Big impression of new oak. Vanilla, cedar, cigar box. Ripe black fruits in the background. Deep and fairly extracted for Left Bank Bordeaux. — 3 years ago
If I could pick only one wine, I would turn to the left bank Bordeaux. Here is an example of why: clean, dry, vibrant, intriguing, mineral, elegant yet very present and a phenomenal lingering finish. This beautiful wine from Saint Julien ha it’s typical softer well rounded tannins, dark red fruit of currant, red berry and perhaps dark pie cherry. Loved it and could stop sipping it. — 4 years ago
Cheers to my 6,000th review on Vivino. A Big milestone deserves a big wine. This was on my wishlist for a while now. Go big or go home!
Deep inky in color with a short brick rim. Unbelievable. Not showing age at all.
Fruity nose of blackberries, blueberries, black currants, chocolates, tobacco, mocha, leather, earth, Mediterranean spices, beef jerky, peppercorn, cedar, leather, vanilla and licorice.
Full bodied, bold, smooth and elegant, with medium acidity and long legs.
Dry and fruity on the palate with blackberries, black currants, sweet plums, vanilla, cedar, light vegetables, spices, smoke, tobacco, chocolates, coffee, cola, pencil lead and peppercorn.
Long finish with firm tannins and tangy cherries.
This is a wonderful Cabernet Sauvignon based, Bordeaux blend from Napa Valley. Showing great complexity and a great mouthfeel. Big with bold tannins. Delicious and yummy.
This 19 year old is drinking very nicely now, and really shows like a young wine. Has at least 15 years in it.
After 3 hours of airtime, forest floor notes come in on the nose. Tasting like an aged left bank Bordeaux.
Wine Advocate 100 points.
This is a Fabulous wine to share with good friends. Very enjoyable by itself or with food. I paired it with BBQ ribs.
Thank you John, for sharing this phenomenal wine with me.
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
14.5% alcohol by volume.
97 points.
$1,200. — 5 years ago
Wednesday Wine Committee from this past week. A fantastic hosting by @joe leatherwood . 1 sparkler, 2 whites, 5 reds, 1 dessert wine. All tasted blind as usual.
Possibly in its prime drinking window, and it is gorgeous. Everything about this screams high quality left bank Bordeaux (which is what I called it). It was beautifully perfumed with a mix of potpourri, dried black cherries, blackberries, graphite, saddle leather and herbs de Provence. Perfectly balanced on the palate with dark fruits enveloped in cedar and sweet pipe tobacco. There is a line of ripe purple fruits down the middle accompanied by dust and mocha which is just delicious. — 5 years ago
Monthly WTF guys blind tasting group. This month was our annual, and famed, Left Bank vs Right Bank theme. All wines served blind as usual. Started off with a Rosé and a champagne. Great night.
This was one of my favorites of the night. One of the best young Bordeaux’s I’ve tasted. Ripe and modern nose (fruit forward) with smoked meat and baked blackberry pie. The palate revealed cocoa/dark chocolate, baking spices and a hint of blue fruit wrapped by black fruit. Big. Will obviously get better, but was shocked how good this was now. I called this ‘12-14 Left Bank. — 6 years ago
Okay. Again the same dilemma. If a wine does not meet expectation is it basically bad (for me)? 🤔 because in life everything is relative, right? Any thoughts on puzzling matter??The wine was well balanced, dark red fruit flavors, polished, smooth tannins, good intensity and concentration, but limited length and lacking any meaningful complexity… Eight year old left bank Bordeaux. A fourth or fifth growth winery, maybe not, can’t remember for sure. Do remember what I paid though, $120. Definitely too much for what we experienced this evening…. as to our expectations. — 9 months ago
Last night we opened the 2019 Château Sérilhan Saint-Estèphe Cru Bourgeois Supérior Médoc. Left Bank Bordeaux blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot by Doctor Alain Reynaud.
On the nose there is black cherry, blackberry, black raspberry, black currant, mint, licorice, pencil shavings, cedar and earth.
On the palate there is black cherry, blackberry, blueberry, black currant, green bell pepper, licorice, menthol, graphite and earth.
This is a beautiful medium to full bodied wine with a smooth succulent mouthfeel medium to medium+ acidity and medium + fine grained tannins that leaves you with a medium + to long dark fruit rich earth finish. Enjoy yourselves this weekend, have some fine wines with family and friends and please stay healthy and safe. Nostrovia! 🍷🍷🍷🍷 — 3 years ago
50/36/12/2 CS/ME/CF/PV. Deep, deep ruby. Almost impenetrable with just a little violet tinge. Oak was very prevalent upon first opening but blows off after decanting. A terrific amount of fruit on the nose. Stewed plums, red cherries, and blackberries stand out. Black olives and old leather show.
You say Pauillac and people usually sit up. Left Bank gloriousness for sure. Full bodied and deep, this is a silky smooth Bordeaux that has style, grace, and presence. And there’s power here, as well. The palate shows generous amounts of dark fruit, more oak, and clove cigarettes. Black pepper, black olives, and black cherries. Terrific value for the address. Really nice — 4 years ago
This was quite flavorful and interesting. It had some jam, blackberry, hints of leather and smoke. It had a nice mouthfeel and a medium finish. All in all this was the standout of the night, but still young. — 5 years ago
Dark ruby in color with a reddish rim.
Fruity nose with blackberries, black currants, black plums, black cherries, oak, light vanilla, licorice, earth, tobacco, dark chocolates, spices, light herbs and coffee.
Full-bodied and smooth with medium acidity and nice legs.
Dry on the palate with black cherries, raspberries, currants, licorice, oak, tobacco, spices, peppercorn, light vegetables, alcohol, earth and leather.
Medium plus on the finish with fine-grained tannins and tangy cranberries.
What a great third growth Left Bank Bordeaux. This 5 year old from the great 2015 vintage, is showing nice complexity with a nice mouthfeel. Already balanced, yet still very young.
Needs 4 hours to open up, so I recommend taking your time with it. (I tasted it every 30 minutes).
Still needs 10 years in the bottle to mature properly, but so delicious now.
A blend of 61% Cabernet Sauvignon and 39% Merlot. Aged for 16 months in French oak barrels. Kosher for passover.
14% alcohol by volume.
92 points.
$85. — 5 years ago
A very enjoyable Left Bank Bordeaux. Showing red and black fruits with earth, vegetables, spices, tobacco leaf, wet leaves, black tea and black pepper.
This great vintage red is still young, and needs another 5 to 10 years of bottle time. Already showing nice complexity and mouthfeel.
Long finish with firm tannins and tangy raspberries.
Needs a couple of hours to open up properly and show the tannins and complexity.
Wine Enthusiasts 94 points.
A blend of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and 3% Petite Verdot.
13.5% alcohol by volume.
91 points.
$70. — 6 years ago
Really good, easy drinking cab blend. And easy on the wallet - $19 from a nearby neighborhood store. — 2 years ago
Honoring my marvelous father with a meal and wine he would have appreciated with gusto. We wish he was here to share it with us, but are deeply grateful that his spiritual presence remains so strong in our hearts today and every day. 💕
This blend is predominantly (78%) Cabernet Sauvignon and 22% Merlot. 🍷 It hails from the Haut-Médoc region on the “left bank” of Bordeaux, 🇫🇷 more specifically, the Pauillac AOC. Pauillac is a highly-regarded commune, with favorable growing conditions, known for producing some outstanding quality wines. 👌👌 This wine is no exception. 😆
🏰 Château Grad-Puy-Lacoste is a cru classé, ranked among, and a neighbor to, the region’s top estates. It’s incredible to think the first vines planted on this property date back to the 1500s, making it one of the oldest properties in the region.
We decanted this wine for several hours, which helped it soften and release its layered aromatics.
👁 The color is deep garnet with notable tearing.
👃 On the nose it has medium(+) intensity and concentration of developing aromas. The aromas include ripe black fruit such as cassis, black cherry, blackberry, and plum, as well as other non-fruit notes like black licorice, pencil shavings, and violet. It has secondary notes of clove, nutmeg, allspice, cedar, also tertiary notes of wet earth, tobacco, leather, meat, fig, and mushroom.
👄 This wine is dry and its flavors on the palate are consistent with the nose.
This wine has balance, complexity, a strong structure, with firm, grippy tannins, and a long elegant finish. 👏👏
Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, vintage 2011, ABV 13.5%. — 4 years ago
Dark and supple. Taste of blackberries with mild black pepper aroma. Virtually no tannins it’s smooth to sip or pair with something light ... or even pizza. 😊 casual, unpretentious and tasty. — 5 years ago
A ravishing Saint-Julien, the Léoville-Poyferré is also very clearly one of the wines of the vintage on the Left Bank. Raspberry jam, blood orange, mint, spice and mocha all race out of the glass as this sumptuous, flamboyant wine shows off its exotic personality. With its vertical lift and explosive energy, the 2017 has so much to offer. It has been nothing less than stunning on the three occasions I have tasted it so far. In 2017, the Grand Vin is 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Because of the late season rains, only 3 out of the 5 parcels that typically inform the Grand Vin were used. This a tremendous effort from the Cuvelier family. Don't miss it. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, March 2020)
— 5 years ago
This is a very aromatic Left Bank Bordeaux, with a great fruity nose and great complexity.
Dry on the palate with blackberries, black currants, plums, cooked cherries, oak, vanilla, licorice, cloves, herbs, dark chocolates, vinaigrette, coffee, black pepper and spices.
Drinking nicely now and will be better in 5 years.
Long finish with firm tannins and tangy cranberries, with a soft and elegant mouthfeel.
This 9 year old has good aging potential of another 15 to 20 years.
Needs 3 hours to open up properly and show all that complexity.
I paired it with Brie cheese and Italian meats.
Robert Parker 93 points.
A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit verdot.
13.5% alcohol by volume.
92 points.
$120. — 6 years ago
Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego
1990 vintage. Excellent fill and halfway saturated cork. Used a Durand but surmise a regular waiter's friend, wielded carefully, could have done the trick with the cork. Decanted and tasted after 30 mins, one hour and two hours. Some obvious sed but not troublesome or overtly noticeable. Original owner-château direct on original release. Super cold cellar because this was lagging noticeably behind other '90's and LB's. Bigger tannic structure (for a generally feminine-styled house) than anything save a Latour, Mouton, Ducru Left Bank property. Even more guts than Lynch-Bages or Pichon-Baron '90's currently stored above 55 or so degrees. Surprising but made sense. Light-medium body. Appropriate color. 3-4 years left in this stage unless larger format in play. Slight, fleeting burst of richness in the frontal palate and a tad brickish and then it just flowed on, without speed bumps. A little cocoa powder and cedar/tobacco. Suspect 750ml specimens not stored as cold/religiously will be showing more in the 9.0-9.1 range and farther down the backside of the bell curve. 10.26.24. — 8 months ago