John Gallo

8.9

I purchased this 2018 at the vineyard in Italy and had it shipped home. we like it. Paid €35 for the bottle - shipped to me. Pricey but great memory. — 3 years ago

Joe Estrada

9.4

Love what Carlo & Dante do with Pinot Noir….very good balance of the soil and fruit. The nose reminds me of the coast of CA with bright fruit — 4 years ago

Brendan Devine

9.3

Nice balance of tart, ripe fruit and minerality. Lower alcohol typical of all the Austrian wines that I love and crush of the reg. Playful, doesn’t take itself seriously, like me on the D....Biodynamic. — 6 years ago

with Kevin

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.6

Pontet Canet tasting and dinner with Alfred Tesseron.

What a great vintage. Its tannin structure will outlive the 09 and anyone 45 and older. The 2010 is a forever vintage and while different than 09, it will undoubtedly be just as great. It’s just going to take a lot more bottle age than the 09.

The body is full and round. The tannins have rounded but are still big and chewy. It’s more concentrated than 09. The fruit is really beautiful and again perfectly ripe. Dark currants, blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, dark plum, poached strawberries with hints of raspberries. Soft soil structure; dry top soil, moist clay, medium intensity dark spice, fresh tobacco, dry herbs, crushed rock powder, with dark, withering florals with violets. The texture is velvety. The structure and tension are big. The length and balance are worthy of its perfect score. For me, it’s just not there, yet! The acidity is really good. The long, lush, ripe, well balanced, polished finish is deliciously persistent.

Photos of; our dinner group, tasting room at Pontet Canet, the horse plows they still use in the fields and Chateau Pontet Canet. — 6 years ago

Matt

9.0

Classic SH, these wines really take on a personality of their own, especially with age. This was all about the non-fruit and earthy notes for me, combined with the blocked malo style makes these zip well into their life. I did find this to be showing a little more oxidation than LBT, giving a slight imprint of fatigue on the wine. Dried apple, bruised pear, kiss of honey, apple blossoms, wet clay, mushrooms. — 7 years ago

Dave Montagne

9.2

Very good. Earthy with some pleasant funk. Reminded me a little bit of Clos de Trias Ventoux rouge. Took a bottle home as well. — 7 years ago

Ellen Clifford

8.9

Continuing in my Napa cab education this showed up at the door for me. It is excellent winter wine. It would warm you even if chilled—at 15 % abv no doubt but the taste is coziness defined too: ripe cherries, blackberry preserves on some sort of cheese on an earthy whole whole wheat cracker. The tannins could use, say, one or two more years to fully integrate but they aren’t objectable. Holiday spices and a whiff of forest floor and a long plummy finish round it out. Take this wine to an ice skating party if such things exist in your life. — 8 years ago

Willie Carter

9.0

The definition of easy drinking and crowd pleasing, except you don’t have to sacrifice style or substance. Wonderful aromatics going on here with freshly cut gardenias, bright strawberries, and muted spice. This is a Central Coast take on Chateauneuf du Pape and while it doesn’t exactly reach that level, to me, it still hits all the high notes. Medium bodied with black cherries, Dr. Pepper, wet earth, light smoke, and cocoa powder on the more complex than expected palate. Add in some interesting minerality on the medium finish and you’ve got yourself a winner. — 8 years ago

Phil Kessling

9.0

New arrival in the shop but had to take a bottle home. Coravin the first night, it was closed and a little bitter on the finish. Pulled the cork the next night and it was a different wine. Tart fruit and great minerality, 14 ABV but didn’t drink hot. No RS. Gong to let the other bottles sit for a while. — 3 years ago

Diana Fischer

9.0

Drinking at home the day after Christmas. Paid $21 from Ottos. Buttery and herbal and reminds me of Napa. — 6 years ago

Jay Kline

9.4

The opportunity to enjoy a small glass of this came rather unexpectedly yesterday afternoon and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the experience. I was looking over a collection of wines that needed a new home and a friend of mine who was the collection’s custodian, mentioned that he had something he had been meaning to share with me and without any fanfare, he walks back into the room with two small glasses and this ancient bottle. I hardly had any time to react before he poured me a small glass....as I looked three times to confirm that I was, in fact, drinking from a pre-war bottle of Madeira. The nose was stunning. A massive wave of confected fruit like candied citron. You know those beautiful syrup glazed orange (and other fruit) slices you’ll often see in European chocolate shops? Yeah...it smelled like that. Just a touch of VA. On the palate, this was totally mind bending. It’s almost all hazelnuts; remarkably dry; and there is pronounced acidity. The finish lasted for minutes. I can categorically state that this wine is very much alive and well but it’s a nerd’s wine as it’s super rustic and best served as an aperitif. — 6 years ago

Ebbe Bonde Soerensen

9.2

Great new vintage, 2014 was glorious had it a lot, both at home and in Spain. The new vintage is to me , better more fleshy , fruity and a thrill to drink, slightly cooled🥊🍷🇪🇸 — 6 years ago

Severn Goodwin

9.3

Only back home for three days since our grand excursion, oh Burgundy how I miss you and your beautiful landscapes with tiny villages.
(I don't miss how tall my damn grass grew in the lawn during our absence!)

Flinty nose with beautiful white flowers.
Flint, minerals, lime-honey on the palate, acidity is noticable but not distracting. Finish is like forever. We will attempt to restrain ourselves from drinking this whole bottle this evening, as based on recent Saint Aubin tastings, this will continue to evolve with air and patience. I feel this bottle is still young, many years ahead for enjoyment.

Thanks @David T for turning me towards Lamy... I'll be back for more!

24hr Update: So creamy, beautiful Chardonnay fruit, yellow apple, faint flinty notes today, acidy is still noticable, and enjoyable. I'm not sure I like it more or less than the initial approach, it's a different, also great, wine today. — 7 years ago

Matt Trader

8.9

Very nice white wine, but not very complex at the same time. Stand alone, it is a citrus packed, high acid, crisp white similar to the way a dry Sémillon from Australia drinks. Combined with the Mediterranean spices in Greek and Med cuisine, and it is perfectly at home. Might just take a little journey through Greek wine this next month and see what I find! — 8 years ago

Jeanette Hrnyak

9.1

With Hillstone recently deciding to A). add a $15 corkage fee to their menu and B). take the Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain Cab Sauv. off their wine list (crime of the century in my opinion!), I wondered if there were any good wine finds left on their menu. I was pleased to find this one and enjoyed it thoroughly with my French Dip! Even better was the cute guy seen sitting across the bar from me! I would have gladly shared! Now, just need to curb my addiction to their creamy horseradish and all will be right in the world-well sorta.... — 8 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.1

See previous note from 96 weeks ago where I said that I would drink the last one when my son Hugh was home from NY (born 1987) which came to pass last night. Overall not as impressive as the previous tasting but retains its silky tannin structure. Very dark in colour - opaque. Notes of cassis and pipe tobacco - overall dusty without the depth of fruit of the previous tasting. Just medium bodied. Tasting Book recommend a drinking window till 2035 which I would not agree with. Leads me to think I will be drinking my bottles of 86 Mouton sooner rather than later. — 3 years ago

Aaron Tan

9.4

@Dominik SonaYou're the best! Walks off into the cellar, comes out carrying a massive bottle in a sleeve that could barely cover the label. I just love how ridiculous magnum riesling bottles look! I mean, we could see that it's a Koehler-Ruprecht for sure and the table shot straight to a warm vintage on the first sip (warm finish). Didn't take long for Franzi to identify the vintage and the rest of the pieces fell together subsequently (the body = spatlese, forget identifying the "R"). Guess making wines at the winery itself helps 😂

What to say about this wine? It's pretty intense, but the acidity and minerals kept it in check. Finely strung with pitch-perfect tension. This is the kind of wine that needs very little to push it over the edge into the hedonistic territory. Begs for time (like other 09's), as it's true elegance only revealed itself with air (bring on the crushed rocks and chamomile!). The nose is deep, with exotic fruit aromas, flint, toasted almond, florals, and that classic KR funk. Immense palate with lots of lychee and grapefruit, plus superb minerality with air. Creamy and long finish. Yes, the wine finishes a little warm and could be touch more focus, but it's a real class act for 09'! Power without weight, if you ask me. — 6 years ago

Miguel Ostrowski

9.2

Yes please, I’ll take some more, the texture on this wine always catches me by surprise, so velvety, so complex and then it hits you like Mike Tyson. — 7 years ago

Brooke Gannon

9.4

Reminds me of an awesome vacation in the Rhône valley..... a lovely expression of that area, smooth but smells meaty, quite liked.... take me back to that trip — 7 years ago

with Joseph

Jay Kline

9.4

My notes on this from May of 2017 still apply. Popped and poured. Drank well over two days. Immediately this wine impresses visually. Sure, the color is an expected deep garnet but what's most striking is the fact that it's never completely opaque at the core. You can just barely get the faintest amount of light to see through it. It's quite beautiful, really. The nose is initially a bit reticent but a few minutes of air in the glass does the trick and then it really begins to show off the most lovely perfume of mixed red and dark fruit; so fresh and pure with just a flash of garrigue. No perceptible heat on the nose. On the palate it's a veritable wonder of berries, Rainier cherries, black berry liqueur, and just a touch of fine white pepper. The body is perfectly proportioned and the finish lasts for over 30 seconds. In summary, this is an incredibly balanced 2010 CdP that is already hitting its prime. Personally, I felt it was really at its very best about two hours in which leaves me to believe it should be a great pop and pour for the next couple of years and potentially has the balance to be great for longer. That being said, there is no need to decant, just pull the cork, pour and enjoy the evolution in the glass. The hard part is allowing it to last for two hours and longer. It should be noted that this is dangerously quaffable wine and it wouldn't be hard to take the whole thing to the head. Might as well drink these sooner than later as I'm always a bit wary of CdP much beyond the 10 year mark, where I tend so find many of them fall apart on the palate. Perhaps others with more experience in the long-term ageing of CdP can chime in though. Absurd value at $30.

As a side note, this paired very nicely with pan fried pork savory bacon wrapped filet mignon. — 7 years ago