Ray Vanderhoff

9.3

Everything about this wine is DARK. Deep ruby/purple color bordering on black. Aromas of black and blue fruit, Asian spices and coffee. Flavors of cooked black berry/plum/currant fruit, bakers chocolate, tar and espresso. Hint of black pepper on the long, lingering and silky finish. Extremely concentrated with lively acidity. Tannins are firm but in harmony. This is a wine you quickly take notice of. Probably at (or just past) its peak. Thanks for the wonderful gift, Petey P! — 9 months ago

Mike Saviage

9.9

Tasted blind. Deep purple color. Looks very young, compared to the 45 Margaux next to it. Almost opaque. Notes of black fruit, cracked walnuts, sweet fruit, raspberry and some cedar desk. Super rich in the mouth. Seems young and is firm, but tannins are softened and the mouthfeel is velvet touch. Long finish. It peacocks all night. The walnuts thing leads my guess to Latour, but can this be the 45? Is it a 61 or 82? Could be... I go with it being a 59 given how young it seems. Just an amazing bottle of wine, open for ~9 hours by the time we left, it seemed to effortlessly power along. Thanks Stan! — 4 years ago

Chris McClellan

9.0

Big bold delicious with blackberry and blueberry. Minty notes, medicinal, with smoke/vanilla/toast, and some tertiary notes of leather and peppercorn. Tannins smooth, easy to drink...its very tasty, but just too much alcohol in the end..no doubt a long finish, but with that finish, I could blow fire... — 5 years ago

with Ryan

Dr. Owen Bargreen

9.5

The 2009 'Cristal' is a completely stunning Champagne which impresses with its polish, complexity, weight and silky mousse. The brightness is wonderful with intense lemon zest and kumquat aromatics that all mingle in the glass. The soft mousse and bright effervescence really impresses. The freshness of the wine also shows beautifully on the mid-palate, displaying not only good weight but intense orchard fruits that mingle with the wet stone, and high-toned citrus zest accents. I love the silky mouthfeel that adds to the wonderful experience. This is settling in after some time after release. Drink 2019-2035- 95 — 6 years ago

B Williams

8.9

Lots of fruit in this cab. — 8 years ago

Jose Rodriguez

9.0

Very smooth, very good with a nice piece of steak — 9 years ago

Nelson Dent

9.0

This is excellent! — 10 years ago

Mike Barbella

9.6

One of my Fav's of ALL time — 11 years ago

Lewis Chester

9.1

2004 vintage. This is not a champagne I thought worthy of the hype when I last drank this about 9 months ago. Maybe I was too quick to write it off. It seems to have grown in weight, concentration and complexity in that short period of time. The apples have become more precise, there is some stone fruit coming to the fore and even hints of minerality. There's some richness on the back of the palate now that adds character to the impression of the wine. The finish is more exact and there's depth of fruit missing last time round. The length is long and fairly persistent. Although a way off outstanding, it's become very good and clearly might improve further. — 11 years ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.0

Flight 2 , wine 1 . Quite deep garnet , less terracotta rim . This had a whiff of oxidation about it at first which seemed to somewhat dissipate with time . Some dark spiced fruits , liquorice and menthol hints , cedar and sous bois . On the palate good ripeness and spiced dark cherry hints . Good acidity and rounded tannin . Nice length also , offering some spiced black fruits and menthol hints . Don’t think this is a pristine bottle but was enjoyable none the less , I was unsure at first if this was Napa , but coming back to it … and reading my notes , it became quite obvious . However I had this down as the Ch Montelena , not the Dominus — 10 months ago

Christian Fischer

9.4

After a coffee chat at work yesterday that ended discussing Hillside Select I was motivated to open one for the holiday weekend. Initially I was very disappointed as the wine was flat and uninspiring considering the pedigree and price tag. Read some reviews that this 2013 needs A LOT of air and sure enough after hours the wine began to evolve and markedly improve. It is an intense wine that lingers in the mouth for a long time. Smooth tannins, red fruit and tobacco flavors. Not my most favorite wine and not at the $229 I paid, but nonetheless a very good wine once it had the chance to get some air for a few hours — 4 years ago

Jerry Mimus

9.0

Beautiful blend. Can't go wrong for the money — 5 years ago

Mono Head

9.1

Wax was hard to get off. Essentially scrapped it off. Before cork even came out I could start smelling the wine. I thought it would be corked. Cork melted off even with an ah so. First sip just had a little bit of funk but overall very drinkable. Much like a French Bordeaux. Fruit is muted, dry. Dark fruit finish. Smell definitely is dry and has an older funk, herbal, medicinal - not in a negative way. Would have loved to seen how it would have done decanted but had no time. — 6 years ago

Chris England

9.4

Everyone knows I’m a fan of LRA but I’ve not had the 98 for a long time!

As I just found some @ £68 I had to try & it’s lovely for the money with lots of life left 👍

🍸 Perfect in Zalto Burgundy 😎

🍷 Garnet ruby w/ brick edge

👃 Smoked dark balsamic oak in spiced black cherry w/ vanilla cocoa cream, herbs, smoke, leather, coconut & caramel

👄 Med creamy smooth body of dark cherry bathed in balsamic & vanilla cocoa w/ red berry tones

🎯 Long chocky cherry w/ touch tart balsamic thick linger — 8 years ago

Buck Williams

9.5

Pinot? Ahead of its time. Perfect amount of reduction. — 9 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. — 10 years ago

Dave Amos

10

Well. Pretty much perfect. A serious 97-98 points for sure. Glad I waited 7 years. Incredible berries and not a hint of acid just the right heat. Like drinking a thin smooth syrup. Perfect. — 10 years ago

Jim Wallick

9.3

Coaxing it out of the glass. Needs time to blow off typical barnyard nose, leads way to dark red fruit and really long finish — 11 years ago

with Charles

Dave Amos

9.4

Love this wine. Thick, smokey. Fruit and liquorice totally coat your mouth. Just the right amount of heat. — 11 years 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 — 3 years ago

Jeremy Shanker

Sommelier at RN74

8.9

One of the most disappointing first growths I’ve had. Not sure if the 11s need more time, or if they’ll just never come around. Atypically lean vintage of this with a fairly predictable and uninspired aromatic profile. — 3 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.2

2002 Vintage. Decanted for approx 1.5 hrs. Throwing a decent amount of sed. At the top of its’ particular bell curve-not getting any better. Drink up time. — 5 years ago

Rob Sternthal

9.2

Those who follow me will know that this is a rare one for me, but I don’t have too many half bottles and my alcoholism took over late tonight and made me open something. This is one of the lightest Cabernet Merlot blends I’ve ever had. It’s still quite tannic but the winemaking is there. Seems to open a little over time and you can taste the French terroir. — 5 years ago

Austin Hohnke

9.0

Beautiful with an hour of breathing time. Concentrated berry fruit without being jammy. Pure. Fruit forward. Hot on the finish. Several blind tasters were leaning Grenache. — 7 years ago

Chris Langstaff

9.4

Nose has definite hint of grape medicine. Something that kinda throws me off, has a kind of artificial grape smell. It changes a ton as it is spending time in the glass. Opening up to some flowery fig stuff. Amazing how it opens up. Update after being open a day: incredible change across the board - nose is now lavender honey and a hint of toast, and the honey carries through on the tongue. It exhibits some prune characteristics. — 9 years ago

Carlos Alba

9.2

Amazed by how time can be kept in a bottle! Lots of complexity and yet still some fruit, port-like texture. Dreaming about the great vintages — 10 years ago

Miguel A. Nistal

9.0

I love Stags Leap and this one is crazy reasonable and so good. Cherry flavored, soft on pallet. Beautiful wine. — 10 years ago

with Miguel

Ed Rapacki

9.0

2013 S version. Just delicious, but lots of places to go to in time. — 11 years ago

Matt Baker

10

Z-Best!!! My personal fav of all time!!!! — 11 years ago

Lauren Marie

9.6

One of my top wines. Great fruity flavor, great blend. — 12 years ago