Carmen

8.9

La Rioja Alta, “Viña Ardanza” Rioja Reserva, 2016 🇪🇸
🍇Tempranillo 80%, Garnacha 20%
😋 Cherries and dried red fruits, vanilla, leather, and spice.
🕰️The term 'Reserva' on the label indicates this Spanish wine was aged for a minimum of 3 years, with at least 1 year spent in the barrel.
✅ Pretty bold with a clean acidity, this🍷tastes great now but could also age for a few more years. — 5 days ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.6

This was a nice pour out of 9L served up by their Winemaker, Trevor Durling. He and his team are a great group of people.

Really excellent evolution. Classic Private Reserve George Latour style. Fine, dark tarry tannins, dark cassis, wet clay, sandalwood, used tobacco, light herbaceous notes, understated lead pencil, some baking spices, dark spice, withering dark & red flowers, excellent round acidity, balance for days, soft structure & tension and an elegant, round, plush, velvety finish that close to two-minutes. — 2 months ago

"Odedi"

9.6

#AgedWineTuesday

This is a fabulous Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Napa Valley.

Dark ruby in color with a brick rim.

Full bodied and smooth.

Dry and fruity on the palate with medium acidity.

Showing blackberries, black currants, plums, cooked cherries, cedar, leather, vanilla, licorice, spices, chocolates, tobacco, herbs, earth, light vegetables, coffee and black pepper.

Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy raspberries.

This 23 year old is elegant and powerful. Rich and extracted, with a nice mouthfeel.

Good by itself as a sipping wine. Well balanced with great complexity. I just love these Napa Bordeaux blends.

Robert Parker 98 points. Wine Enthusiasts 94 points.

A great quality wine that will continue to age nicely in the next 10 to 15 years.

A blend of of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot.

14.1% alcohol by volume.

96 points.

$400. — 3 months ago

Adam Gäfvert

9.6

2011 might be a forgotten vintage but this CB is really memorable. Did a pop and pour and it had great aromatics straight away. Medium to full bodied. Velvety. Layered. Dark berries, herbs, black tea, licorice, bay leaf. First wine on the trip to France. Great start! — 4 months ago

Jay Kline

9.5

Flight #2 of our 1997 Retrospective and these were the thoroughbreds. Presented single-blind; no formal notes. Wine #2 had great color, was developing, fresh, focused, balanced; great structure. One of those glasses of wine you didn’t want to end and, for me, a tough call for favorite of the flight along with Wine #1. I vacillated between this being Dominus or Monte Bello; ultimately calling the former. This is in a beautiful phase of life. Monte Bello is one of those wines that needs decades to show its best. Drink now through 2040. — 4 months ago

"Odedi"

9.3

#AgedWineTuesday

Beautiful ruby in color, with a very wide reddish rim. Bricking at the very top.

Light nose with red and black fruits, light cedar and tobacco leaf.

Medium plus in body with medium acidity.

Dry on the palate with black plums, currants, cherries, earth, black coffee, oak, herbs, vegetables, spices, tobacco leaf, dark chocolates and black tea.

Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy raspberries.

This 26 year old from the great 1998 vintage in Southern Rhone is drinking beautifully now. Soft and smooth, elegant and earthy.

Not so good right out of the bottle, and needed 90 minutes of airtime to open up properly, so be patient.

Robert Parker 95 points. Wine Spectator 94 points.

Will continue to drink nicely in the next 5 years.

Showing nice complexity and good balance.

I paired it with a Charcuterie board of meats and cheeses.

14% alcohol by volume.

93 points.

$120 (current vintage). — 4 months ago

Delectable Wine

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9.6

The 2012 Insignia is in great shape today. Bright acids lend tremendous energy to a mid-weight Insignia that is more about finesse rather than power. Sweet red-fleshed fruit, cedar, tobacco, mint and rose petal are all beautifully delineated. There's not much left to say. The 2012 offers tons of pure pleasure. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, May 2024)
— 23 days ago

Joe Weinberger

9.1

Can’t tell if not in a great spot or maybe some slight heat damage—but leaning to the latter. Tasty, but not as good as it should have been — 2 months ago

Dan Michael

9.4

What a treat to enjoy a perfectly aged Opus One with friends over dinner. The wine was gorgeous, great color, classic nose with black fruit and spice, lovely weight and texture with a long satisfying finish. I wish more people had a chance to taste this wine when it is at this age, outstanding! — 2 months ago

Conrad Green

9.7

This is really something. Gorgeous lemon and minerality. Lovely soft fruit. Resolved but with beautifully balanced acidity. This is in a great place right now with signs of secondary notes but dazzling refined tension. Exceptional — 3 months ago

with Bex and David

Greg Andrew

9.4

Thanks for the great wine mom! - 2/16/24 — 4 months ago

A. R.

9.2

Good wine, QPR questionable. Red/black fruit, some unresolved oak, good acid, high tannin. Needs 5+ years. Great finish. Good with red meat. — 4 months ago

Conrad Green

9.3

Great structure and acidity. Good balance. Sweet lemon and corn. Excellent — 4 months ago

with Gregg

Shay A

9.2

Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.

Fun to open birth year wines around your birthday, especially when you can do a Bordeaux and Napa side by side. While not a great vintage, this held up well after a few hours and presented as expected. Clean and zero Brett. Great color! Deep ruby with hardly any bricking. Leather, cassis, vanilla pipe tobacco on the nose. Sporting a good bit of dusty red and black fruits (mostly tart raspberries and blackberries), there was a little savory truffle note mixed with an herbal and mocha finish. Still quite grippy. Pretty. — a month ago

Willem Booij

9.4

Another fine bottle from this great estate, a nose to die for. This is an impeccable bottle of wine firing on all cilinders. I can’t get enough of this wine, felt in love with it on a wine trip with Big J and ever since I buy this wine without blinking my eyes. — 2 months ago

Neal Ferry

9.1

Great repeating value — 3 months ago

with TwiLea

Christian Fischer

9.3

Some specials on today at the Chelsea lounge at JFK. Thought I’d ask and look what we got. It doesn’t have as much of the typical Dom taste for me and it is still very very young, definitely still a baby. Great nose and packs a lot of citrusy flavors - they will certainly mellow over the years. Not a bad rendition, not quite hitting the super high marks with me right now, but very pleasant early p.m. bubbly on this holiday — 3 months ago

William Brouwer

8.9

Great nose. Smooth oak on the palate — 4 months ago

Jay Kline

9.0

Flight #3 of our 1997 Retrospective. Presented single-blind; no formal notes. Wine #3 was vinous and in great shape. The only wine in the group that showed stronger notes of coconut and vanilla than the others. Called Silver Oak. Drink now and through 2030. — 4 months ago

Lorena Nieto

9.2

Great wine. But it is better to wait a little bit to drink it — 5 months ago