Patrick Derdeyn

9.0

The ‘17s just arrived so that means it was perfect timing to drink my last ‘16. @Morgan Twain-Peterson says these can age 5-10 yrs, but mine never seem to make it 5-10 months while I let all of the SVs rest in peace. A splash decant really helps the bouquet jump out on these. Rose petal, spice, and dark fruits balanced by wonderful acidity and some light tannin presence. A screaming value year in and year out. — 7 years ago

Ed Lehrman

9.3

2012—as good as CA Syrah gets. Drink 5-10 years from now. — 8 years ago

Brandon Boesch

9.8

This is fantastic! Huge amount of sour on first sips, but the flavors just keep evolving over 30 seconds. Rose and tropical fruit apparent. Definitely finishes with the loveliest touch of orange. One of the best sours I’ve ever had. — 8 years ago

with Randy

David L

9.2

13'. Roots Wine Company .The barrel project Grenache. 30 months in barrel. 30 minute decanting . Truly a crowdpleaser. — 8 years ago

Adam Vitalis

9.2

Solid supping whiskey — 8 years ago

Justin Cykler

9.2

A refreshing Rhone blend rose, perfect for sunny days. Heavier 80% Syrah blend, accompanied by 11% Cinsault, 5% Counoise & 4& Grenache. Much more than your average Rose and only $10. With warmer weather of spring/summer on the horizon, its worth grabbing some!! — 8 years ago

John Han

9.5

The best creamy beer I've ever had. — 9 years ago

Rich Maus

9.1

As Grant says these are ready to drink now. Very smooth for such a young cab. — 9 years ago

Tony Bubbles

9.2

Fun. Interesting. Excellent value 10%ABV find some; buy it — 9 years ago

with Marc

Pinotman /// Andreas

9.6

This wine is a stand alone gem. Very difficult to read and closed and may be too light and disappointing right now but that is deceiving. I am collecting these wines and they are ridiculously good with age. Currently available only from Crush or Chambers or Winfield Flynn in New York. I also tasted the 2015 in barrel 3 weeks ago which in the barrel is a flat out 10. The 2014 is chalky and herbaceous very subdued. The power and elegance of this wine is hidden right now almost like a sleeping giant. — 9 years ago

with Lyle

Peter Lee

9.2

I have one and I'm not opening it. — 10 years ago

Jordan Dave

9.1

Very nicely blended and surprisingly soft pumpkin finish, with a hint of bourbon. 10% alchy. — 11 years ago

Gary Westby

Champagne & Sherry buyer K&L Wines

9.0

A surprisingly nice afternoon dram. — 12 years ago

Patrick Derdeyn

9.1

The fruit is starting to mellow just a little bit but these still benefit from an hour of air. Rich dark fruit, with lots of syrah character. A little black pepper but not overwhelming and a little green pepper too. Drinks well now with more improvement short term and should be in its prime for another 8-10 — 7 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

I have a six-pack of this 05. I thought after 10 years in bottle, it would be interesting to check in on its evolution. While tasty, I’ll wait another 8-10 to open another. Even after 2-3 hours in the decanter, it’s still a very young adolescent. On the nose, slightly sour blackberries & dark cherries, dark currants, baked black plum, haunting blue fruits, anise, whiff of spice, steeped tea, dry stones, dry crushed rocks with dry top soil, caramel, vanilla with fresh & dry red florals. The body is thick & full. Tannins are starting to round out. It’s velvety on the palate. The fruits are; bright, fresh & ripe and really show the greatness of the 05 vintage. Dark currants, blackberries, dark cherries, baked black plum, haunting blue fruits, baked strawberries, cherries, raspberries on the long set, dark spice, clay & loamy dry top soil with crushed rocks, dry stones, cigar with ash, graphite, dry stems, slight herbaceous character, mint, used leather, clove, caramel, vanilla, fresh & dry red florals with violets. The round acidity is about perfect. The structure and length are still strong. The balance is in harmony. As for the long finish, it’s lush, ruby, rich and well polished. Photos of; Chateau Brane Cantenac, large wood vats, Henri Lurton and Estate vines. Producer notes and history...Chateau Brane Cantenac began in the early 17th century. At the time, the estate was known as Domaine Guilhem Hosten. Even that far back, wine was produced from the property. In fact, the wine was so highly regarded it was one of the more expensive wines in Bordeaux. It sold for almost as much money as Brane Mouton. This is interesting because of who went on to buy the vineyard in the 1800’s. The Baron of Brane, also known as “Napoleon of the Vineyards”, purchased the Chateau in 1833. At the time of the sale, the estate was called Chateau Gorce-Guy. To get the funds needed to purchase the Margaux vineyard, the Baron sold what is now called Mouton Rothschild, which was at the time of the sale, known as Chateau Brane-Mouton. Not such a good move with hundreds of years in hindsight! In 1838, the Baron renamed property taking his name and the name of the sector where the vineyards were located and called it Chateau Brane Cantenac. The Chateau later passed to the Roy family, who were well-known in the Margaux appellation in those days, as they owned Chateau d’issan. Moving ahead to 1920, the Societe des Grands Crus de France, a group of merchants and growers that owned several chateaux located in the Medoc including; Chateau Margaux, Chateau Giscours, and Chateau Lagrange in St. Julien, purchased Chateau Brane Cantenac. Five years later, M. Recapet and his son-in-law, François Lurton, took over Brane Cantenac along with Chateau Margaux. Lucien Lurton (the son of François Lurton) inherited Brane Cantenac in 1956. Today, the estate is still in the hands of the Lurton family. Brane Cantenac is owned and run by Henri Lurton. After being given the responsibility of managing Brane Cantenac, it was under the direction of Henri Lurton that large portions of the vineyard were replanted. Vine densities were increased, the drainage systems were improved and the plantings were also, slowly changed. The vineyard of Brane Cantenac is planted to 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet Franc and .5% Carmenere. Carmenere was used for the first time in the 2011 vintage. The only other Chateau I know that still uses Carmenere is Clerc Milon. The 75 hectare Left Bank vineyard of Brane Cantenac is essentially unchanged since it earned Second Growth status in the 1855 Classification. At least that is the case with the 45 hectares used to produce the Grand Vin of Brane Cantenac. Those 45 hectares are planted surrounding the Chateau. Those vines are located just in front of the Cantenac plateau and are the best terroir that Brane Cantenac owns. They have other parcels, which are further inland and much of those grapes are placed into their second wine, Le Baron de Brane. Those additional hectares can be divided into 3 main sections. Behind the Chateau, they have 15 hectares of vines on gravel and sand, 10 hectares across the road with sand, gravel and iron and a 13 hectare parcel with gravel called Notton, which is used for their second wine. The vineyard is planted to a vine density that ranges from 6,666 vines per hectare on the plateau and up to 8,000 vines per hectare for the vines located behind chateau, in their sandier soils. The higher levels of vine density are always found in the newer plantings. The terroir of Brane Cantenac consists of deep gravel, sand and clay soil. Experiments in the vineyards are currently looking at becoming more organic in their vineyard management. Today, more than 25% of Brane Cantenac is farmed using organic farming techniques. It is expected that over time, the amount of hectares farmed with organic methods will be increased. Brane Cantenac has gone through 2 relatively recent modernization’s in 1999, when they added began adding the first of their smaller vats to allow for parcel by parcel vinification and then again in 2015 when they completed a much more complete renovation of their cellars and vat rooms. While Brane Cantenac is a traditional producer, they are no stranger to technology as they were one of the first estates to embrace optical grape sorting machines. In very wet vintages, they can also use reverse osmosis. To produce the wine of Chateau Brane Cantenac, the wine is vinified in a combination of temperature controlled, traditional, 22 oak vats, 18 concrete tanks and 20 stainless steel vats that vary in size from 40 hectoliters all the way up to 200 hectoliters, which allows for parcel by parcel vinification. 40% of the fermentation takes place in the oak vats. The oldest vines are vinified in vats that are selected to allow for separate parcel by parcel vinification. The younger vines are vinified more often together in the same vats. However, the Carmenere is entirely micro-vinified, meaning that those grapes were completely vinified in barrel, using micro-vinification techniques. This can also happen because the amount of grapes produced is so small. Some vats can be co-inoculated, meaning they go through alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation simultaneously. At Chateau Brane Cantenac, malolactic fermentation takes place in a combination of French oak tanks and barrels. The wine of Brane Cantenac is aged in an average of 60% new, French oak barrels for 18 months before bottling. The initial 2 months of aging is done with the wine on its lees, which adds more depth to the wine. There second wine is Le Baron de Brane. Le Baron de Brane is not new. In fact, previously, the second wine went under the name of Chateau Notton, which took its name from one of the main parcels where the grapes were planted. During the late 1950’s and into the 1960’s, having a second wine was important as the estate declassified 3 vintages, due to extremely poor, weather conditions in 1956, 1960 and 1963. Production of Chateau Brane Cantenac is about 11,000 cases per year. — 8 years ago

Reed Boehringer

9.1

delicious — 9 years ago

Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.3

Tasted this alongside the Mt. Brave Cabernet Sauvignon from Mount Veeder. Both incredible wines but this one just had a bit more of a punch to it. Dark ruby purplish red. Insanely tight to start on the nose with some raspberries. Developed some earthy tones like truffles and mushrooms with a few hours in the glass. Not as fruity as the Mt. Brave and pretty tight with some austere mountain berries. Heavy tannins (8/10) and full bodied. Definitely needs some time to fully balance out. Long and dry finish. Very impressive and everything coats the glass. Drink from 2017 till 2036. — 9 years ago

with Sean and India

Jonas Johansson

9.0

This ale is great with FourRoses bourbon! — 10 years ago

Josh Weinstein

9.3

Velvety and smooth. Not too Oaky — 10 years ago

Rodney Lee

9.5

Still youthful. Will be around for 10 more years! Super sexy — 11 years ago

Brian Miracle

9.3

Barrel sample. Silly good. — 11 years ago

Palmer Emmitt

Owner/Winemaker Judge Palmer

9.2

Wifey and I are loving Madeira lately. — 13 years ago

Cynthia Way

10

Refreshing, clean tasting — 7 years ago

Ron R

9.2

For my 1K milestone, I selected one of our Napa faves...
My wife described the nose as “masculine,” and she’s spot on. Loads of cinnamon interplay with barrel toast and charcoal.
Palette is ethereal as the wine has shed its puppy fat. Now displays cloves, white pepper and ripe berries. Finishes with hints of caramel. This can be cellared for another 10 years, easily.
Daughter’s art in the background.
— 8 years ago

with Anne-marie

Delectable Wine

Follow to learn about our favorite wines & people.

9.3

The 2015 Syrah Charles Heintz Vineyard is an outrageously beautiful, vivid wine. A rush of blue and purplish fruit, lavender, licorice and dark spice make a strong opening statement. Today, the tannins are a bit overpowering, but time in bottle will do the trick. The 2015 was fermented in concrete, with 10% whole clusters, and aged in a combination of concrete and oak. Readers who can find the wine should not hesitate. Heintz is one of the top vineyards in California. Getting a glimpse of the site through the lens of Syrah it makes for a deeply fascinating experience. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, Mar 2017) — 8 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

Pichon Lalande is my favorite 2nd growth with a steak. Yup...it's #SteakandClaret night to quote my buddy Gary Westby. Further, it's certainly one of my favorite producers period. I've waited for this wine to be in the bottle for 10 years before finding out definitely how good it was or wasn't. You see, the 05 Bordeaux vintage was exceptional. It's drinking right now better than 00. 00 may turn out to be better, but not for some time. The real issue was the division of scores between RP & NM. Parker had this as low as an 86 and now has it at 89. Neil Martin has been consistently at 95-96. I found it simply inexplicable that Pichon Lalande could have bombed in such a great vintage. Tonight, I know they didn't. This wine is beautiful. Although, I don't believe it will cellar as long as their some of their very best vintages and many others I've enjoyed. On the nose, bramble, ripe blackberries, dark cherries, notes of blueberries, poached strawberries, graphite, baking spices, cedar, lightly perfumed violets and dark, fresh & dry red flowers. The body is medium-medium plus, tannins nicely resolved with 10 years to be completely resolved. Fruits of; ripe blackberries, dark cherries, notes of blueberries, poached strawberries and pomegranate with a whiff of spice. There's notes of dry bramble, soft leather, fresh violets, graphite, cedar, dry stones, dark rich earth, limestone, tobacco, spice-box, vanilla, very light cinnamon & nutmeg. The finish is very long, elegant, ripe, round, smooth, good acidity and beautifully elegant...50-50 earth & fruit. I bought more bottles of this at $85 after it's was first released in futures and I do not regret it. $85 is proving to be a steal for this wine when it normally sells for between $100-$150 a bottle and higher. Might heavy up further after tonight if I find more around the same price. Oh yes...I'm with NM on the scoring. Photos of the Chateau, estate vines, newer tasting room & the Virginie de Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande. Forgive my long post, but my passion and love for this producer is profound. Producer history and notes...as I wrote in an earlier post for Pichon Baron, Pichon Baron and Lalande started as one entity. The first mention of what is now called Chateau Pichon Lalande was the creation of Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan. Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan is responsible for forming many of the top Bordeaux estates today. Pichon Lalande was given its name when Therse, the daughter of the founder received the estate as a dowry when she married Jacques de Pichon Longueville. Pichon Lalande was essentially managed by three women, Therese de Rauzan, Germaine de Lajus and Marie Branda de Terrefort. On the eve of his death in 1850, Baron Joseph de Pichon Longueville divided the property between his five children. His three daughters received Pichon Lalande and his sons Pichon Baron. What happened next was Virginie, the wife of the Count of Lalande took over the management of the estate under the name of Comtesse de Lalande. In 1850 she commissioned the popular, architect Duphot to build a residence inspired by the Hotel de Lalande, located in Bordeaux. Without heirs, Pichon Lalande passed down from aunts to nieces. Following World War I, the Miailhe brothers, bought Pichon Lalande in 1925. They were the ones who planted even more Merlot. May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, the daughter of Edouard Miailhe became the new owner and general manager of Chateau Pichon Lalande in 1978. She expand the size of Chateau Pichon Lalande from 40 hectares to it's current 89 hectares. Chateau Pichon Lalande remained in the same family for more than 250 years! In fact, over three centuries, only two families have owned Pichon Lalande. May-Eliane de Lencquesaing sold Pichon Lalande to the owners of Roederer Champagnein in January 2007. This family-run company is managed by Frederic Rouzaud who owned several other wine estates in Bordeaux; Chateau Bernadotte, Chateau de Pez, Haut Beausejour and Chateau Reaut la Graviere. He sold Chateau Bernadotte in December 2012. In February, 2011, Sylvie Cazes was named the director of Chateau Pichon Lalande. She replaced Gildas d’Ollone. Sylvie Cazes was replaced in 2012 by current Director Nicolas Glumineau, who was previously at Chateau Montrose. In 2012, Pichon Lalande renovated the estate with a budget estimated at over 15 Million Euros. The new facilities included; building of a new underground barrel aging cellar and several new buildings...one that houses their new tasting room as shown. This renovation provided numerous improvements in their wine making. Most importantly, in the vinification. They created a new, triple tiered, cellar where everything moves by gravity. They also added numerous new, stainless steel, temperature controlled, double skinned vats. These new vats allow Pichon Lalande to vinify on a parcel by parcel basis as well as get much softer & gentle extractions. The 89 hectare vineyard of Chateau Pichon Lalande is located adjacent to Chateau Latour and and across the road from Pichon Baron. The terroir of Chateau Pichon Lalande is deep gravel with clay and limestone soil and is planted to; 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. — 8 years ago

Matt Trader

9.5

Note: picture may not be accurate..

Had a chance to taste this 10 year aged single barrel Rye at work and let me tell ya..unique and friggin delicious. A Rye that is aged 10 years in a repurposed bourbon barrel, giving it corn mash like feel, and vanilla caramel notes, still with that characteristic Rye fire and spice, and this single barrel is the first cask strength they've done, rounding up at 117 proof! For that ABV, it is incredibly smooth, and the finish sticks around for like 5 minutes. — 10 years ago

Robert Cunningham

Wine Educator DeVinimus, Wine Workshop

9.3

Very tight and youthful for a 20 year old wine. Needs 3 to 4 hours of air time to start to open. With sufficient air, this is a lovely wine, though I believe it will be more complex and nicely evolved in 10 to 15 years. Good balance on the palate. — 10 years ago

Andy Halvorsen

10

Happy Birthday Adam Greer! — 11 years ago

web bond

9.0

80% Assyrtiko and 20% Aidani. After drying grapes in vineyard for roughly 15 days, fermentation is in stainless steel and then aged for 7-10 years in barrel. — 11 years ago