Sean Grullon

9.2

Nice floral notes rise above a tar and earthy backbone with a cherry finish. An archetypal Barolo that’s showing nice now. — 4 years ago

Jason Huggins

9.4

I absolutely love this French Rise. Amazing fruit up front yet dry and stunning for a summer day. Love it!! — 5 years ago

Richard Brand

9.0

Black currants, green apple, unripened apricots, red cabbage, with an earthy mineral finish. Very approachable! — 6 years ago

Martin Mills

9.0

For $30, this is tremendous value. While a little lighter in style than the best Otago Pinot, it’s still got all the stuffing you could ask for. — 7 years ago

Bill Bender

9.5

5 hour decant. I’ve had a very tough time getting along with ‘09 Napa Cabs, finding most to be quite tannic, dumb and lacking any kind of expression. This Dr. Crane suffered from none of that. From the perfumed nose of Asian spice and significant depth and purity of fruit to the black cherry, chocolate covered expresso beans and red cedar taste profile, this is very ready now but it’s still clearly on the rise....and yes that is a Halloween 🎃 decoration on my fat lady sculpture — 8 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.3

No idea how long this wine was open, but probably was for an hour before I got there today. This wins the youthful fruit award (even beats the 13 Amici). This wine is massive, and displays a lot of ample chalky blackberry fruit, vanilla, and some lavender. The middle is darker, and finishes with good length, good acidity, excellent structure, and great balance. Was going to open the 2009 to compare, but will instead save this for another day. I'd say that this wine is undoubtedly on the rise, therefore the proper place for this one is in the cellar! But, we were CURIOUS, OK??? If you absolutely, positively HAVE to drink this one now, do it with a lot of decant time!! — 8 years ago

with Benjamin

Eric Guido

9.4

A more immediate expression of Les Quarts, the 2017 is jammed packed with fruit but oh so fresh. Masses of blackberry, garrigue, crushed stone and wood smoke rise up from the glass. It's silky and suave, displaying polished purple and blue berries, contrasted by sour citrus, with a note of sweet violet candies carried by juicy acids. While this doesn't have the depth of the best vintages, it's a pleasure-bomb of vibrant Grenache that maintains balanced throughout. #closducaillou #chateauneufdupape #grenache #rhonewine — 4 years ago

Aaron Tan

9.0

Crunchtown! Sulphur-free pino that's bright and zippy. Perfect chilled and for a bojo lover like me. — 6 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.6

This wine is made by Dan Standish who started his career by traveling all over the world learning the skill of winemaking. He returned to Australia to make wine at Torbreck. After making Torbreck, he starting his own project. This wine is produced from a vineyard with 100 year old vines with a yield of only a 1/2 ton on fruit per acre. In comparison to quality Napa producers, their yields are 2-3 tons per acre. Dan is absolutely one of the very best producers in Barossa.

On the nose, mulberries, olallieberries, blueberries, blackberries, black raspberries, black plum, plum, blackberries, black cherries, dark berry cola, vanilla, dark spice, black pepper, dry crushed rocks, limestone minerals, soft leather, saddle-wood, coffee grounds, black licorice, dark, rich soil, lavender and violets.

The body is full, rich, ruby, lush and very inky. The texture is elegantly sexy. The 06 is still youthful & fresh. It still needs more time but, it’s delicious tonight. The length, tension, structure and balance are just coming into it own. mulberries, Olallieberries, Boysenberries, blueberries, blackberries, black raspberries, black plum, plum, raisins, blackberries, black cherries, dark berry cola, vanilla, dark spice, black pepper, dry crushed rocks, limestone minerals, soft leather, saddle-wood, coffee grounds, black licorice, dark, rich soil, purple flowers, lavender and violets. The acidity is round and beautiful. The finish is long, thick, ruby, lush, elegant, well balanced with deep heat penetrating dark spices that rise off the palate and lasts several minutes. The 06 is still 5 years from it peak.

Photos of; The Standish Cellar Door, Owner/Winemaker Dan Standish, beautiful Barossa Vineyards and the old tasting room — 7 years ago

Andrew Han

9.0

From the Wine Society: This is the source of the bulk of our Beaujolais for the last 50 years, and many members will also have tried the fruits
of The Society’s work with this excellent Beaujolais-based négoce in the form of our bestselling white wine, The
Society’s White Burgundy, sourced from the Mâcon.
Dealing with a négociant allows The Wine Society to pick and choose, often blending together from different estates in
order to end up with a wine that is better than any of its parts.
Négoces have had a huge part to play in the recent history of Beaujolais, some of it not so good but some of it very
positive. For all its apparent simplicity, Beaujolais is a complicated region that is often the victim of its own capricious
climate with late frosts and violent hailstorms a common recurrence.
The one name that stands out for us is Dépagneux: Jean Dépagneux was the last of this illustrious merchant family
who, with his partners, bought up a list of ailing names such as Aujoux, which had made its name selling Beaujolais to
the once profitable Swiss market. Jean retired about a dozen years ago and his place was taken by a young and
talented oenologist from Viré called Jean-Marc Darbon. One consequence of the change has been the meteoric rise in
the quality of The Society’s White Burgundy. — 8 years ago

Marc Stubblefield

Wine Sales at Vino Carta and Kogod Wine Merchant

9.0

Doesn't rise to the level of a Ferrando, but doesn't cost as much, either. Pretty classic alto-piemonte nebbiolo on lean frame with pretty fruit and not a ton of complexity. — 8 years ago

Richard Parks III

9.0

After dinner this thing will rise right up to over your ears!! — 8 years ago

Mary Panos

9.4

Delicious and easy to drink red. I get notes of cola and cherry. Paired very well with Neapolitan pizza — 4 years ago

Anne Carman

9.3

Notes of plum, blackberry, cedar, deepened on the palate with rich full polished structure and elegantly balanced tannins. Both dark and vibrant at once. — 5 years ago

Harianto Herdiman

9.5

Smooth; Blended well with mixed variety of french grapes. Great art. — 7 years ago

Jan de Weerd

9.8

Unbelievable! The best wine I have had since The Grange a few months back. It was decadently rich. It had enough structure to support a high rise. Deep dark luscious fruit that finished in a tight grip on my throat nearly strangling me in awe...hmmm, yeah. I really liked it!!! — 7 years ago

with Tammy, Paulo and 2 others

Victor Hwang

9.0

Compelling QPR. A chateau on the rise — 8 years ago

Patrick Vanhoucke

9.0

LONGING FOR THE SOUTH

Yesterday I drank this very nice Macedonian semi-dry T'ga za Jug red wine.

The wine is made of the native grape variety Vranec. It has an intense red color, and the distinctive taste of raisins and raspberries, which make it a nice sweet treat (hence: semi-dry).

The wine is named after the poem ‘Taga za Yug’ of the Bulgarian poet Konstantin Miladinov (1830–1862), one of the Miladinov brothers, who originate from Ottoman Macedonia. Both brothers are thought to have laid the foundation of the Macedonian literary tradition.

‘Taga za Yug’ means ‘longing for the South’ (el anhelo por el Sur): "If I had an eagle's wings, I would rise and fly on them to our shores, to our own parts [...] Here are frost and snow and ashes, blizzards and harsh winds abound [...] There the sunrise warms the soul".

When it is cold outside, and fiercely raining, I can assure you that it makes you long for the sun that warms the soul. Drinking the T'ga za Jug wine in good company and nice surroundings makes for a wonderful or sometimes even better alternative.
— 8 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.2

On the nose; fresh and slight gummy raspberries, dark cherries, blackberries, poached strawberries, cherries, gentle spices, loamy soils and fresh dark florals. On the palate; fresh, tart & sour; black raspberries, raspberries, dark cherries, blackberries and black cherries. M+ tannins, nice gentle spices that rise in heat off the palate, cinnamon, nutmeg, loamy soils and soft minerals. The even finish is; fresh, round & rich fruits with fresh red florals and beautiful acidity. Photos of the lunch their Chef prepared for us, photo of just how low their yields are of Pinot Noir grapes and the view from another side of their Cellar Door. One thing of note, Central Otago is right about on the southern most line of being able to grow grapes. The climate is so cool that the foliage turns and or can completely fall off before they harvest the grapes. — 8 years ago

Lee James

9.2

Smoky enough but in balance -really enjoyed this one — 8 years ago