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Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 0 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 961113 |
| Visitors Out: 4192 |
| Total Visitors Out: 22527 |
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| 2004 Domaine Vincent Girardin Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes |
| 2010-04-06 14:26:00 |
Yes, that's quite a long name for a wine! I really love to taste the whites of Burgundy, especially the really good ones like this. We tasted this wine next to the Kistler Durell Vineyard Chardonnay that I reviewed a couple wines back. It was really quite a stark contrast of style, weight, and ideology to be fair. While the Kistler was massively structured with a heavy and viscous texture, this wine held every bit as much presence and actually showed far more complexity and purity of fruit. On the nose I got aromas of mineral, golden apple, custard, lemon curd, ribbon candy, and a slight toastiness. On the palate this wine displays intense acidity and shows flavors of toasted oak, apple pie, baked apple, and lemon curd. There is a distinct mineral complexity but very pure apple and citrus fruit flavors. The wine is stunningly complex and mouthwatering on the finish. Where this wine stands out an truly makes it's impression is the perfect balance and razor sharp acid. It is a focused w...
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| 1987 Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon |
| 2010-04-05 14:33:00 |
It's always amazing to taste the older bottlings of Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. I think the last one I tasted was a 1974 Mondavi Reserve with a bunch of friends. I didn't leave specific tasting notes for that bottle, but I remember it holding it's own against the 1974 Chateau Margaux that we tasted the same night, which if you read the review I gave it 98 points.I'm not entirely sure how well the Mondavi wines are being made these days, but when the old man was still around and actively involved in the process, the wines were world class. The bouquet of this wine was far superior to any of the wines we were tasting this night. In fact, in my notes I said it was a 100pt nose! Here's some of the descriptors I wrote: Spearmint, herb, bark, wet stone, and cherry. An amazing nose that evolves every 30 seconds in the glass. On the palate the wine was also quite amazing but was just lacking a bit of intensity and finish. Flavors of stewy cherry tomato, leather, herb, cherry, and slig...
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| 2005 Kistler Durell Vineyard Chardonnay |
| 2010-04-05 12:50:00 |
The Durell Vineyard lies in the southwestern Sonoma Valley, almost in the Carneros appellation. This wine (as with most Kistler Chardonnay's) is a big, voluptuous, full-bodied effort, that will sing to most California Chardonnay lovers. I previously reviewed the 2004 Kistler Les Noisetiers Chardonnay and thought it was quite good. On the nose I get aromas of toast, butter, golden apple, caramel, and ribbon candy. Although I couldn't find the tech data regarding the barrel fermentation, I would bet this wine is aged for some time in new, heavy toast, French oak barrels. It has a distinct smokiness and weight that suggests heavy wood fermentation. On the palate I get flavors of caramel apple pie, toasted oak, smoke, and butter. This wine (although very delicious) is somewhat one-dimensional in character. It's round and mouth coating, but extremely oak driven and buttery. It doesn't display enough fruit character and is almost all spice and wood. 89 pointsClick here to find out more abo...
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| 2005 Redoma Vinho Branco Reserva |
| 2010-04-02 18:31:00 |
I really don't get the opportunity to taste a wide variety of dry, white wine from Portugal, so this wine definitely sparked a bit of interest for me. It's produced by Niepoort which is a winery that specializes in both still and fortified wines. Click here to find out about the winery. This particular wine is composed of several native Portuguese varietals called Rabigato, Codega, Donzelinho, Viosinho and Arinto. The wine was barrel fermented in 90% French oak for a total of 8 months, but does not undergo malolactic fermentation. When I first took a whiff of this wine I immediately thought of a classic white Burgundy. It has a bouquet that is very reminiscent of clean, fruit-focused Chardonnay. However, as the wine starts to open up in the glass, more mineral and grassy notes start to appear, which turned my thoughts to Sauvignon Blanc and perhaps Spain's famed Albarino. Some descriptors of what I smelt were mineral, lemon curd, toast, citrus, and fresh wild flowers. On the palate th...
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| 1989 Château Pichon-Baron |
| 2010-04-02 15:18:00 |
Chateau Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville is the actual title of this wine, but most refer to the wine as "Château Pichon-Baron". It's one of Bordeaux's fourteen "second growth" wines and like most famous Bordeaux Chateaux it has a history that extends back for centuries.The vineyards at Pichon-Baron cover 73 hectares of typical gravel, and are planted with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. The wine is typically aged in French oak barrels for up to 18 months, using 70% new and 30% one-year old, with racking every 3 months.I'd first like to thank a special friend for always being generous and sharing these beautifully aged gems with me. It's great to have the money and/or patience to be able to partake in wine experiences like these, but if your lucky enough to have generous friends like I am, then it borders on sublime!The 1989 Pichon-Baron is still very deep in color and displays only slight discoloration or brick-like hues towards the edges of the g...
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| 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-St-Vivant |
| 2010-03-31 13:36:00 |
For those of you who have ever tasted a bottling from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, you'll be able to attest to the greatness and fabulous complexity of their wines. Do they merit the price tag?($500 and up) Maybe not if you're comparing them to the kind of quality Pinot Noir you can obtain from both California and Oregon. However, what is unique to the tasting experience of a wine like this, is the incredibly history and exhilarating nostalgia involved in drinking something that only a small percentage of the world's population will ever have the chance of experiencing. That being said, this wine was great regardless of reputation and the awe that surrounds drinking a famous bottle of wine. I'm not going to get into the history and story of this wine but if you're interested in the vineyard then check out the wiki on it here.Important to note is the color of this wine which appears to be slightly fading and has a rusty and slightly brick red/orange hue. The core is still red though a...
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| 1993 Dominique Laurent Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru |
| 2010-03-30 18:25:00 |
My experience with Grand Cru Brugundy is somewhat limited up until this point in my wine career. I've probably tasted a couple dozen of them both at trade events and at private parties. I do however, regard them as some of the best wines in the world when they are in prime drinking form. Burgundy as we know, is such a fickle wine region filled with so many great wines but very limited quantities and notoriously spotty vintages. The 1993 Dom. Laurent Mazis-Chambertin is a brilliant wine that is very much still an infant and is drinking amazingly.The first thing to note about this wine is it's amazing color! It shows little to no signs of aging, besides a bit of sediment. The core is extremely dark red, with only the slightest bit of thinning toward the edges of the glass. On the nose I get stunningly bright notes of cherry that combine with chalky-mineral, cola, sarsaparilla, herb, tea berry, sweet tobacco, anise (on the highest registry), and smoked meat. What is so great about this w...
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| 2001 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino |
| 2010-03-30 15:21:00 |
I've had the opportunity to taste this wine on two other occasions and can honestly say that it's starting to really shine and become the wine that many thought it would be. The first time I tasted the wine about three years ago, it was no where near ready to drink and was far too massively structured and extracted to enjoy. It's quite possibly the boldest and most expressive wine from Montalcino to be made in the last couple decades. The color of this wine is still extremely dark and almost black, showing little signs of discoloration from age. On the nose this wine is classically "Italian" showing a whirl of soil, leather, and hints of barnyard/brett character. There is also a solid core of black cherry, cassis, chocolate, vanilla, oak-spice, and dried raisin. When the wine opens up a bit more in the glass I get a slight hint of sweet tea and plum action appears as well. A complex and alluring bouquet to say the least!On the palate the wine is packed with dense tannin and sharp acid...
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| 1983 Château d'Yquem |
| 2010-03-30 14:59:00 |
It's always an amazing privilege to taste any bottling of Yquem and especially one that has been waiting to be opened for 27 years! This vintage of Château d'Yquem is characterized by it's amazing unctuous texture and it's richly sweet and full bodied style. Parker describes it as "massive"....The color is quite golden with the classic Yquem sediment that looks like tiny little crystals. The bouquet of this wine is really one of the most profound I have ever smelt, with rich honey, apricot, cream brulee, and loads botrytis spice. Smelling this wine is truly an experience in it's own that is completely urethral and hedonistic.On the palate the wine is "massive", rich, and unctuously textured, with intense flavors of apricot and orange marmalade, honey, buttered toast, cream brulee, nutmeg, caramel, and spice. It's as rich of an Yquem as I have ever tasted. However, the acidity is somewhat lacking and doesn't pierce the palate like most great vintages of this wine inevitably do. Does t...
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| 2008 Kosta Browne Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir |
| 2010-03-26 20:16:00 |
The 2008 vintage of Kosta Browne Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is a blend of three vineyards. Two of the vineyards, "Gap’s Crown" and "Terra de Promissio", are located in the southern portion of the Sonoma Coast appellation lying directly in the path of the Petaluma Gap’s cooling influence. The third component is a new addition from the northwestern reaches near Annapolis, Walala. The wine was aged in French oak barrels (44% new) for a total of 16 months. It was bottled just a few months ago on January 25, 2010. Really it's about as young as you could possibly imagine drinking it. However, I wanted to spread the word and was anxious to see if the quality still remains despite the recent business transactions with the sale of the label. On the nose I get powerful wild strawberry and raspberry notes, combined with a meaty and smokey type element that reminds me of beef jerky. There is also a slight hint of mineral, crushed rock, cocoa powder, and herb. On the palate the wine has a very ra...
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