Château Fonbadet
Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2015
Incredible. Lead pencil graphite, beautifully flowing dark fruit flavors and a grippy but soothing finish. ….this was the first day. The second day leftover was less. The fruit flavor nuances had disappeared and the earthy tannin took over and made it less balanced. Still good though. — 2 months ago
Glen Grant
Rothes Speyside 15 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Nice light single malt. Love sipping a single malt once in a while. Preferably one in the middle of the spectrum leaning toward just the slightest hints of peatyness. This in wasn’t. This was more on the lighter sight of the spectrum but super smooth, thick siruppy texture and spicy finish. The best part was we had it with some real Cuban cigars. Never smoked that before and now I know what all the fuss is about. Smoothest cigar I have ever had!! Not that says a whole lot because I might smoke one once or twice a year. — 2 months ago
Pulenta Estate
X Gran Malbec 2018
If a wine does not meet your (high) expectations, is it a disappointment?? 🤔. Yeah, everything is relative. This six year old Gran Malbec was still super tight. Sharp, spicy oak tannins (lots of new French oak?) kept anything possibly underneath totally hidden. Although some greener notes came through early on and again later after about 2-3 hours of opening. So, yeah. Not balanced, very intense, limited lingering and single note. Agung will help for sure but not confident if this wine will ever fully shine. But don’t be down on Pulenta. Fantastic winery. We will visit this fall (their Spring) as Spoken Wines. Talking about Spoken Wines, have you seen our latest video story of Hartenberg?? And their incredible commitment to regenerative viticulture, lead by… cows!! Beautifully explained and demonstrated right in front of you by Wilhelm Joubert, the viticulturist. Check it out. And don’t miss the surprise at the end 😁. www.spokenwines.com — 8 days ago
Mullineux Family Wines
Schist Old Vines Chenin Blanc 2021
This wine was soooo good when we tasted it at the tasting room in Franschhoek. Purchased a few bottles and brought it home. Carefully preserving for the ‘perfect’ occasion…. but when is that? So just open it when we felt like it. Much better plan!!! 😎. Not quite like I remember unfortunately. But still good. Some stringent flavors throwing it off balance. Not quite the depth of flinty, mineral flavors as I had stored away in my memory. Also not quite the intensity and the length. But….it did bring us back to a wonderful time we had in South Africa (that day!). — 21 days ago
Jan de Weerd
Okay. Again the same dilemma. If a wine does not meet expectation is it basically bad (for me)? 🤔 because in life everything is relative, right? Any thoughts on puzzling matter??The wine was well balanced, dark red fruit flavors, polished, smooth tannins, good intensity and concentration, but limited length and lacking any meaningful complexity… Eight year old left bank Bordeaux. A fourth or fifth growth winery, maybe not, can’t remember for sure. Do remember what I paid though, $120. Definitely too much for what we experienced this evening…. as to our expectations. — 14 hours ago