Hard Six Cellars

Big Six

Aged 3 Months Bourbon Barrel California Red Blend

Surprisingly smooth and mellow. It’s nice for a blend and would buy again. Plus I like bourbon. — 2 years ago

Château Latour

Premier Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2000

Deep and intense and very pure. Dark, brooding fruit hard to unwind but loads of depth. Minerality and savory fruit in spades but densely packed right now. — 4 years ago

BOT Gregg GMatt Lichtenberg
with BOT, Gregg and 2 others
Jan, Douglas and 13 others liked this

Big Six

Aged 3 Months Bourbon Barrel Cabernet Sauvignon

Smooth, rich & delicious! — 7 years ago

Stacy ReidDylan Reid
with Stacy and Dylan

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC)

La Tâche Pinot Noir 1966

Sings of storage issues, low neck, slightly materized, tea leaves, tad gritty, some of the classic LaTache elements were under the surface if you focused hard. — 7 years ago

Severn liked this

Château d'Yquem

Sauternes Sémillon-Sauvignon Blanc Blend 1996

Okay, I get what all the fuss is about. Hard to believe that something so layered and 'sweet' can have such refreshing acidity. Like being inside a leaking beehive during the lightning storm — 9 years ago

Carla liked this

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2003

Hard to follow the Cheval Blanc but Pichon Lalande never disappoints. Another beauty! — 10 years ago

Janet CarabelliJorge CarabelliIlida Alvarez
with Janet, Jorge and 1 other
Daniel P., Eric and 22 others liked this
Somm David T

Somm David T Influencer Badge

No it doesn't. 👍

R. López de Heredia

Viña Tondonia Reserva Rioja Tempranillo Blend 2009

Day 2. Different is trending here. Did a little digging and pulled this gem.

The 2009 Viña Tondonia Reserva, a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Mazuelo and Graciano, matured in used American oak barrels for six years.

Elegance and value. Lively and fresh. Lot’s of life left for this one. Not a bad start for the year.
— 3 years ago

Tom, Milissa and 14 others liked this

Château Cheval Blanc

St. Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend 1999

Hard to fully enjoy as the outdoor temp was 95 but still delicious. — 6 years ago

Eric liked this

W. & J. Graham's

Six Grapes Reserve Porto Blend

Amazing Port to celebrate my brothers 50th birthday!!!! — 6 years ago

Wissam Nasr
with Wissam

Comm. G.B. Burlotto

Vigneto Monvigliero Barolo Nebbiolo 2014

Delectable Wine
9.5

The 2014 Barolo Monvigliero is quite refined and gracious, although it is also surprisingly dark, dense and concentrated by this wine's standards. A shy, reticent wine, the 2014 is going to need time in bottle to flesh out, especially in the midpalate. I have seen this with other vintages, and expect that it will be the case here as well. The precision, clarity and silkiness that are so typical of Monvigliero start to emerge as the wine opens up in the glass. Readers should plan on being patient. If that is not possible, try to taste the 2014 as soon as possible, because these wines have a tendency to shut down hard post-bottling. As always, Monvigliero is fermented with 100% whole clusters. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, February 2018) — 7 years ago

Olga Raffault

Les Picasses Chinon Cabernet Franc 1989

So smoove. Mellow, aromatic, no hard edges, Brett or greenness to be found. — 9 years ago

Velma, Trixie and 4 others liked this

Joseph Phelps Vineyards

Insignia Estate Grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2002

This was breathing fire 15 minutes after opening. Nose was Christmas Pudding with Hard Sauce. Heavy raisin on the tongue. No other way to describe it. Definitely softened after a couple hours. To be honest, I liked it in the pudding phase best. #DNWC — 10 years ago

Alison Gile
with Alison
Giacomo Giunipero

Giacomo Giunipero

We had the $250. We had to have the pudding

Ziereisen

Hard Chardonnay 2019

Lyle Fass
9.4

Always so good. Opulent and incisive. Deep nose. Lots of amplitude. Huge limestone. Herbal. So complex. German Chardonnay is so awesome. What a palate. Huge core of apple and pear fruit and stacked with minerals and a malo sweetness. So long and nimble. Gorgeous wine. Almost 9.5. — 3 years ago

Severn, Eric and 4 others liked this

Château Musar

Bekaa Valley Red Blend 2016

The 2016 Chateau Musar, the winery’s latest vintage on release, is much less forthcoming on the nose than the 2013 and ‘15 that I’ve tried recently, despite - or perhaps because of - the fact that the Hochars consider 2016 to be a successful and very ageworthy vintage.

The nose is quite dense and tightly wound, much like a left bank Bordeaux presents in its youth, not yet revealing its cards besides aromas of cedar, steeped plum, smoked beef and cinnamon. The palate, however, is open for business - powerful and saturated, striking that wonderful Musar balance between dark fruit and tangy acidity, expanding towards a puckering finish with good length.

The lasting impression here is of a very modern rendition of Musar, with great clarity and purity to the fruit, fine tannins, refreshing acidity on the palate and great drinkability now (though equal potential to age). My preference of late remains the 2013, but that’s now quite hard to buy - so I’d happily have a case of this instead.

94+
— 4 years ago

Severn, Ted and 9 others liked this

Kenwood Vineyards

Six Ridges Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2016

Very smooth - similar to white Bordeaux. Very good — 7 years ago

Big Six

3 Months Aged Bourbon Barrel Zinfandel 2015

Mike K
9.2

Really enjoyed this as an evening sipper by itself. Subtle notes of the bourbon barrel, fairly well balanced. Would get again, especially for price. — 9 years ago

Domaine Jamet

Côte-Rôtie Syrah 2007

If there were ever an archetypical Syrah, Jamet's Cote-Rotie would be a strong candidate. To me this is a pure expression of a classic Northern Rhone Syrah. It is not a single site, but a blend of terroirs, encompassing over 20 sites mostly from hard rock schist bedrock with little to no topsoil. There is NO Viognier in this wine like one might expect from most Cote-Rotie that might have 1-5% co-fermented.

Importantly, there is also a lot less of the oak character that can dominate and overwhelm many Northern Rhone wines. The oak maturation, while not short at 22 months, only uses 15% new oak with no trace of it on the palate as it is perfectly integrated. Grape bunches are whole cluster fermented and macerated for up to 3 weeks.

The 2007 we have here was drinking superbly for a young wine, showing lively and racy layers of peppercorn spice, roast beef, and warm blackberry and currant fruit from the hot 2007 vintage. While from a warm vintage, not a hair is out of place. Density and purity exude from the nose and hint at what a brilliant future this wine has. Perfect acidity and fleshy ripe tannin provide the backbone structure for father time to peel back the layers of this beauty. I will be chceking back in 5 years at the earliest.
— 9 years ago

LM, Jim and 11 others liked this
LM Segal

LM Segal Influencer Badge

Nice note. 🍷
Tom Kobylarz

Tom Kobylarz Influencer Badge

Thanks! 🍷