Lauren Johnson

10

Smelled and tasted amazing.

The Winery Restaurant and Bar, Newport Beach JW + SK. 6/9/2025 — a year ago

Lee Pitofsky

9.4

The first couple times I tried 08 I was definitely too quick to judge. It needs a ton of air, and it’s different from the rich, oxidative, nutty house style of the past, particularly the warm and ultra forward 2006, the previous release. 2008 is indeed young, tightly wound with a pulsating core of energy.

The first glass offers very little. Subdued, austere and youthfully reserved. But ensuing pours eventually unleash its core of powerful clean orchard fruit, coffee bean and grilled nuts. On the palate it continues to become so much more textural with crazy gains in weight, depth and fruit intensity as the night goes on. It really fills the mouth, saturating the palate with a satin-like texture, ripping citrusy acids and saline laced minerals that follow deep into its finish. Enjoyable now with enough air (needs 2 hours), but no doubt one to hold. To live forever. — 4 years ago

Nathan Kinney

9.8

Beach Wine 2019 — 7 years ago

Jeremiah Allen

9.7

Pure magic! ‘67 is a legendary vintage, lucky to experience a flawless bottle. This was fully resolved and hauntingly aromatic. It’s was energetic and lasted in the glass. Probably another decade of life left for these Normale bottlings — 8 years ago

Conrad Green

9.8

A treat. Dark in color, slightly cloudy. A powerful nose with dark, very mouton fruit. Incredibly aromatic, blackcurrant, mint,graphite, dried herbs, eucalyptus. The palate is extraordinary. So dense and powerful for a wine of almost 70 years. Dark fruit with a savory undertow- leather, thyme, sour cherry, dark chocolate. Really precise flavors and long. After an hour or two in glass there’s notes of coconut and soft wood. Extraordinary. Clearly there’s a lot of age on this but the sheer quality makes for a really dynamic wine. An exceptional bottle, and a teal treat. — 8 years ago

with Howard, Tony and 1 other

Ryan Vento

9.0

Dare I say we went back to Seasons 52 for another round of $10/glass Caymus? Yes...we did, and it won't be the last round, I can tell you that. — 9 years ago

with Krystal

Robert Cunningham

Wine Educator DeVinimus, Wine Workshop

9.3

Lovely fruit. Drinking well. Fades with time in the glass however — 10 years ago

Nichole Mao

9.0

Dark berries, cherry, dried herb,
Same palate as nose, cigar box, coffee, high tannin, high but well balanced tannin, full body — 11 years ago

BStro

9.0

$30 for the glass — 11 years ago

Coco&Lucie

9.6

One of my favorite of the appellation. Spice is perfectly balance with red fruit. It´s earthy, complex and refined. A piece of beef tenderloin on barbecue, fleur de sel and a glass of Beaucastel, what else?! — 12 years ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.3

Medium lemon colour . Very little perlage . This is quite mature on the nose with some orange rind , touch of honied brioche , dried chanterelles and some oyster shell . Some roasted almond , really quite intense on the palate , high refreshing mineral tinged acidity , orange peel , nutty , slightly honied long and quite electric finish. This holds up pretty well in the glass becoming more chalky and mineral. Drink now and over the next few years, at least on this showing . — a year ago

Teresa Teixeira

9.6

2021 not to dry perfect — 4 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

It has been a great day hanging out with my love & best friend for Valentines Day. If I could give anyone young enough advise on selecting partner, marry your best friend you love. Greater degree of happiness & success. ❤️😍😘🥰

Love you Sofia and raise a glass of one of our favorite N/V Rosé Bubbles in celebration. Cheers! 🍾🥂

Happy Valentines Days everyone. Hope you are with the wine & one you love the most.

@Oswald — 7 years ago

Jack Petras

9.8

Fortunate enough to have tasted this along with 6 other stunning wines last night during a cellar tasting. This 36 year old 2nd growth was nearly perfect, unusual but very pleasant mint, camphor, crushed sage and rosemary aromas with the same cooling delicate herbal initial palate. Dried but expressive red fruits mid- palate with a great structural graphite element throughout. Whiff of new leather. Changed in the glass showing different mellow facets. Pretty much intercepted at the exact right time. A real privilege to taste such a renowned vintage with folks who appreciates what was in front of them. — 8 years ago

Bill Bender

9.6

This was just a blockbuster--lavender and pencil lead burst from the glass and warm blue and red fruit follow. Impressive precision and length. Lush, silky and just plain gorgeous. — 9 years ago

with Michael and romo

Vic Petroff

9.4

Yummy, rich, oxi butterscotchy glass of fun. — 9 years ago

Lewis Chester

9.2

2003 vintage. From Jay. Very nice. Much better than expected. Goes down all together way too easily when you're surrounded by snow! Deep ruby core washing out towards the edges. No bricking...yet. Nose is a preponderance of dark fruits together with blueberries and ripe cassis with slight under tones of cloves and a hint of graphite. This is a very fruity affair- takes me back to Christmas. The wine expresses on the palate as it does on the nose. Layers of rich fruit with traces of brown spice. There's a lovely sweetness here that makes the wine a pleasure to drink despite the relatively modest acidity. The tannins are soft and lush. The finish is good with a continued preponderance of fruit right to the very end although it is moderate in length. This is a very quaff able wine...could be at this all night with pleasure just sit me down in front of an open fire and hand me a Montecristo! 92+/100. Drink now to 2028. NB - no need to decant. This wine can happily be poured from bottle post opening and allowed to open in the glass. — 11 years ago

Jae Cho

9.1

Still tightly coiled, giving its perfumed nose after 1.5hours in glass. Medium to full with a focus long cab fruit — 11 years ago

Andrew Benn

9.3

Very delicate until 90 minutes in
very different than other vintages
showed that power, black fruit and balanced tanmins in last glass
lots of.life left
enjoyed with Jim and Anna over an apple stuffed pork roast — 12 years ago

Patrick Knöfler

8.9

The wine was medium to dark garnet in colour. On day one it offered red fruit, cherry, balsamic vinegar, cola, leather, mushroom, earthy and vegetal notes and a wet sewer component on the nose. On the palate the the wine showed red fruit, cherry, blackberry, tobacco and earthy notes, the acidity was quite pronounced, the wine became slightly drying and even more acidic after some time in the glass, and the fruit faded a bit. Two days later, on day three, the medium-bodied wine was more balanced and showed red and dark fruit, some chocolate, some tobacco, spices and earthy notes on the nose, and red fruit, cherry, leather, tobacco, earthy and balsamic notes on the palate, with just a faint touch of greenness, paired with medium-plus well-integrated tannin, medium-plus acidity and very good length. I had almost written-off the wine on day one and then, surprisingly, it showed much better the third day. Holding-up well. 90 — 12 years ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

No formal notes. Maybe slightly less dense ruby, wider rim . More refined and quite elegant , medium bodied , slightly more cooler greener fruits . This quite aromatic initially, mix of red and dark hedgerow fruits . A little more refined and small boned , perhaps a little light a shorter than others . This was impressive out of the gate , aromatic and charming quite mineral also , though it was the only wine that faded a little with time in the glass . This appears to be at its peak though probably will remain here for another 5 -10 years perhaps — 2 years ago

Pooneet K

9.3

Beautiful, beautiful wine. The last 96 we had was maybe a smidge more together but it’s marginal. Quite dark in the glass. Deep restrained red fruit on the nose. Tannins are slightly dusty but overall very seamless. Excellent refreshing acid. Perfect with a dry aged strip steak. — 6 years ago

Mike Saviage

9.5

Last night in MT at the lake. Gave this several hours of air. Nice dark tawny color. Vibrant in the glass. The nose is great right away and stayed on point through the evening. Notes of black cherries, warm raspberries, old cedar, some plums and a little leather saddle. Rich and silky in the mouth. Velvet glove. Long finish. Great wine. — 7 years ago

Peter Marks

Master of Wine, Educator Constellation Brands

9.0

Rose petal and violets mixed with fresh nectarine. Medium-full body for a rose and with nice dry texture on the long finish. — 8 years ago

with Adrienne

Daniel M

9.2

Very easy going ! Nose of cherry. Superb palate, quite simple yet elegant, on cherry and blood with a very long acid back bone. The glass keeps getting empty very fast ... love it — 9 years ago

Andrew Lubeck

8.9

Rich though lacked some oomph. May have been open awhile (by the glass) — 9 years ago

Bill Bender

9.3

Musky, funky nose. Orange hues by candlelight in the glass. Warm, pleasing tannins. Fig, tar, flint. A nice intro to this maker. — 10 years ago

with Vickie

Anne Marie Marji

9.2

From Doreen / had a glass at Janice's new house — 11 years ago

Carl Steefel

9.8

Informal gathering to drink some Bordeaux varietal bottles with steak.

1986 Cheval Blanc: This one showed suspect ullage, to the point where it had been hard to flip it. And in the end, it did turn out to be a controversial wine--was the orgasm 40 days, or was it 36 days? Hard to say... An extraordinary wine, classic in its own way, with fragrant dark flower and black cassis aromas wafting from the glass, and maybe more importantly for us, exploding in the mouth. Some of the more ordinary adjectives, like "smooth" and "balanced", are accurate enough, but obviously don't do this one justice. One could do a fluid dynamical description of the time evolution of this wine in the mouth, a broad attack that gave way in about 3 seconds to a sensation of acceleration and flaring across the entire breadth of the palate as the wine detonated, an oenological version of a jet... And then a persistent finish where the inner mouth perfume resonates as it fades slowly (or simply moved off to some parallel universe). — 11 years ago

Lucas

9.3

My final bottle of red wine for 2014 paired with ribeye. Absolutely delicious, changing in character with almost every glass. I woke up this morning to read the sad news that Serge passed away yesterday. Rest in peace Mr Hochar. — 12 years ago