Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

Something for my Wagyu Burger.

I do enjoy this producers style/craft. Also, enjoy the elegance of St. Julien. 2012 is a vintage Sofia & 1 worked harvest at Clerc Milon. So, the 2012 vintage will always be a special vintage for me, even if it was only one that was good to very good for the right terroirs and producers. Just wasn’t special like; 00, 05, 09, 10, 16 or 19 etc..

Having said all that, this Ducru is not the 2012 star of the region. It’s elegant but falls short on depth, character & umpf, which are things I have grown to expect and have experienced from this producer in many vintages.

The palate shows, soft, round & velvety M-M+ tannins. Ripe; blackberries, black raspberries, dark cherries, some of both plums, slightly baked strawberries & circling raspberries. Slightly dry tobacco w/ ash, soft leather, sandalwood, mid, dark, rounded spice, nutmeg, clove, some cinnamon & vanillin, dark most earth with clay & dry leaves, herbaceous notes, very soft & elegant graphite, a touch of of mid berry cola/licorice, dark withering flowers, red roses, nice acidity with nicely balance, good tension/structured, elegant finish that last nearly two minutes and long sets on rounded dark spice.

@EmiratesLoungeDubai — 7 months ago

Dave

9.2

Brandon's bottle was better than mine. A little heat, a little sweet. Honey, cornbread, cinnamon, tobacco. Tight, clean finish.
Listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers. — 9 months ago

Jon Bergqvist

9.7

Top shoulder. Got the cork out in one piece. Absolutely perfect bottle with a lot left to give. Thick balsamic fruit, soft tannins, integrated oak, fresh acidity, everything in absolute balance. In a way almost perfect on the verge of lacking a bit of personality, but only almost. This has 10 years of life ahead of it but No reason to wait. — 6 years ago

Willem Jan Withagen

8.9

Had this bottle for a long time already. And thought it to be a basic peaty Islay. But it is a very fine rounded, bit sweet and not too agressive. Better get a new one. — 7 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.5

Wine of the night. This wine had EXCELLENT fruit, and showed NO VISIBLE SIGNS of decline. Great powerful blackberry. I was guessing 01 Stag's Leap or Rutherford. Turns out it was Caymus SS 01, but I was second guessing myself on the year because it was a very purple color into the decanter and showing well. The wine had great vanilla on the front, blackberry on the front, and a more youthful middle and finish with some herb. This wine has 10 years left in it no doubt. Whoever cut this one off at 2017 has no idea. This one literally showed no signs of decline whatsoever. Drink by date 2007 - 2030. — 9 years ago

Manny Abascal

8.9

Young. Needs another 10 years. — 10 years ago

Marty Winters

9.2

Pleasantly surprised everyone seemed to really feel like these wines were never going to age, but here we are and they are tasting great. Wonder what another 10-15 will show. — 11 years ago

Tom Gutting

9.5

Absolutely superb. Youthful color. Lively. Complex. Great fruit. Structure remains. Will go 10-15 more years. — 11 years ago

Omar Jalil

9.7

Great table wine! — 13 years ago

Russ W

9.6

Easily give it another 10 years — 7 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.5

Bright medium ruby , quite thin violet rim . Quite discreet and fine, reserved on the nose . Red cherry , cassis , mineral tinged blackberry, after a while pomegranate. On the palate this is very detailed and precise , great freshness and with more red fruit, cherry , red plum , blackberry , wet slate , saline oyster shell with very fine tannins . Long mineral finish . Very young obviously but incredibly elegant and fresh . Will need time , this closed up quite a lot after time in the decanter . Better in 10 -15 years , will last well a further 10-15 . Incredibly promising . — 8 months ago

Kapyrick Wine

9.2

v20. Very good! Toasty, vanilla nose. Buttery tropical fruit. Long, mellow oak finish. Nicely balanced. Well done! — a year ago

Andrew Belzer

9.0

maraschino cherry, apple wood, all spice, and caramel — 6 years ago

Frank

9.0

Jason brought for boys golf week. Spainish. 10 yr great. — 7 years ago

Colene Garrison

9.0

Colene had this 7 years ago

Tim Maloney

9.3

Very peaty color. Sharp to the nose. Sharp, stingy and mineral flavor with a long finish. Not for the weak of heart and fantastic! — 8 years ago

Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.2

Deep garnet red with lots of bricking on the edges. Light cassis and dark cherries on the nose with some tertiary notes like earthiness and damp leaves. Moderate tannins (6.5/10) and full bodied. Lots of complexity with light cassis and dark cherries, a little bit of tomato leaves and earthiness. Very well rounded and integrated with a long finish. This will only keep losing fruit and get earthier with time. Drink now. — 9 years ago

with Sean and India

R Bl

9.4

Alexander Valley 1984. Brown brick red, still enough tannin for another 5-10 yrs. Beautiful cedary dust and fruit. Needed 1 - 1 1/2 hrs to open up. Harmonious, medium build. — 11 years ago

Laura Ess

9.0

Uncle tom's port yo! — 11 years ago

Pooneet K

9.2

Thought we’d had our last bottle 4 years ago but then found this one. Probably better then, but still very nice. Definitely quite secondary, but the core of fruit and acid carries through. Wonderful pairing with dry aged strip steaks and wild mushroom risotto for our 10 year anniversary. — 8 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.2

Deep ruby , garnet , with thin garnet rim . Quite deep and ripe cassis , violet , blackberry , meaty grafite , sea spray , rich but well balanced . Quite well defined on the palate , blackberry , cassis , grafite . Balanced quite fresh acidity , fine but noticable tannins . Quite good grafite , saline tinged finish . Quite classic in style , with freshness from the cool fruit character and mineral focus , but polished with enough stuffing to age further , and probably improve over the next 5 -10 years and last well a further 10 . — 9 months ago

Sarah Noh

8.9

Super light bodied, fresh cranberry — 5 years ago

with Jean

DAL 9000

9.1

Thick and dusty and dark cherry sweetness — 6 years ago

Amber Petrik

10

CAYMUS Caberet Sauvignon Napa Valley. We drank this with Billie and Rob at Capital Grill in Shops of Legacy. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. I would rank it a 10+ — 7 years ago

Paul J

9.5

Quite lovely on our first night in Portugal for the wife’s birthday! Scored 2 points higher due to the sleeping gentleman in the picture :) #firstfamilyvacation — 8 years ago

with Brooke

Yarrow Beydoun

9.2

Iron strong, cran, dust, Pom and raspberry. Slight tight but still beautiful — 9 years ago

Matt Callahan

9.2

A lot young but amazing wine. Massive but balanced. 10 years time it will be mental — 10 years ago

Konrad Michels

9.9

This is some seriously good Cabernet. Even though it is 10 years old, and eminently drinkable straight out of the bottle, it improves by at least an order of magnitude of you let it breathe for an hour or two. Highly recommended. — 11 years ago

M. Ventre

9.2

This is has definitely come together more since November. — 11 years ago