Smooth and slightly round on first entry, with the contours of the 2012 vintage showing a suave plane of velvety and flowing red and black fruit flavors. With blackberry, black cherry, saturated…
With dark berry, earth, and a bit of sherrying (already?) permeating the profile, the 2001 Harlan is all class. Muddled black cherry, dry cinnamon stick, leather, and menagerie of tertiary elements,…
On day one, this was a blacker fruit and mineral dominated beast. I was loving it, but I was even more enamored with it on the second day, where the body really filled out and notes of earth,…
A perfect wine, and perhaps the best wine of the weekend. Black fruit profile (my favorite!), with dark spice, and black rock, black soil, black roses?!, black-black whatevers, bitter black…
Initially angular (surprisingly for a Colgin) and displaying some heat and bite, luckily this IX doesn't take long before it settles into a more comfortable glide. Tertiary flavors of leather,…
Plum, black cherry, and the sweat of a Vegas nightclubber, the 2014 Cariad offers a little rave succulence and opulence with a little parental shoulder angel sternness. More former than the latter,…
Red and black fruits present as ripe and succulently semi-sweet at the onset. The first sip is kinda like gulping a bowl of the rainbow milk left in the bowl after you just wolf down a solid helping…
There were a couple of Auberts in the tasting that I inadvertently dodged and for whatever reason was unable to conjure up the logistical prowess to get to them and proffer some sort of comparison…
My preference in the world of Ultramarine tends to gravitate toward their BdBs, though the Rose can be a fantastic alternative to bubblies across the Atlantic. In fact, this BdB was served next to…
Disgorged 11/15/2022. My notes from last year pretty much sum up my experience this go-around (12/15/2022). This bottle showed yeastier elements than the seemingly drier and more cut bottle from six…
"We got the funk.yeah. Chave got the funk." If you're billet is a barnyard and your palate is a pistol pinging for peat, then the 2005 Chave Hermitage is a call of the wild for you my friend. Earth…
I gotta be honest, I would've never called this out as a Syrah at first glance. This had more similarities to a 2004 Unico than it did with our sassy neighbors to the south. A bit more leather and…
Red cherry, strawberry, and leather dominate the profile here. A bit of funk, tobacco leaf, and earth rise to the surface, making for an older-world profile, which is also heightened by the…
The nose on this monster is off the hook crazy intoxicating. The attack on the palate is less mind-altering initially, with a hyper-linear and primary delivery of powerfully torqued-up unripe black…
Dark chocolate, black cherry, stewed plum, medjool date, menthol, and anise dominate the profile, with earthy elements complementing chewy black licorice, purple flowers, cedar, and Christmas spice.…
Even on the first glass from a pop-n-pour (cuz you have to get after it early on this wine, otherwise it'll be drained in the blink of an eye amongst this eager group of wine mongers), the 2018…
Leather, burnt orange peel (or maybe I just think of this because this Margaux has an Old Fashion type of vibe to it), stewed Amarena cherries, forest floor, bark, and sherry. There is still some…
The nose and the palate match, with a sherry liqueur note that stays prominent throughout the delivery. Finishes with a bite. Muddled and stewed cherries, mushroom, leather, golden raisin, and pink…
Apricot, grass, peach, and gorgeous floral hits combine in sweet (well, semi-sweet actually) bliss. I was even more taken with this sample than the one I had a month or so ago. I'm not a huge dessert…
Côte de Beaune · Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
As was before when I had this wine last year, the zippy and zesty citrus energy here is especially appealing. Yuzu, fresh lemon juice, lemon and lime zest, wet white rock, crushed white flowers, and…
On day one, this was pretty torqued up and launching all sorts of wet limestone and chalk. Petrol and salt follow, with a hyper chiseled profile that demands a generation in the cellar. Linear,…
We tapped two of these throughout the course of the weekend and, although I may be in the minority here, I truly love what 2013 has done for this Champagne. It presents as young and vibrant, and I…
The Solera methodology employed here really makes for a truly unique and special profile, one in which I can't rightly say I've ever experienced with Champagne. The complexity is just flat-out crazy,…
