Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.2

Welcome to Pebble Beach Food & Wine 2025.

2012 in Bordeaux is a great memory as Sofia & I had a great 5 year anniversary trip to Italy where we were married, ending in Bordeaux. Picking Mouton Merlot for a day, lunch with the Baroness, having steak and sipping 82 Mouton. Pinch me is what I said to Sofia.

Saint Julien is the elegant region on the Left Bank. While 2012 was an ok to good vintage it will always be packed with great memories.

Branaire-Ducru in grand vintages is still a great value. Always elegant with this kind of bottle age and more.

Hour decant starting notes.

Tonight smooth, ripe, round, juicy; brambly blackberries/black raspberries, dark cherries, cherries, black plum, some strawberries, raspberries with blueberry tones. Dry tobacco with ash, leather, spice box with some heat, lightly grilled meats, volcanics, moist clay, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, light vanillin, mid berry cola, dark chocolate bar, forest floor with leaves, sandalwood, steeped black tea, bay leaf, dry thyme, mocha powder, dry caramel, crush, dry rock/limestone, dry river stone, bright red flowers mixed with dark withering flowers, nice round acidity and a balanced, smartly tensioned, elegant finish that lasts 90 seconds & lands on herbs & earth. — 3 months ago

Damian Walch

8.9

Leathery notes on the nose. Dry and great blackberry on the palette. Very nice. — 4 months ago

Hiroshi Tominaga

9.0

Balanced wine. Bought at Enoteca for ¥7,800. — 8 months ago

"Odedi"

9.2

What a delicious 16 year old Bordeaux from Saint Julien.

Dark ruby in color with a wide brick rim.

Full-bodied with medium acidity.

Dry on the palate with nice complexity.

Showing black fruits with cedar, licorice, coffee, light earth, herbs, spices, tobacco leaf and dark chocolates.

Elegant and easy drinking once it opens up. Needs 3 hours.

This second wine is drinking very nicely now, although not from a great vintage.

Good by itself as a sipping wine. Would also pair nicely with game meats or lamb dishes.

13% alcohol by volume.

92 points

$80. — 10 months ago

Aravind A

8.9

Popped yesterday. Notes from 24 hrs open. On the nose: va, blueberry, dark plum, a touch of creme de cassis. soft cedar. On the palate: good acidity, soft prune, bitter herbs, blackberry, soft tannin on the finish. Ok. — 4 years ago

Philippe Dupuis

8.9

Nose all buttery and exotic, also showing a slight evolution. Mouth follows in texture and volume with medium + lenght. Julien Pilon’s wines are always show stoppers. — 7 years ago

with Phil

John Landis

9.3

Superb color; good stain on the cork. Deep cherry nose with rich Pinot flavors. Lovely balance and aftertaste. Good for another 10 years. — 8 years ago

Olivia Noren

9.5

A beautiful under the radar Bordeaux, fresh, silky, completely quaffable but still serious enough — 9 years ago

Philip Stumbo

9.0

Declassified Bordeaux. Phenomenal wine. — 9 years ago

Chantal Yang

8.9

When you can't get your hands on grand cru classes, a nice second or third wine from the chateaux ain't so bad. This needed to open but when it did, every sip was supple, balanced with notes of dark fruit. — 10 years ago

Peter van den Besselaar

9.0

Vintage 2012 | great smell with all Saint Julien characteristics, taste falls back in this modest year. Lovely effort though. — 3 months ago

Camilo Viafara

9.6

Fan Fuckingtastic — 3 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Medium ruby , thin slightly pink ruby rim . Quite dark fruit with cassis , blackberry , grafite . On the palate quite ripe and juicy , but with good balance , slightly gritty but ripe tannins , good cassis tinged , grafite finish . Overall this shows well , with good density and juiciness , sweet but importantly with a very balanced , refreshing personality. Enjoyable now , fruit forward , but no doubt can age well over the next 10 years. Enjoyable and moreish . — 5 months ago

DAL 9000

9.1

Mild bouquet of dusty dark fruit. Quick mild sour cherries upfront with a dusty fruit mild tobacco finish. Definitely old world style. — 10 months ago

DC

9.0

Juice bomb. — 4 years ago

Edward Patten

9.2

Jammy, with cherries and red fruit. Roach of cinnamon — 6 years ago

Mo Salem

9.3

This wine has big potential. Needs a lot of rest. — 7 years ago

with Ron

Robert Harmelin

9.3

75 Bordeaux in great shape from a very good — 9 years ago

Nick DiSanto

10

4/6/16 Red on Prospect. — 9 years ago

Paul Stagg

8.9

Tasty. And why not? It's New Years Eve. very Good. — 9 years ago

James McFadyen

Wine Consultant and Allocation Specialist at Spec's

8.9

Pretty, pretty pretty. Cellar stuffer. Lovely little drinker. 2011 — 10 years ago

Andy Stabile

9.6

Damn good bottle of wine..

Edit… came back as I couldn’t stop thinking about this bottle all night.

California wines were my ‘gateway drug’. I moved away from these wines as I learned about and tried the many many varietals around the world. Ultimately, I fell in love with the quality and, frankly, accessibility of Italian wines. Over the last 5 or 10 years i’ve tried many Italians, travelled to and gotten to know the regions reasonably well. Italy vino is my thing.

But French wine… it eludes me. I know there are great wines — maybe the best. But the country is so large, the regions and varieties so diverse, the price, sometimes too discouraging, that I simply haven’t learned enough about the wines to know my way around the offerings or how to find the wines I love.

But… I know they are there. I’ve had my share. And just how “every now and then a squirrel finds a nut”, so to do I, from time to time find my way to a great French bottle to remind me I’ve leveled up.

This bottle, for me, was one of those reminders. I actually opened it by accident. While bummed it had no age, I was so happy to drink it. I’ll probably buy a few more to cellar… and, yeah, will probably now spend a little more time and money brushing up on my French…

— 3 months ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.2

Blend of 84% Cabernet, 12% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, deep Ruby with rich fruit aromas, aged for 14 months in 15% new French oak. On the palate flavors of blackberry and currants, with notes of licorice, tobacco, some floral and cedar spice. Fine tannins, long finish, ending with fruit, vanilla, oak and spice. Nice but needs more bottle age, should last another 10 years. Nice! — 4 months ago

John Willison

9.1

Charleston Food and Wine Classic…Rhône tasting. — 9 months ago

Jakub Kalinowski

9.2

Oldschool Classic at it’s best!
Surprisingly fresh in the nose with black currant leaf, a pleasant greenness, pencil shavings and a plethora of tertiary aromas.
On the palate this is rather light bodied with still quite youthful grippy tannins, juicy acidity and great length.
This is poised, has presence and really good length.
Classic!! — 3 years ago

Mario Vaillancourt

9.0

Spices and nice dark and red fruit on the nose and palate, nice balance, medium bodied plus with a soft texture of tannins, good. 89-90

Notes constantes, un beau fruit, des épices, bien équilibré, assez puissant mais sans excès, des tannins approchables et de belle texture. 89-90 — 4 years ago

Daniel M

8.9

Very profound nose which reminded me of a couple of bottles I had of clos du marquis. I said saint Julien but wasn’t sure. Blackcurrant, coffee, meat, tea... different layers. I was pretty sure at that point that it was a grand cru classé... the palate is not that wide and powerful. I thought then grand cru classé but in a small recent year. 2011 or 2013. The palate was evolving around an acid backbone with fine tannins and a lovely yet discreet fruit. Moderately long finish with fruit, coffee again and a pinch of salt. I finally went for haut marbuzet 2011. I was far away from it! Always trust a first impression. Superb nose, palate a bit under delivering when the nose raises such expectations. Overall lovely and well done. — 7 years ago

Murphy Perng

8.9

Tar & roses — 8 years ago

Mac Hofeditz

9.5

Amazing 2005 bordeaux — 9 years ago

Paul Stefani

9.1

Great paring with lamb stew. You know It's good when you go for the decanter to pour yourself another glass and it's empty! — 10 years ago