Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

I’ve had at least two cases of the 97 over the last eight years or more. Our friends Jeff & Hedy brought this bottle of 97 to dinner tonight. It’s the best bottle of this wine I’ve had. We drank our last bottle roughly two years ago. The wine continues to improve. Tonight it’s so lush, ruby, elegant with blue & dark & mid red fruits. Great balance of fruit & earth. So beautiful & easy to drink. The 97 vintage was one no one wanted to buy as it was critically panned. I have said this many times, “in every difficult vintage, there are always producers that make good wine.” In the case of the Potensac, it took 15+ years to fully spread its wings and it continues to improve with another 10 years left ahead. No critic would have told you in 98 & 99 when the initial reviews came out to buy this wine. Potensac is made by the same technical team as Leoville Las Cases. Always follow good producers, even in difficult years. K&L bought 5,000 cases of this wine 10+ years after the fact. They are Masters in Bordeaux wines for this kind of value. Clyde took the shipments in two blocks of 2500 cases and sold through them in about a year or less at $24.99 a bottle. It remains the bargain of a lifetime! @Shay A This is the wine you want to buy to keep you from opening your 09’s & 10’s too early. So delicious tonight!!! Photos of; Potensac, concrete tanks, fruit near harvest and their barrel room. — 8 years ago

Kirk F

9.0

Wanted one more glass tonight so thought this might do the trick. Usual drama with the cork even though this has been perfectly stored since 2007 in this house! Have had this a couple times the last few years and have always been impressed with how dark it is. Surprisingly fruit driven tonight, some gritty tannin hanging on leads me to believe this one could go one for years. It isn’t particularly special, but good. Originally bought to get some of the 05s in the cellar in my early days of collecting. 92 Spectator, I believe, on release. — 8 years ago

Henrik Poulsen

9.2

91% CS, 9% Malbec.

I've been a fan from early on but think these guys have really been on a stride beginning with their 2012-vintage.

I re-visited this wine several times throughout the evening and didn't think it budged much (over 4+ hours) from my initial impression.
That should speak more to the quality (and age ability) of this wine than to my tastebuds and I would certainly love to taste it again in 5+ years as my rating then may seem quite conservative.
— 9 years ago

with Kathleen, Laura and 2 others

George Yasutake

9.4

A little too early for my taste but 10000 times better than the pinot. — 9 years ago

with Mitch

E & K G

9.1

Not as closed as this producer can be at times. High acidity but we tried to open this one early. Lots of volume, structure and fruit. Take your time enjoying this one. — 9 years ago

Andrea Picchi

9.1

Soft and slow at first but rapidly embraces the essences of smoke, leather and spice while dark coca and cherries kiss your lips, and taste buds. Not over powering, opens just slow enough for you to divulge into all of it tannins before it suddenly explodes with full flavors dancing all the way down...enjoy it early, often and multiple times — 9 years ago

Brandon Boesch

9.3

Really great. Huge fan of the wheat bourbons. There is no way pappy tastes ten times better than this whiskey. — 10 years ago

Chris Trapp

9.2

Smooth an delicious. Mild oak with early burn and fantastic end — 10 years ago

Mike O'Connor

9.2

Great fruit forward, with out the bitter early strawberry flavor you some times get. — 10 years ago

with Melissa

Caleb Mosley

9.8

Black olive, cola, tar, Amaro and violets. Evolved numerous times over a 3 hour drinking window. Tannins make themselves apparent early in the mid and they were deliciously chewy and expansive without becoming overbearing or clumsy. Would've loved to see how the fruit looked and how the ferments were conducted to craft this wine! — 11 years ago

with Laura

Clive McNish

9.7

Another great wine from Paso Robles with fantastic fragrance and a flavour profile to rival some Napa big boys which sell for 2,3 even 4 times the price. Fantastic aromas straight out of the bottle with blackberry and black currant combined with vanilla, oak and violet perfume. Taste develops by the minute in the decanter and early dry minerality smooths into a long and rich finish. Really enjoyable now and no doubt will get better and better. Note: there is no Syrah in this vintage despite the title of the page. 2015 is Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. New high score for me. — 8 years ago

JJ Lumia

9.3

Cherry, mushroom, and smoky peat flavors. Creamy and well integrated. Still a bit austere as it’s on the early side but nothing a good decent wouldn’t solve. If you have, crack open a bottle and let the good times roll. — 8 years ago

Jeffro Beaudeen

9.8

OMG! this is the Sanford & Benedict Signature Series bottling from Sanford. Richard Sanford I believe initiated a project whereby the six most highly-regarded winemakers in the area would each take a sampling of the Sanford & Benedict grapes in 1991 and make their own bottling and then those six people would gather together and blend to create the "signature" bottling which they felt would represent the best that that long time vineyardhad to offer. I have had this wine several times early after release with Richard Sanford in attendance at an event on my patio in Alta Dena and several times since and virtually none of the bottlings had ever overwhelmed me . . but this bottling at this time is delicious and evolved and balanced and and and and . . . way beyond my expectations. if you have this wine in your Cellar open a bottle now and reconfirm why you bought it in the first place . . Good s*** Maynard'! 😀 — 8 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

In every difficult vintage, anywhere, you will find producers that make exceptional wines. This 91 Palmer is such a wine. I have to thank Clyde Beffa owner of K&L Wine Merchants who has been traveling to Bordeaux for 35+ years for highly recommending two 91 Bordeaux's to me. The 91 Pichon Lalande; which he described as "heavenly." It's just the word I would have used to described it 5 or 6 years ago. Also, this 91 Palmer. He described as, "​I love it-soft and silky." I would strongly agree. You see, critics gave the 91 vintage a horrific review as a whole. Bordeaux had two frosts in April and a cold growing season. These elements didn't prevent either of these producers from making beautifully elegant 1991 wines. I have said it many times and will say it again, taste wines even in difficult vintages. You'll find value and some excellent wines. As for this 91, it's in perfect form. Excellent on it's own and even better with the ribeye. It's so elegant, smooth, beautiful, ripe and well balanced with earth & fruit. The fruits are slightly stewed & baked. Blackberries, dark cherries, black plum, black raspberries, touch of rhubarb, cherries, strawberries. Dried florals, used leather, tobacco with ash, slight vegetal quality, anise, not too sweet black cherry licorice/cola, figs, dark earth with crushed rocks, dry stones, underbrush, understated spice and perfect acidity that drips over the palate. The length, structure, balance and finish are in perfect harmony & the finish goes on and on and on. As many times as we've been to Bordeaux, we never get tired of the drive on the D-2 through Margaux and Pauillac. Chateau Margaux & Palmer stand side by side in beautiful prodigious history to say nothing of Baron Pichon & Pichon Lalande. Every year, for my B-day, I have a great steak and an old Bordeaux. It just doesn't get any better than that. And as many of those nights I've had, B-day or not, this might have been the best. Perhaps topping or equaling the Ribcap at Bourbon Steak and the 91 Pichon Lalande. To quote Gary Westby, "it steak and claret night." 12% alcohol is so much more enjoyable than 15% plus. ❤🍷🎉🎂 — 9 years ago

with Gary

Chris

9.9

Great and hard to find at times... — 9 years ago

Jonas Johansson

9.2

Good times in Nashville. — 10 years ago

Matt Trader

9.6

This, is 903 brewery's sasquatch Balcones barrel aged stout.. this is probably the best texas beer I've had the pleasure of consuming.. has everything the original chocolate stout has to offer and about 100 times more. Very dark, thick and viscous, creamy, smells of roasted coffee beans, and a Bourbon soaked sweetness at the tail end, in perfect marriage with the chocolatey finish! Enjoying this the first day it was released on 1/28/2016, and I plan to age one for at least a year, maybe the full 5.. we shall see! — 10 years ago

Skeeter Panes

9.0

Brandy Finish - at times the brandy is over powering. Also, cheap medicine bottle cap. — 10 years ago

Tim O'Rourke

9.0

On potential, this could be very good. Right now, it's pretty shut down, and shows the typical Faiveley wait-a-little-longer style. Opened early and decanted a few times, stash this for another 20 years. — 11 years ago

with David

Sean Shafik

9.0

On the bourbon scale this is great...nice balance and intensity....although I don't get the hype...this is not as interesting or complex as the billboards would preach and honestly I would take some "relaxing times" over this most days of the week.... — 11 years ago

Raushan Adayeva

9.3

8 times the best wine of Italy, sounds very promising. This is a perfect field blending , as it contains influences of international grapes and it is felt clearly in the nose. At blind testing I might confused it with Savinion. Very well integrated, but it is still early to drink , 4 years after would be grate to drink, good potential. Average acidic, aftertaste average+, good aftertaste. — 8 years ago

Dennis P.

10

My late father was a shot and a beer guy. His shooter of choice was always Early Times Kentucky Whiskey. In his honor, I always keep a bottle in my liquor cabinet. It is exported to over 40 country's as bourbon, but because its aged in used oak barrels rather than new ones, Kentucky law states it must be marketed in the U.S.A. as Kentucky whiskey. Aged for 36 months, it is exceptionally smooth, easy to sip straight up, on the rocks, or old school shooter style. 40% alc/vol. 80 proof. Distilled and bottled in Louisville Kentucky. — 8 years ago

Alex B

9.1

Smooth texture. Has a smokey taste that is reminiscent of Early Times. Would be paired beautifully with fish. — 8 years ago

Tom Casagrande

9.2

I am hard-pressed to rate this wine. It's so atypical, but this estate's wines are reputed to take years to round into form. Right now, I mostly get a sense of highly-extracted minerality, with only a little fruit showing-- although it's interesting, highly-confectionary red fruit. And that's on the SECOND NIGHT!. As an unabashed fan of traditionally-styled Bojos, I really don't know where this will end up. But from reputation, I guess it's early in that journey. Right now it's intellectually interesting but not that pleasurable.

UPDATE (night 4): I left about 1/4 of the bottle until now, and, as reputed, it is more pleasurable and demonstrative now. Very pure, confectionary plum/ripe cherry juice fruit in the nose, and there's even a whiff of Bourbon (without the alcohol). Minerality still there but playing a supporting role now. Plus there's a feral/animal tang. Still tannic, but they've softened. This is sui generis, so don't compare it to anything, especially Beaujolais, or you're doing it a disservice. Day 4 rating 9.2. Age this puppy for several years. — 9 years ago

with Lyle

Henrik Poulsen

9.5

A very early peek on this small production Oregon Pinot Noir which I've only tasted a few times before.

Big and bold at this point and the vintage is probably still some time away from being released but people should blindly buy anything they can get their hands on....
Very impressive and 94+ pts for me this evening. — 9 years ago

with Kurt-Inge

Marc Stubblefield

Wine Sales at Vino Carta and Kogod Wine Merchant

9.0

Early times yet for this bottle. The pieces are all there, but not yet knit into the seamless whole that these get with a few more years inn the cellar. Easy to drink, but will give so much more in five years. — 9 years ago

Antonio Gianola

9.7

Tastes substantially wheated. Such a treasure found at dad's house. Thinking it is circa 1965 but not quite sure. Definitely very old — 10 years ago

Nick Steshko

9.5

A great dessert wine. Has notes of Bourbon, Cognac, Wood, with a gently sweet finish. Great after a meal or any other excuse to open it! — 10 years ago

Marcy Simon

9.4

Happy Birthday Marc Silverberg / belated is better often times....to best friends always. This is powerful ... — 11 years ago

Greg Bennett

9.5

Oooooo... Very very good. Early ting/burn but smooth in the finish. — 11 years ago