Mary H

9.5

I’m an addict, what can I say? Full mouthful of bright fruit flavor, golden tropical fruit, honey, singing acidity and long finish. — a year ago

Lauren Young

9.0

Funk on the nose- old books. Needed more time than we had to decant. Barely opening at an hour. Lots of earth, tobacco, but thinner than expected — 4 years ago

Michael Patrone

9.8

Surprisingly strong tannins for how old it is, but,improved with an extra hour of decanting. — 5 years ago

with Meghana, Carolyn and 1 other

Shawn Summey

9.0

Fruity Golden Ale — 6 years ago

Jeff Lander

9.0

Stage 2 of #tourdefrance 2019. Finishing up our time in Belgium with a classic. Rich and creamy with full body and malty flavor. — 7 years ago

Lori K

9.4

Great dark fruit with pepper. Nice blend. Low acid, great overall dark red. — 9 years ago

Tom Hamilton

9.0

Half bottle. Only breathed for a half hour and it hadn’t opened up. — 9 years ago

Mark Grammer

9.3

Nose had some funk with leather, mineral and a hint of red liquorice. Evolved nicely with fruit coming out after an hour or so. Blackberry, blueberry were present after the earthy start. — 9 years ago

Matt Brock

9.3

Brought out the good stuff for V-Day. Aerated and decanted this bottle of beast for over an hour. Intensely rich fruit, rounded out by tannins that have clearly softened given the age of this wine. So rare to experience a bottle of this magnitude. The first few sips have been absolute heaven, and the balance will surely get better. — 9 years ago

with Jennifer

Scott Samlan

9.6

Fantastic. Let it breathe for an hour. Drank w our two friends who own Manousakis Vineyard in Chania. Very special wine that is full bodied with soft tannins. Full of soft cherries and forest floor. It's the bomb — 10 years ago

Sam Coturri

Winery Sixteen 600, Enterprise Vineyards and the Moon Mountain District

9.5

That perfect balance between bright red fruit and dark aromatic herbs. Ready to drink now (after being open for an hour or so) — 12 years ago

V M

9.1

Opened nicely after hour but needs more time for the tannins to soften a bit. Raspberries on the nose but Less forward fruit and more nuance. This shows flavors of berry and plum with strong notes of balsam wood and hints of chocolate and spice. This has potential to get better in a couple years but delicious now just decant for at least an hour — 13 years ago

Lee Pitofsky

9.6

Not sure there are better 13 whites than Raveneau. Lafon also comes to mind. It’s an early drinking vintage (by Raveneau standards) while you wait for 12 and 14, and no Chapelot this year so it’s blended in here. A multi-hour decant has it showing superbly, wafting layers of créme fraîche, baking spice, crushed stones and a touch of botrytis influenced saffron. The palate shows immense power, concentration and depth of waxy yellow fruit chiseled with Chablisen minerality, brilliant tension and racy lemony acids. MDT always hits 🫰🏻 — a year ago

Vanessa

9.5

Happy 8th Anniversary to the love of my life!! We’re celebrating with a bottle of Krug Vintage 2004

To underscore the unique features of each Vintage Champagne, Krug assembles a blend of expressive, representative wines from the year and then matures the final product for at least 10 years before release. This particular wine spent 12 years on the lees. It was disgorged in 2016.

The 2004 Vintage was named “Luminous Freshness” paying homage to the summer sunrise and vibrant citrus notes it exudes. This blend consists of 39% Chardonnay, 37% Pinot Noir, and 24% Meunier varieties, each playing a role in the final style.

With a golden hue, this wine offers developed aromas of baked apple, lemon peel, grapefruit pith, dried white blossom, blanched almond, brioche, toast, marzipan, and wet slate. It’s balanced and complex, with a lingering finish and delicate, long-lasting mousse.

This wine pairs wonderfully with the slow-cooked halibut in a creamy, fennel and lemon sauce alongside a zucchini and squash salad. The intensity and richness of the wine and food work well in concert. — 4 years ago

with Deked1

Weijie Shi (Jay)

9.7

Epic wine. Great showing of white sesame seeds, tropical fruits and toasted wood. Good acidity. Need decanting for at least 1 hour. Still very young. — 7 years ago

Conrad Green

9.8

A treat. Dark in color, slightly cloudy. A powerful nose with dark, very mouton fruit. Incredibly aromatic, blackcurrant, mint,graphite, dried herbs, eucalyptus. The palate is extraordinary. So dense and powerful for a wine of almost 70 years. Dark fruit with a savory undertow- leather, thyme, sour cherry, dark chocolate. Really precise flavors and long. After an hour or two in glass there’s notes of coconut and soft wood. Extraordinary. Clearly there’s a lot of age on this but the sheer quality makes for a really dynamic wine. An exceptional bottle, and a teal treat. — 8 years ago

with Howard, Tony and 1 other

Bret Barker

9.3

Off vintage but who cares? Tignanello is a personal favorite. Took a good hour to open up, this wine tastes surprisingly young. cherry, earthiness some mineral and a little smoke flavor as well. Very good — 9 years ago

Nate Norfolk

9.4

1985!!! Sherry and golden raisins...amazing w/ mushrooms — 9 years ago

Justin Wensek

9.3

Classic Rioja and right in the window for '04 904. Hour of air time at least. — 10 years ago

Erik Leenaars

9.5

Ripe vintage, needs more time. Decant for at least an hour. Still one of the best Italian wines around, despite the hype. — 11 years ago

Joe D'Angelo

9.4

90 Barton started out insane, fell apart a bit after about a half hour to an hour of air contact, but none the less a fantastic bottle! — 12 years ago

Tom Garland

9.4

From MAG

2 hour decant. A striking purplish dark garnet color. On the nose: beautiful notes of dark fruit, pencil shavings, herbaceous, vanilla, cloves. Taste: creamy, polished, structured wine with blackberry, dark chocolate, minerals, bell pepper, leather, and a decent herbal/potting soil finish. Drinks surprisingly well with the decant at this age, and of course a few more years it will improve. YUM! — a year ago

with Brenda

Nik Kannan

9.4

Really incredible wine. Not paired with any food, the wine is flavorful, quenching w/ oak flavor adding the right dryness and notes of plum & vanilla to finish - really well balanced and opened well. Bottled was empty far too quickly : ) — 5 years ago

with Emily

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

Starting the long Labor Day weekend in Big Sur the right way with a little N/V Krug Grande Cuvée. @Nepenthe

Happy Labor Day weekend all! 🍾🥂

Noses reveals; heavy bruised red apple, Bosc pear, overripe pineapple, lemon meringue, tropical melons, lime zest, white spice, sea fossils, deep crisp chalkiness, grey volcanics, yeast & bread dough, nougat, baguette crust, limestone, caramel notes, cream, vanillin framed in yellow lilies, white & spring flowers & mixed greens.

The palate is, ripe, lush, fresh and lively. The mouthfeel all Krug beautiful. Bruised red & golden apple with hints of cider, Bosc pear, overripe pineapple, lemon meringue, tropical melons, white stone fruits, lime zest/candy, white spice, sea fossils, crisp chalkiness, grey volcanics, yeast & bread dough, nougat, baguette crust, limestone, caramel notes, cream, cream soda, vanillin framed in yellow lilies, spring flowers & mixed greens. The acidity is near perfect. The long, elegant, well knitted & balanced finish is gentle until the long set when you get a full presence of white spice and minerality that persists for minutes.

This bottle was composed around 2011 and is made from over 120 different wines that span over 10 years. It is 47% Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay & 17% Pinot Meunier. — 6 years ago

John Bick

9.3

Drinking very well now. Still needs about an hour to open. Nice fruit. Elegant wine. Not as good as the 2004 which we had last night. — 8 years ago

Patrick Derdeyn

9.4

At first i picked up a lot of acetyl in this relative to the other wines. After an hour that had blown off and this blossomed. Everything you hope for in Monte Bello. — 9 years ago

Robbie Roemer

8.9

Wow. Very good blend. It doesn't say on the bottle but from the taste and location I'll guess Cabernet, Merlot, And Zin?

Heavy blueberry and cherry on the palate to begin...Very vanilla heavy on the nose. Great wine, and great for the price. — 9 years ago

Dan White

9.0

A bit out of my league, but incredible. Funk, ash, herbs de Provence, licorice. Opened slowly, as expected. Pure velvet after an hour. Probably the only opportunity I'll have to try this. — 10 years ago

Kyo Jin

9.3

Great cedar and cassis nose with a matching palate. Persistent without being boring. Earthiness coming out after an hour to balance chocolate covered berries. — 10 years ago

Alejandro Lopez

10

Golden magma... — 12 years ago

with Yann