Bright, deep ruby. Ineffable scents of dark berries, graphite, minerals, licorice, violet, dark chocolate and sage. Wonderfully suave, fine-grained and plush but light on its feet, and every bit as complex in the mouth as on the nose. Really impeccably balanced, classy wine with uncanny precision and inner-mouth aromatic lift and a resounding, endlessly building aftertaste that leaves the taste buds quivering. A wine of great finesse and energy, not to mention noble palate-saturating, fully ripe tannins. This is more about subtlety than weight, but is still hard to scrape off your palate. This already coats every square millimeter of the palate but may yet expand further. All of this fruit was harvested in October. (Stephen Tanzer, Vinous, May 2020)
— 5 years ago
Let open and it will show you the time of your life! — 7 years ago
VERY fruit-forward, like blueberries 🫐/strawberries IN YOUR FACE lol. Marshmellow, nutmeg, honestly just sweeter than I expect for Pinot Noir 🤔 — 2 years ago
Yum! Cranberry-rhubarb-rose water mid-summer glory. Low ABV, enough acidity to scrub a couple layers of enamel off your teeth. Perfection with fresh heirlooms, BBQ chicken, and cold spicy peanut noodles….I love basque Tzakolina with its vivacious light pink personality. Note to self: purchase a boatload before it’s gone. — 3 years ago
Classically big, juicy, fruit-dense, and powerful—smooth tannin structure—not much secondary and tertiary notes—loving Caymus is, as always, a question of your palate — 6 years ago
Raise your hand if you like Felsina? Ok, too many hands up. I get it. Consistent and predictable in a good way. Not everyday chianti but fun nevertheless — 7 years ago
Joint review w/ Deena & Burgnut on Vivino 👍 Been eager to try this vintage @ £135 of one of my fav Napa Cabs 😍 This 2013 is in your face gorgeous ❤️
🍷 Opaque deep ruby w/ purple hue
👃 Spiced peppery blackcurrant, black cherry, dark plum, red berry, minty herbs, blueberry & liquorice w/ violets
👄 Full bodied punchy smooth creamy intense ripe sweet spiced blackcurrant & black cherry wallop w/ violet liquorice & cocoa
🎯 Long blackcurrant, violet liquorice & cocoa cherry purple teeth stain 😈 — 8 years ago
When your dad wants to open a birth year wine he’s been sitting on for nearly 3 decades and impress your winemaker boyfriend…
My first taste of this iconic wine and it didn’t disappoint. I mean look at that color… it’s still so deep and bright. For a moment I worried it might have been a fake (that’s wayyy to much pigmentation for an almost 70 year old wine) but then again it was so good that even if it was a fake I didn’t care.
Decanted for hours and was still opening up over the course of the meal showing more fruit as the night went on (blackberry, ripe plum fresh and dried), lots of leather, tobacco and cedar. Black truffle as expected.
Will it ever live up to the hype? Never. But was it really friggin’ good? YES!!! — 2 years ago
🚨WINE HACK🚨 If you 1) own a sodastream, but no expensive wine gadgets 2) have a wine which needs to come off sediment but you don’t want to expose to oxygen [eg low/no so2 gamay], try decanting the wine carefully into a clean empty bottle pre-flooded with a few gentle pumps of co2 from your sodastream. Co2 is heavier than air. This works and I swear by it!
The Foillard was beautiful. Licorice, black raspberries, purity and poise that reminds me why I fell in love with Beaujolais in the first place, and affirms what has been an oft-times rocky love affair ever since. — 4 years ago
1 hour plus decant. Dark purple color. Nose and wine were a mix of Bordeaux and Napa. Wine was fruit forward with dark cherry. Very young wine that coats your teeth. Little bit of a rough finish with some tartness and pepper. Probably needs 7+ yrs. — 5 years ago
This is just a delicious brut rosé, really one of the best out there that isn’t four figures...beautiful fruit that melts on your tongue, just excellent — 6 years ago
New world Chablis emulation but with a little more ripe fruit character and butter notes. Butter mochi, ripe green apple, cooked apples. Really tart finish with duality if fruit character. 0 new oak usage in this wine, fermented in used oak barrels and battonage for a year. Not your typical Napa chardonnay by any means but elegant and pretty. Perfumed and pretty. — 7 years ago
What a beautiful person inside and out! I'm blessed beyond measure to be able to call him "Dad". Words can't adequately express how much I Love him. We opened a few bottles last night that I will hold near and dear to my heart forever. We are celebrating his completion of 6 rounds of chemo therapy in his battle against Prostate cancer. This is his 3rd time in the ring against this opponent and it appears that he's won with a unanimous decision by knockout at this time!!!!!! Love you dad!!!!! So proud of your strength through this process. My Father was born in 1940. A difficult year to say the least:
Germans entered Bordeaux in June of 1940. As dictated by Hitler himself, it was the sworn duty of each and every commander to search and seize whatever could be used for the advancement of the German cause. Bedlam broke out. Chateaux' were ransacked, wine cellars were looted if not used for target practice. The Chateauxs were forced to continue producing wines. It's poetic justice that Mother Nature provided the Germans with the worst growing season from 1940 to 1944!!!! The Germans left Bordeaux in 1944 to the cheers of the residents "Au Revoir Les Allemands"!!!! The 1940 bottle that we enjoyed this evening survived World War II. It Survived the ransacking, pillaging & plunder of countless German soldiers. It's outer capsule showed evident signs of its struggle but it's inner beauty was unblemished and glorious. I've had many, many vintages of Latour from 1928 and on but none have ever tasted as perfect as the one we enjoyed tonight. This 1940 was perfect. It was a fighter, it never gave up, it never relinquished in the face of adversity. That's my Father, that my role model. He's a beautiful person inside & out. I think 1940 is the best vintage that I have ever had the privilege to enjoy. Special thanks to my good friends Michael Troise whom provided me with much of the insights in regards to the incredibly difficult vintage and David Page whom gifted this bottle to me for our celebration this evening. I will never forget your generosity. It was a glorious evening to say the least!!! Wine has a way of bringing people together and encapsulating an evening and event. I couldn't think of a better way to rejoice in his victory than to open a Father & Son birth year wine. — 8 years ago
Ira Schwartz

With a table full of giants , for many this was the WOTD. Text book Rayas on the nose; strawberry, cherry, spices and kirsch.
This is a wine that makes love to your palate. Teasing and caressing your mouth with harmonious waves of elegant and balanced fruit. A great Rayas in a poor vintage for CDP. However for me the partner in life is the 2005 , which has complexity and concentration that puts that one in the Hall of Fame along with ‘78, ‘90 & ‘95 — 2 years ago