Aravind A

9.2

Pop and pour yesterday. Notes from day 2 open. On the nose: soft smoke and chalk, apple, lemon, a hint of reduction...lovely nose. On the palate: chalk, sour apple, lemon, loads of wet stone...fantastic acidity and good density...maybe my favorite incarnation of this wine so far... — 4 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.3

Having had the white SP68 yesterday now trying the SP68 Rouge - a blend of Nero d’Avola and Frappato. Previous notes still apply. Earthy with leather and herbs. Medium minus tannins and acid. Somewhat rustic and very savoury. Unique and different. I liked it a lot. — 4 years ago

Clive McNish

9.2

Garnet colour, rich and powerful showing no visible signs of age even after 18-19 years. Nose is great blend of oak, blackcurrant, cedar, sandalwood and light menthol. Palate is packed with initial fruit and balanced, acidity and tannin. Finish is pleasantly dry with lingering perfume and light smoke. I’m no expert but I think this will evolve much further even though it is very enjoyable now. Have to mention again that this looks like it was bottled yesterday, so clean and vibrant. — 5 years ago

Mike R

9.6

Omg so good - really makes you smile - yesterday was actually my birthday so champagne has calories so all I could drink / damn diet haha — 6 years ago

Doctor No

9.2

A rare baby killing for me. This was excellent on Day 2, a bit too mushy and sweet for me on opening yesterday but now more complex, compact and tannic, with gobs of cassis and an enveloping midpalate and long finish with bits of chalk. Lovely wine, just give it some time. — 6 years ago

jesus g

Hospitality Schramsberg Vineyards

9.5

Adding another one because i forgot to post one yesterday. This wines amazing btw — 7 years ago

Ned Gray Creed

8.9

This may have needed an entire day to loosen up. Tart and acidic for the first three hours. Might have been better today than yesterday. — 8 years ago

with Mark

Daniel P. Drake

9.8

Yesterday late afternoon I had the pleasure of tasting the 2016 Luciano Sandrone Le Vigne Barolo. At first taste I knew this was a special bottle of wine. All boxes were checked on the nose as well as the palate.

On the nose were fully expressive notes of black cherry, strawberry, herbs, clove, clay pottery, rose petals, underbrush, tar and dusty soil.

On the palate were delightful notes of dark cherries, strawberry, red plum, licorice, truffle, herbs, dried roses, a good mineral note and dusty earth.

An outstanding wine from the word go, full bodied, well balanced with a smooth round mouthfeel, medium + acidity and medium + to high fine mouth coating grippy tannins that leaves you with a long pronounced fresh fruit dusty earth finish. This wine still has a lot to offer years from now. What a pleasure to have experienced this. I hope everyone's weekend is going well? Have a continued wonderful weekend. Please stay safe and healthy. Nostrovia! 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 — 4 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

Happy Spring! It’s one of our favorite points in the year. More; daylight, a little warmer in CA and everything starts to bloom which, means a long summer of gardening and being outdoors every day/night is not far off.

Since it was such a great day and basically most Californians are shut-Ins, the voluntary self quarantining was getting to me. I did the landscaping and got an afternoon of fresh air today. A breath of fresh air...ahhh! Wow, was it needed after Gavin’s Newsom’s estimate of 25.5 million Californians would be infected with Coronavirus over 8 weeks yesterday.

So, a good night to celebrate another day of being virus free with my 2nd favorite N/V Rosé Champagne.

All my numerous previous notes apply.

Stay safe everyone and remember the new terminology of the new decade...social distancing! Cheers! 🍾🥂

Photos of; Spring in our backyard & a Billecart Grand Cru Vineyard.

— 5 years ago

Jay Kline

9.3

Loads of dark fruit, tar, gravel, dried herbs and espresso with massive tannins still! This bottle, despite being 15 years old, seems like it was born yesterday. I wish I had more because this would be a treat to try again in 2034. Decades of life left, obviously. This is what I love about Cru Barolo. — 6 years ago

Adam Reinhard

9.9

Citron peel make my mouth water like summer be startin soooooooon. Don’t save champagne for a nice occasion drink now to yesterday y’all. Heard it here first . — 6 years ago

Amy Peters

9.2

Yesterday - delicious — 6 years ago

with FABIAN

David L

9.3

06’ Realm Beckstoffer Dr Crane . At 12 years old it still needs a decanting. It truly blossomed after just 15/20 minutes in the decanter.
An array of floral and herbal notes to this. RICH...Blue/black fruits are abundant in this wine. Tobacco, with sweet tannins & a long finish.
A little like yesterday Entre Nous... drink this while still in it’s prime (3/5 years) — 7 years ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.0

Opened this yesterday evening. Now its's still nervous and full of tension, melon, kiwi, lemoncandy, bright clear refreshing mineral finish. Fairly long, pretty tasty!
Trocken. — 8 years ago

Peter van den Besselaar

9.3

Vintage 2008 | Six years in barrel and four years in bottle before release. It’s a wine you must contain yourself not to smell only. A rich and exuberant smell with leather, stewed red summerfruit, brushwood and tones of liquorice, really beautiful and Burgundian expression. I opened the bottle yesterday and drank one glass, now it has a nice expression with all the aeration. Very balanced taste with refinement. A very nice Rioja that is a joy to drink. | Paired with tunafish and green asparges — 4 years ago

Paul T HB

9.7

Still needs some air, for more info just see @David T post. He basically says the same thing with a couple extra thoughts.
I’d say this will improve tomorrow, just like the 95 Mondavi was better today than yesterday. — 5 years ago

Jay Kline

9.4

The opportunity to enjoy a small glass of this came rather unexpectedly yesterday afternoon and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the experience. I was looking over a collection of wines that needed a new home and a friend of mine who was the collection’s custodian, mentioned that he had something he had been meaning to share with me and without any fanfare, he walks back into the room with two small glasses and this ancient bottle. I hardly had any time to react before he poured me a small glass....as I looked three times to confirm that I was, in fact, drinking from a pre-war bottle of Madeira. The nose was stunning. A massive wave of confected fruit like candied citron. You know those beautiful syrup glazed orange (and other fruit) slices you’ll often see in European chocolate shops? Yeah...it smelled like that. Just a touch of VA. On the palate, this was totally mind bending. It’s almost all hazelnuts; remarkably dry; and there is pronounced acidity. The finish lasted for minutes. I can categorically state that this wine is very much alive and well but it’s a nerd’s wine as it’s super rustic and best served as an aperitif. — 6 years ago

Shay A

9.5

My contribution for the big celebration yesterday evening. This is drinking at its peak (in my opinion). It is a blend of new world Syrah with a core of northern Rhône/hermitage. It starts off with the typical classical funk that Cayuse is known for not but not super intense (that signature wet fox fur) alongside some stemmy notes and underripe black cherry. When it hits the palate, it really shines showing iron, teriyaki, and olive tapenade. The savoriness of these wines meshes well with the fruit as age sets in and the fruit kind of comes back for a last gasp...old blackberry and spicy rhubarb pie. Held up extremely well in the decanter even after 3+ hours. I’d drink up, but it will certainly stay in this window for a while. — 6 years ago

with Bill, Weston and 2 others

Ron Siegel

9.3

This was very tight & not showing much when 1st opened yesterday. I poured it back in the btl and served it tonight. Much more open showing dark cherry & plum with earth, tobacco, elegant & floral with polished tannins that still needs more time before reaching maturity. — 8 years ago

Isaac Pirolo

9.5

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry, or do both. The 2015 Rivers-Marie Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast makes a case for being the greatest value in all of wine, ever. If you'd asked me yesterday what the best value ever was I'm sure I would have said "let's start with the 2014 Rivers-Marie..." I guess it would be easy to explain if the 2015 tasted just like the 2014, but I am left dazed and confused... the 2015 is completely different than the 2014. The smoking hot orange peel note of the 2014 has been replaced in the 2015 with a mixture of beef bourguignon and some sort of euphoric strawberry pixie dust perfume. It weakens your knees and slows down time. The flavors are narcotic. It's not Burgundy, it's not North Coast Pinot, it's Rivers-Marie. Thomas Rivers Brown is the Elon Musk of wine. — 8 years ago