Stones & Bones
Château Haut-Bailly
Pessac-Léognan Grand Cru Classé Red Bordeaux Blend 2007
Happy New Year!🎈🎆🎊
From mag. Who said the2007 vintage was bad? They didn’t taste it 16 years from inception or 14 years in bottle. Excellent as our first prime rib wine.
2nd night tasting with leftovers. One glass left. It’s dark inky, round, mushy velvety tannins, dark currants, blackberries, blackberries, black plum, dark cherries, plum pudding, strawberry highlighter, dry stones, limestone powder, dark turned earth, soft, fresh & dry tobacco notes, soft lead pencil shavings, wet volcanic ash, moist clay, charcoal, sandalwood, understated dark spice, dark chocolate, just a touch of baking spices, dark & red withering flowers, violets, excellent round acidity and a well knitted structure, balanced fruit & earth, good tension with a long elegant finish that falls on a dry mineral finish lasting 90 seconds.
I always leave an inch to inch and half in the bottle to pour a bit to all at the end. I believe the expression for that is, “The Truth! From the expression, the truth is inside. It doesn’t lie and makes for more extremely concentrated sip(s). You might say it is a lot like monosodium glutamate…everything you tasted in the wine previously, taste more. — 2 years ago
Stacks & Stones
Sauvignon Blanc
Came in Advent Wine calendar was very good! — 4 years ago
Beekeeper Cellars
Secret Stones Rockpile Zinfandel 2015
I started keeping bees a couple of years back so couldn’t resist picking up this wine and what a treat! One of the best zinfandels I’ve enjoyed. A wine to sip and enjoy, complex and refined, grab a bottle to have with close friends! — 5 years ago
Domaine Coche-Dury (J.F. Coche Dury)
Meursault Chardonnay 2001
Medium gold, nice heavy weight in the glass. Steely, fruity nose. Notes of Meyer lemon, wet river stones, tan spice, rocky soil, some tangerine and some ripe apricot. Rich and powerful in the mouth. Great overall structure and balance. This is playing up a weight class or two. Feeling Cochey! — 6 years ago
Château Palmer
Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 1999
Mmmm....better. 1999 was a meh vintage to most critics. I find it has evolved to better things with this much time in bottle.
The nose reveals, ruby and candied; blackberries, black cherries, black plum skin, black raspberries, raspberries, poached cherries & strawberries. Touch cooked green bell pepper, mixed berry licorice, anise to black licorice, used leather, saddle-wood to cedar, dark, moist, black earth, limestone, stones, graphite, vanilla, cinnamon stick, clove, nutmeg and dark spice, coffee, dark chocolate with fresh & withering, dark, red, blue and purple flowers.
The body is just full. The tannins are soft, round, chewy and tarry. The structure, tension, length and balance are pretty good for 99. ruby and candied; blackberries, black cherries, black plum skin, black raspberries, raspberries, poached cherries & strawberries. more cooked green bell pepper on the palate, mixed berry licorice, anise to black licorice, used leather, saddle-wood to cedar, dark, moist, black earth, limestone, stones, graphite, vanilla, cinnamon stick, clove, nutmeg and dark spice, coffee, dark chocolate with fresh & withering, dark, red, blue and purple flowers. The acidy is nice. The finish is elegant, well balanced but, not as rich as other good vintages Palmer. It is spicy and persists minutes on the palate.
Photos of; Chateau Palmer, their barrel room, a photo of their vineyard soil structure-if you didn’t know where all that earthiness comes from, a picture is worth a thousand words and their tasting room. — 7 years ago
Bodega Catena Zapata
White Bones Adrianna Vineyard Chardonnay 2021
whoa! wild, totally unexpected nose. never smelled a chard like this. Menthol, eucalyptus, mint. Andes mint. high elevation, select rows from a single vineyard. Unlike any other chardonnay. Flipping beautiful. High acid, lemony citrus and mineral on palate. the mint is fascinating- almost overwhelming. decanting would prolly help. 10 just because it’s so interesting, so delicious. but it is not identifiable as Chardonnay. — a year ago
Vincent Dauvissat
La Forest Chablis 1er Cru Chardonnay
Matches, crushed stones, pear, white peach, oyster shell, whit pepper, hint of cinnamon yoghurt. Beautiful wine as usual. — 3 years ago
Bodega Catena Zapata
River Stones Vino De Parcela Adrianna Vineyard Malbec 2018
Smells like there is going to be more oaky and fruity than it actually is. This is very refined. Very dry. Plums, red berries, olives, black pepper, mint, I have to give the Catena family credit for crafting wines in this style. Maybe a bit pricey, but good quality indeed. — 4 years ago
Joh. Jos. Prüm
Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese Riesling 2002
First time trying this since buying on release. Nice medium gold color, heavy in the glass like oil. Great nose. Notes of apricot, wet stones, petrol, tan spice and some kiwi. Rich and powerful on the mouth. Acidity comes on with air. This has everything you want in a German Riesling. In a great zone with years if not decades of enjoyment in front of it. — 5 years ago
Dom Pérignon
Brut Champagne Blend 2008
Apricot, bread, wet stones. Exceptionally balanced. Coats the whole palate — 6 years ago
Bergström Wines
Old Stones Pinot Noir 2015
Cherry pie delight! Decanter for an hour and it was delectable. — 7 years ago
Bodega Catena Zapata
White Stones Adrianna Vineyard Chardonnay 2021
I joined this white wine blind tasting session for a taste of the illustrious Chard duo from Catena Zapeta, despite knowing full well that white wine condition in my area has a pretty lacklustre record; and I’m pretty glad I did. The White Stones, thankfully, was [mostly] singing. Yes, there was a touch of honey and musk in the back end, but I felt it didn’t distract from the general message. Perhaps the reticent winemaking style here helped give it a little more resilience against the arduous travel. On the nose, there was nearly no fruit at the start - just sulphurous, flinty aromas. It does eventually yield to heavy swirling in the glass, revealing some pear and nutty notes. The palate was textural, sharp, and mineral. In fact the name could not be more apt. It was like licking stones, all covered in salt, lime juice and chopped sage. I really enjoyed it, but the wine that could have been still lingered on the back of my mind. One to revisit for sure. — 2 years ago
Saviah Cellars
The Stones Speak Funk Estate Vineyard Syrah 2016
The Stones Speak. Did they ever! Full bodied, dense concentrates of decaying fall leaves after a fresh rain shower drenched in minerals, fine polished fully integrated tannins almost leaving a sweet edge. All secondary and tertiary notes. No distinct fruit to be recognized. It was like drinking extracts squeezed from the river rock on which they grow the Syrah. A flavor explosion as soon as it hits your mouth. — 4 years ago
Domaine Jean-Louis Chave
Hermitage Blanc Marsanne Roussanne 1996
Dark gold. Heavy like oil in the glass. At open this has an oxidative nose with a heavy dose of apple cider. But the first taste revealed a massive core of fruit with a lot of acidity. Thus with air this opened up to reveal a powerful and rich wine. Notes of ripe apples, uncut lemons, beeswax, stones and tan spice. Some heat suggests this has a fair amount of alcohol too. I liked this but was alone amongst the family in that assessment. I would say drink these up sooner rather than later but it depends how you like your aged white Rhône. — 6 years ago
Tenuta San Guido
Bolgheri Sassicaia Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc 2014
Staying with the 🇮🇹 - Sassicaia means “place of many stones”. Roger that. Star anise, cherry and hints of raspberry. 💣🍷 — 7 years ago
Nathan Renfro
Decided to open up my first bottle of the ‘16s. Definitely required at least an hour decant, then it really was enjoyable. Very ripe black and dark red fruit, tannins light and chalky, perhaps a bit off balance at this point, at least early in the bottle. Day two this really resolved nicely. Wonderfully long finish. Bottle time should be kind to this vintage. — a year ago