Cabfrancophile
Member #58,457 signed up 8/11/2008 and last accessed 4/28/2024
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Member since August 2008
Locale: Santa Barbara, California, USA
Favorite region: Loire Valley, Piedmont, Santa Barbara
2017 Black Sheep Finds Syrah Holus Bolus Presqu’ile Vineyard
4/27/2024 - Cabfrancophile Likes this wine: 94 Points
Opened at cellar temperature, consumed from bottle over an evening. Wow, this is still drinking incredibly young and open.
Floral bouquet and white pepper abound, really 'pretty' bouquet, perfumed, ripe raspberries. Same palate impression as previously, elegant, silky, sculpted and finessed. Raspberry with sweet spice on the palate. Seamless progression from attack to finish, long finish. Low-ish ABV, no oak, extremely fine (perfect?) tannins.
Drink or hold. The structure is subtle but clearly capable of carrying this wine. Holding my last bottle until 12-15 years from vintage, as I'm curious if savory bottle bouquet will emerge. While this is fully dry, it's still centered on the sweeter, perfumey character it has close to release. In any case, I found the 2016 seemed already past peak, but this is a data point favoring longer term aging for this cuvee, if a vintage supports it.
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2010 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Grézeaux
4/27/2024 - Cabfrancophile Likes this wine: 92 Points
Day 1: Coravin-ed at cellar temperature. Immediately classic aromas, beef stock, tobacco, pasture, cherry, violets, tons going on, true bottle bouquet. Mid-weigh with a linear profile, crunchy red fruit, tobacco and minerality. Clean, pure, direct profile. Medium plus acidity, furry tannins on the finish, mostly resolved. This will continue to age, though whether it will improve from its current plateau is a matter of personal preference.
Day 2: Popped cork to finish bottle. Less feral, black currant, mint and menthol are more forward now. Otherwise, consistent with its gravelly, earthy origins. Such a singular wine, not a 'vin de garde', yet age-worthy and archetypical in its expression.
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2013 Longoria Blues Cuvée
4/13/2024 - Cabfrancophile wrote: 85 Points
Last bottle, unfortunately on the downslope, a bit past peak and beginning to dry out. Same flavor profile as before, the nose is better than the palate. With the fruit receding, the extraction is more prominent and just not as delicious when the texture, weight and fruit played off of each other.
Drink up, or at least try a bottle to see if it's to your taste, if you have this vintage. Often the Blues Cuvee can go last longer, but this vintage probably was one to enjoy earlier.
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