Sipping Fine Wine

9.3

Deep Ruby with aromas of blue & black fruits, sweet spice & slight mineral character. A blend of mostly Cab Sauvignon with small amounts of Malbec, Petit Verdot & Cab Franc from their estate-owned Napa Valley vineyards, aged 18 months French (62%) & American oak (38%) (about 50% new). Palate, complex flavors, blackberry, plums & cherry with sweet spice, oak & tobacco notes. Well balanced with good acidity & developing tannins. Full-bodied, long finish ending with pepper & wood spice. Nice! — 4 months ago

Jay Kline

9.4

Poured into a decanter about 30min prior to service and enjoyed over the course of several hours. This bottle of the 1985 was more recently acquired from the chateau and in pristine condition. The wine pours a deep garnet color with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is vinous with notes of ripe and desiccated dark and red fruits: black currants, mixed brambles, tobacco, pencil shavings, some dried purple flowers, some green bell pepper, mushrooms, leather, some ferrous earth and gentle warm spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin (integrated) and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and slightly savory. Elegant and beautiful this was such a fun and rewarding wine to follow as the hours rolled by. A very strong showing at 40 years young and not slowing down soon. Drink now through 2040. — 5 months ago

Mike Obley

9.6

Lovely wine that took about an hour to really open up. Sad that this has gotten so pricy! — 7 months ago

with Lauren

Kasey Sullivan

9.0

Was gifted this wine by my dad, given to him by friends 15 years ago. I was a little nervous to drink it, as I am not very sophisticated about wine and have never had a wine this aged before... I was surprised at how good it was, though I could sense enough to believe that maybe it had lost some of its structure. I would say it tasted lush to me, and very drinkable. Impressive, and a learning experience for me, for which I was glad to have the opportunity. Thanks, dad!
— 8 months ago

Victor Hsu

9.0

A good, solid California Cab but what’s all the fuss about? I’m seeing ratings of 98, 99, even 100 from JS. Really? No way. This is a clear case of praise crossing over into hype. Granted, still a bit young and not at its peak but after five years in the bottle and an hour of decanting it needs to be more than just fine if it wants to justify stratospheric scores. This wine compares unfavorably to Ridge Monte Bello, Stags Leap Cask 23 and other peers. It lacked sophistication and poise—where’s the promised minerality, graphite, cedar shavings, oak, leather, blackcurrant, cherry, and complex balance of fine grained tannins, fruit, acid and alcohol? Where? We chose this wine for a birthday dinner at Lawry’s Prime Rib in Beverly Hills. Not a disaster but a disappointment given our high expectations (and the high price).
— 9 months ago

Hiroshi Tominaga

9.3

Great. Rich deep taste. Bought with ANA points. Price about ¥10,000. — 5 years ago

Matt Sterr

9.0

Fresh and bright. Well balanced with nice acid. Expressive on both nose and palate. — 7 years ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.0

Flight 2 , wine 1 . Quite deep garnet , less terracotta rim . This had a whiff of oxidation about it at first which seemed to somewhat dissipate with time . Some dark spiced fruits , liquorice and menthol hints , cedar and sous bois . On the palate good ripeness and spiced dark cherry hints . Good acidity and rounded tannin . Nice length also , offering some spiced black fruits and menthol hints . Don’t think this is a pristine bottle but was enjoyable none the less , I was unsure at first if this was Napa , but coming back to it … and reading my notes , it became quite obvious . However I had this down as the Ch Montelena , not the Dominus — 5 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.0

No formal notes . Medium deep ruby . This seems a bit more advanced . This is a bit harder and more structured on the palate , more tannin , less velvety and a bit more astringent . More spicy , drier on the palate . This needed more time to open . This was quite difficult to judge , I wasn’t 100% convinced about this bottle as it just seemed a little oxidative, however it did actually seemed to come together better after an hour or so , but still quite hard and astringent in comparison to the others (especially La Mission) . Showed a touch more mineral and grafite on the finish too after a while. This needed time , and I would imagine another bottle might tell a different story . — 5 months ago

Jay Kline

9.8

Forty-plus years on, people still talk about the greatness of the 1982 vintage in Bordeaux. There are multiple factors that contribute to this and it’s fair to say that Robert Parker’s reaction played a major role in the early popularity; certainly in the States. While some may say that 1982 was merely a “good” vintage by today’s standards, I think history has proven it to be empirically special; there was just so much quality from top to bottom. And yet, even with the high praise of the vintage, the tone shifts to hushed whispers when the 1982 Mouton gets mentioned. Up until that point, the Chateau had sort of underachieved after receiving its unprecedented promotion in 1973. But in 1982, a year full of great wine, they created a legend and firmly cemented their First Growth status. Today, I’m pleased to report the plaudits for the ’82 are all warranted.

Opened and double-decanted earlier in the day. The ’82 Mouton pours a deep garnet color with a near opaque core with some sediment; almost youthful when compared to many of the other older wines poured on the night. On the nose, the wine is developing still; loaded with cassis, black berries, leaf tobacco, leather, and fine baking spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with fabulous structure. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and full of power. A stunning wine and well in its prime…a window I expect will remain open for a longtime to come. Drink now with bacchanalian abandon and through 2082. — 7 months ago

Greg Gregory

9.5

Don't even think about it. Seriously. Do NOT pop the cork. 10 more years. Maybe. — 5 years ago

Ian Staub

9.0

I’m a believer in terroir, but this wine, which is an absolute ringer for Chablis, throws everything in question. If this were grown at Rorick with its limestone that would make sense, but semillon from the Napa valley floor? Out of the bottle it’s quite lithe, showing lemon and a bit of seashell minerality, but with an hour of air it begins to show some crisp apple and white stone fruit, and some white flower. Lovely, unusual wine. Enjoyed with grilled salmon and salad. — 5 years ago

Martin G Rivard

10

Quick funny story:
Christine & I are LUCKY to have Kelly work in our office but we are BLESSED to be able to consider her and Darryl as dear friends.
We recommended to Kelly, prior to her going on vacation in Charleston SC, that they should stop by the Belmont hotel. They have a bar and restaurant that is 2nd to none in that area. Christine & I LOVE it!!!! Kelly sent me a quick text to say “hey, we’re at the Belmont! And about to have dinner!”
Being the goof ball that I am..... .....I called the Somm and said “I don’t care what they ordered, bring them a Shafer Hillside Select with some age on it!!!”. 10 minutes later he was decanting a 2003 Hillside Select table side! I love that hotel! Incredible service, incredible food and always a phenomenal experience! The only thing better are-our friends that are there right now!!!!

I didn’t Have a drop of this wine but I am scoring it a 10 based on experience alone!! It must have been “Badass in a Glass” as I always say!
I’ll let Kelly and Darryl fill in the official tasting notes!
by the way Kelly: don’t love SC tooooooo much, Christine & I can’t operate that place without you! See you next week! 👍👏👏👏👏👍
— 7 years ago

with Christine

Shay A

9.3

(Two previous 1983 vintage wine reviews never made it on here, so copying from CT).

My experiences with 1983s has been fairly positive, and this PL certainly is among the better I’ve had from the vintage. Holding color nicely with deep ruby and slight bricking around the rim. Started off a bit dense and muddled, but hit stride about 30mins later with a mix of red and black berry fruit, cassis, a streak of herbal green down the middle (something I always get with PL). Excellent example of the fruit showing lots of flavor without being overly ripe. Leather, sweet pipe tobacco, graphite, and still some vibrancy at the finish with tannin structure. Clean and elegant at this stage. Showed well over the course of two hours. Drink up and enjoy. — 5 months ago

Taylor Love

10

Great white, fruity — 6 months ago

Rick Phillips

9.6

After 35 years I was not expecting much. Especially when the cork disintegrated on opening. Aureated on decanting and was happily surprised. After about 20 minutes opened to dark chocolate, leather but so smooth. The last glass was pure delight. Howell Mountain at its best! — 7 months ago

with Letha

A. R.

9.1

Just don’t open this yet folks. Took about 4 hours in a decanter to open up at all. Very classic dusty and graphite nose. Powerful red fruit and tannins. Good mid palate. Good acid. Very long finish. QPR not great. Needs min 10 years to calm down. — 7 months ago

Pooneet K

9.0

Better than I expected. Super interesting bottling from the good folks at Mathiasson. Only 11.7%. Quite light on its feet, with just a bit of fruit - more earth. Good acid. Surprisingly good pairing with a pork chop. — 9 months ago

Rob Brobst III

9.8

This could garner a perfect score in about a decade.... gorgeous blackberry, raspberry, cedar and orange sorbet scents that are extremely pure and refined. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, very precise acidity and layers of crisp black fruit laced with vanilla from the new oak at the moment. That will be subsumed in time. What you have here is a very precise, multi-layered, almost sensual Montrose that is going to delight many for years to come. This is highly recommended--one of the finest Left Bank wines this vintage. — 5 years ago

Steve Mitchell

9.5

What’s not to like about any nice Cabernet? — 5 years ago