This isn't considered a great wine, but maybe I got lucky or maybe it's just drinking perfectly now. I paid 49 euros for the bottle, put in the wine fridge for a week at 15 degrees then opened it up and gave it 15 minutes to breathe. After ten minutes in the glass, the nose was lovely, sweet, gentle black currents with a suggestion of spices. The taste, at first, lacked behind the nose due to a slight bitterness and lack of depth and a short after taste. After thirty minutes, with the nose still lovely and fresh although adding a tad of leather (not at all in an overly aged or coming to the later stages of life way), the taste caught up - the tannins are extremely smooth, not digging into the palate at all, low acidity, black berries and a tad of plum. There's no great depth or amazing complexity. Very easy to drink. I'll buy some more at the price to be consumed now. It might not get better, and it might have been average in it's earlier years/stages, but it's a very pleasant and good value wine at the price right now. Edit to add: the wine only stayed at it's best between 20 minutes opened to 2 hours. After that, it dropped off, feeling too sweet and the texture falling away. Nice while it lasted, but didn't last long, so best enjoyed by a couple over a short period, imho.
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Very light and easy drinking. A soft understated nose with apple, lemon and straw/hay. Some citrus and acidity on the palate. Quite a neutral experience; certainly not oak heavy or dominated by any single element. Perhaps a bit bland for some folk, but very fresh tasting, even a little green, with a soft and creamy end. I like this style, but could be a bit bolder. At $40, I'm not sure I'd buy it again; at $25 I certainly would.
Fantastic on the nose (even after only 20 minutes corked). I didn't decant. Initially the palate was a lot less inspiring than the nose. On the nose was a dark fruit balance, clearly from St Estephe, dominated by strong primary and secondary notes - not wide, just fruity, balanced and pleasant slightly acidic notes of flowery dark fruits. The palate was a tad sour and limited for the first 30 minutes, but then took a huge leap in quality - this wine needed 45+ minutes of air. After two hours, the wine was alive, St Estephe, and clearly a quality made wine. No tertiary elements yet. Still some soft/thin grainy tanins, so perhaps some more time to evlove/resolve. This has the potential with a couple more years and to be a 95, imho. Very enjoyable at a reasonable price.
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2013 Château Haut-Bages Libéral
12/5/2023 - Mr Grumpy Likes this wine: 92 Points
This isn't considered a great wine, but maybe I got lucky or maybe it's just drinking perfectly now. I paid 49 euros for the bottle, put in the wine fridge for a week at 15 degrees then opened it up and gave it 15 minutes to breathe. After ten minutes in the glass, the nose was lovely, sweet, gentle black currents with a suggestion of spices. The taste, at first, lacked behind the nose due to a slight bitterness and lack of depth and a short after taste. After thirty minutes, with the nose still lovely and fresh although adding a tad of leather (not at all in an overly aged or coming to the later stages of life way), the taste caught up - the tannins are extremely smooth, not digging into the palate at all, low acidity, black berries and a tad of plum. There's no great depth or amazing complexity. Very easy to drink. I'll buy some more at the price to be consumed now. It might not get better, and it might have been average in it's earlier years/stages, but it's a very pleasant and good value wine at the price right now.
Edit to add: the wine only stayed at it's best between 20 minutes opened to 2 hours. After that, it dropped off, feeling too sweet and the texture falling away. Nice while it lasted, but didn't last long, so best enjoyed by a couple over a short period, imho.
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2018 Louis Latour Pouilly-Fuissé
4/29/2023 - Mr Grumpy wrote: 90 Points
Very light and easy drinking. A soft understated nose with apple, lemon and straw/hay. Some citrus and acidity on the palate. Quite a neutral experience; certainly not oak heavy or dominated by any single element. Perhaps a bit bland for some folk, but very fresh tasting, even a little green, with a soft and creamy end. I like this style, but could be a bit bolder. At $40, I'm not sure I'd buy it again; at $25 I certainly would.
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2005 Château Calon-Ségur
4/21/2023 - Mr Grumpy wrote: 94 Points
Fantastic on the nose (even after only 20 minutes corked). I didn't decant. Initially the palate was a lot less inspiring than the nose. On the nose was a dark fruit balance, clearly from St Estephe, dominated by strong primary and secondary notes - not wide, just fruity, balanced and pleasant slightly acidic notes of flowery dark fruits. The palate was a tad sour and limited for the first 30 minutes, but then took a huge leap in quality - this wine needed 45+ minutes of air. After two hours, the wine was alive, St Estephe, and clearly a quality made wine. No tertiary elements yet. Still some soft/thin grainy tanins, so perhaps some more time to evlove/resolve. This has the potential with a couple more years and to be a 95, imho. Very enjoyable at a reasonable price.
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