Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

8.9

1989 vintage. From magnum. Nice fill and cork better than expected. Not decanted and first tasted after 7 (seven!!) hours after opening. Talk about task saturation...Light body with some brickish notes but back end concentration along with dark cherry and plum notes fronting earth + tobacco histories. Good length of finish. Drink whatever format ya got cuz it's definitely time unless you like playing wine pathologist and reconstituting tissue/flavors to flesh out what once was and rebuilding around the existing skeleton. Eminently doable as long as you're intimately familiar with the producer/wine, have previously tasted the wine and have really good notes/memory. 05.11.25. — 7 months ago

Andrew Seiler

9.0

Miles and Maya would be very proud! 🍷 — 2 years ago

David Nicewicz

9.7

Birth year vintages are a roll of the dice but luckily I landed on a pretty solid classic - 1978. So for my birthday this year, we opened an LLC and wow was this perfect. The sommelier was surgical in removing the cork which split in half but he managed to extract it. The nose on this wine was a 10 - loads of cassis, licorice, dusty library and leather. Palate was extracted cassis, leather and great acidity and liveliness, just like my 44 year old self. It’s just pure magic when bottles this old perform - happy Friday everyone. — 4 years ago

Mike Saviage

9.7

From a great old looking bottle with a mid shoulder fill. Cork is fully saturated and the crud under the capsule had formed a strong seal. Slow-ox’d for a few hours, then decanted for an hour or two before taken to L’Escargot in Carmel. Amber tawny rims with a reddish tawny core. Crazy nose right from the start. Notes of sweet black cherries, tobacco leaf, plums, black pepper, ash and crusty wood, pencil shavings, some just unwrapped cigar and some menthol. Silky in the mouth with firm structure and soft but present acidity. Long and memorable finish. Outstanding performance over several hours. — 5 years ago

John A

9.5

It cannot be 38 years old is all I could think when I popped the cork. I can only wish I was as youthful as this wine. Black fruit, chocolate, smoke/tobacco...elegant , structured. Delicious — 6 years ago

Greg Koslosky

9.1

A little cloudy and muted with a dry and brittle cork I don’t think it was stored perfectly . — 6 years ago

Mike Saviage

9.4

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

Ally Wolf

9.2

Cork fell in at some point, but can it drink any better than this still? I don’t think — 8 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.3

1995 vintage. Great fill, foil and label. Perfect cork. From a top-notch cellar. Decanted and tasted over the course of two hours. Volcanic ash-styled sed vs chunky-style. Big funk on the nose that resolved after 7-8 minutes. Wine was showing decently (in the 69-72 degree range) but lacking any tannic structure. Placed the decanter atop an ice bucket bath to drop the temp down to 60 degrees or so. Took about 20 minutes but the tannins kicked in the door to say hello. Fruit components stayed constant. Pauillac tendencies were all there. As is the case often with older BDX, the decaying matter/leaves at the onset transitioned to graphite/lead pencil and espresso flavors. This was a superior bottle in great shape. Top of this wine’s specific bell curve. Comparable bottles would look to be drinking this well for the next 5-7 years without dropoff. Out of larger format…could possibly push this into 9.4 status. 2.5.24. — 2 years ago

Ted

8.9

Found buried in the cellar. Ripe blueberry, vanilla. Dropping my daughter back at Cleveland State for swim practice and realized she doesn’t have a corkscrew. Only a hammer and a screw. Where there is a will there is a way. Add corkscrew to the shopping list. Cork came out intact and in perfect condition.😊 — 5 years ago

Mono Head

9.1

Wax was hard to get off. Essentially scrapped it off. Before cork even came out I could start smelling the wine. I thought it would be corked. Cork melted off even with an ah so. First sip just had a little bit of funk but overall very drinkable. Much like a French Bordeaux. Fruit is muted, dry. Dark fruit finish. Smell definitely is dry and has an older funk, herbal, medicinal - not in a negative way. Would have loved to seen how it would have done decanted but had no time. — 6 years ago

Skip Smyser

9.4

The cork was difficult but worth the struggle. This well aged Cabernet took some time to open up but the lush red fruit was refined and exceeded expectations. Lovely.🍷 — 6 years ago

Jonty Edwards

9.2

DP66
Pristine condition bottle. Cork flew out revealing surprising amount of retained fizz. Roast peach/rust colour. Oxidised nutty, orange peel, caramel notes with long length. — 7 years ago

with Hetty, Nick and 1 other

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.6

2002 vintage. Nice fill, good cork. Decanted with a respectable amount of powdery sed. Smelled great during decanting. Tasted 1.5 hours after opening/decanting. Expected light body with delicate tendrils. Medium body with a light palate footprint. Holy shazzbaat. This was absolutely firing. Like top of the pops, straight up to number one. Exceptional knitting and in a perfect spot now. Go all the way back to the inaugural 1982 vintage with this winery’s cabernet…thought my all-time fave was the 1991 altho the 1986 and 1987 were special. The 2020, picked early, thus avoiding the fires, is phenomenal as well. This was on another level and have had approx 150 bottles of Spottswoode Cab in the last three + decades. It was probably the best out of all of them. Difficult to imagine Napa Cab better than this. Power and finesse on display. Not improving but can hold this intensity for another 4-5 years. 12.24.24. — a year ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.3

1995 vintage. Nice fill. Cork good. Decanted and tasted immediately, after 15 mins and at the 2 hour mark. Threw less sed than expected. Vibrant color. Medium body. Pencil shavings and chocolate-covered blueberries nose and flavors segued to graphite, cedar closet and the ole L-B mint chocolate chip ice cream standard. Not improving but holding steady here for the next 4-6 years. Good stuff. 11.16.23. — 2 years ago

Mike Beltran

9.2

What a fine Pomerol! This lovely wine has a wonderful complex blend of mature fruit and resolved tannins. This magnum opened up with an hour of decanting and provided quality drinking for the entire evening. The cork was still solid. A pleasure to share with family and food. 👍🍷🍷 — 5 years ago

Timothy Hixson

9.5

2000, finally broke into the case. Cork was extra dry and disintegrate. Coffee filtered and worked ok. — 5 years ago

Paul T HB

9.7

En Mag,
Cork looks great, I say that because I’ve had several Colgins & David Arthurs from early to mid 2000’s which had horrible corks. Give this 45 minutes to an hour in the glass maybe longer since its a mag. One glass tonight then drink up tomorrow & Monday. It will be fantastic with a day or two. The 97 Mondavi reserve was best on Day 3 believe it or not🤷🏼‍♂️ — 6 years ago

John Hagood

9.1

Drank 2017 from Cork 2018 on 22 Sep 2019. Light sweet zingy as is natural. — 6 years ago

Geoffrey Green

9.6

Pristine cork, decanted for 5 hours: still balanced, complex, and harmonious as a 20 year old in a challenging vintage. Fruit still lively, with mellow tannins—this still has a few years left. Came out best for me in an evening of great old wines: ‘98 Corison, ‘98 Montelena Estate, plus de la Tour ‘99. Never underestimate the consistency of a great estate, year after year. Glad I have another bottle or two. — 7 years ago