: de Vogue Musigny and Dujac Charmes. Decanted and poured the wine has excellent acidity and a core of dark red fruits. Lacks the depth of its GC counterparts, but, let’s face it, you can buy 5 bottles of this for one of the others. A long life ahead.
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Wine Dinner w/new friends in JAX (Rue St Mark): I had the impression this was somewhere in between the burgundies on either side of it. It's in drinking window now. Black fruit and a bit mineral but not quite the vibrancy that the Dujac had that made it jump out. Nice wine that got a bit overshadowed.
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1990s Burgundy, second attempt (Noize): Excellent wine that impressed from the first sniff, despite an appalling cork that (according to the sommelier) could have been pushed in easily by hand. The aromas soared out the glass for the first 5-10 minutes, very exotic with eastern spice and rose petal, then settled down and became increasingly frail and leafy, with some strawberry sherbert, but certainly never collapsed altogether. Slightly sharp on the palate initially, but increasingly complex with air: thyme, strawberry candy, green fruit pastille and a dusky muskiness. Vibrant and crowd-pleasing.
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Still even medium ruby. Dark cherry aromas, some spice, and increasing resin as it goes. As I noted 9 years ago, while the depth and preservation of fruit are impressive, this is big and bold for Volnay. That scale comes from a significant dose of oak, which becomes more and more apparent with air. I admire the material, the ripe/tart interplay without undue sweetness, and the citric twist, but the wood is bothersome, detracting from the typicity.
I must say that the perfectly ripe cherry fruit was really projecting itself on the second night, so much so that it managed to push the wood back. Who knows, maybe I just opened it too early and it will eventually come into balance. It ultimately surprised me by showing none of the cooler vintage wintergreen that I've found in many 1993's.
deep beautiful palate with darkish red fruit and plenty o' secondary flavors... I rarely find a nose to be as enticing as the palate but this was an exception -- wild, food-like, intoxicating nose on this baby... big and spicy and exotic... this wine appears to still have plenty of life left... nose had disappeared on day two but the palate was still kickin' ass
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For me, this has to be one of the best red wines of Dominique Lafon's career, and it is beautifully expressive these days, bursting from the glass with a lovely nose of pure black cherry, cassis and woodsmoke. On the palate the wine is sappy, quite full and deep, and underpinned by lovely fresh acids. The tannins are nicely melted at this stage, leaving the wine's still-youthfully juicy fruit center-stage.
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Still dark red in the glass. Spectacular nose of cherry with hints of rasberry, smoke and emerging undergrowth. Palate beautifully balanced with nice freshness. This feels like it has turned a corner recently and is at the front end of drinking window. Great ****1/2
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Nick's four wine pairings: A bouquet of musty, funky and largely dried red fruits. On palate, this is a serious wine with tons of acidity and stuffing. In fact it's very dense, large scaled and a little monolithic and brutish. It has tons of red fruit and some iron at its core. Suave, fully ripe tannins, yet to release their grip. This is a forty year wine, easily. Ideally give it at least another 5-10 years.
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France 2013 – Northern Rhone; 4/17/2013-4/19/2013 (Ampuis): Richer red fruit nose with underbrush and hints of spice. On the palate sweeter/richer red fruits with a beautifully silky mouthfeel wrapped in nice acidity. The finish is long and this went perfectly with our lamb. This was very nice but definitely on the fuller/bigger side of Volnay and lacks a bit of elegance that the village is known for. Good to drink now but there’s no rush and in fact this may even improve with another 5-7+ years. Excellent. 91+
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Le Millésime 1993 en Bourgogne: Vingt ans plus tard ((Restaurant L'Atelier, à Montréal)): Une couleur sombre, d'une jeunesse étonnante. Le nez est austère, avec un coté terreux/poussière, de la cire. Pas très charmeur. Par contre la bouche est grasse, ronde et fraîche, avec une finale un brin lactique mais avec de superbes tanins, très fins. D'une jeunesse incroyable, c'est un vin magnifique par sa texture, même s'il n'est pas le + charmeur au niveau aromatique. 93 pts
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Shockingly primary ruby color. Gorgeous nose of pungent red fruits, licorice and some of that brambly quality of Savigny. Medium weight, wonderful smoke, pomegranate, and inner mouth perfume. Crackling acidity yet not at all tart, but this has not yet reached a point of completely harmonious, much less silken, mouth feel. Astoundingly young and extremely high quality. Perhaps more assertive and slightly bulkier than most Volnays of this age, but this is not really a criticism, just an observation.
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Fra magnum. Nydelig floral, feminin og søtlig nese av fioler, røde bær, vanilje, trøffel og jordlige toner. Silkemyk, men massiv, dyp og mørk fruktkjerne av røde og blå bær. Tett, men allikvel elegant. Overraskende primær 19 åring med et langt liv foran seg. Stram struktur. Tanniner som fremdeles har bitt i seg. Tørr avslutning. Nydelig vin. 94+ P.
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Not giving anything much at first but opened up with air. Red apple, bright fruit, liquorice, clove, slight perfume, peach stone, coffee, milk chocolate and freshly cut champignons. Fullbodied and meaty sour cherry to strawberry palate with refreshing structure. Salt liquorice, clove and slight sous bois. Long and substantial. Huge potential, but not that approachable at the moment - at least not without a long decanting. Built to last.
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A Red Burgundy night in Helsinki (Classic Wine Cellars, Helsinki, Finland): Very muted at first. In the mouth also muted, but powerful and very long. Needs a long time to open up (over 2 hours), but when it does, it shows lovely lively fruit with good concentration and punch. A Lovely and finely balanced mouthfeel. Bright and complex. A really complete wine.
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This was great. Complex and layered. Amazing fruit content and overall structure. Different spices integrated with the flow fresh Pinot fruit that remains very live and kept pushing the finish longer. Very soft and pleasant tannins. Medimu+ finish. I guess this could hold for another decade easily.
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dark color, not much inthe nose, but remarkably forward and almost primary red and dark fruits with tannin, earth and minerality on the finish. The wine lean towards being a bruiser which explains some higher scores, but to me lacked complexity and length in finish to be a great wine. This wine is unbelievably youthful (for a 93 Volnay) and I can only hope that it will sometime show some complexity down the road. Alas I only had one bottle, but if I had more I would save them for another 5 years and try again.
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From magnum. Hardly any age on the darkish colour. Scintillating purity and balance, lovely fruit with bright acidity, and plenty of structure to age further. I would like to see a little more complexity so will try to be patient with the remaining bottles.
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Needed some time to open up, and was particularly good the second night after splitting the bottle into a 375. Classic volnay nose, but more smoke, a little char and bright cherries. Very nice and has a long life ahead of it.
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Very youthful showing, with a bright ruby color and primary raspberry fruit. The tannin is abrupt at first but smooths itself out with air. But it retains an edginess to it, somewhat drying out the finish in spite of the fresh fruit. A very young wine with good fruit if not much development to show for its time in bottle.
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Volnay Dinner with Lieu-dit Cru (Kevin Restaurant, Chicago IL): Strawberry on the nose with good spice and great mushroom aromatics. Strawberry and raspberry on the palate , also nicely complemented by good earthy flavors and textures. Wonderful finish, very long. Still has lots of well integrated tannins, lots of acidity, so no worries about this wine fading any time in the next 15 years. This was one of the few bottles not given time to breathe, but still tied for second most votes for WOTN.
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Perfectly balance red fruit with spice notes on nose. With air, a slight coppery note appeared along with some meaty, sauvage notes. Medium body, the fruit and acid are nicely balanced. This is ready, but as it held well for a couple of hours, will likely last another several years just fine
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1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Timuquana BYO (TCC): Drank next to the 1988 of this (which was out of mag). This was in a bottle. A bit more lift than the ‘88 and maybe a bit more evolution and in fact it seemed like the single bottle might have helped the wine a bit to develop some more. Spice and fruits.
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12/4/2023 - Nanda wrote: 95 Points
Exceptional and prototypical Volnay that is still so youthful, rich and layered with cherry and florals, yet refined and precise. Wow stuff.
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9/22/2023 - hprphf wrote: 91 Points
Thin, good purple fruit but somewhat flat on the palate. Acidity upfront with notable tannins. 91
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5/2/2022 - melvinyeowq wrote: 90 Points
Mostly Burgundies: Had this last month and this showed quite differently. At first this was rather plummy and stewed without much structure, someone commented that this was over-extracted which I agreed with. At the end of lunch this gradually came into balance and showed more like the one that I had last month which was very impressive.
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5/2/2022 - pclin wrote: 93 Points
Still very young in terms of color or palate. Very structured wine, even bigger than ‘93 Faiveley Beze next to it. Not your typical elegant and silky Volnay, still need time.
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3/13/2022 - melvinyeowq Likes this wine: 94 Points
Chambolle / Volnay: Initially a little rustic and earthy, but it had an immense structure that seemed a little brooding, so I guessed a stronger vintage like 99/02 Clos des Chênes. Fruit became more apparent with time, very impressively concentrated dark fruit that went on and on for the finish. Didn’t like it as much as others at first but eventually became my favourite at the end of the lunch.
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3/13/2022 - Dibbs Likes this wine: 94 Points
Superlative wine with beautiful structure and balance from a bygone era. Not sure the wines made these days will age so well in 30 years. This drank like a wine from the 2005 or 2002 vintage with primary fruit and a bit of secondary characteristics. It got better and better with air. This will age easily for another decade picking up more tertiary aromas. At current pricing, this is a steal.
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1/7/2022 - Burglover13 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Excellent showing against a pair of ‘93 GCs: de Vogue Musigny and Dujac Charmes. Decanted and poured the wine has excellent acidity and a core of dark red fruits. Lacks the depth of its GC counterparts, but, let’s face it, you can buy 5 bottles of this for one of the others. A long life ahead.
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1/6/2022 - MC2 Wines wrote:
Wine Dinner w/new friends in JAX (Rue St Mark): I had the impression this was somewhere in between the burgundies on either side of it. It's in drinking window now. Black fruit and a bit mineral but not quite the vibrancy that the Dujac had that made it jump out. Nice wine that got a bit overshadowed.
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11/18/2021 - NickA Likes this wine: 94 Points
1990s Burgundy, second attempt (Noize): Excellent wine that impressed from the first sniff, despite an appalling cork that (according to the sommelier) could have been pushed in easily by hand. The aromas soared out the glass for the first 5-10 minutes, very exotic with eastern spice and rose petal, then settled down and became increasingly frail and leafy, with some strawberry sherbert, but certainly never collapsed altogether. Slightly sharp on the palate initially, but increasingly complex with air: thyme, strawberry candy, green fruit pastille and a dusky muskiness. Vibrant and crowd-pleasing.
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2/14/2021 - drwine2001 wrote:
Still even medium ruby. Dark cherry aromas, some spice, and increasing resin as it goes. As I noted 9 years ago, while the depth and preservation of fruit are impressive, this is big and bold for Volnay. That scale comes from a significant dose of oak, which becomes more and more apparent with air. I admire the material, the ripe/tart interplay without undue sweetness, and the citric twist, but the wood is bothersome, detracting from the typicity.
I must say that the perfectly ripe cherry fruit was really projecting itself on the second night, so much so that it managed to push the wood back. Who knows, maybe I just opened it too early and it will eventually come into balance. It ultimately surprised me by showing none of the cooler vintage wintergreen that I've found in many 1993's.
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11/29/2020 - WoodieBayArea wrote: 93 Points
deep beautiful palate with darkish red fruit and plenty o' secondary flavors... I rarely find a nose to be as enticing as the palate but this was an exception -- wild, food-like, intoxicating nose on this baby... big and spicy and exotic... this wine appears to still have plenty of life left... nose had disappeared on day two but the palate was still kickin' ass
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8/18/2020 - SeaSea Likes this wine:
Delicious, black cherries, herb tones, minerals and vanilla. Going strong at 27!
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12/30/2019 - maxim wrote: 93 Points
A great Volnay.
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1/16/2019 - Claret & CdP Gang Does not like this wine:
Sadly cork sunk in 3cm & leaking, poured into a decanter, wet cupboard & so down the drain it went
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11/4/2016 - William Kelley Likes this wine: 93 Points
For me, this has to be one of the best red wines of Dominique Lafon's career, and it is beautifully expressive these days, bursting from the glass with a lovely nose of pure black cherry, cassis and woodsmoke. On the palate the wine is sappy, quite full and deep, and underpinned by lovely fresh acids. The tannins are nicely melted at this stage, leaving the wine's still-youthfully juicy fruit center-stage.
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6/28/2016 - MAOC wrote:
Still dark red in the glass. Spectacular nose of cherry with hints of rasberry, smoke and emerging undergrowth. Palate beautifully balanced with nice freshness. This feels like it has turned a corner recently and is at the front end of drinking window. Great ****1/2
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6/12/2016 - HowardNZ Likes this wine:
Nick's four wine pairings: A bouquet of musty, funky and largely dried red fruits. On palate, this is a serious wine with tons of acidity and stuffing. In fact it's very dense, large scaled and a little monolithic and brutish. It has tons of red fruit and some iron at its core. Suave, fully ripe tannins, yet to release their grip. This is a forty year wine, easily. Ideally give it at least another 5-10 years.
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4/13/2014 - ggormezano Likes this wine: 94 Points
Great bottle of wine, and in a perfect drinking window.
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2/22/2014 - P-M Likes this wine: 92 Points
White pepper and red fruit. Built for the very long haul. Seems this will be indestructible.
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2/22/2014 - P-M Likes this wine:
White pepper and red fruit. Built for the very long haul. Seems this will be indestructible.
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9/20/2013 - Rupert wrote: 93 Points
Lafon Santenots 1969-2005 (La Trompette, Chiswick, London): Loaded, full, pure pinot character, still primary, but should be special with time
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4/18/2013 - godx wrote: 91 Points
France 2013 – Northern Rhone; 4/17/2013-4/19/2013 (Ampuis): Richer red fruit nose with underbrush and hints of spice. On the palate sweeter/richer red fruits with a beautifully silky mouthfeel wrapped in nice acidity. The finish is long and this went perfectly with our lamb. This was very nice but definitely on the fuller/bigger side of Volnay and lacks a bit of elegance that the village is known for. Good to drink now but there’s no rush and in fact this may even improve with another 5-7+ years. Excellent. 91+
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1/21/2013 - d'Artagnan wrote: 93 Points
Le Millésime 1993 en Bourgogne: Vingt ans plus tard ((Restaurant L'Atelier, à Montréal)): Une couleur sombre, d'une jeunesse étonnante. Le nez est austère, avec un coté terreux/poussière, de la cire. Pas très charmeur.
Par contre la bouche est grasse, ronde et fraîche, avec une finale un brin lactique mais avec de superbes tanins, très fins. D'une jeunesse incroyable, c'est un vin magnifique par sa texture, même s'il n'est pas le + charmeur au niveau aromatique. 93 pts
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1/21/2013 - BigJul Likes this wine:
Le Millésime 1993 en Bourgogne: Vingt ans plus tard (Restaurant L'Atelier (Montréal)): D’une jeunesse insolente. Le fruité est presque primaire! Enrobé, structuré et riche. Je ne me souviens pas avoir bu un vin de Bourgogne aussi tannique; et dire qu’il a 20 ans d’âge.
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10/14/2012 - drwine2001 wrote:
Shockingly primary ruby color. Gorgeous nose of pungent red fruits, licorice and some of that brambly quality of Savigny. Medium weight, wonderful smoke, pomegranate, and inner mouth perfume. Crackling acidity yet not at all tart, but this has not yet reached a point of completely harmonious, much less silken, mouth feel. Astoundingly young and extremely high quality. Perhaps more assertive and slightly bulkier than most Volnays of this age, but this is not really a criticism, just an observation.
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7/8/2012 - rnellans wrote: 94 Points
Beautiful wine. Complex aromas with funk, sous bois, fruit. Nice mouthfeel with excellent balance and a long finish.
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5/25/2012 - -E- wrote: 94 Points
Fra magnum. Nydelig floral, feminin og søtlig nese av fioler, røde bær, vanilje, trøffel og jordlige toner. Silkemyk, men massiv, dyp og mørk fruktkjerne av røde og blå bær. Tett, men allikvel elegant. Overraskende primær 19 åring med et langt liv foran seg. Stram struktur. Tanniner som fremdeles har bitt i seg. Tørr avslutning. Nydelig vin. 94+ P.
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4/13/2012 - avp wrote:
Not giving anything much at first but opened up with air. Red apple, bright fruit, liquorice, clove, slight perfume, peach stone, coffee, milk chocolate and freshly cut champignons.
Fullbodied and meaty sour cherry to strawberry palate with refreshing structure. Salt liquorice, clove and slight sous bois. Long and substantial.
Huge potential, but not that approachable at the moment - at least not without a long decanting. Built to last.
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4/13/2012 - VHJV wrote: 94 Points
A Red Burgundy night in Helsinki (Classic Wine Cellars, Helsinki, Finland): Very muted at first. In the mouth also muted, but powerful and very long. Needs a long time to open up (over 2 hours), but when it does, it shows lovely lively fruit with good concentration and punch. A Lovely and finely balanced mouthfeel. Bright and complex. A really complete wine.
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1/16/2012 - Lombardi wrote: 93 Points
This was great. Complex and layered. Amazing fruit content and overall structure. Different spices integrated with the flow fresh Pinot fruit that remains very live and kept pushing the finish longer. Very soft and pleasant tannins. Medimu+ finish. I guess this could hold for another decade easily.
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10/7/2009 - calnative wrote: 91 Points
dark color, not much inthe nose, but remarkably forward and almost primary red and dark fruits with tannin, earth and minerality on the finish. The wine lean towards being a bruiser which explains some higher scores, but to me lacked complexity and length in finish to be a great wine. This wine is unbelievably youthful (for a 93 Volnay) and I can only hope that it will sometime show some complexity down the road. Alas I only had one bottle, but if I had more I would save them for another 5 years and try again.
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8/17/2009 - Captain Haddock wrote: 94 Points
From magnum. Hardly any age on the darkish colour. Scintillating purity and balance, lovely fruit with bright acidity, and plenty of structure to age further. I would like to see a little more complexity so will try to be patient with the remaining bottles.
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3/22/2009 - toomuchwine wrote: 93 Points
Needed some time to open up, and was particularly good the second night after splitting the bottle into a 375. Classic volnay nose, but more smoke, a little char and bright cherries. Very nice and has a long life ahead of it.
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1/27/2008 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 87 Points
Very youthful showing, with a bright ruby color and primary raspberry fruit. The tannin is abrupt at first but smooths itself out with air. But it retains an edginess to it, somewhat drying out the finish in spite of the fresh fruit. A very young wine with good fruit if not much development to show for its time in bottle.
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3/10/2006 - Burgundy Al wrote: 94 Points
Volnay Dinner with Lieu-dit Cru (Kevin Restaurant, Chicago IL): Strawberry on the nose with good spice and great mushroom aromatics. Strawberry and raspberry on the palate , also nicely complemented by good earthy flavors and textures. Wonderful finish, very long. Still has lots of well integrated tannins, lots of acidity, so no worries about this wine fading any time in the next 15 years. This was one of the few bottles not given time to breathe, but still tied for second most votes for WOTN.
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3/1/2006 - winefool wrote: 93 Points
Full deep red. Medium aroma of deep purple fruit. Super rich liquer black fruit. Great, but still painfully young. 3/06
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2/9/2005 - RickG wrote:
Perfectly balance red fruit with spice notes on nose. With air, a slight coppery note appeared along with some meaty, sauvage notes. Medium body, the fruit and acid are nicely balanced. This is ready, but as it held well for a couple of hours, will likely last another several years just fine
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