A pretty color of ruby, with a wide brick/ reddish rim.
Full bodied and elegant.
Dry on the palate with medium acidity.
Showing red currants, plums, cherries, wood, spices, coffee, dark chocolates, earth, tobacco leaf, herbs and black pepper.
Medium finish with soft tannins and tangy raspberries.
This 15 year old Rioja Reserva is drinking very nicely now. Showing nice complexity at this point.
Still young and will continue to age nicely in the next 10 years.
Nicely balanced with a nice mouthfeel. A very tasty aged Rioja, and a good food wine.
Robert Parker 95 points.
I Had this vintage a year ago, and it feels pretty much the same.
A blend of 75% Tempranillo, 15% Garnacha, 5% Mazuelo and 5% Graciano. Aged in used American oak barrels for 6 years.
13% alcohol by volume.
91 points.
$55. — 5 months ago
Excellent blend. Bold, complex body and smooth finish. Great for the price point. Enjoying with ocean in the back at One Ocean Resort and Spa. — 6 months ago
Decant for sediment and pour. Still a wondrous dark garnet with bricking. On the nose: beautiful gotta keep coming back notes of dark plum, smoked meat, cigar box, touch of barnyard funk, vanilla spice. Taste: silky smooth with brambly cherry, dirt, leather, cedar, grilled peppered meat with a medium plus finish. YUM! Still drinking well at 33 years old. — 9 months ago
Delicious delicious. Dark and rich. Well blended. Even at this age it will go several more years. The flavor is just amazing. The roundness is there. Yum. — 6 years ago
Tart cherries, underripe strawberries, crunchy, ripping acid, crazy length. Juicy and delicious. Gamay at its best. Sans Soufre! — 11 years ago
1995 vintage. Great fill, foil and label. Perfect cork. From a top-notch cellar. Decanted and tasted over the course of two hours. Volcanic ash-styled sed vs chunky-style. Big funk on the nose that resolved after 7-8 minutes. Wine was showing decently (in the 69-72 degree range) but lacking any tannic structure. Placed the decanter atop an ice bucket bath to drop the temp down to 60 degrees or so. Took about 20 minutes but the tannins kicked in the door to say hello. Fruit components stayed constant. Pauillac tendencies were all there. As is the case often with older BDX, the decaying matter/leaves at the onset transitioned to graphite/lead pencil and espresso flavors. This was a superior bottle in great shape. Top of this wine’s specific bell curve. Comparable bottles would look to be drinking this well for the next 5-7 years without dropoff. Out of larger format…could possibly push this into 9.4 status. 2.5.24. — 2 months ago
This was fantastic, strong, and yet still seemingly understated. Although I am no fortune teller, this seemed strong and young. I couldn’t place all the flavors I experienced, but to my palate there was raspberry, blackberry, smoked meats, soil after a rain, and portobello mushroom all matched with a beautiful color to stare at between sips. Long pauses to enjoy the long finish. — 3 months ago
Very deep ruby , ruby rim, shockingly young . Very closed still , mineral , creme de cassis , dark and meaty , grafite , chestnut . On the palate very tight and young , cassis with dark blackcurrant , cedar , tobacco and granite . Concentrated but balanced at the same time , gritty tannins , balanced acidity. Long and complex on the finish , with mineral , grafite notes . A great wine surely , this is so young and with huge potential. I suppose more impressive than enjoyable at this stage. This needs time in bottle, maybe come back in 5 years and will last a further 20-30 . — 4 months ago
Finally lost my Heitz MV virginity. One word, wow. The mint-eucalyptus was there on the nose. A very powerful wine that smelled powerful and tasted powerful. Besides the mint , hints of earth & cigar notes but clearly in the background. I was having a hard time trying to grasp how youthful and balanced the wine was on the palate. I found the fruit was on the darker side with lingering tannins. I left this in the decanter for three days. The nose really never diminished, the palate grudgingly. If I had to nitpick I felt it was lacking some of the complexity that I would have expected at this stage. — 5 months ago
Another try at this one after a few years and mostly the same result for me. Solid if not spectacular. It needed an hour to open and significantly improved but it was a less impressive mix of earthiness and mature fruit than I have been expecting based on reviews. — 6 months ago
Celler de Can Roca — 3 years ago
Had at Smith & Wollensky. — 2 months ago
Decant for sediment and pour(decent chunky/fine sediment). A remarkable murky magenta color with bricking. On the nose: beautiful nose of stewed black fruit/currants, floral, herbaceous, burnt embers, spearment. Taste: classic old school Napa, juicy, balanced, savory wine with dark cherry, baking spice, smoke, sweet tobacco and a nice long earthy cocoa finish. YUM! Drinks well at year 20 and glad to have another bottle. — 3 months ago
#AgedWineTuesday
Beautiful ruby in color, with a very wide reddish rim. Bricking at the very top.
Light nose with red and black fruits, light cedar and tobacco leaf.
Medium plus in body with medium acidity.
Dry on the palate with black plums, currants, cherries, earth, black coffee, oak, herbs, vegetables, spices, tobacco leaf, dark chocolates and black tea.
Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy raspberries.
This 26 year old from the great 1998 vintage in Southern Rhone is drinking beautifully now. Soft and smooth, elegant and earthy.
Not so good right out of the bottle, and needed 90 minutes of airtime to open up properly, so be patient.
Robert Parker 95 points. Wine Spectator 94 points.
Will continue to drink nicely in the next 5 years.
Showing nice complexity and good balance.
I paired it with a Charcuterie board of meats and cheeses.
14% alcohol by volume.
93 points.
$120 (current vintage). — 3 months ago
Turkey Day wine while at Mike’s cabin. The Boy shot a button buck this morning. Best Turkey Day ever. — 5 months ago
1949 vintage (!!!). Very special half bottle, but more than half the volume lost to evaporation. Opened this gem at Totoraku yesterday to go with two full bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 1996 and 1952 (!!). This Temple of Beef demands special occasion wines. Cork fell apart in the bottle so we poured it all in a decanter but did not wait to sip. Pale strawberry-orange color, surprising tart fruit nose, supremely delicate taste with just a bit of fruit and life left. Not the best bottle on the table but certainly not the undrinkable. Interesting experience. Would gladly do it again in the name of science. Oldest Red Bordeaux I have ever tasted. — 6 months ago
3.6. Gift from Danielle. We drank it with Charlene. Delicious. Priced online at about $99. — 6 months ago
A little thin at first, but then got going after an hour or so being opened — 2 years ago
Incredibly smooth wine. Dry for a Pinot but great taste and no harshness at all. Fantastic. — 8 years ago
Austin Hohnke
Worth a check in at 10 years. Always an outstanding nose. Needed hours of air and still pretty shy, fruit in particular is closed. Paired with NY strip tonight. Have half a case left of this vintage and will check in again in a couple years. — 2 months ago