Shay A

9.2

Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.

Fun to open birth year wines around your birthday, especially when you can do a Bordeaux and Napa side by side. While not a great vintage, this held up well after a few hours and presented as expected. Clean and zero Brett. Great color! Deep ruby with hardly any bricking. Leather, cassis, vanilla pipe tobacco on the nose. Sporting a good bit of dusty red and black fruits (mostly tart raspberries and blackberries), there was a little savory truffle note mixed with an herbal and mocha finish. Still quite grippy. Pretty. — a month ago

Doug Powers

9.6

En Magnum. This is absolutely beautiful, dark fruits, still some underlying structure, just the slightest kiss of Brett, great balance, long, lingering finish, great Bandol from a great vintage!! — 9 months ago

with Jim

Aaron Rankin

9.4

These have begun showing Brett/funk, but this bottle is clean. My first without the horseshit kiss. PnP. Forest floor, wet sticks, and a bramble pie cooling by a distant window. This is Autumn Pinot at its most perfect. Plush mouthfeel with viscosity like a mild reduction (not reductive). While the tannin has faded, the concentration provides more than expected structure. — 2 years ago

Douglas Braun

9.0

2019 - Vintage earthy ,wild fruit, rose petal, (little bit of V.A. & Brett) but still drinking well and fairly well balanced — 6 months ago

Ed Chin

9.2

Where is that signature brett funk? Loads of dominate fruit yet the structure isn’t quite up to par. — 8 months ago

Shengli Hu

9.2

Bright medium ruby color!! Brett, black olives, black pepper, FRESH red and black fruits, jerky, fruit wrapped acidity and tannins. Called it 1996 Cote Rotie. — a year ago

Ben Lehman

9.0

For one of my all time favorite wines, this was a bit disappointing. What has previously smelled like garrigue and lavender, this time around smelled a bit too much of brett for my taste — 2 years ago

Tom Garland

9.2

1.5 hour decant(decent chunky sediment). A majestic deep purplish magenta color with a little bricking. Always have a soft spot for aged Cain Five and Chris's old school savory style(embrace a little brett!). On the nose: stunning nose of worn leather, funky wet earth, red fruit, touch of menthol, nutty. Taste: Restrained, silky, elegant, balanced wine with dusty earth, herbaceous, currants, plum, cedarwood, and peppery dark chocolate medium finish. YUM! Hitting its stride with time to go. — 7 months ago

with Brenda

Shay A

9.4

This was served during my annual WWC hosting. Typical format of sparkler, three whites, four reds, one dessert, all served blind.

Poured alongside the 2003 Mondavi VHR as a comparison. 60 cab/40 merlot.

Decanted an hour. The similarities between this and the ‘03 Mondavi VHR the first hour was shocking…even as the host, I wondered if I switched the wines. Slight hint of brett but certainly not overpowering. Leather, herbs de Provence, sweet vanilla pipe tobacco, graphite up front aromatically. Dark roast mocha, red and black berry fruit, cassis, really nice vein of acidity and tannin. This remained unchanged during the lunch. Seems like it’s in a peak window (maybe close to the top?) where I imagine it will hold another 5-7yrs easily before turning more tertiary. — 10 months ago

Doug Powers

9.6

En Magnum. Cork came out in 100+ little pieces, but thankfully no cork taint, this shows a little Brett, but other than a mid-shoulder fill level and obvious signs of weepage, pristine redfruits and impeccable balance, everything that the 1989 has been showing for at least 10 years, outstanding!! — 2 years ago

with Jim