Peter Sultan

9.3

I had 2 or 3 bottles of this in last few years & was consistently underwhelmed, was a disjointed, ugly duckling. Well, the ugly phase is over. Gorgeous deep black currant color w red rim. Resolute & length, medium weight. Game, currants, & cooked herbs (sage?). Uber enjoyable w beef stew & potato pie. Threw off alot of sediment- should have decanted, but luckily was a good pour — 8 years ago

with Owen

Sasha Agapov

9.6

Ugly duckling vintage in my opinion so we decanted it for 2-2.5 hours. Village level, striking way above its league. I would perhaps confuse the nose with high quality Central Coast Pinot from a cold year (to my shame), but it's way deeper, more layered and complex and the palate proved it with fabulous ripe red berry tones, late harvest dark cherry and white flowers. Very feminine and elegant, feels like the first day of summer. — 10 years ago

Heidi Hill

9.1

Just the thing after an ugly day! — 10 years ago

Montgomery Nathaniel

9.1

Very nice Pinot. Excuse the ugly marble in my photo please! — 10 years ago

Justan Fondbertasse

9.2

Ugly label, beautiful wine — 10 years ago

Ruud Verhagen

9.0

...very ugly bottle, but most important...very well made Rioja with great p/q...! 2001 vintage — 11 years ago

Seth Liebman

Wine Director/Sommelier

9.1

This evolved the best of the bunch and it was the one I had the least thought about. Was kinda ugly when forts opened but then after an hour it started to show very very well. — 11 years ago

Todd Cutler

9.1

Rich Pinot with the ugly label. A trusted standby. — 12 years ago

Greg Jones

10

Very good flavor. Pity about the ugly packaging. Cherie likes too — 12 years ago

Mike DeFrancesco

9.8

Great Cab Sav for the price. Voted top 100 wines of 2011 — 13 years ago

Geoff Troup

Sales Eder Brothers, Cellar Fine Wines

9.2

Ugly ugly ugly and a great value. All encompassing black pepper, dirt, some decent acidity, herbs and baking spices, rubber hose in the finish. Beautiful with braised duck. — 9 years ago

with Matt

Alexander Stewart

9.1

Yeah, this is an effing funk factory that's full of excess CO2...which means you need to grab the bottle, shake it like a Polaroid picture and toughen the f*ck up.
Because after all, this is Pegau and beneath the ugly duckling exterior there's an absolutely gorgeous, captivating wine just waiting to be unleashed.
— 10 years ago

Jeffrey Lew

10

Man oh man. WOTN. Ugly cork but masterpiece in a glass. Amazing almost every time I drink it. Classic. Yup 100 pts — 10 years ago

Jason Heller

Master Sommelier

9.3

Ugly bottle, beautiful wine. — 10 years ago

Peter Sultan

8.9

Stage 1, no air: disjointed, ugly. Stage 2: sweet tannins, light on its feet, floral aromatics, marascinos, pretty for a barbera. Oh, & w air. Regal bottle too. Prestige imp — 10 years ago

Jeffrey Lew

9.7

Another ugly bottle that made good. Label terrible, cork dried out and blew up on extraction. Once open it was game on. Could smell this from across the room. Dark with a ton of life left. Plenty of fruit and great acidity. Soft tannins with hits of smoke, graphite, and cloves. Keeps putting on weight as you drink it. Awesome stuff. — 10 years ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.0

Has been one of the ugly ducklings in Grand Cru country for a while now, but based on this example I must plea unguilty... Bright, fresh, crunchy red fruit, cigar, cedar, smoke, graphite, some cassis in the back, wonderful roasted red pepper. Very nice, mid-weight, typical leftbanker. Although not very deep or long, there is lovely purity and plenty of fun. Tasty! — 11 years ago

Cristin Brown

9.0

Ugly color but not an ugly wine. — 12 years ago

Cindy Cammack

9.0

Nice Chardonnay for dinner at the Grey Plume in Omaha. Redeeming my prize for the ugly sweater on Christmas Eve. — 12 years ago

Terrance Johnson

10

Beautiful Burgundy. Even an ugly American who loves big wines can appreciate this — 13 years ago

Peter Sultan

8.9

Mildly corked? Still, flashes of elegance. Either in ugly phase r corked — 9 years ago

DAG

9.7

These label always get beat up in my cellar squares. That was the only thing ugly here. I love the older Merus wines. — 9 years ago

Andrea Trapp

10

Very smooth and light for a cab. — 10 years ago

Peter Sultan

9.1

Fascinating-comes out of bottle first like tarred duckling, but unfolds into a sleeker, black core fruit beast, w both acidic scaffold of barbera but w a more burnished version if its fruitiness. Aged min 6-8 years, 1/2 of which is in bottle. Still a bit of an oddity & not sure if i love it, but respect its construction. 10% nebbiolo. Rosenthal import
— 10 years ago

John Boehmer

9.5

Ugly label, but fabulous wine. Big, black fruit. Jammy. — 10 years ago

Amy Monroe

8.9

Proper Cab Franc - rose style. (Disregard the ugly label. Just enjoy the juice.) — 10 years ago

Claire Gabaldon

Wine Club and Social Media Manager Spring Mountain Vineyard

9.3

Unconventionally beautiful or as the French say pretty-ugly, this was a breath of fresh air to my palate. Neutral oak, no malo, the complexity and breadth of flavor and aroma all coming from the care taken in the winery to coax the maximum impact from the fruit. — 11 years ago

Sheryline Soares

8.9

Ugly label, tasty wine — 11 years ago

Eric L.

9.7

Ugly label, beautiful wine. — 12 years ago

Terrance Johnson

9.9

Highly extracted and huge. Beautiful "ugly American" wine — 13 years ago