Lee Pitofsky

9.3

From former wine maker at the illustrious Sine Qua Non, rich, full body and aromatic showing roasted macadamia nut, white flowers, hints of marzipan and beeswax. The finish is long, alluring and with excellent intensity. Love Maggie’s wines ❤️ — 5 years ago

Anthony Shideler

9.5

Not many are doing Clos Vougeot better now than Drouhin-Laroze. There’s always a ton of variability with this Grand Cru, but D-L’s 1ha parcel is on a prime spot high on the hill that used to be reserved for the pope. This wine is off-the-charts for me in 2016 just like it was in 2015, and it’s going to have an illustrious life ahead of it. — 5 years ago

Aries Tao

9.5

Too drunk to remember anything except that it was tasty — 6 years ago

Jake Hajer

9.2

Alsatian Americana! Muddled floral, body, limestone, the illustrious cat urine (or Puerto Rican lime-aide?), white flowers. I want a sausage with this. The fig in the photo is from their mtn vineyards. — 7 years ago

Gilbert Van Hassel

9.2

2008 vintage. Quite smooth and velvety for a lamarche. Sweet tannins, earthy undertones, a bit less fruit than expected. Peppery, and then rather flat on the back palate. Could expect more from a grand cru with such illustrious neighbors. — 7 years ago

Ryan Brazell

Rise Over Run

9.4

Illustrious '09 fruit. — 8 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.0

Fermoy Estate is one of the lesser known names in Margaret River but in a very good area with illustrious neighbours. From a good vintage this shows typical herbaceousness with some cassis. Good balance with fine tannins. Tried again on 26 Feb 2016 with similar notes. Fruit is restrained with fine tannins. — 8 years ago

Drew Summers

Sales Northampton Wines

9.3

Citrus Heavy Chardonnay that also offers White Flower, Dried Apricot & Yellow Pear. Central Coast Gold from an Illustrious Vineyard & Vintner... — 9 years ago

with Tony

Bucky Berlin

9.6

The illustrious unicorn of BC wines...words can't describe! — 9 years ago

with Lori and Lauren

Julian Weber

8.9

Owner by Chanel and the second wine of the illustrious 2ème Grand Cru Classé Château Rauzan-Ségla, this wine is made for earlier drinking. Ripe and fragrant with black currant, damson, violet, cigar box. Softer tannins than most. Shorter finish — 9 years ago

Chaad Thomas

Owner, First Tier Imports

9.0

Slightly cloudy; Bright, citrusy nose, palate shows same, with crisp green apple notes. Plenty of complexity and interest. Very good. — 9 years ago

Tom Garland

8.9

Friday way back machine time! Decant and pour for sediment(decent amount of fine sediment). An illustrious medium ruby red color.....not much bricking after all these years. On the nose: red fruit, eucalyptus, floral notes, and beefy nose. Taste: some faded strawberry, pencil lead, tobacco with a smooth medium finish..
Wish it was a 1983, but still enjoying drinking this past its prime 1981!! Luv old Bordeaux! — 5 years ago

with Brenda

Ron R

9.2

Sunday in NYC with an illustrious crew.
Let me intro the owners from Brilliant Mistake (John and Stacy) and their winemaker Maayan and his wife, Dana. Next to my wife is Adam Stromfeld.
Super time. Wine took second place to the company.
Pure grassy notes on the nose. Nice green apple on the palate. Nice soft oak, with subtle hints of gooseberries. Really nice. — 6 years ago

with Maayan, john&stacy and 2 others

Andrew Han

9.0

From the Wine Society: This is the source of the bulk of our Beaujolais for the last 50 years, and many members will also have tried the fruits
of The Society’s work with this excellent Beaujolais-based négoce in the form of our bestselling white wine, The
Society’s White Burgundy, sourced from the Mâcon.
Dealing with a négociant allows The Wine Society to pick and choose, often blending together from different estates in
order to end up with a wine that is better than any of its parts.
Négoces have had a huge part to play in the recent history of Beaujolais, some of it not so good but some of it very
positive. For all its apparent simplicity, Beaujolais is a complicated region that is often the victim of its own capricious
climate with late frosts and violent hailstorms a common recurrence.
The one name that stands out for us is Dépagneux: Jean Dépagneux was the last of this illustrious merchant family
who, with his partners, bought up a list of ailing names such as Aujoux, which had made its name selling Beaujolais to
the once profitable Swiss market. Jean retired about a dozen years ago and his place was taken by a young and
talented oenologist from Viré called Jean-Marc Darbon. One consequence of the change has been the meteoric rise in
the quality of The Society’s White Burgundy. — 7 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.6

There is a certain unique character with Mt Edelstone only repeated in it's illustrious elder sibling Hill of Grace. Undefined but silky is part of it. Notes of roasted coffee bean. Some pungency like H2S but not. The highlight is the silky supple tannins. A beautiful wine one could never tire of. 2004 vintage. From 90 year old ungrafted vines. — 8 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.1

1999 vintage. 85% Cab Sauvignon 15% Cab Franc. Tawny rim. Classic left bank Bordeaux nose. Dusty, Bay Leaf, Geranium notes. Lacking some mid palate fruit. Was going to have an International taste off with Moss Wood Cullen and Dominus all from 1999. This super Tuscan would have lost out in this illustrious company despite its gorgeous nose. — 8 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.4

Initial reductive smell blew off to reveal a lovely curranty Cabernet. Not as big as it's illustrious elder sibling but very well made for this drought year. Some leathery notes. Very good. — 9 years ago

Christine Havens

8.9

Domaine de Villaine is owned by none other than Aubert de Villaine, co-owner of that most illustrious estate, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. The little house Villaine is located in Bouzeron, and offers fine quality for money for those looking for a good value. The 2011 is light on fruit, a notoriously difficult vintage, but it has some charm nevertheless with tart cherry notes, cranberry and rose hips on the palate. The acidity is quite high, and the wine begs for food. A nice cheese plate? Yes. — 9 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.3

This 2007 Louis upstaged its illustrious big brother to win the Trophy for Best Tasmanian Pinot Noir at the Tassie Wine Show in 2010. Stewed rhubarb notes. Good intensity and length. 18- — 9 years ago

Brett Pinkin

9.1

Product of the illustrious winemaker of ceremonies Tom Rinaldi. He made Duckhorn and Provenance famous....just getting things started at 65 years young....what a great life it is :) — 10 years ago

Lee Pitofsky

9.4

From the illustrious Château Rayas, animalistic and complex with sappy red berries, sweetened cola, damp earth and smoked herbs. Sexy wine with a long spice tinged finish. — 5 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.6

Finally had the luxury of tasting the illustrious Colgin Syrah. An 03, singing. In its prime. This wine cannot get any better. Roasted dark fruit, black roasted figs. Entry of roasted fruit and wild herbs. Savory notes to the finish. This wine will not be a fan of your savory grilled ribeye in a glass syrah lovers. But this one strikes the line and really balanced. This is just about as much meaty funk as a non-meaty Syrah lover likes, yet is incredible overall. Very nice Syrah. But, drink now. — 5 years ago

with Dan, Weston and 2 others

Ryan Mayes

9.7

Wine of the weekend! Only the second time in Diamond Creek’s illustrious history when they’ve blended fruit from all three vineyards. Having tasted all three ‘13s (which are all outstanding wines — RP gave 98, 99, 100 I believe), this bottling is my favorite. Drinking remarkably well today and will just get better with time. Thank you for opening and sharing with us, Cidy! — 6 years ago

with Marcus

Geoff Troup

Sales Eder Brothers, Cellar Fine Wines

9.0

The illustrious 2013 vintage. There's a lot to like here. Roasted, smokey meat quality is intact. Dusty in the nose. Gravel that's been lit on fire. Acidity fairly dramatic. I still prefer the 12 for the nuance and balance. This is still a great wine. — 7 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.0

Mature cool climate Chardonnay. Penfolds Whites are starting to gain the reputation of their illustrious Red offering. After 6 years funk is replacing the Flint of a few years ago. Nice stone fruit notes and long. Enjoyable. — 8 years ago

Francis Huicq

9.6

From the legendary Henri Bonneau of CNP. This is a non vintage wine, normally a blend of two vintages (2005 & 2009?) From a 3.5 Ha vineyard in the Gard department. No Syrah but Grenache, and tiny amounts of Mouvedre, Counoise & Vaccarese.
The resulting wine is one of astonishing freshness, purity and tension. Look for depth (not width) here. This has structure, aplomb and good definition. The tannins are abundant, grippy which evoke bags of spices and leather. The spicy/phenolic (Herby, liquorice)/sappy and ripe tannins quality character suggests some whole bunch fermentations which add extra tannins, matter and density...tension too. The fruit is obvious but restrained. Firm, tight and powerful, this is one of the best wines I have tasted this year. CNP quality in this wine, would be interested to see how it would perform in a blind tasting amongst other illustrious Chateauneufs... — 9 years ago

Brian Armenio

9.3

Awesome Rose poured by the illustrious Alesha Sin Vanata while visiting her in CLT. Strawberry, brioche, pear, apple and much more. — 9 years ago

Drew Summers

Sales Northampton Wines

9.3

Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (entirely) crafted by Napa's illustrious, Randy Dunn. After having spent 22 months in French Oak (entirely).....Voluptuous, Sweet Blackberry, Bay Leaf — 9 years ago

Barron Beltz

10

Verdoso 2011 Napa Valley Petite Verdot Every year at FOLIO we split all employees into 3 wine teams. Each team creates a wine: label, story, varietal(s),etc. Luckily, we had the illustrious Tony Coltrin on our team, who made this masterpiece of a wine. 100% PV from the Michael Mondavi Family's Oso Estate on the backside of Howell Mtn.
My 9-yr old daughter, Briley, submitted a painting and it was voted for the label. Here's the copy: "VERDOSO loosely translates to the Green Bear. This mischievous mythological creature is much like the Liger, but more like the tooth fairy, and enters the vineyard in the middle of the night replacing the unripe green berries with ripe mature clusters." — 9 years ago

Joe Carroll

Owner/Wine Director Spuyten Duyvil, Fette Sau, St. Anselm & Gotham Artisanal Provisions

9.5

Jean Van Roy's amazing story of Zwanze 2013. When we started renovation works in the cellars of the brewery two years ago, much to our surprise we came upon the remains of some very old walls. In agreement with the medievalists of the city of Brussels, the works were stopped in order to allow archaeological excavations to take place.

Shortly thereafter we were astonished to find out that Cantillon brewery had in fact been built on the ruins of the very ancient Abbey of Cureghem! According to the medievalists, this religious community was well-known during the middle ages for its fowl fed on draff and, more specifically, for its dish of stuffed Cureghem capon, which was served with a beer brewed at the abbey and apparently drew pilgrims from all over Europe.

Yet it was truly a heavenly surprise when the excavations uncovered the cell of the abbot, Father Faro. In the small room the archaeologists found quite a few old reference books, one of which contained the original recipes for the beers brewed at the abbey several hundred years ago. We didn’t hesitate for a second and decided on the spot to recreate one of these mythical beers.

This beer, which will be our Zwanze for 2013, therefore bears the name of its illustrious place of origin, Abbaye de Cureghem (Cureghem Abbey). Cureghem was formerly a village established many centuries ago on the banks of the Senne, the river running through present-day Brussels. The area was very heavily industrialised during the 19th century and, among other things, became home to many breweries. Today, it is part of the municipality of Anderlecht.

Since beers commonly referred to as “abbey beers” are not, or not any longer, products of spontaneous fermentation, we decided to brew a top fermentation beer, from a technical point of view in any case. The yeasts were selected in collaboration with Institut Meurice, a post-secondary college in Brussels specialising in biotechnology. Brewed in March 2012, our “Cureghem” beer fermented four weeks in stainless steel tanks before being blended with 10% lambic and pumped into 400-litre barrels of various origins. After maturing for six months, the beers were blended and put into casks or bottles to undergo re-fermentation and reach 7.2% ABV (Alcohol by Volume).

Inevitably, a top fermentation beer brewed in a spontaneous fermentation environment will be affected by the wild yeasts in the air, and this is certainly what happened in our case. For our Cureghem, the cultured yeasts were clearly the main factor behind primary fermentation and I think that the wild yeasts in the beer will instead play an increasingly important role as the product ages. However, despite the addition of the lambic to give it a little “extra something” in terms of character and ageing characteristics, this Zwanze cannot in any case be considered a spontaneous fermentation beer.

The long fermentation period coupled with the presence of wild yeasts lends this beer a solid character with a dry finish that lingers on the palate, while the combined use of fresh and aged hops yields both freshness and bitterness. Moreover, the different malts used give this year’s Zwanze a coppery colour along with a touch of caramel and candied fruit that provide body. Clearly, this is not your standard “abbey” beer but, perhaps, it is representative of what these beers were one or two hundred years ago — 11 years ago