Vanessa

9.2

Honoring my marvelous father with a meal and wine he would have appreciated with gusto.  We wish he was here to share it with us, but are deeply grateful that his spiritual presence remains so strong in our hearts today and every day.  💕

This blend is predominantly (78%) Cabernet Sauvignon and 22% Merlot.  🍷 It hails from the Haut-Médoc region on the “left bank” of Bordeaux, 🇫🇷 more specifically, the Pauillac AOC.  Pauillac is a highly-regarded commune, with favorable growing conditions, known for producing some outstanding quality wines.  👌👌 This wine is no exception. 😆

🏰 Château Grad-Puy-Lacoste is a cru classé, ranked among, and a neighbor to, the region’s top estates.  It’s incredible to think the first vines planted on this property date back to the 1500s, making it one of the oldest properties in the region.

We decanted this wine for several hours, which helped it soften and release its layered aromatics.  

👁 The color is deep garnet with notable tearing.

👃 On the nose it has medium(+) intensity and concentration of developing aromas.  The aromas include ripe black fruit such as cassis, black cherry, blackberry, and plum, as well as other non-fruit notes like black licorice, pencil shavings, and violet. It has secondary notes of clove, nutmeg, allspice, cedar, also tertiary notes of wet earth, tobacco, leather, meat, fig, and mushroom.

👄 This wine is dry and its flavors on the palate are consistent with the nose.
This wine has balance, complexity, a strong structure, with firm, grippy tannins, and a long elegant finish.  👏👏

Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, vintage 2011, ABV 13.5%.  — 4 years ago

with Deked1

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

The BV Tapestry doesn’t show its real self and value until it approaches 20 years. When you open these inside 10 years, it’s an average to very good wine depending on vintage. I’ve said it many times, you simply can’t get this kind of elegance and flat gorgeous complexity with any amount of decanting. You cannot fake or cheat long bottle evolution.

The one quality I get from this bottling at this age is Cognac with deep caramel flavors.

The nose reveals, dark currants, deep blackberries, dark liqueur cherries, baked, black plum, black raspberries, blueberries, baked rhubarb pie, poached strawberries, anise, heavily steeped tea, limestone minerals, dry, crushed, rock powder, sweet tarriness, soft leather, hints of graphite, dry twig, salted caramel, Cognac, herbaceous notes-bay leaf, dark, rich, turned earth, hints of mushroom, hints of; vanillin, clove, nutmeg, understated, medium, dark spice, saline, peppercorns, dark, red, fresh & withering florals with fields of violets and lavender. Floral heaven and then some!

The body is round & full. The mouthfeel is gorgeously sexy. The tannins are round, soft but, still show some teeth & tarriness. The structure, tension, length and balance are exquisite and still has at least 5 years of life ahead. It’s magnificently on the other side of its peak. Dark currants, deep blackberries, dark liqueur cherries, baked, black plum, black raspberries, blueberries, baked rhubarb pie with golden crust, poached strawberries, kirsch cherries, figs, prunes, dates, anise, heavily steeped tea, limestone minerals, dry, crushed, rock powder, sweet tarriness, soft leather, hints of graphite, dry twig, salted caramel, dark chocolate, Cognac, herbaceous notes-bay leaf, dark, rich, turned earth, hints of mushroom, hints of; vanillin, clove, nutmeg, understated, medium, deep, dark spice with shades of palate heat, saline, peppercorns, dark, red, fresh & withering florals with fields of violets and lavender. The acidity is flat out perfect. The long finish is; extremely well balanced fruit & earth, elegant, gorgeous, sexy, silky, ripe, lush, captivates the whole body, persists until you go to bed and even intrudes on your dreams.

While 94, no ordinary 94 with its age, complexity & beauty. It’s a WOW wine that rocks your mind, body & soul if you are deeply passionate about wine as I am. You want to slowly sip this all night.

Photos of, all the amazing scenery in and around BV...a Napa pioneer & legend. — 6 years ago

Stephen Osgood

9.1

From own rooted vines planted in 1955.... — 8 years ago

Andrew Holod

National Sales Grapes of Spain

9.1

So very 'Raul' for me. Deeply colored, still purple. Nose of dark cherries, savoury wood, bitter chocolate. On the palate this is firm, drying, quite long and what I would call nobly bitter. Not for everyone as the texture of this wine seems more important that the aromas. I believe this will repay time in the cellar. — 9 years ago

Tom Kobylarz

9.2

I have tasted many of the top wines made on the east coast, these guys while new have made a tremendous impact in such a short time period.

This bottle was better than the last, especially getting time to savor it over a few hours.

If you are in the DC area or traveling through head an hour west and check out @rdvvineyards in the Middleburg AVA of northern Virginia.

More Merlot in the blend here offers an earlier approachability for a superb wine that has a plush core of deep red fruits, plum, graphite, purple florals, cocao and toast. A refined structure that frames the plush and pleasing fruit component well, it then transitions well into a contrast of energetic and persistence on the elegant, but deeply finish. The mid palate on this is insane, so deep and pure!
#rdv #vawines #middleburg @vawine — 9 years ago

Matt

9.2

Great showing, perfect cork, completely alive, complex, beguiling mix of dried petals, exotic spices and deeply alluring black fruit character, crushed to roasted. Tannins have integrated and made for a supple but postured sip. ‘05 still has my attention but this was showing very well. — 4 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.5

Dark, youthful purple. Powerful, smoke- and mineral-accented aromas of ripe dark berries, licorice, olive and a hint of incense on the deeply perfumed nose. Juicy and sharply delineated in the mouth, offering concentrated, spice-laced blackberry, bitter cherry and fruitcake flavors that take on a smoky aspect as the wine opens up. In an ample but lively style, finishing juicy and extremely long, with building tannins adding framework and youthful grip. (Josh Raynolds, Vinous, April 2020)
— 5 years ago

Deanna Urciuoli

9.6

In love with this red blend from the Columbia Valley! The juicy flavor is deeply satisfying and highly drinkable. And it’s soft, earthy aroma embraces you like a warm hug. — 6 years ago

Isaac Pirolo

9.3

2017 Bedrock Riesling from Cienega Valley AVA. Planted in 1963 and dry-farmed. Apparently it’s the second oldest riesling vineyard in California. “Own-rooted in decomposed granite and limestone lovingly tended by the magnificently mustached Pat Wirz,” according to Morgan Twain-Peterson MW. Loaded with flavor. Lime oil and granny smiths with a hint of honey, and lots of rocks. A steal at $25. — 7 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.7

The 2014 Pluribus is stellar. Once again, I am deeply impressed with the Pluribus. Inky blue/purplish fruit, lavender, mint, plum and licorice infuse this super-expressive, resonant Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Pluribus is the most improved Bond wine. This flight of 2014 makes that quite evident. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, March 2018)
— 7 years ago

Maggie Harrison

8.9

black fruits- dried - w/meaty, savory notes on the nose. rich, complex, deeply flavored. Funky in the best way possible. medium acid and tannin. native yeast. — 8 years ago

Ruth Hirshey Lincoln

9.3

Delicious. Deeply herbaceous. Toasting Joe the birthday boy. — 9 years ago

Oliver N

9.1

Very meaty, juicy, and fresh! Black olive, pine, black licorice, black cherry, some red fruit, low tannins, some green energy.
This wine just screams freshness! — 5 years ago

Jan-Willem van der Hek

9.5

Super sensual and exciting Grenache. 140yrs old own rooted Grenache from sandy soils, from the Vine Vale Barossa Valley. Made like Rayas, so pure, clean, delicate but with a lovely old Vine Grenache punch! — 5 years ago

Angelo Casagrande

9.0

Delicious fanatic- still had that candy quality, but this was a much more robust and deeply flavored gamay than most to use baseball analogy, this gamay wouldn’t bat first, it’s not light and fast. Maybe third? — 6 years ago

Hickoryburger

9.6

Deeply satisfying, closest thing to Coche I've had the pleasure to try — 7 years ago

Raj Harb

9.7

Mind blown. Deeply perfumed and complex. Precise. Fall 2018 — 7 years ago

Ron Siegel

9.5

Dark cherry, plum, licorice & dried herbs that is rich, full bodied, seductive, deeply layered in a velvety texture. — 8 years ago

David Barker

9.5

Incredible. Minerals. Sweet red cherries, black currants, bit of mint and Flowers. Lots of energy. single vineyard Pinot. Deeply complex - like a top of line burgundy. — 9 years ago

with Eliot and Andrea

Steve Anderson

9.2

I love @Angela Osborne 's Grenache, but was a bit skeptical on this one. The story was intriguing, pre-prohibition own-rooted vines planted in sand..and growing in the shadow of Ontario Airport east of Los Angeles. Did I mention Cucamonga Valley? But I should have known that Angela wouldn't have picked it if it wasn't special. Greatly exceeded expectations. Color was lighter than some Rosès, but this was no lightweight. Fragrant nose, nice acidity, a bit of earth and stems, but strawberry and just a nice purity to it. Best at cellar temp. Easy quaffer and a joy to drink. — 9 years ago