Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

Even though we brought spilts with us on our trip, I still missed it. There just aren’t many better starters to kickoff a weekend night. Cheers! 🥂

Many previous notes still apply.

The next time you have BSR as an aperitif and your are having red wine after, save some to close out your night. The BSR ascends from 1080p HD to OLED 4K on your palate. For that matter, any quality Champagne will do. — 7 years ago

Madeleine Ray

9.3

We’ve been talking about this producer for a while, so excited to have found the appellation level, even if the vineyard designated bottles are few and far between. Begins with all graphite and granite on the nose, sharp and clean. Opens into reserved fruit on the palate and earthy florals like tulip or orchid. More time in the glass allows for a bit of a saline and meaty character to appear. Whole cluster, but you wouldn’t know it right away, the structure is decidedly not oak tannin, angular, but not overwhelmingly so. Paired with an arrabiata sauce, which softens the white pepper, brings out the red fruit, and surprisingly doesn’t negatively showcase the alcohol content. It’s enticing! Keeps ya checking back for more. — 7 years ago

Amy Rodriguez

9.1

Super light body, smooth, blackberry/blueberry, tart but not abrasive at all. Almost citric like a white. Oak comes out as it warms, vanilla. Decant. — 8 years ago

Gilbert Van Hassel

9.3

With time this has turned out to be a fabulous wine. Soft tannins, layers and layers of fruit — 10 years ago

r b

9.4

My mom said she found out about this app on the today show. Thanks mom, why can't you remember that time I won a karate competition by decapitation? — 10 years ago

James Gerhart

9.0

Candied red apple. Needs some time to mellow out. Dark and fruity for a Pinot. Interesting but a departure from varietal expectation. — 11 years ago

William Leslie

9.9

First off. You have heard about decanting.... This is a great example. Open and it tastes flat, give it time to breath and the flavors come out. The nose has a nice oak, smokey texture. Taste has a predominant black cherry flavor with nice ripe fruit flavors. Oak remains throughout the taste from start to finish with american oak flavors. An almost cigar smokiness hits immediately with a slight spice....not sure where to compare this to because it's not like a Zinfandel pepper, but more like an allspice. The overall feel is medium bodied with rich cherry flavors and well balanced for a smooth feel. This is a great introduction to Stags Leap without spending $150. — 11 years ago

Kevin Cherrstrom

9.8

I mean I'm not going to spit it out or anything.... Just messing around. Special wine when it is time to celebrate! — 12 years ago

Anthony Lombardi

9.3

Elegant Cubillo from the 07 vintage. Plenty of spicy/oak notes on both nose and palate. More finesse than other LDH bottles I’ve had, but no complaints here. One of my favorite producers in the world. Enjoyed alongside a curiousity, The Groderdeck Whipperjenny which is a spaced out jazz funk effort led by David Matthews who was also James Brown’s arranger and band leader at the time. Great stuff all around here. — 7 years ago

Chris McClellan

9.3

Loved this...DEF needed more time to air out. Tart red fruit, smoky campfire, slight grilled meats, whole cluster stinkiness, med plus acid....long finish. Great stuff, mote time in decanter and this is a super star! La La! — 8 years ago

with Justin, Chad and 1 other

Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.5

The cruise continues! Night eight aboard the Allure of the Seas and since the Special Selection has already been finished and the Opus is too young we ran downstairs to grab this beauty out of the suitcase.

Deep and dark ruby red. Deep and layered nose with tobacco, spices, vanilla, dark floral notes, black currants, cassis and a touch of scorched earth. Heavy tannins (7.5/10) with a full body. Smooth attack on the palate but very powerful with solid acidity and strong backbone. Layered with vanilla, cinnamon and dark spices with a strong dark black cherry undertone throughout. Long finish. Big powerful wine with a decade or more left in it and will only get even better with time. Drink till 2030. (95+)

We decided we needed to celebrate this vacation with my parents so we brought along the first high-end bottle of wine we purchased back in 2014 when we went into Total Wine and met Victoria. So glad we did! — 9 years ago

with Sean and India

Charlie Beatty

Buyer wineworksonline.com

9.5

Wow 1997 Howell Mtn Dunn out of a Magnum brought by Dave N! Thanks Big time. Getting a chance to drink 18 plus year old wine! What a treat. Tannins have mellowed, fruit is still kicking! Great mouthfeel. Awesome Experience! Monday Night Wine Group Dinner — 11 years ago

with larry, Henry and 3 others

Stephen Jackshaw

9.0

Needs some time but should turn out very nice — 11 years ago

Jeffrey Lew

9.8

We went 2/2 tonight. This bottle was a testament to perfect storage. Cork was perfect, and the wine was dark ruby with ever so slight bricking at the rim. Awesome. More approachable than the 90 and makes you wanna curl up with it for a long time. Better than the bottle I had at the Montrose vertical a month ago. Blind I would guess 10 yrs newer. For this price point and quality it's a must add. Edged out the Margaux. — 11 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

Second course...Chestnut Soup with a tiny hint of warmer spices (cardamom, clove, fennel) with a tiny tang and nut flavor with Madeira Cream. One of the best pairings I’ve done in some time.

Notes apply from last weekend.

Check out Chef Hedy’s Pop Up Dinner business @plate&bottle on Facebook. — 7 years ago

with James and Christina

"Odedi"

9.2

It's time for #MerlotThursday. Here's a great one from Columbia Valley.

Dark ruby in color with a reddish rim.

Fruity nose of blackberries, black currants, cherries, cooked plums, wood, vanilla, licorice, spices, chocolates, smoke, dark coffee, mocha, earth, leather, coke and black pepper. What a great nose.

Full bodied with medium acidity and nice legs.

Dry and fruity on the palate with blackberries, cooked cherries, oak, vanilla, spices, espresso, chocolates, peppercorn, earth sweet vinaigrette, dark coffee and light mocha.

Long finish with fine grained tannins and cherries.

This 4 year old Merlot from Washington State surprised me.
Well balanced and enjoyable by itself or with food. Showing great complexity and mouthfeel.

Soft, spicy and smooth. Peaking now, and better now than a year or two ago.

Good right out of the bottle and better as it opens up (1 hour).

I paired it with a filet mignon and grilled asparagus.

14.5% alcohol by volume.

92 points.

$20. — 8 years ago

Lewis Chester

9.6

1996 vintage. At Hotel TerraVina with my pal, Gerard Basset MW. Unfortunately we didn't get time to decant it sufficiently prior to having with lunch. Typically I would have had at least a 2 hour decant before serving. Medium garnet hue, very bright. The nose is simply stunning and evolved constantly in the glass. Blackberry, black plum, cedar wood, lots of spices, cocoa and hints of roasted coffee bean. Tertiary notes have developed but there still seems to be a bit of development to be teased out of this wine yet. The palate exhibited an enormous amount of structure - high acidity and high tannins that are ripe but chunky. There's nothing round here - more linear and angled than curvy. Almost light bodied but with a big two-step punch of a finish: there's an initial hit and then a powerful umph of additional rev's that makes your head bob up and down in joy and happiness. Though it's drinking extremely well now, this will hold for decades to come. Fabulous. — 9 years ago

Ian Brennan

9.3

2001 vintage lovely dense plumbs, currants, violets and spice on the nose. Rich and warm, headily inviting, with the perfume jumping out of the glass capturing and demanding attention. Tightly packed mouthful as well, surprisingly medium bodied, good fruit and tannin, but closed and needing time. Good aftertaste, probably needs 3 to 5 years before opening up to its best. — 11 years ago

Jim Wallick

9.3

Coaxing it out of the glass. Needs time to blow off typical barnyard nose, leads way to dark red fruit and really long finish — 11 years ago

with Charles

Brittney King

9.5

Fresh out of the bottle - funky spice aromas. On the palate - bone dry and incredibly tight. Decanted for three hours. I can't tell you how much it opened up in that time. This wine is phenomenal. Incredibly smooth, smokey, surprisingly juicy. Just gorgeous. Must try! — 12 years ago