Here By Chance
Tenuta San Guido
Bolgheri Sassicaia Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc 1995
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
Domaine du Pegau
Cuvée Réservé Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhone Blend 2000
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
Olga Raffault
Les Picasses Chinon Cabernet Franc 2007
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
Clos des Papes
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhône Blend
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
Château Mouton Rothschild
Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1950
Super cloudy. Some fun stuff going on here though. #bordeaux #moutonrothschild — 11 years ago
Château Léoville Barton
Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 2004
This is ridiculously good, and I'm gathering pretty underrated because it's a 2004. Frankly, I would have to try this side-by-side with the 2000 to be able to come up with any explanation why the 2000 is the better wine - certainly this one offers at least as much pleasure if you're drinking them today. It's a no-doubter right from the pop of the cork, with beautiful classic left bank scents of ripe black fruit, cedar, and woodspice. I suspect but could not say for sure that there is a non-zero amount of brett here but if so it's certainly in the zone of making things more interesting rather than flawed as the wine also features very enticing scents of gamy meat, something vaguely metallic, and a bit of saddle leather and sweaty funk. The fruit, however, is still beautifully ripe with a glossy sheen and a saturating sweetness on the palate, yet still feminine and slender in proportion - this is what they mean when they talk about grand cru breed. The color of the wine in the glass is pitch black at the core with bright ruby edges. This is not material that seems in any way to come from a less than ideal vintage. The fruit is slick enough that you don't really sense the structure. I don't know if it can get any better than this, but it really doesn't need to. For a Bordeaux of this age - and it does still taste like a young wine - there are not many that are so accessible, expressive, and compulsively drinkable while also having this level of detail and class. — 11 years ago
Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe
La Crau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhone Blend
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. — 11 years ago
Salon
'S' Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil Brut Chardonnay 1999
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
R. López de Heredia
Viña Tondonia Reserva Rioja Blanco Malvasia Viura 2003
Pierre Gonon
Saint-Joseph Syrah
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
Château de Beaucastel
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhône Blend 2009
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
Taittinger
Comtes de Champagne Grand Crus Brut Blanc de Blancs 2000
In comparison to L'Eclapart I would say the difference here is the foam, perlage, the brioche touch, more as an aperitive — 10 years ago
Opus One
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2011
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
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2000
Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier
Clos de la Maréchale Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Pinot Noir
2013 vintage. Black fruits. Big wine. Lots of chalky chewy tannins here. Bit of a brute. — 11 years ago
Silver Oak
Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
High quality stuff right here! — 12 years ago
Louis Roederer
Cristal Brut Champagne 1990
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) — 7 years ago
Château d'Yquem
Sauternes Sémillon-Sauvignon Blanc Blend
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
Krug
Brut Champagne Blend 2002
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
Château Cheval Blanc
St. Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend 1997
Really not much to say here except holy crap this is good. Leather, bit of game, dark almost stewed fruits, cranberry. The tannins are pure silk — 10 years ago
Domaine Jamet
Côte-Rôtie Syrah 1988
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
Harlan Estate
Napa Valley Proprietary Red Blend
Here you go Carmine! — 11 years ago
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars
Artemis Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
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. — 11 years ago
Spottswoode
Family Estate Grown St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon 1995
Pan Starr made some amazing wines here!
— 12 years ago
Matt
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