"Odedi"

9.1

It is time for some Merlot on this #MerlotThursday.

Dark ruby in color with a short reddish rim.

Medium plus in body with medium acidity.

Dry on the palate with nice complexity.

Showing currents, plums, cherries, oak, wet leaves, herbs, black pepper, tobacco leaf, earth, dark coffee and black tea.

Short finish with fine grained tannins and tangy raspberries.

This 26 year old Merlot is still drinking very nicely. Showing a nice mouthfeel with nice complexity.

Will continue to drink nicely in the next 5 to 7 years, but will not improve from here on.

Needs an hour to open up properly, so be patient.

This was not a good vintage in Pomerol, but it held up pretty well.

Good by itself or with food.

A blend of mostly Merlot with Cabernet Franc. Aged in French oak barrels for 18 months.

12.5% alcohol by volume.

91 points.

$250. — 2 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.2

2015 vintage. Tons of smoke and baby fat front-loaded. Back end starting to come together. Big-bodied. A little disjointed currently but all the components are there for this to be really really beautiful in 3-4 years. A fave, bang for the buck/qpr Margaux producer. Rating a 9.2 but could see it at 9.4 retasting in 2025. — 4 years ago

Jay Kline

9.0

2013 was the first year that Sea Smoke started practicing biodynamics in the vineyard. Previous years were already farmed organically. At the age of 7, this still comes across as a baby. Dark violet in the glass, this was pretty tightly coiled but after 30min of air, it started to reveal itself. Predominately red fruited with bruised strawberries and some flowers and spices, this was pretty tannic. In fact, the tannins seemed to build with more air; never to the point of being overbearing but pretty stiff nevertheless. Good acid. Nice finish. A polished wine that I ended up enjoying more than I thought I would. Years to go on these. — 5 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.0

Really interesting to drink this one at 16 years old. And although I think this was on the back side of the hill, it was still very much in the game. Lost lots of its sweet fruit cham. More linear. Mulberry and some fig and clove. Can definitely taste the age. If cellared well, I actually think this has a couple of years but I don't think it has more than that. — 6 years ago

with Dan and Shay

Bret Barker

9.3

Off vintage but who cares? Tignanello is a personal favorite. Took a good hour to open up, this wine tastes surprisingly young. cherry, earthiness some mineral and a little smoke flavor as well. Very good — 8 years ago

Liz O'Neal

9.1

Just opened in 2017 - was tight the first evening and definitely needed time to open up. Earthy, mushroom/forest floor notes on the palate, despite bright acidic nose. Crowd pleaser - happy I saved this.

Purchased w/ dad in 2014 - industry price $55 — 8 years ago

with Hannah

Richard Steinberg

9.5

Up there for wine of the night in blind old v new world. Great well integrated fruit. Grenache fruit was so pure and well balanced. — 9 years ago

with Mike, Howard and 1 other

Steve Shepherd

9.1

Excellant with ahi tuna served at Cetrella in Los Altos. — 9 years ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.1

3 hrs in the decanter. Pencil shavings, earth, leather, cool cassis notes. Medium body, good freshness, the initial poopy notes dissipate slowly. Rustic tannines, classically built, very good.
Happy b-day, L.
Even better on day 3!! Saved half a bottle in the fridge. Tannines have softened, fruit is more prominent and darker in aspect. Up 1 point. — 10 years ago

Darren Delmore

10

Where do I even begin? I was the winemaker's assistant this vintage for a very stressed and haunted man. David Hirsch didn't believe in air pumps then, and the press that was installed at the winery wasn't quite high enough to press into barrel with Gravity.... So I can honestly claim that I punched down every lot everyday every time, and I hand bucketed every drop of wine in paint buckets out of the press and up into barrel. Still I never got a bottle of the stuff until I bought it recently for 35 off Benchmark. As dangerous and chaotic of a harvest gig it was, the wine now sure tastes worth all the hellfire. — 11 years ago

Jason Gelman

9.0

heavy pencil shavings and cigar smoke on the nose. black olive and green bell pepper too. color is definitely what you’d expect in a 20 year old wine. palate is consistent with nose, very bordeaux-lite. heavy cigar box. a lot of olive and herb tapenade character. some black pepper on the finish too. very savory overall. — 2 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.5

Brilliant ruby. Smoky, mineral-tinged aromas of raspberry, cherry preserves, garrigue and exotic spices show excellent clarity and acquire a gamy nuance as the wine opens up. At once rich and energetic in character, offering well-concentrated red berry, bitter cherry and spicecake flavors and a sweetening touch of candied lavender. Shows fine definition and finishes gently, spicy and impressively long, with repeating florality and steadily building tannins. (Josh Raynolds, Vinous, October 2021)
— 4 years ago

Ron Siegel

9.6

Tonight I thought I would open this LMHB as the 2019 was released on futures yesterday. It may be a better wine but you are going to have to wait a long time to find out. The 66 is a wine where I have opened more than 6 cases in the last 5 yrs & consider it one of the great vintages for current drinking showing black fruits, cassis, saddle leather, smoke, tar, graphite, licorice, soy, tobacco & violets. This has been fully mature for 10 yrs & perfectly stored btls will continue to drink well for many years. One of the wines that keeps me searching & drinking old Bordeaux! — 5 years ago

Jeroen Wagemans

9.2

High up in the mountains now and also this wine is quite elevated. @Anthony De Blasi — 6 years ago

with Amanda

Ravinder Kingra

9.5

Needs lots of time but would open up in 10-15 years. — 7 years ago

Mike Saviage

9.4

Tasted blind, from magnum. Old dark ruby color. Amber rims. Notes of black cherry, spice, earth and something like pencil lead. Ok in the mouth, refined, but lacking energy. With the meal this was enjoyable but was somewhat sleepy all night. Likely at peak and given the magnum format, it's time to drink up 750s. Guessed 62 Latour. — 7 years ago

Kellin

9.5

Perfectly aged in large format bottle. Tannins have held up over time but don't overwhelm. Aromas: dried roses, burnt blackberry. Flavors: currant, dried cranberry, juniper. Beautiful wine. Once in a lifetime opportunity to taste it! — 8 years ago

Eric Egan

9.5

Another level... Still dense at the core, with steady, attractive bricking: Wonderfully dense nose of blackcurrents, pencil shavings, fine tanned leather, and a hint of woodland floor (fine moss, leaves, and fresh soil after an autumn shower). Velvety tannins and great acidity. Along with the '66 this is one of my all-time favourite Bordeaux vintages. Seems to be keeping up better than the '61s I've had over the last few years!

We drank half of it from the coravin before waxing the top in case the cork had lost too much elasticity to self-seal. I'll have the rest with my brother in a few weeks' time! — 9 years ago

Ed Chang

9.4

After a couple hours began to open up. Chateauneuf-du-pape is becoming a fav in this house 2012 vintage. — 9 years ago

Ben Rainey

9.5

Really good stuff. Got better and better. 2 hours in we were done but wish we had another bottle to see how it tasted in another hour or more. Smooth. Rich. Held up extremely well. — 10 years ago

with Ed

Stefan Dolhain

9.6

2019 vintage. Classic Pauillac. Cassis, lead pencil and cedar wood. Give it time to open up in the glass and see the magic unfold. A complex wine with layers of black fruit, balanced by ripe tannin and fresh acidity. Impressive mineral length. Excellent old school Pauillac. Abv. 14,5%. — 3 years ago

Delectable Wine

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9.5

The 2018 Léoville-Poyferré performs similarly to the bottle tasted a few weeks earlier in the UK for my in-bottle round-up, although here I sense more opulence on the nose, perhaps more florality. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannins, broad and sensual, plummy with that beguiling symmetry on the finish. It needs several years in bottle but it will be well worth the wait. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. (Neal Martin, Vinous, September 2022)
— 3 years ago

Mike Beltran

9.1

Decanted and really opened up in little more than half an hour. 54 years and still has vitality. There’s still some fruit but it is mixed with subtle acidity and soft tannins. A delight to drink and share with friends. Our friend was given the wine and wanted to share it. We all were quite happy.👍🍷🍷 — 4 years ago

with Joe

D Scher

9.2

1984 vintage. Cork difficult to extract, ended up in several pieces. Beautiful deep color, little to no bricking even at this age. Seductive at one hour+ of air with black cherry, raspberry, some vanilla, green pepper, graphite. 12% ABV. From the FIL’s collection. — 5 years ago

Paul H

8.9

This wine opened up with what seemed like a cherry Vanilla Coke aroma. This may be off because the wine was a little warmer than what I like and I am not sure what effect that may have had on the aroma. We actually asked for a wine chiller to cool it down a bit before we drank. It is a Florida thing because of the heat. Drank pretty nicely with cherry and a slight licorice finish. It was rather smooth and should be a nice restaurant go to in the next few years. #stagsleapwinecellars #artemis #napavalley #cabernetsaugvinon #AtlanticBeach #Ocean60 — 7 years ago

with Kim

Bill Bender

9.4

@David L going John Wall superstar style with his 4 Mag contribution of this dense, vivid beauty. After we consumed about 2 gallons of wine each we hit up the patio fire pit for some s’mores and he ordered up 2 bottles of ‘10 Realm Bard. He’s a beast. — 7 years ago

Matthew Denci

9.3

Heitz has still got it baby, 1998 Napa cab standing up nicely at 18 years old. The color is only just showing signs of age. The nose is full of mint and lamb. In a strange spot since its not especially lush or fruity and yet hasn't fully developed the tertiary notes you would expect. But has the bones to go longer still. — 9 years ago

Collin Moody

9.4

Another one. In good condition even if the cork was impossible. Opened up well as it shed all the meaty, coffee age to be a elegant and assertive speaker. — 9 years ago

with Andie

Michelle

9.5

On the lighter side for a cab. Delicious cola, smoke, juicy. Drank 2011 vintage in 2015 — 9 years ago

N M

9.2

Needed about 2.5 hours in decanter to open up. Could use more time in bottle. A classic big, bold, chewy California Cab. — 10 years ago