M. Christopher Roebuck

9.3

This is excellent! It's nice to be able to buy a well-cellared wine. Cedar, spice, clove, and cherry tobacco nose. Medium weight, perfect medium acidity, medium plus alcohol. Spearmint starts to emerge at the end. Cherry dominates the finish which is long and well balanced with soft fully resolved tannins. The wine is ready now. Drink up and enjoy.

93 points — 3 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.8

The 2019 Haut-Brion is seriously impressive. A dark, virile wine, the 2019 impresses with its vertical energy and statuesque elegance. It's a Haut-Brion that will only reveal itself over many years. Today, the density and resonance are super-impressive and also hugely promising. Classic savory and mineral notes start to emerge over time. I can't wait to see how this ages. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, February 2022)
— 4 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.3

Deep Ruby color with purple edges, aged for about 20 months on oak. The port wine displays a complex nose with ripe fruits and sweet spice. On the palate ripe sweet juicy blackberry and cherry flavors emerge, velvety and smooth. Tannins are present and tight and chewy, well balanced. Long finish ending with ripe juicy fruit, spice and  slight earthy character, not as big as ‘16 but, Very Nice! Can drink now but will develop over next decade! — 4 years ago

Anthony Lombardi

9.3

The nose has an herbal anise note which follows to the palate. This wine is really all about textural complexity. Fresh & crisp with a tense, saline character. Some honeyed melon notes emerge as it opens. Beautiful stuff. — 5 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.2

Had this a year+ ago, tried a new batch, noticed label color changed. A big fan of Tawny Ports, especially the 20 year blends are a Fav. Fonseca Port was founded in 1822 and successive generations of the Guimaraens family have upheld the Company’s reputation. Medium amber color with aromas of honey and pronounced nutty notes. On the palate ripe dried fruits with sweet cinnamon spice and oak emerge from the glass. Soft tannins long smooth finish ending with a sweet nutty character. Very nice. — 5 years ago

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9.4

Shimmering ruby. Expansive aromas of fresh dark berries, cherry cola, potpourri and exotic spices; vanilla and espresso notes emerge as the wine opens up. Sweet, fleshy and seamless in texture, offering palate-staining black raspberry, cherry liqueur, vanilla and spicecake flavors and a sexy violet pastille nuance. Velvety tannins build slowly on the finish, which hangs on with impressive, floral- and spice-dominated persistence. (60% new French oak) (Josh Raynolds, Vinous, June 2019) — 6 years ago

David Shaw

9.0

Different vintage - 2016. Pale yellow white, excellent clarity. Funk and white floral notes in nose. Faint honey and lactic notes in mouth, dry, long neutral finish, more creamy than mineral, slightly crisp. A hint of spice in aftertaste. Moderate fine-grained skin astringency, noticeable but complementary in context. Needs time to develop. Some wood gradually emerges in nose and mouth, while Riesling varietal flavors (perfumed, slightly bitter) emerge after 45 minutes. — 7 years ago

Mike Saviage

9.5

Tasted blind. Reddish tawny color. Closed nose. Later in the evening (after wine had been opened for 9+ hours), notes of black cherry, tobacco leaf, cedar desk, gravel stone emerge. Very rich. Still a baby and evolving. Better tonight than the 82 Mouton. 95+ — 4 years ago

Willie Carter

8.9

Deep dark purple with a wide, lilac rim. Powerful nose with pronounced plum. There’s a unmistakable charred wood quality happening here that I’m really digging. Stewed mushrooms and dried herbs with roast beef. Give it more air and time and good things happen. Ripe red cherries start to emerge alongside black and blue fruits. Those dirty earth aromas are positively stellar here, really nice.

Northern Rhône Syrahs are something special. Meaty with well integrated tannins. Full bodied and very classic in nature and style. Plenty of sediment in the bottle but still full of finesse. Smooth tannins and a very laid back, enjoyable nature. Bacon fat and pepper initially on the palate. Dried earth and blueberries with smoke and mushrooms. A touch of green olives and lusty herbs. Medium finish with more spice. Drinking spectacularly at the moment but can still hold up in the cellar for a few more years. Truly nice. — 4 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.4

Tasted ‘05 again. 100% Sangiovese, aged in oak for 2 years, Deep Ruby with aromas of ripe black & red fruits with sweet spice. On the palate, this full-bodied wine had medium acidity, very smooth tannins showing ripe fruit flavors of cherry and raspberry with cacao, cedar spice complex yet not overpowering as flavors emerge to a long pleasant finish ending with mineral and earthy notes. This is Top Flight! Wow! Aged well! — 5 years ago

Josh Morgenthau

9.4

This is killer. Slow to reveal its perfume, really needs a decant or slow ox actually. But berry liqueur and violets emerge, some baking spice, then palate has supple texture, super fine and gentle tannins, really nice acid. Truly a wine of pleasure. This wine, like the best from the vintage, combines perfect ripeness with classic elegance and lift. — 5 years ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.4

Intoxicating mineral nose of diesel, smoke, rocks, incense and seaweed.
After an hour, mature fruit notes emerge.
Fabulous...
APnr 11-06 — 6 years ago

AJ Gubser

9.3

Interesting, complex aromatics. Some brettanomyces funk at first and then fig, pomegranate, allspice, clove, pepper, and smoke comes out. As it gets some O2, some tomato and iron notes emerge.

Palate opens with cherry and raspberry leaning to the dried side of things. Figs and dates come to mind as well. The allspice, pepper and black tea notes finish things out. Acidity is medium and tannins are still pretty burley and course, especially given its age.

Another tasty wine from a producer I really like. The purity of fruit, spice complexities, and robust tannin structure seem to be their signature. — 6 years ago

Brad Jensen

9.1

Took a minute to warm up, but once it did the nose burst open with notes of leychee, jasmine and sweet floral notes. The flavor was off-dry, with a creamy floral sweetness that cascaded over the palate, with a slightly mineral/slightly spicy mid-palate, and ends with a dry minerality and taste of wet river stones on the finish. First Boxler but definitely won’t be the last. PS: as it continued to warm, I became aware of how fresh tasting the wine was. I’m still waiting on the food to finish, but I’m excited to see how it will emerge. — 4 years ago

Greg Bencivengo

9.0

Dense aroma full of cranberry and bramble fruit. Honest and well balanced. Tannins resembling brown leaves emerge later. A touch of mouse? — 4 years ago

with Josh

David Koenen

9.3

Best Poujeaux I’ve tasted so far! Sun dried tomatoes, clove, white pepper. All kinds herbs, like thyme and oregano. Licorice. Nice woodsy tones emerge at the end. Ripe but restrained. This is beautiful stuff. — 5 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.0

Last tried 3 years ago. Established in the early 1950s, producing and selling only grapes and just a few years ago began aging and bottling its own wines. Giampaolo Pira recently took the reins. Ruby, brown edges, with aromas of dark berry fruit and earthy spices. 100% Nebbiolo, flavors of ripe cherry and plum emerge, smooth, with pepper spice on good structure. Fine soft tannins, balanced acidity on long finish ending with earthy mineral notes, drink now. — 5 years ago

David Shaw

9.1

Fairly dense red, moderately extracted pigment. Black cherry, black currant, mint and butter aromas. Fairly ripe flavors of cherry, blackberry, black currant in mouth, rounded mouthfeel, slightly tart blackberry and cranberry on finish with seed bitterness and mild skin astringency. Lactic aftertaste. After an hour, white pepper and then, 90 minutes later, cocoa emerges in the finish and aftertaste. After two hours, barrel smoke emerges. Great fruit, nothing too fancy on the winemaking end (perhaps deceptively so) but exactly what I’d want from a Lodi Italian varietal like Barbera, especially if you can decant an hour or two and wait for that white pepper and cocoa to emerge. — 6 years ago

Greg Wright

9.2

Reticent and austere at the beginning but then started to open up. Dark red fruits, savory notes, violets emerge. It has good acidity and tannin balance but the austerity is going to require more patience. — 6 years ago

David Shaw

9.1

Retasting eight months later, my last bottle. Ruby red, very good clarity. Black currant and red berry fruit leather notes in nose. Blackberry and cherry flavors initially. Mild skin astringency in finish, with white pepper emerging after 15 minutes. Black currant, plum, mint and a touch of cola and earthiness emerge an hour after opening. Complex flavor profile. Chewy tannins too emerge, so best decant a couple of hours. A little more acidic brightness wouldn’t hurt though. Maybe Tempranillo can be a Pacific Northwest thing... — 7 years ago