Ellen Clifford

9.1

Other vintages of this don’t have the most stellar reviews but I think this excels. Dear Chablis, please stay humble. It hit my nose with ever so much chalk. Then I took a sip and realized the chalk was just hiding all the lemon-honey-cough-drop-without-being-medicinal goodness in this bottle. It isn’t the most complex but rather just powerful and modest enough to keep me intrigued. Extra bonus it was not overly spendy. — 6 years ago

Geoff Troup

Sales Eder Brothers, Cellar Fine Wines

9.2

Elegant and quite pretty for this producer. Graham cracker, sweet oak, touch of fruit with fennel, anise, forest floor, modest but firm tannin and acid. — 7 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.4

This wine has a lot of things going on. Immediately after cork pop, this bottle seems to be a little flat with a muted nose, modest (at best) acidity, and next to no tannin. Well, 30 minutes later and this Merlot is completely different. This wine is a little more weighted than the 2011. Not calling the 2011 'thin' by any means, but this one has some torque no doubt. Pours a dusty violet to the glass. The nose is baked cherries and some darker milk chocolate. The entry of this wine has sharp acidity, dark chocolate cherry cordials with some pretty damn good liqueur here. For a split second, a little bit sweet in the middle. Finish is acidic. Tannin seems to be there, but not significantly. Allows for a beautiful finish. — 8 years ago

John Svoboda

9.3

Deep purple color, muted bouquet of dark cherry, mushroom and wet cedar. Well balanced with modest acidity and mature fruit. Good balance with short finish that evolved after the wine had been opened for more than an hour. Nearing maturity but lovely as the evening progressed. — 8 years ago

Max Kelly

9.1

A little richer and fatter vs the racy character I really love in Chablis, but still delicious, particularly for the modest price. — 8 years ago

Vinous Favorites

Delicious wines for less than $25 chosen by Vinous critics

9.0

Lemon peel, white flowers, crushed rocks and grapefruit are all beautifully delineated in the 2011 Extreme Brut. This bone-dry, bracing sparkling wine from Italy’s Valle d’Aosta delivers superb quality for its modest price. (AG) — 9 years ago

Matt

9.0

Red currants, black plums, licorice, cocoa, earth tones, and a velvety mid-palate make for a balanced and approachable Cab/Merlot blend. Love the balanced structure and light hand on the oak. Tannins are soft, modest alcohol, present fruits, and great acidity to hold it all together. Soft and silky texture. Could see this gaining lots of complexity with time. — 10 years ago

Lewis Chester

9.2

2003 vintage. From Jay. Very nice. Much better than expected. Goes down all together way too easily when you're surrounded by snow! Deep ruby core washing out towards the edges. No bricking...yet. Nose is a preponderance of dark fruits together with blueberries and ripe cassis with slight under tones of cloves and a hint of graphite. This is a very fruity affair- takes me back to Christmas. The wine expresses on the palate as it does on the nose. Layers of rich fruit with traces of brown spice. There's a lovely sweetness here that makes the wine a pleasure to drink despite the relatively modest acidity. The tannins are soft and lush. The finish is good with a continued preponderance of fruit right to the very end although it is moderate in length. This is a very quaff able wine...could be at this all night with pleasure just sit me down in front of an open fire and hand me a Montecristo! 92+/100. Drink now to 2028. NB - no need to decant. This wine can happily be poured from bottle post opening and allowed to open in the glass. — 10 years ago

Eric

9.2

Well balanced, garnet color, modest bouquet, nice finish, in summary: a perfect compliment to roasted vegetables with smoked bacon. Highly recommended. — 10 years ago

Mindy Lopus

9.7

Bright fruit, Modest chalky minerality, well balanced, crisp acidity, little to on oxidation for the age. — 12 years ago

Richard Rosensweig

9.0

Red currant and stewed plum with a healthy dose of licorice root. Very well rounded with a full mouth feel. A little light on structure. Pays to try modest Bordeaux from the best years to see what they can do when everything goes right. — 6 years ago

Sophie

9.0

Amazing; would buy again but prefer the Reserva which has more modest price tag and better value for money — 7 years ago

Angelo Casagrande

9.0

NZ Sav Blanc with more character than the in your face grapefruit wines. You get some citrus, but with some lemongrass/green grass and some saltiness. Very good for the modest price. — 7 years ago

Jordan Wardlaw

9.0

Revisiting this vintage and I’m finding that it is constantly evolving. It’s drinking rather open and approachable right now. Perhaps doesn’t have the attack, precision or intensity of the 2015 but it is nonetheless a very expressive wine with lots of character. The floral component is quite striking, the fruit is sweet and soft on the palate and there is a healthy dose of funk that permeates throughout. Moderate acidity and smoother tannins than I expected, but certainly not lacking in complexity for such a modest price point. — 8 years ago

Doctor No

8.9

Chuggable. Definitely a bit of oak, but unobtrusive. Sweet fruit, modest tannins, spice and earth as subtle top notes. Nice wine. — 8 years ago

Doctor No

9.0

Lovely, elegant, slightly sun-kissed red fruit, modest but present structure, middleweight mouthfeel. Well-fruited with a touch of spice and earth. Better than an average Bourgogne Rouge to be certain. — 8 years ago

Said Medina

9.3

Drinking beautifully! If I had a bottle in the library I would do my best to hold it for another year or more and that's modest. So good though, now or later. — 9 years ago

Frank Kuo

9.0

Inky purple with hazy blue tone on the rim. Nose of dark sweet fruit, a bit dark chocolate, alcohol, spice like black pepper, but all modest. Taste of powerful tannins, sweet cherry note with hidden round acidity, and some bitter chocolate notes. Aftertaste is dominant bittersweet zest, a bit oaky. Aftertaste is a bit short and not too much layered. — 10 years ago

Peter Monteleone

Sales & Marketing Martine's Wines

9.1

Totally over delivered. Had modest expectations, this bottle shined. — 10 years ago

Marc Stubblefield

Wine Sales at Vino Carta and Kogod Wine Merchant

8.9

Great food wine. Not so complex as Bea, but juicy and well put together, with modest tannin. — 11 years ago

David Hicks

9.1

Stalwart, standby that never fails. Alas the QPR falls short of more modest contemporaries. Currant, tobacco and a hint of cranberry on the back of the tongue make this one a pleasure to drink — 12 years ago

Fredrik Finn

9.2

You’ll have to look far for a Napa Cab of this standard at the modest price of ye good ‘ol Frog’s Leap, which does not leave you wish for anything more. The ‘15 is showing a wonderfully ripe, dense and energetic fruit profile aligned with the well placed oak profile and trademark dusty graphite complexity. Round and ripe textured tannins with a nice grip is bringing the palate throughout a long, though not exceptional — 7 years ago

Kyle Groombridge

9.4

This is the star of the show at this point! An oft-overlooked bottle from Montagne-St-Emilion comes out as a rockstar in the 2015 vintage. The nose is captivating with smoldering firewood and ground spices leaping out of the glass. The palate is textured with nutmeg and more spice, vanilla, and oak. Darker fruit, anise, wild black cherry, and a touch of smoke round out the palate. This is a definite winner, especially at the modest $30 price point. — 7 years ago

Jeremy Pollard

9.4

Considered a classic vintage in Clare, and this wine doesn’t disappoint. It’s a beautiful wine. At 16 years old there’s clearly some secondary development and deepening of the golden colour, but it’s surprisingly modest and nuanced, retaining licks of youthful, fresh citrus character and that clean acid finish. The nose is soft with subtle stone fruit characters and hints of kerosene. Once it hits the palate, everything is gloriously in balance. This feels like exactly the right time to be drinking it. It’s exquisite. — 8 years ago

with Sam

Matt Trader

9.2

Valentine's Day 2018. Paired with Roasted Butterflied Lobster Tail, and a Chocolate Truffle Torte. Notes to come:)

- - Brane-Cantenac is a special wine to my wife and I. It is the first Bordeaux Chateaux we ever visited on our honeymoon. It is this little modest estate sitting in the shadow of the oversized Chateaux of Cantenac Brown, but it couldn't be more opposite when you bring the wine into the mix. Classic Margaux nose but less funk and more fruit. Terrior is hard to define, but if you have been somewhere memorable, and have a wine or food from that place.. it's when you have it again and it transports you back that to that place and time that defines that for me. It smells of the cool clean air and morning dew, sunshine, gravel dust from the road we had just driven in on, leather and wood from the barn, and the fresh overtones of fruity wine just beginning fermentation in the production facility that make up the core character of the wine. It is the terrior of Cantenac, and more specifically of Brane-Cantenac.

Paired this with Roasted Butterflied Lobster, and Broccolini, and a little left over for the Chocolate Truffle Torte I made as well for Valentine's Day. — 8 years ago

Kyle Groombridge

9.2

This has so much friggin complexity for the modest $22 price point. For the Barolo fan and Barbaresco fan alike, this Nebbiolo over-delivers. The nose is so lovely and quite seductive - spiced dark chocolate, red licorice, cinnamon, brown sugar and clove. The palate is round but focused, high-toned cherry, floral notes, and more cinnamon baking spice. This is a stud. — 9 years ago

Devin Bray

8.9

Juicy blueberry, a bit of funky socks, some stewed rhubarb. Tannic and grippy with an abundance of pepper and hot spice on the finish, along with modest wood. — 10 years ago

Julia Indik

9.4

Starts with controlled currants and cinnamon on the nose. Then blackberries, cherries and figs with tannins and a modest acidity and modest complexity. Needs a few minutes to open up — 10 years ago

Michael Phillips

9.3

Still going strong. Modest oak, buttery white peaches summer fruit. Price quality of Hartford Chards is awesome.
— 10 years ago

Willem Booij

9.0

Delicious wine, soft and silky in the mouth. Still strong in the mid pallet and middle long aftertaste. Lots off fun for a modest price of €19 — 11 years ago