Anthony Cammarata Jr.

9.3

A full body beauty with berry, tobacco and cherry character. Hints of walnut with fine tannins and a crisp finish makes this wine the perfect compliment to any meal. — 4 months ago

with Daniel and Michael

Josh Morgenthau

9.7

This was opened and we enjoyed a few glasses before recorking and reapproaching 24 hours later, at which point it was really singing. Yellow peach, pear and medley of orchard fruit, layered with pressed yellow flowers, dried persimmon, and notes of vanilla and bourbon. So delicate. Such fine bubbles. Saltwater taffy and some caramel and rock salt on the palate. Subtle tannic echo. Mesmerizing. — 6 months ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.2

Perrier-Jouët, founded in 1811 in Epernay by Pierre-Nicolas-Marie Perrier and his wife, Adele Jouët. The firm began shipping wine to Great Britain in 1813 and to the United States by 1837. Pale lemon color with fine mousse and tiny bubbles, aromas of stone fruit and citrus. On the palate flavors of complex fresh fruit, vivid acidity, perfect balance on long finish ending with a yeasty mineral touch. Great value! A fav! Very nice! — 9 months ago

Tom Garland

9.1

1.5 hour decant(decent chunky/fine sediment) . An amazing deep dark ruby red color. On the nose: black fruit, stewed meat, cigar box, floral, pencil shavings. Taste: modern style and at 14 years in its drinking window. Soft, but powerful, creamy, with dark plum/cherry, cedar, cocoa, earth, graphite and a medium finish. Drinks well, and looking forward to popping more bottles over the years and see where it goes. — 10 months ago

with Brenda

Tom Garland

9.6

Decant 45 min (lots of chunky/fine/cloudy sediment). A monumental medium ruby red and decent bricking. On the nose: very fragrant and captivating notes of red fruit, that sweet aged Bordeaux perfume, worn leather, sweet tobacco, floral, slight minty mushrooms. Taste: Whew! soft, silky...a wall of flavor hits you with cherry/raspberry, espresso, earth, cedar, and a smokey tobacco finish. YUM! What a treat to drink. Celebrating with a couple of fun wines tonight. — 2 years ago

with Brenda

Fredrik Finn

9.2

Fine intensity of developed aromas with a defined ripe and autolytic complexity. Primary red apples, raspberries, lemon and orange fruit drops, secondary aromas of nougat, hazelnuts, butter, toast and a chalky, oyster shell minerality.
High acidity, medium - body. A creamy, peristant mousse and linear acidity drives the palate. Intense presence on the mid palate with characters of red apples, fruit drops, coffee beans and chalk. Medium + lenght finish that lacks some dimension and lenght to compete with the best. — 3 years ago

Dario Scimeca

9.6

Outstanding despite a disintegrating cork. Rich but low alcohol. Dark but light on its feet. Very, very fine. — 5 years ago

with Heather and Tom

Joe Kaiser

9.4

This Champagne was disgorged 10-1013. The Bollinger Granda Année never disappoints! She is the quite beauty in the black dress with the grey pearls, intriguing, complex, soft. Has a lovely floral, pair, green apple nose, the mousse is fine, precise, the flavors posses same complexity as the nose, it is crisp, far from austere finish. — 7 years ago

Kevin Ortzman

9.0

Sweet ripe black fruit with a hint of tobacco. Smooth, fine tannins - well balanced! — 8 years ago

with Rick

Michael Solway

9.3

The cooler 2010 growing season is evident. Remarkable freshness and lift. Mulberries, vanilla, olives, mint and black tea. Fine grained tannins and bright acidity. Structured for the long haul. — 8 years ago

Jan de Weerd

9.3

Nice earthy complexity elevating the subtle red fruit. Fine grained tannins on the background balancing out the wine and giving it a lingering, satisfying finish. — 4 months ago

with Tammy

Tom Garland

9.5

2005 Wine Spectator wine of the year.

1 hour decant(decent chunky/fine sediment). A thrilling dark garnet with some bricking. Nose: beautiful aromatic notes with cherry, old leather, wet earth, floral, licorice. Taste: velvety smooth, creamy, balanced wine with dark berries, cedar, licorice, spice, espresso, dark chocolate, and a nice satin long finish. YUM! Just gonna sit back and enjoy the ride tonight. Paired with a Christmas prime rib roast dinner. Cheers! — 5 months ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.7

The Antinori family, one of the world's oldest and most distinguished wine producers, lived in Tuscany since the 14th century. Blend of 80% Sangiovese, 15% Cab Sauv & 5% Cab Franc, less maceration than prior vintages. Deep Ruby, aromas of black berry fruit aromas with herb, mint and sweet spice. On the palate flavors of blackberry and cherry with cacao, vanilla and tobacco spice. Fine tannins, long finish, well balanced, ending with oak, juicy fruit and earthy mineral tones. Very Nice! — 8 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.3

Medium ruby garnet core . Quite austere , red and dark , charcoal tinged berries . On the palate better with a mix of ripe ed and dark fruits , touch of mineral and grafite , quite long and well balanced . This is fine now with time in decanter , though might just need a little longer in bottle to show its best — 10 months ago

Delectable Wine

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9.6

The 2016 Léoville-Poyferré appears to have closed up a bit on the nose, perhaps a little cowed by the strong showing of the 2015 on this occasion. It is very pure and begins to unfurl with aeration, but the aromatics are not coming out to play today. The palate is medium-bodied with fine boned tannins, beautifully proportioned and symmetrical. The oak is seamlessly integrated with a citrus touch on the finish. This will be awesome, but it will need time in bottle. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. (Neal Martin, Vinous, September 2022)
— 2 years ago

Carter Pelham

9.7

Shared with close friends - everyone’s first Monte Bello, and a great one at that.

Took this bottle out to share at a local fine dining establishment, to pour it blind for our friends. Wrapped neatly in foil. We get seated and explain to our waiter. “The bottle MAY be a little bit older so take care with the cork,” I said, not wanting to give away the age to our friends. He proceeds to break the cork about halfway down, right through. No big deal. He’s a younger guy and I think a little flustered, he goes off to get assistance.

Comes back with another server. As the guy walks back up, I say “Thanks for helping us with our mystery bottle”, clueing him in on the idea that there’s a reason that we have it wrapped in foil. “Would have been nice to know it was an older vintage wine,” he replied brusquely. Ok… Server 2 digs around for a bit with an ah-so before punching the cork into the drink. Oh well. None of us are really phased by this, it happens.

They grab a strainer from the bar. Server 2 starts pouring at a decanter and immediately the first glass or so just goes everywhere on the table. I start to die inside. He remains silent. Gets on target with the rest of the bottle, finishing pouring, and says “Your 2004 Ridge Cabernet”, purposefully ruining the blind tasting, I guess. Walks away without another word, leaving his mortified coworker to clean up his mess and apologize.

This actually happened. On to the wine:

Beautiful medium opacity ruby with no browning.

Smells like a Pauillac on the nose. Blackcurrants, blackberry, black licorice, slight graphite, and damp tobacco. As the night goes on it reveals dill, vanilla, buttered toast, and slight dry woodsy notes.

The wine is surprisingly light in body, very much a claret. The tannins are silky, finely woven, and extremely integrated. The main thing we notice on the palate is that the wine is so perfectly integrated it is a little difficult to pull individual notes out of it. Expansive over the palate without being weighty. The finish is forever.

A memorable evening. — 3 years ago

with Linh and Sarah

Chris England

9.6

After the fab 09 Sass does this @ £137 stack up? Oh yeah 😍 blind I'd say this was top Bordeaux 👍

⭐️ 95-96 now, but 97-99 in 5yrs 😉

🍇 52% Cab S, 22% Mer, 21% Cab F & 5% Pet V

🍷 Opaque ruby

👃 Sweet cedar & oak, through smoked herbs, mint, blackcurrant, blackberry & dark plum in gravelly minerals w/ red flowers, spice, leather & mocha

👄 Med++ body of creamy ripe rich chewy bcurrant/berry & dark plums bathed in thick choc mocha w/ fine dry tannins

🎯 Long mineral & mocha infused dark fruit lasting stain — 7 years ago

Cathy Hoang Scurci

9.4

Jan 25, 2016--Rich, yet fine and delicate, one of the very best! Edinburgh, Scotland at the Witchery Restaurant — 8 years ago

Sam Criste

9.7

Delicious!! Comparable to Taylor's, but smoother. Blended flavors well so you were tasting the best of everything (strong, sweet, & smooth). — 11 years ago

Leigh D

8.9

Bright, fruits, fine mousse, clean, pleasantly sweet, long taste — 4 months ago

with Krystal

Andrew Cullimore

9.4

Still quite medium light lemon yellow , pretty youthful looking . Was pretty difficult to get the cork out and wasn’t going to risk sabrage on a bottle of Salon ! A few very fine but persistent bottles . Nicely yellow fruit driven nose , lemon peel, vanilla , acacia , orange blossom and pastry . On the palate quite rich and rounded , those citrus peel notes , mixed with oyster shell , and dried apricot , and baked pastry . Quite a lot of extract still and really quite fresh , long and well balanced finish . Perfect drinking now and over the next 10 years perhaps. This is the original release from a case purchased here in Brazil about 7 years ago, still going strong which is good to know . — 5 months ago

Tom Garland

9.3

Celebrating with a couple of fun bottles tonight. 2 hour decant(decent chunky/fine sediment). A stunning dark garnet with bricking. On the nose: lightly fragrant notes of stewed red fruit, cassis, floral, little cigar box, herbaceous. Taste: silky, elegant, soft wine with a great mix of dark plum, currants, iron, scorched earth, tobacco, and cedar/bitter chocolate medium plus finish. YUM! Drinks well with the decant and more time to go. — 7 months ago

Tom Garland

9.3

Celebrating with a couple nice wines tonight

2 hour decant(decent chunky/fine sediment). An imposing dark magenta color. On the nose: very aromatic with dark cherry, currants, herbaceous, smokey earth, floral, pencil shavings. Taste: soft, silky, dry tannin wine with black fruit, pencil lead, cedar, tar, crushed rock, and a minerally mocha dry medium plus finish. YUM! More time to go. — 9 months ago

with Brenda

Andrew Liguori

8.9

Dense dark cherries, woody spices, dried flowers, slight drying but fine tannins to finish. Nice with a pork rágu — 2 years ago

Chelsea Hunt

9.3

Good sweet port, not too dry. Great after dinner treat. — 3 years ago

Cristiano Humberto Naves de Freitas Azevedo

9.1

Fine bubbles — 4 years ago

Sean Grullon

9.5

Okay - fine. It’s a good, probably great wine. Overpriced? Yes. Opus is filled with pretentious douchbags? Double yes. But this is a well-made wine bridging a gap between Napa and Boudreaux. Dusty nose with menthol, earl grey tea, tobacco, flowers, cassis, and creamy dark fruits. It has a really nice velvety finish. — 6 years ago

Alvaro Bustillos

9.0

SD 11/18/16 — 7 years ago

Mike Frye

9.1

Perfect river beer — 8 years ago

Meghan Schmeltzer

9.0

Smooth red wine. Not sweet but delicious! — 8 years ago