David Kline

9.4

Mushroom and roots of river scrub poking out from muddy banks while skewering the corner-baked brownie with a thin, nearly burnt, crispy collar. A papyrus envelope lies open, filled with sandalwood soaked clay, and a blackberry, blueberry, gooseberry reduction with cassis just to tease. Lean mouthfeel that turns sharply mid-palate to a gravelly mineshaft of nutmeg, black sesame, burnt brownie bits, and soft cranberry jellies wraps up herbaceously with cedar chips, Provençal herbs, hazelnut, Brazil nut skin, hot saw blades salivating old cherrywood and belching pipe tobacco. Kept me nose deep in the funk. Brilliant wine with a surly personality. #LaFleurdeBoüard #Pomerol #rightbank #frenchred #lalande #lalandelicious #rivermonster — 7 years ago

with Courtney

Jason Chang

Proprietor NINE SUNS Winery, HOUYI Vineyard

9.3

Tough to follow the burg. Not the same refined textures. I think if alone I'd appreciate it more. Still like right banks though! Thanks Greg! — 8 years ago

with Wai, Flora and 1 other

Christian Baeppler

9.0

2012 Sandhi Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir from one of the oldest plantings in the Santa Rita Hills (1971). Youthful, lovely fruit purity and freshness, highlighting the vineyards cool micro climate. This wine speaks the language of the vineyard. Old world wine style made in the New World. This will age gracefully, but already delicious! Only 600 x 6-Packs produced, partnership between Charles Banks (Ex-Screaming Eagle and Sommelier Rajat Parr, winemaker Sashi Moorman) available in Thailand through wine garage. — 8 years ago

Dock Hooks

9.0

An engaging spicy nose should pull you into a berry-delicious (blue, ras & straw) first blush that's tannic/acid creates a coating, clinging downstream flow that leisurely works the banks and turns then plunges into a clean freefall urging yet another swig... — 9 years ago

Jimmy Smith

Director, West and North London Wine School

10

1947: greatest wine I've ever tasted. Incredible freshness, integrated sweetness and a list of flavour compounds that delectable's memory banks wouldn't be able to cope. Incredible — 9 years ago

Dr Bob

9.2

The 2003 Right Banks are hitting their peak right now. This case was great. — 9 years ago

Brian McMahon

Sales Polaner Selections

9.2

Varietals: Chenin Blanc
Vineyard: Saini Farms, Dry Creek Valley AVA
Orientation: On the banks of the Dry Creek, North-South facing row direction
Soil: Sandy loam, gravely River bottom
Viticulture: Sustainable - Cordon trellis and dry farmed
Vinification: Fermented in stainless steel
Aging: Aged in neutral barrels for 3-4 months
Production: 408 cases - 750ml and 30 cases - 375ml
Notes: Pale straw color with green reflections. A lovely nose, with aromas of apple, Anjou pear, white jasmine tea and hints of peach and nutmeg. On the palate, orchard fruit and citrus layers mingle with green tropical elements, all supported by crisp, acidity, enlivening minerality and delicate white flower notes. — 9 years ago

Jason Banks

9.0

Thank you Rachel!!! It is delicious and of course pizza night at the Banks Mafia residence! — 10 years ago

Gary Westby

Champagne & Sherry buyer K&L Wines

10

On deck for dinner with Mr. Todd! Tiny production all Chardonnay Champagne from sites on the banks of Marne tributary the Flagot. — 10 years ago

with Cleora, Michel and 2 others

Eric Adams

9.3

Even though it is a "celebrity wine". Beaucastel has done a great job with this rosé. This one on the banks of the Rhone in Condrieu. — 11 years ago

Katherine R

8.9

Delicious on a hot summer evening. If wine was water rushing and flowing over rocks in a stream with fruit trees and bushes on the banks, this would be that wine. — 7 years ago

Justin Hansohn

9.5

There are these moments in recorded music where something gets reissued today from like the 70s or 80s on a crisp new vinyl press. Nobody's seen the original because it's so damn rare. And the recording just fucking bumps so hard and the soul of the music is so deep, from the ages when synths and sample banks were too far off to care about. Ya, this. This is the one. Don't be afraid to drink this today. You will be rewarded with soul. It will be difficult to return to trap hats and people with no talent feeding you meaningless poetic dribble. And my apologies to Amass, we put you up against this. Unfortunately this wine won in the end by a long shot and the 30 chefs in your kitchen were all slain by 3 generations of farmers working side by side. — 8 years ago

with Taylor

Ricardo Beltran

9.3

Pure Alentejo Soul! Quality price ratio is top! It aged for about 5 years at 14 degrees and darkness. Etc. was still a genuine wine at the time of the 2009 harvest. Now a days it unfortunately shifted to a rather commercial banks wine. — 8 years ago

Mekiva

9.3

Not bad for $6.99
— 8 years ago

Elyse Lichtenthal

9.3

Nectarines.. Aromatic. Balanced acidity. Beach/sweet and sandy. Pungent minerality. -Grand Banks — 9 years ago

MaJ CappS

9.0

A superb wine in a superb vintage. On the river banks, these grapes shine. Touches of salinity with a mouthful of darker fruit, and lingering flavors. This hits every part of the palette. What a wonderful wine! — 9 years ago

Gary Westby

Champagne & Sherry buyer K&L Wines

9.5

This 11 year old blend of even parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot comes from a 50+ year old vines in the gravel banks of north eastern Italy. The Vencjar is the Figeac of Friuli with excellent,high class earthiness tied to dark plum & currant fruit. The wine was great with Cinnamon's homemade gnocchi! — 9 years ago

with Cleora

Seba Stian

9.0

Great Georgian toast is to your neighbor - he is the most important, especially if you moved into new place.

Here are neighbors from one river banks, but different countries. Sogevinus Fine Wines & Bodegas Emilio Moro - made this opulent, rich and silky wine. Elegant fruit, wrapped into noble oak, great wine -with each sip I can contemplate about toasts wisdom - vostok delo tonkoe.

Maybe missing a bit of length,but I forgive them, the balance is perfect. Don't expect claws, this is tuxedo dress code. — 9 years ago

Elise Fullford

9.3

Nags head wine — 10 years ago

Joe Carroll

Owner/Wine Director Spuyten Duyvil, Fette Sau, St. Anselm & Gotham Artisanal Provisions

9.5

Jean Van Roy's amazing story of Zwanze 2013. When we started renovation works in the cellars of the brewery two years ago, much to our surprise we came upon the remains of some very old walls. In agreement with the medievalists of the city of Brussels, the works were stopped in order to allow archaeological excavations to take place.

Shortly thereafter we were astonished to find out that Cantillon brewery had in fact been built on the ruins of the very ancient Abbey of Cureghem! According to the medievalists, this religious community was well-known during the middle ages for its fowl fed on draff and, more specifically, for its dish of stuffed Cureghem capon, which was served with a beer brewed at the abbey and apparently drew pilgrims from all over Europe.

Yet it was truly a heavenly surprise when the excavations uncovered the cell of the abbot, Father Faro. In the small room the archaeologists found quite a few old reference books, one of which contained the original recipes for the beers brewed at the abbey several hundred years ago. We didn’t hesitate for a second and decided on the spot to recreate one of these mythical beers.

This beer, which will be our Zwanze for 2013, therefore bears the name of its illustrious place of origin, Abbaye de Cureghem (Cureghem Abbey). Cureghem was formerly a village established many centuries ago on the banks of the Senne, the river running through present-day Brussels. The area was very heavily industrialised during the 19th century and, among other things, became home to many breweries. Today, it is part of the municipality of Anderlecht.

Since beers commonly referred to as “abbey beers” are not, or not any longer, products of spontaneous fermentation, we decided to brew a top fermentation beer, from a technical point of view in any case. The yeasts were selected in collaboration with Institut Meurice, a post-secondary college in Brussels specialising in biotechnology. Brewed in March 2012, our “Cureghem” beer fermented four weeks in stainless steel tanks before being blended with 10% lambic and pumped into 400-litre barrels of various origins. After maturing for six months, the beers were blended and put into casks or bottles to undergo re-fermentation and reach 7.2% ABV (Alcohol by Volume).

Inevitably, a top fermentation beer brewed in a spontaneous fermentation environment will be affected by the wild yeasts in the air, and this is certainly what happened in our case. For our Cureghem, the cultured yeasts were clearly the main factor behind primary fermentation and I think that the wild yeasts in the beer will instead play an increasingly important role as the product ages. However, despite the addition of the lambic to give it a little “extra something” in terms of character and ageing characteristics, this Zwanze cannot in any case be considered a spontaneous fermentation beer.

The long fermentation period coupled with the presence of wild yeasts lends this beer a solid character with a dry finish that lingers on the palate, while the combined use of fresh and aged hops yields both freshness and bitterness. Moreover, the different malts used give this year’s Zwanze a coppery colour along with a touch of caramel and candied fruit that provide body. Clearly, this is not your standard “abbey” beer but, perhaps, it is representative of what these beers were one or two hundred years ago — 11 years ago

TheSkip

9.0

Happy Canada 150!!!!!! 🇨🇦 🇨🇦

This Canadian Bordeaux blend sits between the left and right banks. Fairly light on her feet but tannic and bold. Still, a nice wine! — 7 years ago

Michael Horkay

9.1

Could have been better given the vintage but still a well made wine with plenty of gas in the tank. I always find Margaux sweeter than must left banks and thus chateau is no exception. — 8 years ago

Beachin Wino

9.0

Enjoyed this wine at Trio and Bluewater in Outer Banks. A most excellent value! Great fruit and lingering finish. Much more than you would expect at this price point! A new favorite! — 8 years ago

with Fred

Derek Hearst

9.5

Amazing experience to drink this on the banks of the Douro River. Blackberry and dark cherry really came through. Almost reminded us of an aged Rhone wine at this stage. Quite a treat! — 8 years ago

Lee Feldmann

9.8

Unbelievable, buttery with an undertone of citrus but certainly even better with family and swordfish in the Outer Banks of North Carolina! :-) — 9 years ago

Justin Madol

9.0

Deep ruby colouring. The nose explodes with herbs, black plum, tobacco and pencil shavings. Massive palette saturated with dark red fruits and herb with larger tannin than expected. Feels a bit of a rouge amongst the left banks. Rounded out after 6+ hours decanting. This could benefit from another 8-10yrs in the cellar but may never be typical. — 9 years ago

Justin Hansohn

9.2

Smoky sweet barbecue sauce classic showing this declassified juice coming off the banks of the roasted slopes. No work no waiting necessary. Perfect right out of the bottle and ridiculously hard not to finish too quickly. I don't know why I'm still seeing this on shelves regularly. Sleeping on it are we? Tisk tisk tisk — 9 years ago

with Arturo

John Junguenet

9.0

Gripa. Sneaky good. 50 Cab S/50 young vine Syrah from St Joseph and some vines on banks of the Rhône. This is the '09 bottling. Vintage only indicated on the cork. Shibby! — 9 years ago

Roy Arias

8.9

Banks 5 island rum makes one great Hemingway Daiquiri! I'm digging Jim Meehan's ratios in his PDT book. — 10 years ago

Emily Tully

9.9

2004 napa bottle in outer banks — 11 years ago