Pray Tell
McPherson
Don't tell Gary Shiraz 2020
Vintage 2020 | Licorice in smell, cherries, blackberries, I thought it to be pinot noir because it has a certain frivoliy. Wine with a story. Good effort. — 3 years ago
Domaine de l'A
Red Bordeaux Blend 2017
Tobacco, dried plum, chocolate and saw dust. Full-bodied, dry tannins. The bottle is 9 years old so probably on the downward slope. Hard to tell, in fact. Still great. — 4 months ago
Château Raymond-Lafon
Sauternes Sémillon-Sauvignon Blanc Blend 2008
This delivered the goods ! Half as apéritif and another half two weeks later on a vacuvin closure. Excellent Sauternes on the more elegant side. Plenty of years ahead, you can barely tell the age. — 2 years ago
Opus One
Overture Napa Valley Petit Verdot Blend
First impression: You can tell it’s from a top producer. It’s very refined and deliberate. Not delicate, but doesn’t hammer you. Velvety, with smooth tannins playin wayyy in the background. Like the bass line in jazz. The nose is there, but it it’s not all THAT bold, with notes of blueberry, dark rose, black cherry, and dark chocolate. Color is a deep red with purple melded in the middle. Surprisingly medium/light body, with light tannins, more to the rim and background but the flavors are surprisingly restrained, like there’s a hole in it. Good, but not great. — 3 years ago
Château Haut-Brion
Pessac-Léognan Red Bordeaux Blend 1966
Medium dark robe, nose of steak tartare and cedar. Very complex and elegant in the mouth, great acidity and balance, licorice, dried flowers, a hint of dry port. Finishes on a beautiful acid note and is such a companion. Truly great bottle. You can barely tell the vintage. — 3 years ago
Giacomo Conterno
Riserva Monfortino Barolo Nebbiolo 1952
Settled and pretty. Tell tale Barolo notes of tar and wood. Roses and faded plum with done dried herbs and a hint of dried orange. Balanced and transparent. Long. Very good. — 4 years ago
Mas de Boislauzon
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhone Blend 2019
McCarthy & Schiering, $50
Bittersweet occasion and went way above my budget to celebrate my birthday and also mourn Grandma Julie's passing. She loved CdP so thought I'd splurge on one. I've only had a couple but have loved every one I tried. This was a bit different, I'm used to bright fruit forward but this was very muted cooked dark fruit with a lot of emphasis on the baking spice and earthy tobacco notes. Incredibly complex - licorice, coffee, clove, tobacco with an underlying subtle dried/cooked dark fruit. Crazy smooth, but I'm comparing it to sub $20 wines that I'm used to, and you can barely tell that it's 15% alc. Nice tannins but I think it would benefit from a touch more acidity. I'm being picky since I paid so much for it but in summary it's one of the best made wines I've ever had, but not among my favorites. But it's still a great experience and I don't regret the purchase — 4 years ago
Jay Kline
First pour of this and I was like, “uh-oh”. It was clearly full of flaws (Brettanomyces, VA and maaaaybe some slight TCA) but would they be too much to appreciate the wine? Only time would tell so into the decanter it went. After a lot of air, it became clear this was Brett and VA. The wine pours a deep ruby/purple with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing (still) with notes of blackberries, umeboshi, animale, purple flowers, black pepper, red Flintstone vitamin, horse blanket, wood varnish, and sous bois. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+. An elegant, complicated bottle. This is my second time with the 1997 vintage and due to the flaws, a different adventure than previous. That being said, this decidedly grumpy, Burgundian expression of Clape’s Cornas paired really well with the dry-aged steaks. Drink now, with a lot of patience, through 2037? — 11 days ago