Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.
Fun to open birth year wines around your birthday, especially when you can do a Bordeaux and Napa side by side. While not a great vintage, this held up well after a few hours and presented as expected. Clean and zero Brett. Great color! Deep ruby with hardly any bricking. Leather, cassis, vanilla pipe tobacco on the nose. Sporting a good bit of dusty red and black fruits (mostly tart raspberries and blackberries), there was a little savory truffle note mixed with an herbal and mocha finish. Still quite grippy. Pretty. — a month ago
So elegant Montrose. It builds up an epic journey in the aftertaste. Rich and opulent as usual but with a fine touch of incredible level.
Softer extraction resulted on a fruitier, more sapid and rounder wine than usual. It feels it’s going to be approachable in its youth. — 24 days ago
enjoyed with a cigarette: as god intended — a month ago
The 2013 Comtes de Champagne is a towering Champagne, as it was last year. Rich, sumptuous and explosive, the 2013 soars out of the glass with a captivating mix of tropical fruit, apricot, passion fruit, baked apple tart, mint and yellow flowers. It is one of the most explosive, extroverted Comtes I have ever tasted. Impressive. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, March 2024)
— a month ago
Popped and poured; enjoyed over three days and showed very well throughout. The 2012 pours a deep garnet color with a near opaque core and some browning towards the rim; medium+ viscosity with no staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with secondary characteristics just starting to show themselves. Also, the solar nature of 2012 is showing through with loads of truffles and overripe and desiccated red and black fruits: tartufo bianco d’Alba, dried cherry, bruised raspberries, red roses, leather, Fig Newtons, dried herbs, and some dusty and gravelly earth. On the palate, the wine is bone dry with high tannins and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long, drying and savory. I’ve been a vocal fan of the 2012 vintage of Produttori since release and this might be the best showing yet. This is my last 750mL. My remaining bottles are magnums and I’ll look forward to enjoying those over the next 10-15 years. No rush, but this is a fun time to drink these as the truffle character is starting to peak through. — 10 days ago
Can’t tell if not in a great spot or maybe some slight heat damage—but leaning to the latter. Tasty, but not as good as it should have been — 2 months ago
Had to try it. Used to love their work prior to 2012. After that, their style changed to picking at higher brix levels thus creating a much sweeter profile. SS was one I’d hoped they’d left alone and they did not. Not quite as sweet as their regular Cabernet but sweeter than before. I made the pitch to the property to make Caymus Classic along side their new sweeter style wines. The 94 Special Selection was one of their best. — a month ago
Steve Belmonte
Excellent as always. Smooth right out of the bottle. Gets better over time — 24 days ago