William Goldsmith

9.7

Elegant as Bevan goes. Not quite Parker 100 but quite good, esp for 2011. I’ve raised the rating twice. — 5 years ago

with Harry and Ryann

Daniel M

8.9

Black currant, cedar, tar, cigar box, coffee, vanilla. Quite a complex nose. The palate is very concentrated with a strong acid backbone, and some dark and dense matter with black currant and somehow dusty tannins that kick everything up. The finish is very long and very wide with some bitterness popping up, black currant, and a pinch of salt. We paired this baby with a gigantic beef T-bone. Perfect pairing. It's still very young and needs time. Not a 9 because it's still too young — 6 years ago

Guillermo Camacho

9.2

Wine held up extremely well for age, maintained concentration but still complexified. Dark blue/red fruit, spice box, and chocolate on the nose. An ensemble of fruit on the palate with an amazing acidity that continued to tease out nuances. Extra .1 for showing it’s ability to age gracefully. — 7 years ago

Steve Messinger

10

1990, perfection. Wonderful boutique of cedar box, clay, and sage. Medium bodied evolved tannins great depth w long finish — 8 years ago

Colin Cahoon

9.4

Classic Rioja. Dark cherry and blackberry nose with cigar box in the background. More dark cherry, plum, leather and mocha on the palate. Chewy tannins and lingering acid through the finish. Powerful but balanced from start to finish. — 9 years ago

Tom Kobylarz

10

To me the most complex wine of the night offering a deep cerebral experience, with what I thought of as a berry bouquet garni was the 2000 Haut-Brion. The most contemplative, while also a deeply pleasurable wine, offered layers of classic Bordeaux notes of toast, coffee, currants, cassis, subtle & smokey campfire embers, cigar box...the list goes on and most of that was in the nose. The palate was texturally seamless, packed and stacked with structure that never got in the way, though you would notice it on the finish letting you know it was there.

2005 was locked up and unrelenting at first, the second go an hour later was more repenting but it was still not nudging much. A thoroughly excellent wine, but just not revealing much beyond the hints of its greatness.

#hautbrion #pessacleognan #bordeaux #wine — 9 years ago

Phil Orlandini

9.1

This... doesn't make me feel drunk. This is gonna be my workin' wine. — 10 years ago

with Juliane

PJ

9.5

Great way to warm up on a 20 degree night! 🍷 — 11 years ago

Lisa Kinser

10

Great with Thanksgiving dinner! — 12 years ago

Rachel Hughes

9.0

Shiraz (70%), Cabernet Sauvignon (23%), Merlot (7%)
2009
Padthaway, Australia — 13 years ago

Mattias Söderberg

9.2

Red fruit, lesthery nose!! — 5 years ago

with Andreas

Jonathan Toobi

9.3

Love this unfiltered red blend, gallivanter, nice acidic start and berry finish, light to medium bodied, really tasty and easy drinking, — 5 years ago

Paul Koplitz

9.0

Best box wine I’ve had. Worth every penny. — 7 years ago

Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.2

Dark ruby red. Rich and earthy with notes of dark berries, and some damp forest. Medium plus tannins (6.5/10) and full bodied. Dark palate as well with dark cocoa, cigar box and black berries. Long finish and drinking well with some air. Drink till 2027. — 8 years ago

with India and Sean

Charles Rivas

9.2

Herbacious with cigar box notes and evolved fruit. A showing beautifully right now. — 8 years ago

John Hubbell

9.4

Love the he nose. Great balance with leather, spice and cigar box. This sill has some life — 9 years ago

with Jim, Allison and 1 other

Robert Cunningham

Wine Educator DeVinimus, Wine Workshop

9.2

Lovely secondary elements of sweaty saddle leather, cedar and later some cigar box. Soft, integrated tannins. Long finish and very nice nose. — 9 years ago

M

9.3

2003-From wine.com at 160. Perfect balance. Cigar box finish. No sweet aftertaste or dustiness. Slight bitterness. Llllong finish. The one issue is that the complexity is low and does not evolve either in the glass or the palate. — 10 years ago

Sean Fischa

9.1

My new house wine — 11 years ago

Liz Weidner

9.9

Delicious but $16. — 12 years ago

Marc Melser

9.4

We had the 2007 Vintage on 5/15/20. Very Bordeaux on the bouquet. Graphite, cedar and cigar box. Blackberry, black cherry, leather and oak on the palate. Smooth finish. Well balanced wine that had an Old World feel. — 5 years ago

Diane Kessler

9.0

Classic cherry and cigar box. Very satisfying and full bodied for this weak vintage. — 6 years ago

Bloody Amateur

9.5

Not a “Bordeaux guy” but that may be because I don’t/can’t get my hands on the real stuff. This was pretty revelatory. More floral and delicate and sensuous than I could’ve imagined for a broad category our server called “cigar-box.” — 7 years ago

with Gaurav

Matt McMonagle

9.0

Great value. Really really drinkable. — 8 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.3

This wine had some tobacco and earth FUNK after it was opened up. The herbaceous and tobacco ash note on the nose was almost identical to the 1980 Beringer State Lane cab. This did blow off after an hour, but the wine was less fruit than I thought it would have been. Lots of dark figgy jam. Tobacco and cigar box. I'm sure the fruit came back after I left, but this would have been 2 hours after opening and just didn't have the time to see this one though, hence the "NR" rating. Impressed by this wine, and probably one of the older Monte Bello wines I've been able to drink. — 8 years ago

with Benjamin

Laura Diefenderfer

9.0

Great taste. Not dry. Smooth with a hint of blackberry. Ideally paired with a medium rare steak. — 9 years ago

Weijie Shi (Jay)

9.0

Black fruits, cedar box, liquorice, cigar box, menthol. Huge structure, chewy tannin, slightly green on the palate, 30s finish. Need more time. 2012 vintage — 9 years ago

Juan Munoz-Oca

8.9

Cigar box, a bit reduced at first but opens up to lovely dry fruits — 11 years ago

Lisa Burch

9.0

Tasty and inexpensive. — 11 years ago

Becky Larson

8.9

Black box merlot !! Yummy — 13 years ago