Blind Trail

Château Léoville Barton

Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 2009

Vintage 2009 | classic Bordeaux at its best. Chocolate and black fruit, cedar. Very complete taste with spicyness. We compared this blind next to Lagrange 09, Leoville showing male power, Lagrange a bit further forward with female playfulness. Long aftertaste. Paired with venisonnpaté with foie gras and figs. — 3 years ago

Diederick, Daniel and 22 others liked this

Château Latour

Premier Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1945

Tasted blind. Deep purple color. Looks very young, compared to the 45 Margaux next to it. Almost opaque. Notes of black fruit, cracked walnuts, sweet fruit, raspberry and some cedar desk. Super rich in the mouth. Seems young and is firm, but tannins are softened and the mouthfeel is velvet touch. Long finish. It peacocks all night. The walnuts thing leads my guess to Latour, but can this be the 45? Is it a 61 or 82? Could be... I go with it being a 59 given how young it seems. Just an amazing bottle of wine, open for ~9 hours by the time we left, it seemed to effortlessly power along. Thanks Stan! — 4 years ago

Shay, Andrew and 28 others liked this
Brent Young

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Wow 😯. Fantastic. 9+ hours is impressive 👍

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 1996

Boys nite after covid. Blind tasting no 1. Smooth and vegetal and herbs. Mineral and stony. Complex and floral — 6 years ago

Eric, Peter and 7 others liked this

Château Lynch-Bages

Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2000

Served blind with the 99 Dominus. This was really singing & their best wine since the great 89/90 vintages. Rich & dense berry fruits with cedar, leather, graphite & tobacco — 7 years ago

Severn, Keith and 16 others liked this

Pétrus

Pomerol Red Bordeaux Blend 1964

Tasted blind. Deep dark and opaque. Red center with amber rims. Looks young. Very rich and luscious in the mouth. Black cherry, forest floor, tobacco leaf and a hint of old wood. Amazing impact out of the gate, but this declined in what it gave as the night went on whereas the 53 Lafite got better. — 8 years ago

Ken, Daniel and 9 others liked this
Ron R

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😮

Dominus Estate

Dominus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 1991

Earthy with coffee undertones. A bit of cooked meat. Tasted blind and guessed 2003 Angelus. Simply beautiful — 8 years ago

Eric, Eric and 15 others liked this

Witchery Wine

Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Greg Ballington
8.9

Fourth of the blind tasting for Father's Day weekend.

Deep and dark purplish ruby red. Dark fruits with a touch of acetone or whiskey on the nose. Some cigars and dark cocoa as well. Heavy tannins (7.5/10) and medium bodied. A touch lighter than expected. Extracted dark fruits and bitter dark cocoa on the palate. A little unbalanced with a medium plus finish. This is still a baby and needs time to settle. Drink till 2029.
— 8 years ago

Sean BallingtonIndia Okoh
with Sean and India
Shawn, Daniel P. and 9 others liked this

Château Montrose

Saint-Estèphe Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2012

Delectable Wine
9.4

The 2012 Montrose has a taut and focused bouquet with crisp blackberry, tobacco and light earthy scents on the nose. Fine vigour and class evident here. The palate is medium-bodied with chewy tannins on the entry, fine acidity, lightly spiced with a nicely proportioned and focused finish. This is a solid, almost swarthy Montrose, though it is surpassed by more recent vintages. Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index's Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting. (Neal Martin, Vinous, September 2022)
— 3 years ago

Rob liked this

Domaine François Raveneau

Clos Chablis Grand Cru Chardonnay 1990

Tasted blind. Light gold color, youthful and heavy in the glass. Notes of citrus, white clay, sea shells, wet river stone, kiwi and some honey. High pitched. Massive fruit and structure. This powered along all night and never slowed down. Easy to guess as the 90 Raveneau Clos as we've had this many times. A debate ensued about what is a perfect white burgundy and where this sits... it would be really hard to get better than this, IMO. Spectacular. — 4 years ago

Shay, Andrew and 24 others liked this
Doug Powers

Doug Powers

Great Raveneau Les Clos is as good as it gets for me as well!

Château Rayas

Réservé Châteauneuf-du-Pape Grenache Blend 1985

Tasted blind. Reddish tawny color. Edges suggest its old. Notes of strawberry, raspberry, iron, roses. Some zing and power in the nose. Slaps your face when tasted. Sappy. Powerful impact. Long finish. Other guesses were in Burgundy land eg Griotte but I went with 90 Rayas. Bingo. — 6 years ago

Alex, Shay and 14 others liked this
David L

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Incredible

Thomas Fogarty

Estate Grown Rapley Trail Vineyard Pinot Noir 2014

I was not impressed but that’s because of being partial to Oregon Pinot. — 7 years ago

Amit SrivastavaJoe Ward
with Amit and Joe
Norman, Ellen and 5 others liked this

Château Léoville-Las Cases

Grand Vin de Leoville du Marquis de las Cases Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 1982

Yiiiiihaaaaaa 🥇🏆🎯 ooooh boy! Blind....we thought the wine was 20 years younger....😳 — 8 years ago

Shay, P and 20 others liked this
Aaron Hamrock

Aaron Hamrock

Bingo. Great pull. Bravo.

Trail Marker Wine Co.

Saveria Vineyard Pinot Noir

Pleasant Valley Pinot Noir that taste like a Grand Cru Burgundy....#badasswine — 8 years ago

Château Angélus

St. Émilion Grand Cru Red Bordeaux Blend 2012

Delectable Wine
9.3

The 2012 Angélus has a fragrant bouquet: a mixture of red and black fruit, truffle, crushed stone and light wilted flower scents. Very pretty. The palate is medium-bodied with fine delineation and good acidity, quite sappy with modest depth. Fairly structured with a dash of white pepper and peppermint on the finish. This Angélus has tons of personality and is drinking well now. Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index's Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting. (Neal Martin, Vinous, September 2022)
— 3 years ago

Ken and Ericsson liked this

Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé

Cuvée Vieilles Vignes Musigny Grand Cru Pinot Noir 1990

Tasted blind. Reddish tawny. Nose is closed and not yielding much. I get cranberries, some cherries, iron and stones, some wood. Has a high pitched character to it. Has some pucker in it yet. Tight with ample acidity. I guess 97 Vogue Bonnes Mares. In my experience this wine has had some variations in its performance. Today it was better than most, but suffered by not getting ample air before it was served. — 5 years ago

Martin, Tom and 20 others liked this
Alan Weinberg

Alan Weinberg

too Cabernet-like. Not a fan past 30 years.
Mike Saviage

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@Alan Weinberg Try the 98... Their harvest was well timed that year and the juice is great

Olga Raffault

Les Picasses Chinon Cabernet Franc 1977

3 decades served blind where most of the group guessed Pinot grape & thought it could be from Burgundy. Groups favorite was the 89. — 7 years ago

Keith, Ryan and 9 others liked this

Château Palmer

Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 1955

Tasted blind. Tawny color, translucent with amber rims. Notes of black cherry, cedar, some spice and a little barnyard floor. Sweet fruit in the mouth, with tannins fully resolved. Guessed 1955 Calon Segur. Perfect looking bottle, the cork revealed this bottle was reconditioned by the Chateau in 2000. — 7 years ago

Shay, Eric and 16 others liked this

Marietta

Game Trail Yorkville Highlands Estate Grown Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

Loved all the Marietta wines including the rose which is missing. — 8 years ago

R. López de Heredia

Viña Tondonia Reserva Rioja Tempranillo Blend 2002

Wow. This is young, and the nose is a bit of dark red berry suffusing a sea of resolving American Oak. The American oak is so pronounced that, had I tasted this blind, I might have taken it for Ridge... :) This has decades ahead, even if -only- a Riserva. Like La Rioja Alta 904, a fantastic value in old school Rioja... — 8 years ago

P, Eric and 12 others liked this

Beaulieu Vineyard

Private Reserve Georges de Latour Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2013

Greg Ballington
9.3

Deep garnet red with ruby core. Tasted blind. Very tight and dark on the nose with dark cocoa, dark spices and soft dark berries. Heavy tannins (8/10) and full bodied. Very dark palate as well with black cherries, cassis, black currants, dark cocoa and a little woody. Long and lingering finish. Thought this was a bit older than a 2013 but powerful, needs some time to fully develop. Drink till 2032. (93+) — 9 years ago

Sean BallingtonIndia Okoh
with Sean and India
Mike, Tim and 19 others liked this