Mary H

9.7

Y’quem two days in a row? Pinch me! Turpentine/French basement comes across the nose. A flavor punch to the palate, a mouthful of fruit and a looong finish - stewed apricot, peaches, apple. A hint of woodsiness (cypress?) and a sweet creaminess like crème caramel. Amazing wine that frankly overshadowed the apple tart tatin dessert pairing. — 9 months ago

Michael Patrone

9.7

25 years young. So many tertiary flavors of leather and tobacco. Peaked right in the middle of dinner. A nice finish to the end of a wonderful vacation. 4/20/23 — 3 years ago

with Meghana

Neel Master

9.2

Sunshine and tropical fruit just lovely — 4 years ago

Ely Cohn

9.3

Cubillo is a beautiful anomaly in a sea of $25 wines.

It’s the youngest of the lot, but the signature stamp is there, so obviously LDH Tempranillo.

Velvet milk chocolate, ripe black cherries, brand new leather boots. Rich and loaded with cocoa and coffee and raisiny red berries.

It looks like motor oil. Heck it has almost a decade in bottle. Plenty of acid to smooth out over time.

We should be stock piling this - quality and price don’t intersect so well very often. — 4 years ago

Ely Cohn

9.1

Bianco Antico sees a ridiculous 180 days on the skins of Malvasia di Candia Aromatica (different from plain Malvasia). It’s a grippy fully hopped juicy East Coast IPA. Copper tone. Bitter citrus and green tea and grapefruit.

Must love orange wine. Must love bitter dry. — 5 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

Masterclass in San Francisco with Saskia De Rothschild, Chairwoman DBR Lafite.

Saskia told me they are buying an existing property or starting one in China.

The nose reveals; ripe and slight stewed fruits. Blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, dark plum skin, dry cranberries & poached strawberries. Dark, dry soils, limestone minerals, touch of bandaid=VA, saddle-wood, steeped black tea, dry river stone, dark rich & dry soils, crushed rocks, dry underbrush, cherry cola with dry and fresh dark and red flowers.

The body is full and thick. This wine is just coming out of its infant stage and just starting to stretch it arms & legs. The tannins are firm, rounded and powdery. The structure, tension, length and balance show the beauty of the vintage but, the drinking window on their 2000 is somewhere between 2035-2080. Blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, dark plum skin, dry cranberries & poached strawberries. Dark, dry soils, limestone minerals, touch of bandaid, saddle-wood, steeped black tea, dry river stone, dark rich & dry soils, lots of graphite, crushed rocks, limestone, dry crushed rocks, gritty volcanic minerals, dry herbs, dry underbrush, cherry cola with dry and fresh dark and red flowers. The acidity is round and beautiful. The finish is very good now but, if you don’t cellar it 35 years from birth, you are cheating yourself out of something truly special. Its well balanced, rich, ripe and persists for days. 95 now with more to come in 16-25 plus years.

All wines arrived weeks ago directly from the Chateau.

Photos of; the Crown Room on the 23rd floor of the Fairmont where the Masterclass was held, tasting set up, Saskia De Rothschild, Chairwoman DBR Lafite presenting and another view of the city of San Francisco/Bay and the Golden Gate Bride in the background.
— 7 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.0

1995 vintage. Great aging cork in good shape. Decanted and tasted immediately, after 30 mins and after 2 hours. Decent amount of sed. Slight brickish color. Initially and generally throughout, reticent nose and flavors. Very tightly wound overall. Eventually able to coax a small amount of black olive out of the nose along with minerals for days. Some dark cherry and plum allied with baking chocolate in the transition from mid-palate to finish. It was tough sledding in the frontal palate. Super dry with summer earth/dirt at the start. Obvious class but never really flashed more than a few cards to play. Perhaps a different bottle shows a little more love? Producer is always on the leaner side so unbridled optimism on that front is likely wasted energy. 10.25.23. — 2 years ago

Jim Wagonfeld

9.3

Consumed over 3 days. Nose of strawberry. Dark garnet in color. By day three the initial tight, dense palate has added sour cherry, plum currents and a deep array of leather, tobacco, loam, coffee endingwith thyme and violets. This earthy wine needs 3-5 more years or a long decant. Typical Sangiovese/CCR at a very high level. — 3 years ago

with Judy

Scott G

9.5

How does she do it? That shimmering Alsatian minerality balanced out with this almost metallic salinity, nutty sherry oxidation, and a squeeze of lime. — 4 years ago

Jim McCusker

9.2

From Russell From of Herman Story. Love his wines. This is one we probably should have had a year or two ago. Still really good, but a lot of the vibrancy that makes grenache so spectacular has largely fallen away. — 5 years ago

with Vanessa

Jim McCusker

9.5

Glenfarclas. There is no substitute. — 6 years ago

with Vanessa

Natalie Griffin

9.4

Great champagne blend with sharp bubbles and toasted caramel notes. Some green apple. Excellent especially at $25. — 7 years ago

Chris England

9.3

🎄 Advent Halfy Calendar Day 18 🎄

🎅 Santa says “Musar is Musar & Santa is Santa 😉”

📝 I say Musar is always better with 15-25 years age but this 8 year baby is quite gluggable

⏩ 🍾 Mrs E got Veuve Clicquot NV

📍 Chateau Musar 2010

🏵 92 points

🍇 33% Cinsault, 33% Carignan & 34% Cabernet Sauvignon

🍷Rich deep ruby

👃 Raisin, date, fig & herb through blackcurrant, strawberry, raspberry & blackberry w/ mint, light smoke, oak shards, earth, spice & cherry expressed best in a Zalto Burgundy glass

👄 Med body fruit explosion of black & red berry/currant fruits w/ a touch of mocha & a fresh clean mint repeat red fruit follow through then a hit of fig & date in med acidity

🎯 Med+ slight sweet & dry clean fruit bomb refreshing linger
— 7 years ago

Dave Hoffman

8.9

50% Sangiovese; 25% Merlot; 25% Cabernet Sauvignon — 3 years ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.6

Deeper ruby , narrower rim , just touch of garnet . Quite deep and rich , deeper darker fruits , quite mineral. More cedar and dark cassis , grafite , iron fillings , touch of mint quite ripe rounded but present tannins . Good balanced acidity, robust but very long on the palate . Also needs more time really though is surprisingly enjoyable now because of the roundness of the fruit and ripe tannins , better in 10 years and will last well over the next 20- 25. Bigger boned , fatter and more robust and powerful than the Lafite 2000, though still hugely complex and satisfying. — 3 years ago

Josh Morgenthau

9.4

Signature manure and violets on the nose, purple flowers and forest floor. Very balanced and pretty, incredible acid and chalky minerals all the way through the finish. Great if not quite the brilliant energy and structure of 2014. Such a unique and iconic expression of cab franc. Upgrade to 9.4 after a few days open. Just beautiful. — 4 years ago

David S. Lopez

8.9

An excellent blend of 75 % Cabernet and 25% Syrah. It went well with the ribeye steak at California Pizza Kitchen. Many thanks to Chris and Ron for bringing it to our vacation in Solana Beach. — 4 years ago

Justin Rogers

8.9

Tastes good but $25. You can find better wine for less — 6 years ago

Marty McNees

9.4

Great company. Great meal. Great wine! — 6 years ago

Shala W Summey Iii

9.1

This is very good bargain in the $25 range. This and the J Lohr Hilltop are favorites in this price range. — 7 years ago