David Koenen

9.0

Yoghurt, brambles, hot tiles, lavender, balsamic sweet and sour, youthful, seems to be searching for some balance. — 2 days ago

Deborah M

9.6

Friday night catch-up. Friends brought this beautiful wine back from their recent Napa travels. 80% Cab Sauv 10% Cab Franc 10% Merlot. 13.75% ABV. 100% goodness. Interesting to compare this one to the 2011 Phillip Togni that I opened that night. — a year ago

Ira Schwartz

9.5

A lesson in one’s wine evolution. Pahlmeyer was one of the first mailing lists I joined . This was the first case purchase of my life. Told to wait 2-3 years before drinking, I did exactly
that. I opened a few bottles over the years and really disliked it. Probably around 2005 a friend asked if I had some wine to donate to charity. Of course I said here is 5 bottles of Pahlmeyer merlot.
That left 3 bottles that I stashed in storage . Fast forward to 2010 and I opened a bottle for a friend who owned a wine store . The two of us looked at each other like deer in the headlights, we were dumbfounded by how good this was. I drank my remaining bottles and have not had this wine since 2016. Thanks to a generous friend who recently said go to the cellar and you pick out wine for dinner. For my palate along with ‘91 Dominus, ‘91 Seavey ‘91 Togni and ‘95 Insignia the best California wines from the ‘90’s. By the way the lack of tasting experience also had me pooh poo ‘91 Dominus.
On the nose a little bit of funk that quickly blew off. Red fruit and plums on the nose give way to a palate of complex and long lasting fruit surrounded by earth and tannins. The wine’s structure leads me to believe that well stored bottles can bring pleasure over the years to come. I would love to taste this out of magnum. — 4 years ago

Jay Kline

9.4

Presented to me double-blind at Tasting Group. The wine pours a deep ruby color with a somewhat translucent (fine sediment), near opaque core fading out to a garnet with a slightly watery rim. Medium+ viscosity with pretty significant staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of plums, cassis, dark cherries tobacco, some leather, some faint pyrazines, dried purple flowers, clay-like earth and fine baking spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and luxurious with soft and attractive texture. Initial conclusions is this could be a Merlot, or Bordeaux-based blend from France, USA or Italy but since I seem to get more non-fruit characteristics, I’m calling this a Merlot-based blend from France, Bordeaux, Right-bank, St. Émilion, 2000 vintage. Whoa! 2005 Togni! Dang…this baby has some real Bordeaux sensibilities. Delicious stuff that is drinking very well right now. Apparently, this bottle had been opened the night before so it had plenty of time to breathe. I would expect well cellared examples should drink well through 2035. — 2 months ago

Pippa

9.3

Wow this is good. Super complex, lots of acidity but an earthy depth. — 2 years ago

Ben Norman

9.1

Good buy again — 5 years ago

Vino Joe

9.3

Very interesting. Rich and delicious. Plum licorice and nice finish. Wonderful end to the tasting. — 3 months ago

Lolis Elie

9.0

13% alcohol. Light but rich. — 3 months ago

Deborah M

9.2

Wonderful. Second to the Togni that was opened on the same night. Massive but feminine at the same time. In five years this will be amazing. — 3 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.3

And then there were two. So good. Nice serving with an aperitif before the big guy came and stole the show. Nice PN Rose. My previous score is 93, and completely every bit of that today....REALLY hard not rating this one a little bit higher. This wine was my backyard grilling companion. Very worthy aperitif to the Togni. — 6 years ago