Severn G

9.6

The weekend upon us and we're hosting another dinner party for a couple of friends. Tonight's theme was Rhone wine, so good stuff on deck, with age.

Notes pending... (Entertaining guests first 😉)

Absolutely perfect, yet only coming into it's zone, decade to go here...

Notes from +24H open:
Nose has ripe cherry, dried cherry, dried blackberry, red velvet cake, ripe plum and dry, mineral-ly earth.

Palate has silky-sweet cherry, ripe red currant, (light) cigar wrapper, dried cherry, faint eucalyptus, faint wood notes, dry earth, faint iron notes on the long finish. Mild tannins persist today. Expect to enjoy this vintage another +10Y when held in proper storage.

This bottle was singing at the top of its register last night, slightly diminished today. Absolutely perfect cork, no Durand required for extraction. Acquired a mere two years ago, from a local retailer beginning to close down his shop. He purchased a case on release, stored in his cold cellar; when I got to hunting it only a single bottle remained.

I've had the 2000 vintage before, and it was a treat in a more youthful stage, but a delicacy with our meal last night. We baked a 3lb beef tenderloin (Kinderhook Farm; Valatie, NY) coated in an herb paste then an herbed panko crumb crust with parmesan. About a 50m cook, 30m rest yeilded a perfect 130° center. Served alongside smashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts with thick cut bacon. We had fantastic company, connecting again with a wine trade friend and his wife after a few years break in our dining schedules. — 5 years ago

Shay A

9.5

Night 1 of the Fall WNH event in San Antonio. What a killer start to the extended weekend, all courtesy to Shawn and Jennifer for hosting! Tonight was Italian wines.

Another in the running for WOTN. Maple and rich! Cherry and vanilla tobacco on the nose with herbal spice and a strawberry tart finish. Young and acidic! There is a very underripe red fruit dominant profile here. Crazy how young it tastes for 23yrs old. Bravo @Shawn R ! — 8 years ago

with Mike, David and 5 others

admiral von schnauzer

9.1

Wicked. Not entirely sure what they call this, brut vintage or some such thing but really yummy. Good balance, super nutty brioche toasty. No complaints here — 9 years ago

Tannin Wine Bar & Kitchen KC

9.4

Ripe fruit up front with the savory stuff a bit in reserve. Decanting + time give the full spectrum of olive, spice, bacon, blood. There's so much wine here and such good conversation to be had around it. — 10 years ago

Jon Ruyle

9.7

So intense, so complex, so long, so elegant, so beautiful. Unlike other CDPs I've tried- more black fruit mixed with the blue, the finish more fruit than herbs. It was sort of cab-like. So much going on here. I loved this. A great birthday wine! — 10 years ago

Kim Stanbro

9.2

Took a chance at this 3 liter buying it never tasted at auction. Shared with my Sunday night crew and it was perfectly aged and went down so easy. Gone in an hour. — 11 years ago

Charles (Chad) Bucklin

Owner and founder of C. T. Bucklin Wine Advising

8.9

Super cloudy. Some fun stuff going on here though. #bordeaux #moutonrothschild — 11 years ago

Anthony Lombardi

9.4

2012. Vintage after vintage- just delivering great wine every year. So many things to love here. Enjoyed at a maximum with the Aussie band the Twerps. — 11 years ago

LM Segal

8.9

Well made, nicely structured and probably a bit of vinfanticide here. Solid if a bit soul-less, nicely set off a braised short rib at Anzu in SF. — 12 years ago

Kenny Koda

9.1

Pan Starr made some amazing wines here!

— 12 years ago

Mads

9.4

Dried fruit, leather, tobacco, peppercorn but also a surprising tartness (cherry? Cran?) on the palate. A Bday wine from Teresa and Andy, drank just in time as the 2004 has lost all tannins. Tannin still kicking here. 60 min decanted but still unfolding. Happy birthday and happy new year — 7 years ago

with Paul

Dr. Owen Bargreen

9.7

The 1999 Salon ‘S Blanc de Blancs’ Champagne is a magical wine that is sinfully good at twenty years of age. Disgorged in 2011 this wine leads the way with an extraordinarily good nose of salted praline with shades of wet stone, damp earth and bright citrus fruits that all mingle marvelously in the glass. The silky mousse captivates the senses. Bright green apple and kumquat flavors connect with diatomaceous earth, and shades of white truffle on the palate. The freshness here is quite extraordinary. While delightful now, this one of a kind Champagne will provide drinking satisfaction for at least another fifteen years. Drink 2019-2039- 97 — 7 years ago

Meg Herring

9.6

Want a bojo that can age? Here it is. — 8 years ago

Anthony Lombardi

9.6

Tondonia Blanco & Radiohead hits the high highs. Maximum enjoyment happening here. — 8 years ago

Berg

9.1

Wait, there's more DC sports on tonight?! 😋
Some funky non domestic red here too. Yeasty dough, band aids, crabapple?, cherries. Go Nats.
#RedAllOver #olgathursdays — 10 years ago

Will Stanley

9.4

Robust but very suave with tons of leather, dark fruits and well-reformed tannins. Upwards from here for the next five years or so. — 10 years ago

Tim O'Rourke

9.6

What? So good. All the olive and pepper and leather that you would expect and plenty of game and mushroom as well. I don't suppose I'll have another chance to taste this, so I'll have to rely on memory of something so delicious. — 11 years ago

Ludovic Anacleto

9.3

Dusty, tight and a bit austere. A lot of pedigree here, slightly more on the old world side, this is a very serious wine. Would love a bit of exuberance and a bit more of an outgoing personality. To young perhaps? — 11 years ago

Morgan Harris

Head Sommelier Aureole New York

9.4

2011. Blanc. No one drinks enough of this. That's because there are so few things to which its a good partner, but it would be an incredible cheese-and-charcuterie wine. Broad and oily, there's just enough acid to keep you coming back for more. Sun-baked yellow orchard fruits dominate, but there's more exotic fruits too (mango and dried pineapple) yellow flowers, tons of almond husk bitterness, green olives, bay leaf, oregano, tarragon, white cheddar. Oak is assertively present but not overwhelming. Place dominates over grapes here, as it's a mix of Clairette and Grenache Blanc and a hodge-podge of other things. — 12 years ago

Cyrus Hazzard

Concierge Wine Sales Total Wine & More

9.2

Out of magnum. Little heat taint here, probably not stored great. Still good wine hit its peak at about 30 minutes of the decanter well-integrated oak definitely can tell it's mountain fruit hard to say what it be like if it was a clean bottle. — 12 years ago

Matt

9.5

The perceived ripeness of fruit and level of suave tannin here was surprising to me. An 88’ a couple of years ago was so elegant and finessed where this showed a surprising level of concentration. That said, beautifully mature wine, its tannins have softened immensely and wrap the mouth, silky and soft. To tertiary, earth driven, behind a bit of dried berry, currant, and plum fruit laid pipe tobacco, peat, pipe smoke, dusty earth, dried flowers, worn leather. — 7 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.7

The 1990 Cristal is remarkable. Polished, nuanced and light on its feet, the 1990 is all class. Citrus, orchard fruit and floral notes are wonderfully lifted throughout. A slight reductive note adds character on the finely knit finish. I can’t think of a better way to start this tasting. Simply put, the 1990 is a total rock star. Moreover, it is much more delicate than most wines from this ripe vintage. Amazingly, the 1990 tastes like it is still not ready! “Nineteen ninety was my second vintage here,” says Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon. “It was ideal. The fruit was just perfect. We blocked the malolactic fermentation completely and only fermented 6-7% of our lots in oak, as opposed to the more typical 20%, in order to preserve as much freshness as possible. The wine was made by my predecessor, Michel Pansu, but I was learning. This was the first year I started working with oxygen by reducing sulfites in vinification to pre-oxidize the Chardonnay musts, as I do know, which allows me to get rid of all the unstable, oxidative compounds. With Pinot, on the other hand, you need a little bit of sulfur at crush or you lose the brilliant fruit. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, December 2018) — 8 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.7

The 2014 d'Yquem has a complex bouquet with buttered toast, almond, honey and peach skin aromas. It opens with greater zeal than its peers, there is more immediacy here. The palate is very well balanced with crisp acidity, a finely tuned and satisfying Sauternes with style and grace, evincing great tension and mineral drive towards the finish. Superb. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. (Neal Martin, Vinous, March 2018) — 8 years ago

John Pavlovich

9.3

We drank it from a magnum, and I was hoping to leave some for the next night, to see how it would taste then. No chance, it was gone in no time, delicious wine. — 8 years ago

Roy Goble

9.1

Wasn't happy with this last night, but this second bottle is definitely more Caymus-like. Glad I gave the vintage a second chance. — 10 years ago

Mike Mayer

9.3

Here is what Wine Spectator says about this wine. One of the more endowed 2009s, this is packed with dark smoldering cocoa, mesquite, tobacco and roasted fig notes, all inlaid with pure cassis and plum preserves fruit flavors. Long and authoritative on the finish, with singed vanilla bean and tar notes adding length and dimension. Not sure I could have come up with all of these descriptors but a beautiful wine in my opinion. — 10 years ago

BurgundyFan

9.4

In comparison to L'Eclapart I would say the difference here is the foam, perlage, the brioche touch, more as an aperitive — 11 years ago

Michael Kane

9.8

Here you go Carmine! — 11 years ago

Yoon Ha

Master Sommelier/Wine Director Benu

8.9

Surprising green tones here. Prominent structure after 14 years and counting. — 12 years ago

Lewis Chester

9.1

2013 vintage. Black fruits. Big wine. Lots of chalky chewy tannins here. Bit of a brute. — 12 years ago