Off Piste Wines

Dom Pérignon

Brut Champagne Blend 1990

Kicking the festivities off with some 1990 Champagne. This is medium gold with active bubble stream. Brioche toast nose. Also notes of citrus, apple juice and stones. Pleasant in the mouth but not overpowering. Decent showing but I expected (and wanted) more energy and mousse. (Bday 1 of 13) — 5 years ago

Billy, Shay and 20 others liked this
Manny Abascal

Manny Abascal

Happy birthday. What a line up! Memorable night.
Jan A

Jan A

Happy Birthday, great line up throughout!

Opus One

Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2014

Hands off! Let it rest for a while. It needs time. — 8 years ago

Eric, Paul and 13 others liked this

Fausse Piste

Fish Sauce Pet Nat Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains

Joel Pennington #❤️🐢🍷
9.4

Too good. Dry, full of life, tight effervescent. Categorically unique - and refined - Muscat Blanc from Willamette Valley, OR. — 9 years ago

Jordan and Susan liked this

La Rioja Alta

Gran Reserva 904 Rioja Tempranillo Graciano 2005

Started wth a slight must on the nose, but that blew off. Opened to round and bright red and some blue fruit. Tobacco and wood (not lavish oak, maybe cedar) round it out. Fine grained tannins and a wonderful finish. Love the value of Rioja and hard to believe I just got some of these babies recently. This was the 125th vintage. — 9 years ago

David, Daragh and 4 others liked this
David L

David L Influencer Badge Premium Badge

Nice notes.

Jean Foillard

Côte du Py Morgon Gamay 2014

Smell like fucking fried chicken grease. Light CO2. Definitely carbonic. Gamey but still has that gamay fruit purity thing. Gamey/Gamay. The most caressing of tannins. Licorice taste slightly off putting. Is it growing on me or am I just getting drunk? — 10 years ago

Shafer Vineyards

Hillside Select Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon

Velvety mouthfeel with medium tannins. Robust red and dried fruits, finish of vanilla and graphite. Quaffable af. Would pair with lamb, rabbit, pork, cheese, hummus. Versatile. Honestly not worth it's price point. An off vintage from a delicious vinyard. Would not be hard to find a bottle 1/5 of the price. — 10 years ago

Château Latour

Premier Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1968

Richard Young
9.2

"Off-vintage" Latour, always a pleasure — 10 years ago

Dick, Charles and 2 others liked this

Bodegas y Viñedos Vega Sicilia

Unico Ribera del Duero Tempranillo Blend 1986

Christopher Hoel
9.9

En magnum and off the hook!!! — 12 years ago

Daniel, Hai and 19 others liked this

Krug

Grande Cuvée Brut Champagne Blend

Andrew Holod
9.1

ID 314057 (just off one digit from pi)
Golrious balance. Cork was compressed and showing age, though I stored this in my cold cellar. Nose of yellow fruits and flowers. All of a piece, though feeling a bit spendy.
Happy Mother's day to my wife, paired w almond croissants and truffled eggs.
— 6 years ago

Iwan, Keith and 11 others liked this

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars

Artemis Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

Berry. Guessed this but was 2 years off. — 7 years ago

Marchesi Antinori

Tignanello Toscana Super Tuscan Blend 2005

Off vintage but who cares? Tignanello is a personal favorite. Took a good hour to open up, this wine tastes surprisingly young. cherry, earthiness some mineral and a little smoke flavor as well. Very good — 8 years ago

Shay, Adam and 1 other liked this

Château Pontet-Canet

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2008

And this is supposed to be an off vintage? — 9 years ago

Trent, Keith and 1 other liked this
Trent Fletcher

Trent Fletcher Premium Badge

So if I can get this locally for $90 would you so it's a no-brainer buy?
Jordan Franceschini

Jordan Franceschini Premium Badge

Not sure about a no brainer but it's a treat

Caymus Vineyards

Special Selection Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

If you have to drink a 2011 Napa Cabernet, this is the one. Overcomes the flimsiness and off-centered taste of many of its peers. Blueberry, suggestive of Alexander Valley cabs, is present in spades, and wonderful, smooth, and satisfying midpalate and finish. — 10 years ago

Olga Raffault

Les Picasses Chinon Cabernet Franc 2007

Love this #Chinon. Ready to drink now!

Light color and beginning to brick. Watery hue. The nose is very green pepper upon opening and blows off to a stemmy, wet leaf. Lots of pink rose aromas and potpourri.

Flavor has lots of Ranier cherry. Fine and clean. Watery consistency. The acid is diminishing and tannins are falling off. The finish leaves a sense of roses. Opened 1/15/16
— 10 years ago

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 1961

Ex-Chateau bottle. Testament to perfect storage. Light Amber edge with a darker core. Started off full of toast and just a whiff of brett. Slow ox for 2 hrs then poured. Amazing life for a 54yr old wine still in its stride. Light and dark fruit with seamless integrity and polish. Classic old BDX. After the initial funk blew off it kept developing in the glass. I could drink this all night long. Awesome — 10 years ago

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC)

Richebourg Pinot Noir 1976

A lovely DRC in the twilight of its drinking years. Upon opening we thought it would fall into the bitter tobacco and soy sauce category but it fell off the knife edge the other way and gave lovely rhubarb, tea notes and sweet tobacco. What a great experience. — 11 years ago

Taylor liked this

Château Cheval Blanc

St. Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend 1986

Informal gathering to drink some Bordeaux varietal bottles with steak.

1986 Cheval Blanc: This one showed suspect ullage, to the point where it had been hard to flip it. And in the end, it did turn out to be a controversial wine--was the orgasm 40 days, or was it 36 days? Hard to say... An extraordinary wine, classic in its own way, with fragrant dark flower and black cassis aromas wafting from the glass, and maybe more importantly for us, exploding in the mouth. Some of the more ordinary adjectives, like "smooth" and "balanced", are accurate enough, but obviously don't do this one justice. One could do a fluid dynamical description of the time evolution of this wine in the mouth, a broad attack that gave way in about 3 seconds to a sensation of acceleration and flaring across the entire breadth of the palate as the wine detonated, an oenological version of a jet... And then a persistent finish where the inner mouth perfume resonates as it fades slowly (or simply moved off to some parallel universe).
— 11 years ago

Éric Texier

Rouletabulle Off Dry Pétillant Naturel Chasselas 2011

Pedro Rusk
9.6

Sparkling Chasselas very limited and like many things that are hard to find the reward is great — 13 years ago

Clos des Papes

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhône Blend 2003

An assault of dried bacon fat 🥓 and kirsch liqueur. Give this time in the glass or long decant, gets better and better, and there’s a hint of prune there that I ❤️ but may turn some people off. — 6 years ago

Eric, Mike and 30 others liked this

Ovum Wines

Off The Grid Riesling

Maybe the best expression of Riesling I’ve had from Ovum, certainly Oregon. Off-dry, orchard fruit, tropical fruit, minerality and slight petrol — 6 years ago

Paul Jaboulet Aîné

La Chapelle Hermitage Syrah 1996

Fruit, acids and tannins faded into the background, initially lost (and thought off and nearly tossed!) due to extreme undergrowth funk. That blew off in 30 mins and what remained was Syrah turned all burgundy, fleshy but light. Not best example, but delicious. — 9 years ago

Eric, Jody and 25 others liked this

Domaine du Pegau

Cuvée Réservé Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhone Blend 2009

Open for 3 hours so funk could blow off. Fantastic nose and brilliant fruit. — 9 years ago

Fausse Piste

Garde Manger Columbia Valley Syrah 2014

Direct hit to the heart. Beaujolais spirited syrah that offers a super fruit nose composed at first of blueberrie sirup then blackberry with a violet hint after a few swirls. Non filtered with a hint of a gas when opened, no bretts; this suggests coherent and traditional wine making (+ high drinkability when successful). Clearly among the best wines I've tasted from Oregon. — 9 years ago

Marco Bergevin
with Marco
Doctor, Serge and 13 others liked this

Fausse Piste

Super MSG Red Rhone Blend 2015

Light mineral good - would drink again but maybe not buy again.. — 10 years ago

Dönnhoff

Oberhäuser Leistenberg Kabinett Riesling 2014

Alex Alan
9.1

2014. This wine is my jam. Energetic, with great clarity, and so joyful. Off-dry Kabinett that's only 9% alcohol. — 10 years ago

Anthony, Maxence and 11 others liked this

Château Lafite Rothschild

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1978

Great for off vintage. On its last legs — 10 years ago

Château de Beaucastel

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhône Blend 2001

Great great earthy tea dark fruits and meaty aromas. Started off thin and acidic on the palate but filled out nicely with air and great with lamb and Claypot rice — 11 years ago

Joel Tan

Joel Tan

It's a CDP not a Cotes du Rhone

Tenuta San Guido

Bolgheri Sassicaia Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc 1983

The wine was medium to dark garnet in colour. On day one it offered red fruit, cherry, balsamic vinegar, cola, leather, mushroom, earthy and vegetal notes and a wet sewer component on the nose. On the palate the the wine showed red fruit, cherry, blackberry, tobacco and earthy notes, the acidity was quite pronounced, the wine became slightly drying and even more acidic after some time in the glass, and the fruit faded a bit. Two days later, on day three, the medium-bodied wine was more balanced and showed red and dark fruit, some chocolate, some tobacco, spices and earthy notes on the nose, and red fruit, cherry, leather, tobacco, earthy and balsamic notes on the palate, with just a faint touch of greenness, paired with medium-plus well-integrated tannin, medium-plus acidity and very good length. I had almost written-off the wine on day one and then, surprisingly, it showed much better the third day. Holding-up well. 90 — 11 years ago