3/18/2024 - lvjohn Likes this wine:

Grabbed the wrong vintage of this one and had it decanted before I looked carefully. Our liking of this wine is unchanged, but now I find it a bit boring. Based upon other sources, it is a blend of Aglianico – Piedirosso. This produces a very dark (gloomy is the producer notes) and mineral laced wine. It takes quite a while for this wine to mature and become drinkable. The end result is a wine with a noticeable dark red and black fruit character that has nice mouthfeel. This bottle lasted several evenings with evening meals.

3/2/2024 - EM_MB wrote:

Massive fruit bomb. Perhaps that’s the style but I prefer some elegance/restraint.

2/18/2024 - Ara Kafafian Likes this wine:

Blind, deep ruby, opaque, slightly green, black fruits mostly cassis, full mouth feel, tannic and very long. Should hold until 2030.

1/8/2024 - MariusA Likes this wine:

I continue to be underwhelmed by the Hillside Select. Tried two bottles of the '12 with friends and we were all "okay it's good but meh". It never helps a bottle when expectations are set high and maybe this was part of the problem. The good side is that the '12 is in early drinking window and have plenty of time left. I can see this improve over time and easily last 20 years.

5/12/2023 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

Once again a big hit with my wine group. No changes from my previous notes on this wine, I just wish I had bought more!

5/7/2023 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

I should have bought more! Part of a Sangiovese night at a high end Italian restaurant in NYC. Slightly less acidic than the other 2 Sangiovese wines we had, and my favorite.

3/19/2023 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

I thought I had drank all my bottles, but low and behold I found 2 in my cellar that were not on my CT inventory! I brought this to a Syrah night with my wine group at a NYC Steakhouse. It was opened, but not decanted for 45 minutes before pouring. Full bodied with a long finish, it was the hit of the night. Lots of spice to go with some fruit and some tannic structure.

2/20/2023 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

I was expecting a dryer wine that this turned out to be. That was based on the alcohol content. But reading Panzer's notes, I should have realized it would have some sweetness. Really enjoyable. I shared this with my wine group at an Indian restaurant and the sweetness played very well against the spices in the food.

2/7/2023 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

To Kalon and Dr. Crane Night (Charlie Palmer Steak NYC): Decanted for over 45 minutes before pouring. This started slow, as it tasted a little flat, compared to the other To Kalon we had alongside it. But the longer it sat in the glass (and the decanter) the better it got. By mid meal, this was tasting great. Complex, well structured, maybe not as full bodied as the rest of the wines we had, it was instead, elegant.

1/19/2023 - BillBell73 Likes this wine:

This is beginning to drink very well but seems to have plenty of improvement ahead of it. Somewhat less rustic than the other Bea wines, this does have a slightly animalistic nose with briar fruit and wild herbs on the palate but the wine is more graceful and high-toned than the Pagliaro. A big, feral wine that will need to be paired appropriately. I absolutely love this.

5/11/2012 - DoubleMagnum wrote:

It's so hard to rate this under 90 points. A wine, a white wine that has kept impeccable for 13 years. There was mold on the cork but only on top. washed away fairly easily. After opening, the bouquet was powerful, clean, sharp and focused. There definitely isn't a lack of acidity here. This wine is very well balanced and the finish is that of a premier cru. Great company, lovely wine, you can't ask for more.

11/8/2019 - DustyB Likes this wine:

Wine Meetup Dinner;rich berry and some alcohol on the nose, very rich on the tongue. Best of the evening

11/11/2021 - Burgundy Al wrote:

Armistice Day Burgundy Cellar Visits - Lafarge, Boris Champy, and Henri Magnien (Cote d'Or): Tasting at the domaine. All the 2020s spent approximately 13 months in barrel, were assembled in October and will be bottled in late November. A big step up from the "regular" Gevrey cuvee. Meaty black fruit with impressive concentration for its level. Good length with very bright textures. From 8 plots mostly west of RN74, average age of 70 years, with plots ranging from 40 - 100+, 25% new oak, 15% whole cluster. Excellent Village level wine, 89-90+ point potential.

1/3/2015 - DoubleMagnum wrote:

15.5% alcohol in pinot? Too evident for my taste.

3/10/2021 - Fractalage Likes this wine:

No one is posting notes here, so there are no more bottles to be opened?

No matter.
Delish juice anyway.
If I were to make the next vintage, I would add 5% white wine to brighten it up a bit.

Good stuff anyway.
Will have to stop by the vineyard.

How many of you have ever meditated with obsidian?

10/27/2016 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

Him vs. Her - a blind Winmaker tasting (Landmarc @ the Time Warner Center): Tasted blind, popped and poured. Notes of "funk" on the nose, which took about 20 minutes to blow off. I liked it, and have always liked the Turley PS wines, even older ones, but our 9 person group didn't care for it (except me) and it finished last...Still has a lot of fruit left. It is a bit hot, which will probably never go away.

2/8/2020 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

Mike Smith Cabernet Night (Bobby Van's on Park, NYC): Part of a Mike Smith blind Cabernet tasting. This or the Carter Cellars was my favorite. An easy drinking cab with some structure to go along with the gobs of fruit.

It was the only 2016 in the tasting, as the other 3 reds where all 2015s. Maybe his wines just demand to be drunk young.

12/22/2019 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

Solid wine, with a pleasing palate cleansing acidity. It went very well with the food we had a NYC French Bistro. From a magnum.

1/8/2020 - Badmonkey wrote:

A friend stopped by who’s a Becklyn fan but didn’t taste the 2017 vintage yet so I decided to pop a bottle. Purple fruit - currants/cassis, blackberry, dark cherry, and a little blueberry. Really smooth, a nice purity, and solid depth/concentration - medium plus body. Nice rich/vibrant flavors of dark berries, some baking spices/licorice, and cocoa. Fairly long finish. Popped/poured but drank out of a decanter for a couple hours. Improved a little with time but drinking quite well right away despite its youth. Once again, I still believe another three to six months should be beneficial to let it soften/open-up some more but it’s still so good now. 100% cab.

11/13/2018 - SMHalps wrote:

My first bottle of 6 that I ordered, and it was flawed. Stored perfectly, it was probably corked. Very disappointing. Undrinkable.

6/29/2019 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

My 2nd bottle of 6 I purchased on release. Opened, but not decanted, for over an hour, at a NYC restaurant with 5 others from my wine group. 2 had it as their favorite, out of the 3 reds we drank. I was disappointed, and even though I had loved my previous bottle in November of 2017, this bottle felt like it wasn't ready yet. It just seemed too tight and wouldn't really open up even after another hour sitting in the glass. The nose, however, was great, and seemed to promise better things than the actual taste. Maybe that bodes well for the next bottle.

10/27/2019 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

Very good, not great, Aussie Shiraz. Closer to WS's 89 point rating, than Dunnuck's 95. Not an overpowering fruit bomb, and not a lot of tannic grip. Medium bodied.

6/14/2019 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

I don't remember if this was a mystery wine from Garagiste, or just one of their regular offerings. But what a smoking deal! I had this with my wine group at a NYC pizza place. It is a great pizza wine.

6/25/2019 - sfwinelover1 wrote:

First of 3 from an auction lot purchased a few months ago (abt$70@). Decanted for about an hour. Muted nose of cherry with a bit of earthy minerality and spices. Small first taste, whoa! Like being hit over the head by a 2'x4'. Very hot and big, rough tannins. About another hour and a half later, the integration had started. Medium dark color, medium to full bodied, strong legs. The tannins are still powerful and very present, but have rounded. Moderate acidity. A very present and not unpleasing note on the backend of scorched earth (could also be described as gravel or asphalt; my taste buds aren't so refined so as to distinguish). At this point, not a lot of the secondary notes I often like in cabs such as licorice, chocolate, coffee or mint/eucalyptus, but perhaps they will develop over the time and the fruit may become more vibrant. The wine has in impressive minerality, and the elements are certainly there for a mid 90s wine. I think that this wine, even after a lengthy decant, is still probably 2-5 years away from full potential, and could hold that for many more, so I'll leave my other 2 bottles for a couple of years. Good complement to rack of lamb.

6/21/2019 - Yack Man wrote:

Purple color, blackberry, blackcurrants and dark cherry, with some sediment. This wine was surprisingly ordinary and disappointing for a Paul Hobbs wine. No decanting but slow ox for several hours however, it never came to life. Parker gave it 93 points but ironically, I'm more incline to agree with Wine Spectator who gave it 90 points.

6/13/2019 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

From a magnum, opened, but not decanted for 30 minutes before pouring. This was the WOTN for my wine group. Notes of black cherry, spice and maybe licorice. Very drinkable now. Medium plus length finish.

3/13/2019 - Rieslingfan wrote:

I played a dirty trick on my blind tasting group with this wine. About 3 hours prior to the tasting, I decanted two halves of the magnum into two identical decanters, and placed them side-by-side in the same flight. The comments were all over the place. Some said - same wine, different vintages - "wine two is clearly older", "wine one is much more tannic", while others thought same producer, two different vineyards. I was having a very hard time keeping a straight face.

Overall the wine showed very well, with some brooding black fruit, loamy earth tones, herbal elements, and just a hint of funk. Moderate tannins in balance with the fruit, so good aging potential, but not so harsh as to preclude pleasure now. I really enjoyed drinking it.

3/15/2019 - Badmonkey wrote:

Came across some bottles in the secondary market at a pretty good price and decided to give it a shot since this might be my last chance to taste a Paul Hobbs Beckstoffer cab at under $200 again. Dark ruby fruit - blackberry, dark currants, dark cherry, and a little blueberry. Really smooth mid-palate coupled with solid depth/concentration and a nice purity - medium plus body. Rich flavors of dark berries, some spice/licorice, a little chocolate/cocoa, and a mineral/graphite component. Fairly long finish. Decanted for one hour and drank over a couple more. Not much improvement with time but at a nice drinking point. In my opinion, more of an elegant profile at least in comparison to the Quivet and Carter Las Piedras cabs which I have more experince with. For me, a little better than the 95 rating from WA. The 90 rating from WS is silly - I don’t know why I even pay attention to their ratings anymore. 100% cab.

2/24/2019 - SMHalps wrote:

Popped 'n poured with my wine group. No real notes, bu it was part of Spanish and California "Rhone grapes from other places" night. We have had this before (this vintage and others) and while we all liked it, it was just a hair behind some of the other wines that we had.

12/11/2018 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

A big hit with my wine group. Popped 'n poured with Turkish food.

9/24/2018 - Badmonkey wrote:

Dark purple fruit - blackberry, dark currants, and a little dark cherry. Smooth mid-palate, however, I expected a little bigger/fuller fruit in light of the 95 rating from WA and 97 from Jeb Dunnuck - medium body. Nice rich flavors of dark berries and some spice/tobacco. Fairly long finish. Decanted for one hour and drank over a couple more. Improved a little with time. Not bad at this stage but I believe this vintage probably needs another year or two for the fruit to open-up more and hopefully fill-out some. According to James Suckling, try in 2020 which I believe makes sense. In my opinion, closer to the 93 rating from Suckling at least at this stage. 100% cab.

5/14/2018 - #1Winelover Likes this wine:

Dinner and wine tasting with Realm's Dr. Crane, Shafer Hillside Select '14, and Pott The Arsenal '13.

I called the winery to make sure this was ready to go and I was advised to decant for 2 hours. So I decanted for 2 hours, poured back into bottle and it was ready! Dark purple black with a touch of red around the rim. Primarily black and blue fruit, including blackberry, blueberry and plum. Nice depth and elegance mid-palate and on the finish. Refined earthy notes of graphite and scorched earth. Well integrated tannins.

Realm's Dr Crane is an "experience wine," from the label to the juice inside, to figuring out how to get some at a reasonable price. It was a pleasure sharing it with good friends who appreciate wine.

4/2/2018 - MarcelloW Likes this wine:

Don’t hesitate to open a regular bottle now. Still young, but in a good phase. It is open, quite powerful and has a nice, lush black fruit. Glad I bought some double Magnums too.

3/11/2018 - csimm wrote:

Well hot damn if this wasn’t one of the best examples of a Cab Franc/Merlot blend (88/12) that I’ve had in a long while. Just when I’ve been all keyed-up in a recent grumpy rant over the doughy donkey 2015 Bard (and Realm’s equally as oafy service side of the house), the 2015 Falstaff comes along and flips the script on what this house can produce. This Falstaff was operating more akin to Realm’s SVD levels (much like a more vivacious Dr. Crane).

The Falstaff impresses with it beautiful electric purple and black fruit flavors. Specific notes of purple fig, elderberry, blackberry, black raspberry, black cherry, purple plum, cassis, wet blue/black slate, rusty iron, Chinese five spice, sandalwood incense, violets, and rose water. Indeed, wonderful complexity and a tiered flavor profile abound here.

A gorgeous delivery of silky but vibrant flavors gliding across the palate at a perfectly metronomed pace. The back end truly crescendos into a rolling thunder-like finish; both pacifying and inspiring...Think Seiganto-Ji temple and Nachi waterfall in China (Google it!). The floral component reminded me of some recent Dr. Crane Cabernets Sauvignons I’ve had, especially in that this nuance provided a finessed lift and energy (whereas too much of a floral element can be bitter or flattening, either distracting from the finish or creating too much of a high-register effect - not the case with this Falstaff).

This was served side-by-side with a 2013 Pott La Carte et Le Territoire (another CF/Merlot blend - though the Carte is much heavier on the Merlot component), which displayed more of a red fruit core with some classical red currant, leather, and cedar/mulch notes. I liked both, but ended up favoring the Realm (more of my preferred profile). Ideally, hold this Falstaff for another year or so, but it is drinking remarkably well right now (this was a Coravin pour). Hold until 2019. 97+ points.

3/10/2018 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

My last bottle. Opened, but not decanted for 90 minutes before pouring. Nice wine, medium finish. But I was slightly disappointed. I don't think it has aged well as it has lost a lot of fruit without picking up the secondary aged flavors I was expecting.

2/7/2018 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

Very similar to my last bottle, so I am reposting my previous notes..with additional comments in ( ).
Purchased at Sotheby's auction in Feb 2017.

1. I think the bottle was re-corked at some time. Its didn't look like a 1990 cork, and it only had "Hermitage" stamped on it. (this bottle, the cork looked much younger than 28 years old)

2. on the first nosing and taste, I was concerned the wine was ruined. It wasn't vinegar, but something was way off. After about 1/2 hour, it started to bloom and after an hour, it really hit its stride and continued to improve for another hour, until we finished it. (the initial nose on this bottle was fine, and like the previous bottle, it continued to get better as the dinner went on.)

In the end, I felt it was a very complex wine, with leather, spice, dried fruit notes and a rich mouth feel, with a medium-long finish.

1/24/2018 - SWHighlander Likes this wine:

Tasted at a large Pop n pour tasting through Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (Denver). The standout white Bordeaux of the night. Already drinking well. Very enjoyable. Perfectly balanced -- fruit, acidity, fresh vs. body. Will be interesting to see if this can improve even further in a few years, but great now.

12/9/2017 - csimm wrote:

Previous notes apply. This rescued us from an otherwise abysmal wine consumption lineup earlier in the evening. 93+ points. Some short term (6 months) cellaring is probably best, but it performed like a champ after just a little bit of air.

11/18/2017 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

Popped 'n poured at a restaurant, with 9 other members of my wine group. One member noted some off putting smell, but the rest of us didn't pick that up. A nice wine, a longer finish would have given it another point.

10/20/2017 - SadEdjo wrote:

rich ruby colour. Still somewhat exuberant, youthful (and sweet) red fruit. Plush tannins, rich texture. Good floral & acidic lift. Though drinking well now it would benefit at least another year in the bottle.

9/12/2017 - mmh wrote:

Drank over three days. At first it was a bit too much with lots of alcohol and massive fruit. On day three, however it was excellent. Much more balanced, complex and deep. Long, smooth aftertaste. Still quite massive, though.

8/14/2017 - SMHalps wrote:

NOTE: Despite the vintage listing on Cellartracker, I think this was a NON-Vintage wine. I purchased it from Garagiste. My inventory says I bought 4 of these, I'll have to double check the vintage (or lack thereof) on all of them. Anyway, ehhhh...and overpriced. Slightly sour taste.

8/2/2017 - Loren Sonkin wrote:

Salon, Hillside Select Vertical, ZH, Bernabeleva (Our home): Probably the weakest wine of the flight, this is still a great wine. It was slow oxed for 24 hours before opening which probably helped it. Purple in color, ruby at the rim. The nose has nice cassis and cedar with a bit of celery (some called it bell pepper). On the palate, it is still full bodied but doesn't have the weight of the others. This wine was certainly not helped being between the 07 and the 12. Some found heat on the finish, I did not. I did get another "Bordeaux" styled Napa Cab. I think it will be helped with some time in the cellar and could even improve with a decade of storage.

7/26/2017 - SMHalps Likes this wine:

Part of a "O'Shaughnessy vs. Other Napa Wineries" night" 3 O'Shaughnessys, 1 Anderson Conn Valley Cabernet and 1 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet. The 3 O'Sh wines were a Chardonnay, a Merlot and a 2010 Cabernet Howell Mountain. 8 people, all of the wines were open for at least 30 minutes before pouring, none were decanted.

Honestly, I enjoyed my previous bottle (from last November) much more. The group was let down by this bottle. Still tons of fruit, but the structure seems to be fading away.

4/8/2017 - bonedoc wrote:

Ditto previous notes, great bottle of Napa left bank Bordeaux. Drink w decant, or hold for 5-10 yrs. (btw, I HATE the stupid wax capsule - ruins the cork and makes it a small torture to open an aged bottle.)

4/18/2017 - wgmccallum Likes this wine:

Inky purple. Rich shifting aroma of black cherries, mint, graphite, chocolate, with a lovely top note of dry aromatic wood. On the palate a cloak of dark fruit woven from firm tannins and a shimmering acid trim, with a shockingly long finish that wakes and shakes the soul. An amazing wine. 50 + 18 + 19 + 10 = 97.

4/17/2017 - barolo300 Likes this wine:

Everything in place to give it a future.. wish I hadn't opened it this young though...

11/20/2016 - Collector1855 wrote:

Napa Valley Master Class with Robert Parker; 11/10/2016-11/20/2016 (Napa Valley): Corked

11/18/2016 - Collector1855 wrote:

Napa Valley Master Class with Robert Parker; 11/10/2016-11/20/2016 (Napa Valley): During a Napa 2007 horizontal tasting guided by Robert Parker. From clay soil. Fantastic nose of dark fruit, cassis, pine, eucalyptus, herbs. Wow. Massive palate, full bodied, lots of layers, a bit too rich for my taste. A touch dry on the finish. 96+

1/20/2017 - cmueller Likes this wine:

Wow, polished with the right amount of age. Big and smooth but still complex, as close to perfection as I've had in a while.