Tom Casagrande

9.2

Our relatively new good boi Bandol is wondering when he’ll get a little treat tonight. In the meantime, this is a nice value treat for me. Think of it as the Napa version of a top-flight Cru Bourgeois. Nose has a lot going on. Vanilla, cedar, plummy fruit, graphite, dry gravel, new leather. Nicely balanced and round in the mouth. Tannins are quite soft. Not great concentration but loads of flavor. Some alcoholic pepperiness pokes through on the back half of the palate. But can’t complain at all at under $30 (except about the unnecessarily heavy bottle). — 3 days ago

Tom Casagrande

8.9

Rich, ripe plummy Merlot fruit with a nice, subtle overlay of oak and wet clay on the nose. Full in the mouth, the flavors are straightforward and pretty clingy. Bit of peppery alcohol on the finish detracts a bit. — 10 days ago

Tom Casagrande

9.1

Beautiful balance between herbal/flinty/fruit. Nice balance in the mouth too. Fantastic acids yet good ripeness. — 11 days ago

with Rebecca

Tom Casagrande

9.3

The purity of classic 1970s Zinfandel red berry fruit — before most producers decided monster jammy wines was the way they were going to go with the grape—is remarkable. There’s also a bit of forest floor and clean crushed stone. Richly flavored but not jammy or overripe or overextracted. Great balance, with decent acids and a wisp of tannin. Really nice. — 4 days ago

Tom Casagrande

9.0

Very dark ruby. Striking color actually. Nose is intense with zingy, just-crushed mixed berries, with nose-tingling acids. A bit of crushed stone. The palate is lively and full of dry berry extract and electric acids. Simple and quite vigorous! — 8 days ago

Tom Casagrande

8.7

Very fruity and gulpable. Nice acids. — 11 days ago

Tom Casagrande

9.3

@Delectable Wine - This is the 2020 Domaine de la Madone “Dame de la Petoche” Fleurie, not the regular Fleurie. It’s an old vine cuvée aged in old barrels. The color is deeply saturated and the nose is so deep. Ripe, pure dark cherry juice drizzled over slabs of decomposing old granite. So mineral. Densely flavored but not overdone, it’s pretty powerful and has deep flavors of mineral and dark crunchy fruit. Acids are a tad low but I am certainly not complaining. Delicious and serious. — 14 days ago

Tom Casagrande

8.8

Leon Millot is the name of the grape. A hybrid developed in Alsace in the early 1900s and carried over to the Finger Lakes. Startlingly saturated color. Almost Petite Sirah-like. Dense purple mountain berry nose with a bit of spice and crushed stone. Not as heavy in the mouth as the color would lead you to anticipate. Zingy acids and brisk, dry berry fruit. Tannin just barely noticeable. Only 12.3% alcohol. Nice accompaniment to turkey soup made with the leftover carcass from Thanksgiving. — 6 days ago

Tom Casagrande

9.2

It’s a GSM but the nose smell Carignane-ish with loads of dark, tangy, slightly bitter cherry, savory mineral notes. Like an old school CDR (pre-global warming)on the nose with loads of roasted herbs and savory iodine-inflected minerality competing with the zingy black cherry fruit. Very nice. 9.2 — 11 days ago

with Rebecca

Tom Casagrande

8.8

Simple and satisfying. A very good cookout wine (though I had it with Chinese takeout tonight). Lots of deep dried and fresh strawberry and cherry fruit in the nose. A slight herbal note tries to peek through. A big whack of fruit in the front of the palate, but dries and turns savory as the finish progresses. Not a lot of complexity but delivers a lot of flavor. — 12 days ago