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.👍🍷🍷 — 3 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. — 4 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.2

Enjoyed while cleaning out the boss' cellar. Say what you want about this wine, but the one thing you can say is that this wine is incredibly consistent. This wine reminds me of the family uncle who always gives you some silver dollars at Christmas...even though you are now a grown adult. And if you actually listen to his crazy advice on investing when you were a kid, you just might be able to be that Uncle when you grow up. This wine is a thoroughbred. Meant to be consumed at least after 10 years. And this wine is in a really good spot. The nose does show a tiny bit of age as does the palate. This is front-loaded with slightly aged blackberry and a bit brambly. This wine smoothed out quite a bit over 3 hours. Finish with very nice integration, a hint of stiff oak tannin but a lot of it has resolved. Very enjoyable. This wine still has another 10 or 15 years left. — 5 years ago

Robert Howey

9.2

Sumptuous fruit and long finish. Floral notes in the aroma, dark berry, spice, and long smooth finish. Good balance. Medium weight. Made me think of what Queens Peak Cabernet might be like when it grows up. A delightful experience and worth the price. — 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. — 8 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. — 8 years ago

with Andie

Steve Shepherd

9.1

Excellant with ahi tuna served at Cetrella in Los Altos. — 8 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. — 9 years ago

David Landrum

9.2

'79 5th growth. 5th element. Tons of life left, fill up in the neck. Old apples, pipe tobacco, raspberries. #Maturewinerules — 9 years ago

Meaghan Nolan

10

Woodsy with brighter fruit like strawberry. Some tannins. Opened up a lot in the glass. — 10 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! — 4 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. — 5 years ago

with Dan and Shay

Mark Turner

8.9

This old girl is still drinking well. Took about 45 minutes to open up after 52 years in the bottle. Drank nicely for about an hour with good expression of flavors then went south fast. — 6 years ago

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 — 7 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! — 8 years ago

Adam Crane

9.6

One of the most intellectual white wines in the world! Starts out nutty and oxidized and gets fruitier and youthful as it opens up. Will always be my favorite Spanish producer! — 8 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. — 8 years ago

Joseph C Burke

9.1

Dark red, nose of cassis, BlackBerry & raspberry jam, hint of eucalyptus; black fruits, plums and cassis on palate, hint of licorice/iodine in the finish, les fruity now than in youth, drink up. — 9 years ago

Jeramy Brown

8.9

Surprised me on how well it held up. Definitely stored in great conditions. — 9 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. — 10 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. — 4 years ago

Keith Lite

9.5

A big bold plumy purple bomb As dense and luscious as a wine can get in a glass. Decanted for 2 hrs and its still a baby with blackberry, dark chocolate licorice and pepper on the nose and on the palate. A long long finish and loads of tannins to sum it all up — 5 years ago

with Bruce

Paul T HB

9.9

Still my favorite 05,, especially out of a magnum, everyone straightened up in their seat once they tasted this after the Ovid which they thought was great, Save the best for last! — 6 years ago

K Frech

8.9

Picked up in auction. Label is trashed but decent fill. So deceiving. Nose from bottle yuck. Nose from glass oh my. This is beautiful. Soft. Some tobacco. Some fruit like an old blackberry but not in a bad way. Giving no it a 8.9 bit could move it up a notch. — 6 years ago

Virgil Smaltz

9.8

Dark red in color. Dark fruits predominate. A hint of graphite, tar and smoke. This is an amazing young wine that should get even better with age. — 8 years ago

with Monica

Justin Hansohn

9.5

There are these moments in recorded music where something gets reissued today from like the 70s or 80s on a crisp new vinyl press. Nobody's seen the original because it's so damn rare. And the recording just fucking bumps so hard and the soul of the music is so deep, from the ages when synths and sample banks were too far off to care about. Ya, this. This is the one. Don't be afraid to drink this today. You will be rewarded with soul. It will be difficult to return to trap hats and people with no talent feeding you meaningless poetic dribble. And my apologies to Amass, we put you up against this. Unfortunately this wine won in the end by a long shot and the 30 chefs in your kitchen were all slain by 3 generations of farmers working side by side. — 8 years ago

with Taylor

Jim Westby

9.6

2001 vintage. Elegant wine with French truck stop cuisine (lamb sausage on baguette with spicy mayonnaise). You won't get a match (or even the full taste of the wine) from anything in France, California, or Italy. The Rioja Alta stands up to and shines with this kind of food. — 8 years ago

with Gary

Jeffrey Lew

9.7

From 83 MGX to this monster. Perfect bottle, perfect cork. This is still an infant. Tobacco smoke, and spice this kept adding weight as it opened up. What a amazing wine and dare I say young. Last bottle I had was more floral this was more primal , both awesome. While the 89 has more finesse this is all torque. Leave alone for another few years or give it a real decant. Amazing. — 9 years ago

Marshall Parrish

9.3

Really opened up after the first hour. Dark fruit, oak, smoke with a big mouthfeel and long finish. Prob should have left it in the bottle 5 more years. — 10 years ago

with Nick and Daidra

Cody Short

10

My third time having this wine in the last year and while it was still amazing it wasn't quite up to the level of the last 2. I suspect just bottle variation. Still vibrant, aromatic and full of life. Still slightly tannic with tobacco, cassis, Forrest floor, leather and some nice chocolate and black fruits. I think it's at peak now but has plenty of life left. A wonderful mature Bordeaux — 10 years ago