Reviews

Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons

A Champagne I continue to fall in love with, The Chetillons has so much energy and juicy liveliness, it's hard not to take the whole glass down in one gulp. Compared to the 2008 sampled a few months…

Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas François

Deeply pitched apricot, lemon curd, ripe yellow citrus, marmalade, and honey make for a fairly advanced showing here, though it's not without the requisite frame to hold it all in place. Finishes on…

Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon

This bottle is a bit more spun-up than the one I had back in July. The lemon pith is more prominent, blocking some of the strawberry and sweet orange peel notes trying to jockey position. This is a…

Billecart-Salmon Champagne Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs

Slightly steely on entry, with a cut that rushes straight to the finish. The effervescence doubles this effect, with the white and high-register fruit and rock notes racing along the palate with a…

Peter Lauer Unterstenberg Riesling N°12

Lime juice, lychee, lemon peel, limeade, Sunkist lemon Jelly Belly, and wet limestone flavors are scattered about the palate by heavy spritz and pithy lemon seed notes. Spritely over seamlessness,…

Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Grand Cru Les Chemins d'Avize

Red apple, dried apricot, preserved lemon rind, hazelnut, and olive oil flavors make for a big house blend profile that doesn't necessarily steer one to a BdB composition. Blind, I would have sworn…

Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon BBS Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

Warning Will Robinson! Warning! We are shut down for business here. LPV has done it again. Caution. Crime Scene. Do Not Cross. Back away. Nothing to see here.

19 Crimes Red Wine

The 20th crime: drinking this wine.

Pierre Paillard Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Les Mottelettes

As accessible and user-friendly as the 2014, this vintage of Mottelettes is nearly an identical twin, with ripe and juicy yellow citrus, almond slivers, chalk, and yellow pear skin. Round and full…

Domaine Servin Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses

Limey Squirt, chalk, lemon drop, and unripe green pear notes Gymkata their way through the initial execution of flavor, dropkicking a super zing of acidity and tense vigor. Primary and unresolved,…

Kongsgaard Chardonnay

A trace of pineapple and succulent lemon curd are overlaid with vanilla and marshmallow notes, making for a familiar California profile but thankfully with minimally reserved levels of perceived…

Jacques Lassaigne Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature Clos Sainte Sophie

The Jacques Lassaigne Clos Sainte-Sophie instantly surges on entry with layered waves of big house flavors. Roasted lemon rind and pulp, apple pie crust and filling, almond skin, olive oil, ripe…

Jacques Lassaigne Champagne Brut Nature Blanc de Blancs Millésimé

A gorgeous BdB Champagne with kisses of honeyed apricot and ginger to send the greater compliment of fresh but seriously succulent yellow citrus flavors cruising along the palate with depth and…

Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets

A powerful and straight-shot showing of lemon, wet limestone, and honeydew rind notes on the front end of the attack make for an initial showing that is slightly blocky, with an angular finish that…

Doyard Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut

Skillfully balanced and easily accessible, the front end creaminess and texture fool you into thinking this is going to be all dough and no go, but the speed kicks in midway through its smooth…

Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos

Laser focused and a little hyper-chiseled on the back end, at least enough to push the perception of acid ahead of fruit for the time being. Green apple skin notes battle with lemon and limestone…

Fontodi Flaccianello della Pieve Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT

Well... I gotta keep it real ya'll. Here I was all ready to seek out more of these as soon as I was gonna give this bottle a spin tonight, and wouldn't cha know it... This thing was stricter than a…

Arrow & Branch Cabernet Sauvignon Vine Hill Ranch

Dark ripe berry and black soil notes duel with iron, red and black raspberry, and burnt ember elements to form a full frontal push of luscious and intense fruit and earth flavors. A statuesque wine…

Arrow & Branch Cabernet Franc Heritage Reserve Block 1 Arrow & Branch Coombsville

As with many young 2018s from Napa, there is a sultry demeanor with the Arrow & Branch Cabernet Franc Block 1 (older vines than Block 2) that immediately shows alluring finesse. Its profile is also…

Keplinger Mars

Final bottle and last review of this wine (of many reviews). A really gorgeous showing, with a whirlwind of flavors that swarm around the palate with both flowing finesse and depth, as well as…

Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos Clos des Hospices dans Les Clos

Not unlike its 2018 Grand Cru siblings, this Clos des Hospices is fairly torqued-up and linear on entry, with stricter white fruit, lemon pith and seed, chalk, and white melon rind notes leading the…

Domaine Pinson Frères Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos

Lemony lemonade and puckery lemon drop notes, with a side order of freshly picked lemons and lemon scented candles, all culminate into, you guessed it, a lemon sherbet flavor-tang of poppin' but…

Tenuta Guado al Tasso (Antinori) Bolgheri Superiore

This is progressing and smoothing out quite nicely since my last bottle a year-and-a-half ago; more seamless and readily willing to find a decent glide after about three hours of decanted air…

Jerome Blin Champagne Cuvée Octave Extra Brut

A nicely developed expansion of lemony yellow citrus notes are given frame with chalk and white lemon seed elements. The Chardonnay "still wine" fruitiness is balanced well with the bubbles and…

Domaine Pinson Frères Chablis 1er Cru Mont de Milieu

Strong quince and chalk notes with this bottle. A big pop of acidity and a blast of yellow citrus and stone fruit follows, finishing a bit gruff and abrupt. A fairly blocky showing, lacking some…