Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

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

with Sean and India

Mike Blom

9.0

1982 wasn't rated highly as a vintage but this 5.0 liter shows great producers can still provide a solid wine.

Red rim and deep red core. Violets and red currants. Toffee, leather, coco bean in the initial flavors. Enough acidity to keep the finish lively. — 11 years ago

Dario Scimeca

9.2

This is in a great drinking window. A little funk on the nose that blew off and revealed a dense core of blue fruit and smoothed out tannins. — 11 years ago

with Heather

George Chen

9.1

A little bready now but still sweet core and melted tannins. Cork was dry though but wine seemed fine. — 10 years ago

LM Segal

9.4

Great breeding trumps a below-average vintage. Blind, the nose alone gives away the DNA of this phenomenal wine. This Merlot-dominated Cheval has a beautiful core of cocoa powder, prune and plums. Structure from sweet oak and cab franc skins come through on the finish. Excellent, but a world away from the 2000 that's a palate-reference for me. Don't wait on this one, this well-stored bottle felt past its apex. — 10 years ago

Tom Kobylarz

9.5

Regrettably the one Bodega I missed from a stomach bug on my trip last week, though I still love love you Spain and look forward to going back. Now back to the wine....
A beautiful ruby core with some orange and pink at the edges.
The nose is elegantly fruited, with dry flowers, cherry and American oak notes of coconut, dill and toast.
The palate is elegant, refined, while masterfully complex and persistent at the same time. The finish is long and crazy silky. One of the few GR from a very older producer that uses only proprietary fruit.

— 11 years ago

Neil Johnston

9.0

Nice big balance of berries, earth and velvet finish. — 12 years ago

LM Segal

9.3

Dusty sour cherry and cocoa nose on a beautiful dark cherry, sour plum and dark chocolate core. Long, fine tannins. One of 2 bottles was off but the "on" one more than made up for it! Not one of those super-long-term Flacc's, but quite yummy, very much a food wine. — 10 years ago

with Mark, Joe and 1 other

David Castricone

9.7

Sweet black licorice and bright chewy fruit core, wrapped in a silk layer with a ultra long finish. The mouthfeel is drawn out in some slow, ethereal motion. Still many years to go. — 11 years ago

with Kiley, Heath and 1 other

Paul Schmidt

9.7

An incredible wine. It tasted as if it were just a few years old. Beautiful core of dark fruit and earth. A gorgeous expression of the valley. As Austin Peterson, Ovid Winemaker, said as we drank this "man California wine!" — 11 years ago

with Ashley