5/28/2024 - #1Winelover Likes this wine:

Brought to a pig roast and this was the WOTN for all of the red wine drinkers. I wasn't sure if this would be ready and/or if I would like it but it was really good!

Riise is a new venture from Juan Mercado who was the original founder and co-owner of Realm Cellars. Juan's new project is in Paso Robles and his initial offering consists of 3 interesting blends. Mostly Tempranillo with a little petit sirah and graciano (which nobody ever heard of). Very strong smells, dark rich and brooding.

My friends and I kept coming back for more.

5/28/2024 - brooklynguy wrote:

I’ve had several bottles now, and I think I understand the wine better. It’s not as good as I once thought it was. Decanted for two hours, the nose is super clean and very pretty showing sweet blackberry fruit and a hint of leafiness that adds just a bit of complexity. It’s a suave and elegant nose and it reminded me in its fineness of a good Pomerol. The palate comes across, as I’ve found now with previous bottles, as lacking in material, nuance, and joy. It’s a stern wine on the palate, with a finish that one drinker thought was tannic, but that I thought was a graphite-like mineral hardness. When a wine is closed or shut down I can sense the underlying material but cannot access it. I can’t sense the material here and would be skeptical about devoting space in the “cellar,” but have only one more bottle so makes it easy - will set it and forget it for a decade and let’s see. Funny because I loved this wine the first time I had it…

5/28/2024 - colinscellar Likes this wine:

Last bottle and finished on a high note. Classic Clare nose and palate of choc mint, dark fruit and some vanilla. Soft in the mouth with powdery tannins, acid holding up well though so I think this could have gone longer.

5/28/2024 - SimonHo wrote:

Ruby red.not much on the nose. Medium body. Red plums. Shorter on after taste

5/27/2024 - pjhr Likes this wine:

As delicious as the last bottle!

5/27/2024 - DFBW Likes this wine:

Decent wine that was pretty delicious straight out of the gate but slightly deteriorated over the evening with the last glass tasting a little over then hill for my taste. Initially glasses were deep, rich and smooth - good black fruit. Not sure there will be any improvement from here although not falling off a cliff. For me, I'll bring up the other two in the next year.

5/28/2024 - JimAlt Likes this wine:

Nice deep berry . Great with NY strip

5/28/2024 - deverett wrote:

This was excellent and has aged a treat. Still has some wonderful vibrancy, exquisite length and balance. Medium bodied, spicy red berries, undergrowth and dried herbs, the tannins are an absolute highlight. This could get better as it softens a little more but it was wonderful now.

5/28/2024 - EhrlichDY wrote:

Pop and pour. 2000's are just fantastic right now. Loads of ripe plum fruit but also showing secondary notes of earth and pine. Seamless and absolutely delicious right now.

5/28/2024 - Bakan Likes this wine:

거칠고 큰 기포와 상큼힌 향
데일리로 마시기에 적당함
끝에 남는 쓴 맛이 살짝 오바되는 느낌이 있다

5/28/2024 - Bakan wrote:

처음엔 묵은 갈색 맛이 많이 나지만
시간이 지나며 꽃잎향과 과실향이 나면서 조금 좋아짐
어쩔 수 없이 묵혀 나온 템프라니요의 매력은
그다지 느끼기 힘들지만 대체로 무난한 맛

5/27/2024 - JensAgo Likes this wine:

The Jaguar of Cornas for this week’s #LundiCornas (#19), Domaine du Tunnel’s exquisite Vin Noir (v20, 13.5% ABV), upped as compared to 2018, reflecting a solemn vintage & winemaking artistry. Dark red w purple reflections, semi-translucent in appearance. Broad, ripe nose w mixed basket of red & black fruit - cherries, raspberries, brambles, cassis, fine smoke & tar, balsamic herbs, tad of iron. Utterly elegant m-bodied palate, superb concentration of fruit, chiseled yet lean structure, closing juicy, pure & spicy!

5/28/2024 - gerard.h Does not like this wine:

Drank from half bottle. Passed it's prime

5/28/2024 - Polsask Likes this wine:

My vin for penga

5/27/2024 - Mountster27 Likes this wine:

Very interesting after all these years. Lighter brick coloring. Lots of development and still with some red fruit balance along with spice, raisin richness, and many other things I don’t remember how to describe. I certainly would be buying more Ledge and keeping for 5-10 years. These vines were just really coming into their own in 14 I think. Compared to Ledge wines from more established vineyards it didn’t hold up quite as long. Makes me believe newer vintages would be even better.
That said, Ledge doesn’t ship to South Carolina any more either.
Makes me sad. We were with them from nearly the beginning.

5/28/2024 - richard.presser Likes this wine:

Clean, soft round, sweet Pinot. Balanced.
Ditto palate. Drinkable now. No need for cellaring. Quite an achievement. A smarter wine than first glance might suggest. It’s tough to hit this goal. Bullseye. Drink now - 2025.

5/28/2024 - Geoff7777 wrote:

A fabulous cork has provided a high fill bottle, cork only 10% soaked. Despite its great performance it has added excessive cork wood to this otherwise fabulous HV Semillon. What a great wine! If only out was under Stelvin. The structure remains, no oxidation, small hints of honey and toast but the fruit has receded. Good bottles remain one of my top 5 ever HV Semillon, but they could be quite rare from here. 17.75 today but a nostalgic 19.

5/28/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Whilst still very young, this is drinking beautifully. A highly perfumed and complex nose of violets, black cherry, licorice, orange oil and bitter chocolate. It is dense and sappy, velvety of texture and builds through the palate. There's excellent mineral detail and it is expansive. Length is superb.

5/28/2024 - MicklethePickle Likes this wine:

Popped and poured. Quite tasty, especially for such a small price. This has real Bordeaux character. You could go along ways wrong buying other wines for this price. Briar, baking spice, mineral, just a touch of bell pepper. Nice dry finish. 5-12-15-8: 90/100.

5/27/2024 - Klaus386 Likes this wine:

Can drink now but suitable for further aging.
Dark fruit, spice, chewy (high) tannins, med+ finish.
Paired well with ribeyes

5/28/2024 - Echinosum wrote:

Kept the last one another year, but I think I would have preferred to finish it off last year. Nothing wrong with it, but it has less of the strawberry and cherry, and more evolved pinot flavours, and I preferred it as it was. Learning a lesson.

5/28/2024 - LWWine wrote:

Drank 2 b at Hollywood wood fire grill dinner
Perfect complement

5/28/2024 - Radders12345 Likes this wine:

The new wunderkind of Montalcino.
Very jolly sweet red cherry and pomegranate. A touch of Tuscan herbs on top ups the complexity.
Good density yet freshness on the palate with nice purity of fruit and a deft touch of oak sweetness. On day 2 the complexity really ups a notch and a lovely orange peel, dusty terracotta and more fresh cherry comes to the fore and the intensity on the palate ramps up.

Certainly some good juice and wine-making and this is clearly shooting for the “Super Rosso” category on a debut effort (and few other Rosso’s are at or above this price point - Slavioni, Biondi Santi, Stella di Campalto).
This is a sterling effort from a new producer and I’ll be curious to try the actual Brunello when it comes.

7/2/2023 - CCris6537 Likes this wine:

Deep ruby, with aromas of cherry, black plum, and spice. Strong aromas of mint, cedar, graphite, and smoke. Medium plus acidity, powdery tannins, complex and concentrated. It has good flavor, salty taste and long aftertaste.

4/27/2024 - forceberry wrote:

A blend of Antão Vaz and Arinto. Fully destemmed. Fermented and aged for 12 months in stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels. 13% alcohol, 1,3 g/l residual sugar, 5,7 g/l acidity and pH 3,26.

Youthful yellow-green color. The nose feels concentrated yet still somewhat understated with aromas of fresh golden apples, some creamy oak tones, a little bit of savory wood spice, light banana tones and a hint of sweet nectarine. The wine feels crisp, very intense and surprisingly bitter on the palate with a rather full body and quite focused flavors of extracted bitterness, some pithy lemon tones, a little bit of creamy oak, light apricot tones, a hint of savory wood and a touch of nuttiness. The brisk acidity lends great sense of structure and electric energy to the wine, but also seems to emphasize the bitter notes on the midpalate. The finish is long, crisp and acid-driven with an intense aftertaste of lemony citrus fruits and sharp Granny Smith apple tones, some notes of creamy oak, a little bit of apple peel bitterness, light woody nuances, a hint of stony minerality and a touch of almost unripe peach.

I expected the wine to be a huge, oaky blockbuster white, but it turned out to be a surprisingly crisp, lean and nervous wine that is dominated by somewhat extracted phenolic bitterness. The overall feel is very high-strung and somewhat unbalanced, but that's mostly due to the young age of the wine. With this much intensity, structure and acidity, I have no doubts this wine will continue to evolve and improve effortlessly for years. However, it doesn't feel that enjoyable at the moment. This is stuff you want to sit on for quite a while. A promising wine and an impressive effort for a white Alentejano - but I'm still not sure if the wine is really worth the 69,95€.

5/28/2024 - p.schw. Likes this wine:

What a great find in Mailly - right between Épernay and Reims - the Champagne shows a nice fruitiness and is nicely balanced with a good acidity in the mix. For me the great find of my last trip to the Champagne region.

3/29/2024 - Puteljen! Likes this wine:

Just starting to open up with classic notes of cherry, roses and rosehip. Need a few years yet. Score is for now.

5/28/2024 - jmoon Likes this wine:

Good crunchy red fruits, a little coiled and unresponsive. Enjoyable but not great. Will wait a few years for the others.

3/29/2024 - Puteljen! Likes this wine:

Classic in a generous style. Opulent fruit with cassis, boysenberry, blueberry and dark cherry. Good structure and fresh acidity keep it balanced. Good depth and detail. Very long. Great wine.

5/28/2024 - jmoon Likes this wine:

Lovely and better after an hour or so. Great with a steak. Still quite coiled, good potential. Past the juicy open window of the last two years and in transition now.

7/13/2023 - CCris6537 wrote:

Pale copper, aromas of grapefruit, lemon, sour cherry, crisp acidity.

5/27/2024 - Burgundy Al wrote:

Decanted for a hour before serving. Refined black berries with impeccable balance, faintly spiced, faintly meaty. Just enough tanni in the near background for perfect balance and harmony.

5/27/2024 - Pinot_Geek Likes this wine:

Grippy tannins and med acids balancing black fruits. 13.5% Alc.
By night 2 (on Coravin), this settled down to a balanced and more mellow and delicious Chambolle.
Nice, and plenty of years in the tank. Seems like Sentiers = stiffer backbone = needs more time than other parts of Chambolle to integrate

7/17/2023 - CCris6537 wrote:

Deep purple, aromas of red cherry, black cherry, violet, mint, and a touch of minerality. Soft and sweet mouthfeel, medium plus tannins and acidity with a slightly alcoholic finish.

5/28/2024 - rwpalmer wrote:

Looks like a 2007 bottling so not really a 25 year old wine but a rather simple, tired madeira, lacking in concentration and acidity.

5/28/2024 - rwpalmer wrote:

Delightful ripe, light, easy drinking pinot.

5/28/2024 - Laing Ct wrote:

Typical Barossa wine. Light fruity Shiraz. Much like a Pinot noir. Summer afternoon with cheese and fruit paste.
Not worth $54.99. Maybe $20-$25

5/28/2024 - Laing Ct wrote:

At $54.99 would only pay $20. Typical Barossa wine.

7/20/2023 - CCris6537 Likes this wine:

Deep ruby, with complex aromas of red cherry, hawthorn, strawberry jam, mint, cream, chocolate. Full body with medium acidity and tannins, elegant mouthfeel, good balance and complexity.

5/28/2024 - Metz2023 wrote:

Consistent quality year after year. It doesn’t disappoint. The best Chile has to offer in my opinion.

5/28/2024 - belfast taxman wrote:

Drunk at the chateau - the third wine of the Chateau and whilst light and made for easy drinking it was just that and delicious. I was surprised to be told that it was 80% SB and 20% Semillon because on the nose the floral acacia is to the fore but on the palate the SB comes through

5/28/2024 - belfast taxman wrote:

Drunk at the chateau - stylistically I found this rather different from other Pessac wines tried on our trip almost certainly due to the high proportion of Merlot in the cepage. I would have suggested St Emilion in a blind tasting. That does not mean that this was anything but enjoyable.

7/22/2023 - CCris6537 wrote:

Deep ruby, with aromas of fur, sour cherry, prune, hawthorn, and very light oak. High acidity, soft and elegant tannins, good balance, and pleasant palate.

5/28/2024 - ProfByron wrote:

Serious stuff. Dark rich, velvet plus tannin.

Class.

20 years of age certainly has not wearied this wine.

5/28/2024 - ttholst wrote:

Strøken Barolo med burgundersk eleganse og et saftig tanninbitt. Alle aroma er på plass. Begynnende modning.

5/28/2024 - belfast taxman wrote:

Drunk at the chateau - this may be a vintage which the Bordelaise seem to dismiss but this is a serious wine and this chateau, beautifully positioned on the edge of the city, part Pessac, part Merignac, part Bordeaux, was sheltered from the worst of the spring frosts. Deep in colour and showing little or no sign of ageing, medium bodied but a lovely balance of the Cabernet’s Sauvignon and Franc with the Merlot.

7/24/2023 - CCris6537 wrote:

Deep ruby, with aromas of violet, blackberry, cherry, blueberry, and a hint of chocolate. On the palate, the wine is full of fruity flavor with high acidity and tannins. Strong body.

5/28/2024 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

Complex aromatics of citrus blossom, freshly grated ginger, white peach and chalk. The palate is direct and detailed. It is a deep and chewy white, with plenty of dry extract and a finish of cut and energy.

5/28/2024 - mark.gularte@gmail.com Likes this wine:

Solid offering from Ridge. Notes of plum, cherry, vanilla, baking spice. Decanted for 2 hours and then drank over the evening. Not in the class of other Ridge zins, but still a worthwhile choice for a weeknight dinner.

7/30/2023 - CCris6537 Likes this wine:

Deep ruby with a hint of tawny, complex and charming aromas of bacon, mushroom, tobacco, earth, herb, raspberry, blueberry, prune, plum, and chocolate. The acidity and tannins are still strong, supporting the strong body. Long finish.