5/18/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Dredged from the depths of the cellar, where this has been horizontally resting for a decade and a half, a singleton bottle purchase. To be paired on the spur of the moment with leftover Hibachi grilled filet mignon with rice and noodles, and both to be paired with televised live boxing. I mean, obviously, of course.

Now this wine was bottled unfiltered, but I filtered it into glass through a fine mesh in-bottle filter. Yet when observed in glass with a bright light behind, it is astonishing how much Ultra-fine particulate still remains in suspension in this wine. None of which is detected on the tongue as non-liquid, but which must contribute to a palate persistence that is very pleasing on this wine. Very considerable bricking.

Needs 15 minutes or so in glass to unfurl aromatically, then gives something like smoked pomegranate, grilled lavender, red currant jam, cardamon, cinnamon, allspice. I kind of wanted to dip some French toast in it. Over time, the spice profile graduated from welterweight to light heavyweight (in boxing terms), and the particulate concentration looked like a miniature galaxy in glass. Ultimately, I poured the last couple of ounces from one glass to another through a coffee filter, an exercise which must have consumed 8-10 minutes, allowing me to compose this note while waiting.

While this may sound like an amazing wine, it was quite interesting in many ways, but still only a quite nice wine in the scheme of things. I give it 94 for the experience, 91 for the wine. And FWIW, the post-coffee filter liquid remains were plain and dull...

Drink up.

5/16/2024 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

Was in my cellar, but not my CT inventory, so Bonus wine, right?
Had to track down my purchase, which was 2016.
Opened this in advance of preparing a rack of lamb, pan seared as lollipops. Great pairing.

The wine has a dark garnet core exhibiting some bricking rim. Moderate fine sediment. Restrained nose initially, so poured into glasses in advance. After a while (an hour-ish), was giving and lovely on the nose, with cassis, espresso, cigar box, iron filings, cedar, anise, oak spice. Good body and engaging texture with supple flavors following the bouquet. This was sumptuous and delightful Right Bank Bordeaux, ready now or willing to wait on you. 93+

5/13/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

L93/15. With Spaghetti Bolognese. Sound but crazy tight cork. Cherry, spice, light earth. Not especially tertiary but perhaps fading the fruit. Pleasing, not particularly complex. 89/90 - the wife probably a bit more impressed with it than me.

5/6/2024 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

Quite nice CC GS, with good balance, but still somewhat slow to loosen up; profits from air after an hour+, and more seamless and relaxed on next day with sweet fruit aromatics and good tension. It's a good value wine, and should be more ready in 2025-26.

5/1/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Quite excellent savory and organic earthy nose with pretty, balanced flavors. Held up over two evenings.

4/26/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Fantastic, aging wonderfully. Plenty left in the tank on this 15 year old beauty.

4/23/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Rather a remarkable amount of fine (and ultra fine) sediment for a 375 bottle. Decently pleasant and proper claret. Probably aging more favorably in 750s.

4/19/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Took to a Spanish wine lunch. There were 2 other 2005's there, a Pintia and a Flor de Pingus, both of which opened up more than the LdH, though the FdP was tight for a while. A good but muted showing, but since it was my bottle half of it went home and was retasted about 8 hours later, at which point it it would have been the WOTD of 6 reds. Balanced, suave, elegant. So, a decant is advisable at present. (91 @ lunch, 93-94 late night)

3/30/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Seems like there may be some bottle variation on this. At 15, this one holding strong and did blossom a bit more with time in glass. Packed red fruits, spice, smoke wisps. But I would drink, not hold.

3/30/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Dark copper. Gives us some dried honey, poached pear, peach, something almost lanolin, fall leaves. Fairly modest sweetness. Hanging in there, but best days would be past.

3/30/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

oxidized

3/28/2024 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

Straight out yummy.

3/27/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Still good, but drink up. Tobacco leaves, black walnuts, Kalamata olives, some vanilla, dried herbs, slight dried dark cherry fruit. Not highly acidic, but that is taking over structurally with faded fruit and wood and already modest alcohol. Should get a medal for lifetime over-achievement. 89- (minus meaning major downward trajectory from here)

3/27/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

In contrast to the 2017 of this, I felt this has nice ripe fruit, good nectarine with apple skins and wet slate minerality. 91-92.

3/22/2024 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

Of two bottles, first I had was 12 years old in 2012 (see note) and I held on to the second for another 12 years. Was better at age 12 than 24, but still rather good. This bottle persists with exotic aromatics and rustic flavor profile, minus the freshness and without any necessary additional tertiary complexity. No VA. Guess I should look to open the 2002s.

3/26/2024 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

Bright light golden, perhaps a tinge of green. Modest but sophisticated nose of honeydew, Indian incense, seawater, fresh grass, musk, (mistletoe??,) lemon.
Bigger, rounder mouthfeel than anticipated, with nice saline, lemony minerals, slate, green apple skins, grapefruit bitters. [Donnhoff GG marries Raul Perez Sketch?]

Shared and served at a 16-wino Bacchanal with seafood and suckling pig, but also amongst an insane number of other fine bottles vying for attention. Fortunately this did allow a quarter of the bottle to return home and be explored days later in less overwhelming circumstance, making some type of contemplative review possible. Incidentally, was stronger on the fifth night than the first.

This bottle is something of a rarity and has a lot going for it, but you certainly pay dearly for it.

3/26/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

My last bottle was six years ago and I suggested this could get a bit better, which I believe is true, though truly not a major evolution in that time. Still lots of fruit, with a strong herbal component now. Relaxed tannins. Improves in glass for a little while. A bit of an oddity, and enjoyable. 91-92

3/20/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

A corkage bottle at a restaurant at which we had seafood. Golden hue, some reductive old tire on the nose which persisted (and a was a slight detraction to me, but not to the spouse or a friend). Discernible wood influence was well-integrated and overlayed a substantial body with lemon saline and mineral, yellow apple and dried honey. Both alcohol and acidity were quite modest. It did pair well with ahi tuna, trout, and sea bass, but I think others enjoyed it a bit more than I did. 89-90, and a drink rather than hold for me.

3/16/2024 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

Agree with De Wyn Rydder on a recent note on freshness and excellence of this right now. Not my bottle, but brought by friend of US Importer local to us for a wine lunch. This stood out for freshness, fruit purity, mineral texture with a little bite on the finish. Howie let me carry home the unconsumed portion, and it was still strong several days later.

3/14/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

This appealing SB made by Kirk Venge is not pyrazine-driven or acid-edgy, with ripe melon fruit (which slides toward guava/pineapple at warmer temp), a backsplash of soft grapefruit, and a mineral strain and texture. Really nice at the Costco tariff, and shortly to be a major reload. Food friendly or just quaffable!

2/8/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

This was a surprisingly vapid bottle. No TCA aroma. Maybe some TCB going on as it went nowhere. I'm going to mark it flawed.

2/23/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Took this to a wine lunch event, PnP and it was pretty decent but not very giving at the time, and it didn't really suggest it was holding back something for later. Consequently, plenty was left to carry home in case it opened some secret door later, which to my surprise it did the next day. Complex earth, red iron/mineral strain, warm red fruit beneath. Honestly went from about an 87 to a 91. No embedded green character either.

2/29/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Restaurant bottle purchase at Cúrate in Asheville, enjoyed with M/M Musedir as a accompaniment primarily with the shoulder cut Jamón Ibérico. Not really fresh enough as an aperitivo on its own, but with its biologic and nutty character was a very good pair with the jamón.

The restaurant has a strong sherry (and overall Spanish wine) list offering, and permits corkage.

2/25/2024 - MindMuse Does not like this wine:

um, bubble gum and an aerosol chalkboard cleaner I remember from 50 years ago.
So, not exactly classic.

2/20/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

No one has posted a note on this in about six years, and most of them were not very favorable, so maybe it's a lucky happenstance that my bottle kind of got lost in my cellar. When I pulled it out I actually thought the label belonged to a Washington Syrah - not too crazy since it was with some bottles from Full Pull. Reading comments after drinking down to the last glass it seems this wouldn't be a ager, but darn if it isn't quite tasty, and much of that seems to be driven by a pleasing tertiary development. It's a bricking rim light red, and the aromas are more wet soil and forest floor than of the sweet and sour red berry mix that arrives on the palate. Some brown spice dust and dried garden herbs still rolling around in there too.

So the wine stars unexpectedly aligned in a delightful showing from this modest Pinot. I wish that magic happened more often.

2/19/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Buttery popcorn, ripe pear, vanilla cream oak.

2/13/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

So, I don't always write notes about wines, but this one kind of was getting in my head and I thought I should do so on it because it was a bottle pretty much buried in long term storage for some reason, and I assumed well past it's window, but it turned out to be a bit of a conundrum. As it turns out maybe CT Forum pal forceberry had a similar circumstance about one year ago.
I had several bottles of this vintage Termes, 7 of 8 of which were consumed over a decade ago. Big, juicy, flashy wine that was good but tannic and oak/fruit robust, that is now tamer and resolved, also good, but just different in its gestalt. Has a more tired oak waft to it, but still nice quality fruit with savory earthy under layers. Different, probably personally preferable now, though not honestly better per se. Still, surprising it wasn't disjointed or some type of mess, which is kind of what I was expecting when I opened it. Honestly, pretty good, and fully consumed after several hours. And still 90-91-ish.

2/6/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Still with freshness and succulence. Honeysuckle blossom and orange creamsicle nose, honeyed melon and peach.

1/25/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

Lemon, minerally apple. Plus acidity. I expected a bit more.

1/1/2024 - MindMuse wrote:

After midnight on NYE. Personally, in memoriam of Port over Todd, who always brought VP to this event. Decanted in afternoon, re-bottled early evening, re-decanted at event for another 2-3 hours, drunk after midnight.
Light color with waves of sweet baking spice, dark fruits. Sweet tannins. In a very good place. Delicious. 93-94

12/31/2023 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

Still bountiful fruit quantity and quality with lovely integration and development. On NYE (celebrating older wines ending in a '3).

12/31/2023 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

A contribution of mine on NYE, tasted amidst about 70 other offerings.
Classy and elegant with abundant mousse, good body, leesy under fine fruit and mineral, and with appropriate seam of oxidation.

12/24/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

Solid, but did not pay any dividends for parking it in cellar a decade. You'll certainly want to have with food.

12/1/2023 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

PnP and nose opened up in glass after about ten minutes. Dark fruits with some spice and underbrush. Still a good structure. Very nice. Drink or hold.

10/27/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

My first Ramey Rochioli, but hopefully not my last. Exquisitely good, probably a touch better with another year in bottle (but glad I didn't wait).

11/4/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

A letdown. Aromatically led by stemminess with some soft cherry and underbrush. Flavorwise it is palatable, but lacking depth, complexity, or concentration. Was the fruit ripe enough? Opened a little over an hour but then stalled. Vexing.

10/14/2023 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

Eschewing several recipes's injunctions to NOT use an expensive Marsala (though I doubt hardly anyone has one), I used a portion of this in a Veal Marsala for six food and wine lovers, and served in glass as an accompaniment to that course. Had been cellared 11 years.
Nose is redolent with rich caramel, Seville oranges, dried fig and apricot, dates, hazelnut, almond paste, vanilla, exotic spice. Complex aromatics are carried through on the medium+ bodied palate with a long finish. More reminiscent of a fine Amontillado or Palo Cortado than a Madeira to me, but with an off-dry unctuousness. So the oak influence is perhaps still a bit too strong, but really a fine drink. (And the sauce for the veal was killler!) 93-94

10/24/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

Unsurprisingly, pretty well faded away at this point, though still identifiably classic Bordeaux . No matter, one of a set of gifted bottles.

10/4/2023 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

Took to a wine lunch and I thought it WOTD out of about 6 whites, 6 reds, including Bdx from Montrose, Cos, and La Confession, though it did have a bit more age on it. Classic mature Bordeaux with ample leather, pipe tobacco, tilled earth, dried cassis, relaxed tannins. Quite pleasurable.

9/28/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

Too much RS for the style for me.

9/27/2023 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

PnP (well, unscrew and pour) with steak and sweet potato. This opened up nicely in 15 minutes with redolent aromas of mixed berries, black and blue fruits, wrapped in some nice spices. Easy drinker but delicious and a QPR star.

9/9/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

100% Chardonel, barrel fermented. Light straw color, aromas of melon, light pear, hint of lemon and a little oak. Lighter body than Chardonnay with pears, green apple, some mineral water. Pleasant, though if you let this warm up very much it can throw a citrus pith flavor and bite that detracts.

7/28/2023 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

I was expecting this to be something of a bruiser, but it was really quite elegant and nuanced. Drinking nicely now.

8/4/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

Took to an offline. Cork (under a small wax disk) was not in good shape and the bottle was oxidized.

7/23/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

Expressive immediately on PnP with polished aromatics.
Evinces plum, black cherry, Maraschino cherry liqueur, violet, chocolate, high toned oak spice, dried roses, something between cedar and eucalyptus, light wood smoke, black walnut. This is round and sumptuous on the palate with a suave finish.
Tannins are resolved with a vibrant acidity providing the framework and coherence for the flavors. But it's time to drink up.

7/12/2023 - MindMuse Does not like this wine:

This sure seemed like it had a lot of unfermented sugars in it to me, which really detracted from any enjoyment.

7/15/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

Nice color. Bad cork-taint.

7/11/2023 - MindMuse Likes this wine:

This was partially closed on PnP first day, but very significantly blossomed when I resumed the leftovers on day two. Explosively rich mixed succulent berry fruits, Chinese five spice, garrigue, lavender, camphor, bergamot, pipe tobaccco, crushed rocks. Great QPR. Kudos to Dan Kravitz.
If you don't decant this and don't love it right off, do yourself a favor and park it for a day+.
Drink (aerated) or hold.

6/30/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

A massive brett bomb initially, but this settled down with time in glass and was tasty and complex w mixed olives, red blood, meaty minerality.

6/30/2023 - MindMuse wrote:

Brought to a tasting. Wine was oxidized due to extremely spongy cork.