A solid performance with this particular bottle. Decanted for a few hours, which really allowed the firm tannins to soften and the black fruit and obsidian notes to emerge. No green peppercorn or…
More graphite and mineral elements here than the 2021 Futo Oakville served next to it (blind), the 5500 carries similar class but with some red fruit notes that make for a higher register delivery…
Black fruit and cedar, with some redder cherry and soil notes to add contrast and interest. Excellent lift and freshness, with a smidge less depth than the 2018 Oakville served next to it. Drinking…
Gently decanted for an hour in a small vessel. Plum, deep and dark red and black muddled cherry, leather, old cigar, torched orange rind, soil, and black currant.
Honed, focused, chiseled, mineral, black goth berry-rock, and a mean streak all up and down it, the 2016 HSS is serious business in the best of ways. Give it another 5+ years and be rewarded. It…
If a Northern Rhone Cornas butcher met up with a Stags Leap socialite, you'd have the 2021 Vice Versa Stelzner. This thing is slathered in meat drippings, soil, char, burnt embers, and the black…
I've written a few times over the years on this wine and it has progressively become better and better. Now a decade from vintage, the Stardust Heaven is in a wonderful drinking window. Black and…
Tannic and drying, the chest on this thing is bumping and thumping with push, thrust, grip and clutch, but the fruit has a difficult time elbowing past the bro-code bullishness of the frame. Black…
From the Rock Block series, the 2018 Magic Nights is the latest iteration of this compelling succession. Black berry and mineral notes are beautifully weighted, with a mid-palate that brings on the…
This is pretty solid stuff right here kiddos, with all the black cavernous fruit one would want, but it's gotta lot o' working out to do in the meantime. Structure, stuffing, and sophistication all…
A surprisingly melodious and softly contoured Wildfoote, maturing gorgeously through its typical brawny mega-power and flexy-Mcflex-a-flex posture and transmuting into a very beautiful, almost pretty…
Powerfully sharp and angular on the first pop of the cork, the Steltzner doesn't take long before it is hale and hearty with unified black and red berry fruit, rock, black cherry skin, and black…
It's been about 3.5 years since my last bottle of this. Well, when Pott strikes the perfect chord, he nails the notes right on cue without a doubt. This was a beautiful bottle of wine, needing just…
Continuing to progress, and starting to kick out some optimum pleasure - though it is just now entering into a window where it is seemingly able to offer true flavor expansion. Locked and loaded…
Similar to my previous notes in terms of specific flavor profile; just more advanced in expansion and depth (since having it 3 years ago). This was a dark and concentrated wine. Huge black berry…
From Magnum. Round and plush black cherry and plum notes are encompassed by some cedar and evergreen notes. Finishes medium and a little soft. Balanced and even-keeled. A definite crowd pleaser. A…
A kiss of sweet, ripe dark red and black berry fruit gives rise to a mouthful of black raspberry and cherry, blackberry, anise, and chewy chocolate notes. Still a tinge of alcohol here, but otherwise…
Cotton candy confection is at the forefront of this wine at the moment. Some purple and red berry fruit notes, laced with vanilla and whipped cream. Hold for 3-5+ years so it can hopefully shed some…
Red and purple berry fruit, pulverized granite, and some subtle spice. Much less black and intense this go-around than from when I had it out of barrel. A very satisfying and complete wine, though…
A tight and fuzzy frame surrounds a pulsating core of blackberry, black cherry, black rock, and bitter chocolate. Behaving almost like a Las Piedras on an Arnold Pumping Iron horse juice regimen of…
Still as awesome as last year. Perhaps, dare I say, gaining some refinement since my last sample in the Fall. The latter half of my previous notes apply (a la the John Stamos reference), with the…
The blackest, densest, most mineral-driven in the lineup, the 2017 Steltzner impresses with its rocky, black minerality and deeply pitched black fruit core. A truly awesome example of the site and a…
As Cristal2000 mentioned, this is likely the best Moonracer to date. Far more complex and expanding in the palate than the 2014, and a worthy follow-up to the 2015, this 2016 Moonracer delivers…
This latest experience with the 2012 Wildfoote was from a multi-Coravin'd bottle than clearly was a bit tired and flat. The flavors were all there, but the drive and intensity had fallen off quite a…
Take one 250-pound ballerina barista roasting a vat of Death Wish coffee in a 55 gallon drum of plutonium, add 185,000 teaspoons of chocolate covered chocolate, mix with a six-mile strip of newly…
