Upside Down

Sine Qua Non

Turn the Whole Thing Upside Down Grenache 2009

#AgedWineTuesday

Deep purple in color with a short, cloudy purple rim.

Strong nose of black currants, black plums, stewed cherries, dried figs, raisins, ginger, oak, eucalyptus, spices, green beans and peppercorn.

Full-bodied with medium acidity and long legs.

Dry and fruit forward on the palate with blackberries, black currants, plums, tobacco, licorice, peppercorn, chocolates, herbs, spices and coffee.

Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy cherries.

This 16 year old Grenache from California feels like it peaked a few years ago, but still drinking beautifully. Elegant and rich.

The Syrah notes are very dominant, especially right out of the bottle.

Complex and interesting, with a beautiful nose. Extracted and fruit forward.

Robert Parker 96 points.

Needed 2 hours to open up, and delicious by itself as a sipping wine.

A blend of 84% Grenache, 11% Syrah and 5% Mourvèdre.

15.6% alcohol by volume.

93 points.

$330.
— 9 days ago

Paul, Tom and 14 others liked this

Dominus Estate

Dominus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 1986

Flight 2 , wine 1 . Quite deep garnet , less terracotta rim . This had a whiff of oxidation about it at first which seemed to somewhat dissipate with time . Some dark spiced fruits , liquorice and menthol hints , cedar and sous bois . On the palate good ripeness and spiced dark cherry hints . Good acidity and rounded tannin . Nice length also , offering some spiced black fruits and menthol hints . Don’t think this is a pristine bottle but was enjoyable none the less , I was unsure at first if this was Napa , but coming back to it … and reading my notes , it became quite obvious . However I had this down as the Ch Montelena , not the Dominus — 8 months ago

Anthony, Jan and 8 others liked this

La Rioja Alta

Gran Reserva 904 Rioja Tempranillo Graciano 2004

Columbia county 2.0: end of a meal, nightcap of sorts. So so perfumed with dill & vanilla & tree sap, as if Willy Wonka decided to get into winemaking. Really just lived for a while breathing this in. On palate it’s remarkably agile & light, even though the body of red fruits is firmly medium boned. No signs of decay or slowing down- even the cork was perfect-easily can go on another several decades ( it feels). God what a treat. — 3 years ago

Owen Mazon
with Owen
Severn, Daniel and 7 others liked this

Château Pichon-Longueville Baron

Baron de Pichon-Longueville Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2010

2010 Bordeaux zoom tasting with Lisa Perrott-Brown, editor in chief for RP Wine Advocate. The wines have been shut down, some waking up...big wines with volume turned up on everything (tannin, acidity, alcohol), structured, and should cellar for many years.

2010 Pichon Baron.  RP 96
2010 Leoville Las Cases.  RP 97
2010 Palmer.  RP 96
2010 Pape Clement.  RP 100
2010 Figeac.  RP 97
2010 Trotanoy.  RP 97
— 4 years ago

Brenda Terzich-Garland
with Brenda
Brenda, Alex and 28 others liked this
Shay A

Shay A Influencer Badge Premium Badge

Wow, how cool! Would like to do that.
Tom Garland

Tom Garland

@Shay A . Check out Robert Parker a matter of taste website for updates. They hold terrific live events (NY, Napa, etc). But, recently doing zoom events...2010 Bordeaux and Rhone valley before this. Also, check out Decanter events (most for Europe..darn). But for US, doing a taped zoom tasting....Verite: evolution of a decade.. 2008 vintage and 2018 vintage tasting kit of the 6 wines and watch tasting with Pierre Seillan & Helena Seillan. Cheers!

Mouton Noir Wines

O.P.P. Other People's Pinot Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2023

nice pinot, acids carry, color is strawberry red, screw cap, well worth a try, glad I did.! you down with opp? yeah you know me! — 2 months ago

Tom, Dave and 5 others liked this
Dave

Dave

You're dating yourself 😆
Jody Scharf

Jody Scharf Premium Badge

ha 67. yeah that's what I do now...lol

SLO Down Wines

Sexual Chocolate California Red Blend

농축된 검은 과실향 속에 카카오60%쯤 되는 다크 초콜릿, 오크와 바닐라가 어우러져 있고 탄닌이 강하게 두드러지지않아 쉽게 마셔졌던 와인 — 6 months ago

Domaine Jamet

Côte-Rôtie Syrah 2021

Okay this wine was amazingly delicious but was undoubtedly quite young in this present moment.

There is so much more potential to unveil over time.

It has concentrated plum, fig, red currant, pomegranate, boysenberry notes next to licorice, meat, earth, peat, clove notes. Tannins and acidity are firm.

With time, we anticipate edges will be soften and complexity will be deepen with more tertiary notes and we cannot wait to revisit this wine down the road again.
— 10 months ago

Deked1
with Deked1
Deked1, Ira and 19 others liked this
Jay Kline

Jay Kline Influencer Badge Premium Badge

2021 was such an outlier from the previous seven vintages in the Rhône, which were all warmer and made fairly powerful wines. For the record, I love the ‘21’s as they remind me of the 2014 vintage which I found to be more Burgundian and showed more of the rotundone I adore in Syrah.
Vanessa

Vanessa

@Jay Kline Thank you for your note! We can see what you mean. It was elegant, refined, with classic spicier notes. We are fans! We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for the 2014s, too. 👀 Cheers!

Marchesi Antinori

Tignanello Toscana Super Tuscan Blend 2018

2018 vintage. Last tasted 04.08.23 (9.5), 12.01.22 from a 375ml (9.5) and upon release 06.07.21 (9.5). Decanted and tasted after 45 minutes. Mysterious, dark-fruited and dusty nose. Medium body with excellent darkness of night color. Previous baby-fat overtures approximately 90% gonzo. Slimming down and getting more toned. In a state of transition with undeniable tension that can easily be misconstrued as underperforming. Last wine I tasted that was under this sort of metamorphosis at this level was the 1996 Pichon-Lalande about 1.5 years ago. Such a privilege to experience world-class wines in such a vulnerable moment. Everything is laid out bare/naked before you and you can see where the wine is headed and whether it will be following a trajectory that agrees with you. Definitely unusual to find this occurring in a wine this youthful but the 21st Century is smashing the old 20th Century clay tablets and digitizing. For most wine enthusiasts sampling this wine now, expecting some disappointment in the scoring. For myself, this is currently in the perfect symmetry of past, present and future. Will it show critically better in the future according to the accepted trials, palates, judges and juries? Probably. Will they experience the potential, doubts, insecurities and questions? Doubtful. This kid stays in this exact picture for another 2-4 years imho before striking another pose and I would love to taste this again during that time frame. An above and beyond thank you to FLB (Friday Lunch Bunch) regular Todd. 08.15.25. — 2 months ago

Dave, Ruud and 19 others liked this

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1983

Shay A
9.3

(Two previous 1983 vintage wine reviews never made it on here, so copying from CT).

My experiences with 1983s has been fairly positive, and this PL certainly is among the better I’ve had from the vintage. Holding color nicely with deep ruby and slight bricking around the rim. Started off a bit dense and muddled, but hit stride about 30mins later with a mix of red and black berry fruit, cassis, a streak of herbal green down the middle (something I always get with PL). Excellent example of the fruit showing lots of flavor without being overly ripe. Leather, sweet pipe tobacco, graphite, and still some vibrancy at the finish with tannin structure. Clean and elegant at this stage. Showed well over the course of two hours. Drink up and enjoy.
— 8 months ago

Scott@Mister, Jan and 34 others liked this

Opus One

Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2007

A great special occasion wine. Sous vide ribeye and truffle butter pasta made a perfect pairing. Heavy leather on the nose initially but really calms down after only a few minutes of decanting. — 3 years ago

Eric, Paul and 7 others liked this
Paul T HB

Paul T HB

My favorite opus, purist will say it has too much fruit. But I think it had distinctive fruit, it was a bottle I would crave. I wouldn’t want a Cabernet when I got home I wanted an 07 Opus.