Dean Butler

9.2

What a wonderful Napa Cab should be.Had in the mountains with friends paired wonderfully with a New York Strip.Made even better by a perfect crisp fall weekend with fall colors at their peak. — 7 years ago

Severn Goodwin

9.2

2 May 2018

An older bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc opened by our host Alex Giesen in his Puligny chateau.

Photos of our new friends Lisa Giesen, my wife Debbie, the Palm tree shirted author of this post, Alex Giesen, my wine travel companions for this trip, Sandra & James.

Bottled under stelvin, this bottle had lost a minor amount of acidity, but you'd never guess it was 9 years old. A nice pull from Alex's private cellar. — 7 years ago

Evan Roberts

9.2

Really lovely stuff and a great wine to celebrate bringing in the last grapes for our harvest. Bright balanced and crisp. Nice little bit of reduction on the nose but still floral and expressive. — 8 years ago

Isaac Pirolo

9.2

The first time I've ever complimented a bride with "you're so fat and round." It's the texture. A full-on veneer. 70/30 Marsanne/Viognier from two blocks of the Stagecoach Vineyard in Napa. Honeysuckle for days, with stone fruit and honeydew melon. The secondary bitterness is matched and balanced with the sweetness of orchard fruit juice. — 8 years ago

Kris Pennington

9.0

Requisite Sonoma wine 🍷 tour while in SF for the Niners/Saints game 🙌🏻❤️🏈 — 8 years ago

Kieran Roberts

9.0

A step up from the basket press in terms of fruit ripeness and quality. Carries through with extra length. — 9 years ago

Andrew Cooper

9.3

#2 in my series of wines from the Uni. Adelaide Staff Club. A big, spicy Shiraz with blackcurrants, mint and turmeric (?). Love it 🇦🇺 — 9 years ago

Justin Brilman

9.1

Drank this too young to see its full potential but it's a big powerful wine with all the elements to be very special (in 5 years). Nonetheless it was still really good. — 9 years ago

Chris A

9.0

Light green apples, pineapples and buttery toast. Just the perfect order and in the right balance with a medium bodied flavor all-around. Best American Chard? Could be! — 10 years ago

Mark Lindzy

9.3

Our first vintage of Zinfandel dry rosé! Barrel fermented from old vine Todd Bros saignee. 92 cases bottled late January, releasing in March. This is gonna be fun! * From last weekend. — 10 years ago

Shun Sakai

10

Very reasonable! Awesome aroma, rich in flavor. Incredible wine. — 11 years ago

Adam Ehmer

9.0

Powerfully aromatic. Could smell it in a glass sitting still at arms length. Body and tannin structure not nearly as powerful as the aromas, but still a pleasing wine. — 11 years ago

Ryan Vento

9.3

Always gotta stop by Kent & Co. for a glass when in Fort Worth. — 7 years ago

with Krystal

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

Pichon Lalande is my favorite 2nd growth with a steak. Yup...it's #SteakandClaret night to quote my buddy Gary Westby. Further, it's certainly one of my favorite producers period. I've waited for this wine to be in the bottle for 10 years before finding out definitely how good it was or wasn't. You see, the 05 Bordeaux vintage was exceptional. It's drinking right now better than 00. 00 may turn out to be better, but not for some time. The real issue was the division of scores between RP & NM. Parker had this as low as an 86 and now has it at 89. Neil Martin has been consistently at 95-96. I found it simply inexplicable that Pichon Lalande could have bombed in such a great vintage. Tonight, I know they didn't. This wine is beautiful. Although, I don't believe it will cellar as long as their some of their very best vintages and many others I've enjoyed. On the nose, bramble, ripe blackberries, dark cherries, notes of blueberries, poached strawberries, graphite, baking spices, cedar, lightly perfumed violets and dark, fresh & dry red flowers. The body is medium-medium plus, tannins nicely resolved with 10 years to be completely resolved. Fruits of; ripe blackberries, dark cherries, notes of blueberries, poached strawberries and pomegranate with a whiff of spice. There's notes of dry bramble, soft leather, fresh violets, graphite, cedar, dry stones, dark rich earth, limestone, tobacco, spice-box, vanilla, very light cinnamon & nutmeg. The finish is very long, elegant, ripe, round, smooth, good acidity and beautifully elegant...50-50 earth & fruit. I bought more bottles of this at $85 after it's was first released in futures and I do not regret it. $85 is proving to be a steal for this wine when it normally sells for between $100-$150 a bottle and higher. Might heavy up further after tonight if I find more around the same price. Oh yes...I'm with NM on the scoring. Photos of the Chateau, estate vines, newer tasting room & the Virginie de Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande. Forgive my long post, but my passion and love for this producer is profound. Producer history and notes...as I wrote in an earlier post for Pichon Baron, Pichon Baron and Lalande started as one entity. The first mention of what is now called Chateau Pichon Lalande was the creation of Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan. Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan is responsible for forming many of the top Bordeaux estates today. Pichon Lalande was given its name when Therse, the daughter of the founder received the estate as a dowry when she married Jacques de Pichon Longueville. Pichon Lalande was essentially managed by three women, Therese de Rauzan, Germaine de Lajus and Marie Branda de Terrefort. On the eve of his death in 1850, Baron Joseph de Pichon Longueville divided the property between his five children. His three daughters received Pichon Lalande and his sons Pichon Baron. What happened next was Virginie, the wife of the Count of Lalande took over the management of the estate under the name of Comtesse de Lalande. In 1850 she commissioned the popular, architect Duphot to build a residence inspired by the Hotel de Lalande, located in Bordeaux. Without heirs, Pichon Lalande passed down from aunts to nieces. Following World War I, the Miailhe brothers, bought Pichon Lalande in 1925. They were the ones who planted even more Merlot. May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, the daughter of Edouard Miailhe became the new owner and general manager of Chateau Pichon Lalande in 1978. She expand the size of Chateau Pichon Lalande from 40 hectares to it's current 89 hectares. Chateau Pichon Lalande remained in the same family for more than 250 years! In fact, over three centuries, only two families have owned Pichon Lalande. May-Eliane de Lencquesaing sold Pichon Lalande to the owners of Roederer Champagnein in January 2007. This family-run company is managed by Frederic Rouzaud who owned several other wine estates in Bordeaux; Chateau Bernadotte, Chateau de Pez, Haut Beausejour and Chateau Reaut la Graviere. He sold Chateau Bernadotte in December 2012. In February, 2011, Sylvie Cazes was named the director of Chateau Pichon Lalande. She replaced Gildas d’Ollone. Sylvie Cazes was replaced in 2012 by current Director Nicolas Glumineau, who was previously at Chateau Montrose. In 2012, Pichon Lalande renovated the estate with a budget estimated at over 15 Million Euros. The new facilities included; building of a new underground barrel aging cellar and several new buildings...one that houses their new tasting room as shown. This renovation provided numerous improvements in their wine making. Most importantly, in the vinification. They created a new, triple tiered, cellar where everything moves by gravity. They also added numerous new, stainless steel, temperature controlled, double skinned vats. These new vats allow Pichon Lalande to vinify on a parcel by parcel basis as well as get much softer & gentle extractions. The 89 hectare vineyard of Chateau Pichon Lalande is located adjacent to Chateau Latour and and across the road from Pichon Baron. The terroir of Chateau Pichon Lalande is deep gravel with clay and limestone soil and is planted to; 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. — 8 years ago

Adam Crane

9.2

Big Table Farm and a late night Monopoly challenge. This is very Burgundian in style and light on its feet. Mushroom, sour cherry, and a iron laden finish. @Carson Gray — 9 years ago

The fly

9.1

Big fruit! I'm getting lots of gunpowder and strawberry jam on this, mixed in with a little metallic fork flavor and also cherries. This was served at an appalling 74 degrees. I let my waiter know that he injured me with this temperature and he comped the bottle, as he should! — 10 years ago

Ryan Eskridge

9.7

Thank you Truman's for a great dinner, awesome boutique wine and being great friends! And thank you Jenn for not being a patient in my office! — 11 years ago

with Seth

Jerry Nowicki

8.9

Smooth and fruity wine very drinkable now will be great in 3 years — 11 years ago

Ellen Clifford

9.3

Revisiting. It actually did well with a smidge of age. Less saline more really ripe kumquat. I want this wine to be my best friend. Like we are both gonna change and mature but will always provide quality us-time to each other. Dang I’m worried Eight Cellars isn’t making wine anymore? Because I was able to buy 2014 Sauvignon Blanc in 2018... — 7 years ago

Rhonda Stone

9.0

Very nice wine. Red fruit, slice in the finish. — 7 years ago

Luis Arguero (@winefromAtoZ)

8.9

Deep purple in color. Intense. Complex. Aromatic. Blackberry. Chocolate. Lavender. Roasted herbs. — 7 years ago

Tom Wildenhaus

9.1

This will most likely be better in 5 years. Super big, spice box, black fruit. One hour in decanter but needed more time. — 8 years ago

Martin G Rivard

9.8

I'm so happy to see that Ted's proprietary blend officially made it on delectable!!!!!! Congrats my friend!!!! Absolutely Killer proprietary blend. Everything I love: Lush fruit, big, bold and gorgeous on the palate. The nose explodes after a 2 hour decant. This is a Rockstar blend!!! I can't wait to see you what he does with his next venture. Ted and Ed Snider killed it with this one. I heard Ted may next be blending with a winery in Bordeaux or Rhone next????!!!!
Is that True Ted?????!!!!! Be sure to include me on that limited allocation!! @Ted Mandes @Cindy Mandes @Ed snider — 8 years ago

with Christine

Jim Dicks

8.9

Found this in back of the cellar. After 10 years still full, bold on the nose and luscious! — 9 years ago

Jody Roberts

9.0

Raspberries entwined in subtle tobacco leaves with soft cinnamon spice — 9 years ago

Kieran Roberts

8.9

Loads of fruit verging on a touch too loose in clarity of fruit. American oak and just a bit more careful fruit selection on the sorting table could have seen this as an excellent wine. — 9 years ago

John Bodin

8.9

Full bodied and smooth- but with a spicy finish that lingers just long enough. Won't knock your socks off . . . but a great value for a wine in the mid $20s. A definite buy. — 10 years ago

Louis Galtié

9.3

Chocolate, orange, Xmas cake, figs and dates explosion in your nose. Once it has been shot in the stratosphere, the mouth punch you back on deck with a leaner fig focus laser that carves leather. Ariane V. Good job ESA — 10 years ago

Chris Gillott

9.1

An old favorite. Cabernet on the nose with Shiraz fruit in the mouth. Always delicious. Better after a decant. Showing some 2ndry characters — 11 years ago

Antoine Pin

Wine Buyer Kroger/QFC

9.8

Wow!! Elevation makes a HUGE difference in this one! — 11 years ago