Joan Ziegler

9.2

Beautiful fruit forward crisp Brut Rose. Strawberry small bubbles! Great to celebrate my brand new Ferrari 2025 knee to replace my original equipment! 😉 So far an incredibly great recovery! — 2 months ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.7

I forgot to shoot the Moonracer bottle and borrowed some of these images from their site.

This is one of my favorite wines from Realm. Very kind of Leslie to open for us. The 2021 was outstanding and have it at 97-98. Showed very well at well pop and pour.

The nose on the 2021 Moonracer was quite feminine which has great appeal to me. Dark perfume florals, ripe, lush currants but more cassis with beautiful, soft baking spices.

The palate was fresh and shows round, ruby, lush fruits of; blackberries, black raspberries, black plum, plum, dark cherries. It is feminine & elegant in its style. Powdered, limestone, rocks & sandstone, soft, dark spice with gentle heat as it sets, sweet forest floor, black licorice, mixed berry cola, some soft, fresh tobacco, expensive, plush leather, softly stated baking spices-nutmeg, clove cinnamon & vanillin, melted dark chocolate, a mix of fresh, red, blue florals framed in violets & some lavender, perfect acidity, elegant, round, extremely well balanced, layered, structured long finish that is two-minutes.

One thing of note, there will be no 2022 The Absurd. The Absurd fruit will go into The Bard and a couple of their others wines. Reason, the six days of brutal heat during the potential harvest window.

Stunning pano view of Pritchard Hill from their estate. If we had been there the day before, fog and clouds would have made this photo impossible. Brand plate on their stainless steel tanks, believe a shot of their Moonracer vineyard and sitting area in their tasting room. — 2 years ago

Ted Holland

9.2

Brand New 2017 Boheme English Hill Chardonnay! Beautiful, delicious, well balanced wine. Enjoy!! — 5 years ago

Severn G

9.2

Wine 7/12 (White Field Blend)

Nose has straw bales, honey candy, salt toffee, dried lemon peel, minor cider vinegar and quite wilted daffodils.

Palate has salted lemon slice, grapefruit pith, honey, tart yellow apple, sea salt and oh the astonishing acidity with a long finish. Amazing, alive!

Been waiting to get my hands on anything from the Brand bros. for quite some time, would love the rosé, but this German take on Gemischter Satz is also right in my lane! Funk welcomed.

Once again it is notable that I have made one full trip around the Sun earlier this week. We had our small, social bubble team to the house for celebrating my getting older and somewhat less flexible in advancing age...Whatever will be done when I creast 50? Well, at least it's several years until needing manage that concern.

We enjoyed well-salted Ribeyes (Kinderhook Farm - Valatie, NY, prepared 48h in advance), turning to a beautiful medium-rare after a mere 12m of grill time and smashed, small red potatoes with capers (yeah try it, don't judge me yet). None of the bottles were particularly planned as 'steak wines'; we didn't care as it really was a wine nerd-fest of grapes/regions, from Burgenland, Austria to Brittany, France. Wine and food were on individual plateaux today. This was the vom Boden Spring Experience case, expertly curated by Stephen Bitterolf, and well received by our tasting crew. — 5 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

I always have two wines to pair with an entree. Like variety. This has a beautiful herbal quality in it that pairs nicely as a follow up wine to my pork chop.

Here is the recipe. Try it sometime.

4-6 thick cut bone-in pork chops

- 1 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of Tamari soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
- 2 scallions chopped
- 1 teaspoon Tabasco Sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of Lee Kim Kee brand chili sauce
-1 1/2 teaspoons of ginger (I triple this)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic (again.
I double this)
- 3/4 cup of cilantro (no stems)
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil — 2 months ago

Peter van den Besselaar

8.9

Vintage 2015 | Right bank Bordeaux, brand of a large Belgium retailer. The back label does not give information about grapes, but says it should be drunk in 2 to 3 years. I kept it 8 years 🫣 and now it has a brown tuilé colour, beautiful tertiary tones in smell like autumn leaves, tobacco, leather. Supple taste of course. I like aged wines and I like this Blaye. More now than when I drank it in 2017 😏. Be contrary sometimes pays ☺️. Paired with ravioli filled with goatscheese and citruszeste, served with sage butter and grated Parmesan. — 2 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

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

I’ve had a number of Paul Bara N/V’s & a few vintage cuvées, all have been ok to good. This 2016 Special Club stands out as one of the very best I’ve had from this producer.

It is a blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay. Its dosage is 6 g, which makes it just into the lowest level of Brut, which is another reason why I probably enjoy it. Extra Brut has definitely become my wheelhouse. This right now is more 93 to 94. With 5-8 yrs of cellar time, it should improve another point or two.

Paul Bara is one of 28 or 29 special club members currently.

The nose shows; bright, lemon, cream, notes of honey, caramel, lime, zest, pineapple juice, honeydew, and tropical melons, beautiful, chalky powder, yeasty notes, spring, flowers, yellow, lilies and Jasmine.

The mouth entry shows beautiful, mousse and crisp acidity. Meyer lemon, frothed whole milk, cream, notes of honeysuckle & caramel, lime zest, green apple, pineapple juice, honeydew, tangerine, white stone fruits, yellow & red Rainier cherries and tropical melons, touch of fresh herbs beautiful, chalky powder, gritty, grey, volcanic minerals, white spice, limestone, yeasty notes, spring, flowers, yellow, lilies and Jasmine. The finish is; well structured & balanced, elegant, last nearly 2 minutes and falls gently on chalk, volcanic minerals and nice spring florals.

Definitely delicious!

Pairing - green, vinaigrette salad w/ honey crisp apple, pomegranate, heirloom tomatoes, walnuts & more.

Photos of; the Champagne House of Paul Bara, Paul Bara brand Ambassador, library cellar and Bouzy vineyard. — 3 months ago

Pooneet K

9.4

Really in an exceptional place. Last time we had this was a couple years ago - tonight with a bit of air this really sings. Beautiful amber in the glass. Certainly quite unrestrained and full - 14%, deep mouthfeel, viscous, etc. Honey and deep white floral fruit and the perfect balance of residual sugar and acid on the finish. Wonderful pairing with my annual post-Thanksgiving turkey pho. — 4 years ago

Brent Clayton

9.1

Beautiful ripe fruit. White flowers, mineral, bees wax. Great stuff. — 5 years ago