Reviews

Heritage School Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Julie's Creekside Vineyard

Round and ripe berry notes are intermixed with plum and chocolate to make for a front-loaded, fruit forward wine that provides immediate pleasure with a richness that equates to direct accessibility…

Nicolas Maillart Champagne Premier Cru Villers-Allerand Les Loges

Similar to my note in February 2021. Pours a translucent light salmon color, with super food-friendly/complimentary flavors that highlight light mousse-injected yellow and orange citrus juice, cherry…

Jean-Paul & Benoit Droin Chablis Grand Cru Valmur

Another exceptionally powerful showing, with a flex of yellow citrus that commands the palate and delivers a serious dollop of viscous fruit flavor. Still blocky in cadence and texture, this is the…

Realm Cellars The Falstaff

Right out of the gate, this puppy was off and rolling with fruit, spice, fruit, spice, and fruit. Decanting a few hours helped to fan and fill out its form, but this barely needed to stretch its legs…

Domaine des Malandes Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir

I keep testing this wine against my better judgment to see if I want to invest in a few more. It's quite delicious and has a nice tang of lemon and subtle lime flavors that offer pleasurable drinking…

Famille Moussé Champagne Terre d'Illite

My previous note from a technical and primary content standpoint still applies. Additionally, what especially catches my eye (or rather, palate) this go-around is the brilliance by which this wine is…

Jean-Paul & Benoit Droin Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos

The Droin Grand Crus in the 2019 vintage are simply crushing it with unreal purity, freshness, and succulent intensity. This is the best vintage of Droin I've likely ever had, with the Les Clos,…

Jean-Paul & Benoit Droin Chablis Grand Cru Grenouilles

The Droin Grand Crus in the 2019 vintage are simply crushing it with unreal purity, freshness, and succulent intensity. This is the best vintage of Droin I've likely ever had, with the Les Clos,…

Maxem Chardonnay UV Vineyard

Definitely on the curve of its optimum drinking window; in a good place now and will likely be a wine to consume over the next year or so. A solid performance with an agreeable yellow citrus core and…

Aubert Chardonnay Eastside Vineyard

Still holding up after over three years since having my last bottle. No creamy baby fat distracting from the purity of fruit. The yellow citrus flavors are predictable and slightly simple, but…

Kapcsándy Family Winery Cabernet Sauvignon (Grand Vin) State Lane Vineyard

Spicy black cherry and fig notes present in a simple fashion initially, with a finish that falls a little flat and superficial. The purity of fruit is evident, as is the sophistication and…

Cattleya Cabernet Sauvignon Meeting With The Mentor

Commanding blackberry flavors provide immediate flavor-savor Napa Cab fun. Powerfully endearing, this wine has the ability to display authority and a bit of grace, equating to an accessible wine that…

Scarlett Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

Ah ha! My gorgeous gothic beauty! Where have you been? I have missed you so. It's been a hot minute since I last had this wine and yet again, I just can't help but fall in love with it. Black fruit.…

Hundred Acre Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Kayli Morgan

Holy bajankers. This thing has a bigger nose than a Proboscis monkey munching on mound of blackberry pies. An instant expansion of ripe and ready mixed berries on the palate, with a powerful push of…

Carter Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon La Verdad Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

Baby fat popcorn, vanilla, red cherry syrup, mixed berries, and a slathering of sweet cassis, this wine is such a youngster that I am surprised it didn't come from a shiner or a barrel sample, and…

Ovid Hexameter

Following a 2019 Bevan Crane, which has the potency of a barrel sample aged for 21 years in the Atacama Desert, this wine was a harder read. The mid-palate was a bit hollow and the fruit somewhat…

Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

Holy shirtless Vladimir Putin on a Clydesdale! What sort of wicked concoction from the entrails of Hades hath been presented before me here? If Chris Hemsworth was a Starbucks barista in charge of…

Realm Cellars The Bard

Unripe blackberry and a decent force of tannin and frame present good persistence if but a bit angular in its present form. There is a lot to like here, with a modern hit of fruit flavor served on a…

Unwritten Cabernet Sauvignon Lewelling Ranch

Sweet and ripe black cherry, raspberry, and blackberry notes finish with a slight green funk note. Pyrazine? Something else? Not sure. This presented as modern but really young, and perhaps a wine…

Fait-Main St Emilion Todeschini Asteria

Plum skin, unripe berries, wild blackberry, and tart cherry all scream young Bordeaux, with the acid and structure really biting down on the flavors' attempts to expand. There is power here as well.…

Purlieu Cabernet Sauvignon Teucer Vineyard

A powerfully ripe showing, with chewy blackberry and super ripe black raspberry flavors sloshing and washing through the mouth, finishing with absolute authority. Some alcohol on the tail adds to the…

Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve

A rustic and funkfied showing, with citrus rind and old dust infecting the "fruit" trying to poke through. The only saving grace for this wine was that it followed a 2013 Silver Oak, which was.um.…

Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Creosote, funk, blackberry skin, and cedar. A wine to which I immediately made "that face" when I took a sip. A rough go here. I thought this was a flawed Bordeaux. Turns out it was just a terrible…

Kenzo Estate Cabernet Franc Asuka

Big fruit. Big power. Big Big. The drive on this puppy is super intense and concentrated, with a dump truck-load of blackberry and black cherry fruit that lap around the palate multiple times before…

Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red

Funky and cedary, this was a battle among ping-ponging alcohol, dusty plum, and cedar flavors. This was definitely not a 2012-recent vintage wine (as was the original intent of this blind tasting).…