4/7/2024 - Kirk Grant wrote:

It's been about 3 weeks since my friend opened this, so this note is from memory. This is a special wine, full stop. The wine has an intense mineral core that runs through the center of everything like a laser, with notes of lime, kiwi, and hints of bergamot on the nose. This is a singular Champagne...I would not compare this to any other Blanc de Blanc that I've ever had...but the tension on the palate does remind me of the Coeur de Cuvee right no release. I'm going to be very curious to taste this with more age on it...it seems like this wine might last decades (and improve) with good storage. Outstanding!!!

4/3/2024 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Opened to enjoy while we celebrated the life of our 22 year old cat. This is in a lovely spot, and has years of life left to go...but seemed to be in the perfect spot. Notes of earth, clove, and drying red fruits on the nose. On the palate flavor of cherry, strawberry, tomato leaf, and faint hints of mushroom amongst the fruit notes. Enjoy now - 2033+

10/10/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

My friend opened this (and the 2019 Breeze) over his Birthday weekend while we were together to celebrate. It's frea@ing brilliant...there's a level of purity, authenticity, tension, and balance that I crave, search out, and treasure in fine wine. This is one of the world's best white wines. Extraordinary!!

12/17/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was opened, decanted for 5 hours, and re-tasted the following evening. Purchased on release and stored in my Eurocave or a passive cellar since release. So the bottle, cork, and wine were in the best possible condition save from the Chateau itself.

All that being said, I was not that impressed with this wine. To me, this has more in-common with a Napa Cabernet than it does with other producers from Pauillac. There's a level of ripeness to this wine that feels out of balance (to me). Rich and full in body, with robust notes of blackberry, black plum, and dark chocolate and a lingering note of oak on the finish that feels (to me) like it's just a tad too overbearing. People that prefer full-bodied red wines, that are richly layered, will enjoy this wine. Outstanding

11/22/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was purchased on release & stored in my Eurocave. The color on this bottle looked quite advanced, showing more bricking then I would have expected. The wine is intact, and correct, but nothing of a "wow" factor I had hopes for. Based on this, I'll be drinking my other bottle within the next 2-4 years.

11/13/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

We opened this for my friend's birthday, along side and after a 2019 Burg 1er as well. This is coiled very tightly still, like it's nowhere ready to enjoy at this point in time. It was nice, but clearly just a shadow of what it WILL BE, later down the time. The quality and complexity are obvious, but its going to need another 10-ish years. Check back in 2035

11/13/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was opened and tasted over two days. It' freaking brilliant...there is a lovely harmony here between the fruit & acidity. Just delicious, and easy to love. This feels like it's got the structure and pedigree to last 25+ years with good storage, but it's all primary and bright fruit right now. Next bottle in 15 years.

11/8/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Bottle 1 of 4 : This bottle the wine was a bit more golden than I would have expected, but smelled and tasted correct. It just looked more mature in color. Typical scents of pear & crushed rocks on the nose, with a medium long finish and flavors of pear, apple, and mineralogy that carries along throughout the finish.

10/7/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was bottle 2 of 4 and served as a part of a tasting, so this is just a brief impression. There is an elegance and beauty to this vintage that is special. There still feels like there is a lot in reserve here. Check in again in 1-2 years (if I can be patient).

10/7/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Opened to celebrate with family at a reunion that has been 5+ years in the making. My wife's parents were married in 1972 so it seemed like a fun bottle to bring to share at the family reunion. This is nice, there's a good dose of sweetness that seemed to call for blue cheese, and other salty snacks to help the wine shine. Scents of dried nectarine, clove, and something that very much reminds me of a scent I get in antique stores that have a lot of older wood products. This was a very good Rivesaltes, with some mid-palate finish that extended a little but lacked the complexity to achieve excellence or an outstanding wine. Drink between now & 2027 based on this one bottle.

6/17/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

I shared this with some old friends & new friends on my Birthday this year. The wine is very floral & perfumed, light, lifted, with good acidity and a finish that demands a second sip of the glass. I will be buying this each year…for as long as I can.

6/10/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Still quite youthful and lacking a level of depth that I was hoping for. Honestly a real big letdown.

6/9/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was the WOTN in our group of people that are ITB of wine retail. The fruit is quite dominant right now, and there was a lovely interplay of spice & earth. A wine that will really shine in another 8-10 years time. I will open my next bottle in 2029+

6/9/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was lean, vibrant, and beautiful on the nose. Pale ruby in the glass with a hint of bricking as expected from a wine that has a little bottle age. This is a lean, high acid, and lifted wine that paired beautifully w/ provincial chicken & wild rice. I think Jason Stein was right, this is a wine that will still improve with another 3-5 years in bottle. Excellent!!!

5/27/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Quite possibly one of the most exciting wines I’ve had from Volnay in years. Lifted aromatics, high acidity, vibrant red fruits, and a hint of earth & tilled farmland. A Brilliant Wine!!

3/8/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This is in a lovely spot...there's a richness on the nose with scents of fresh baguette, butterscotch, and weirdly cuties or tangerine. The palate is rich and expansive with notes of custard, kumquat, candied ginger, & baked apple. This is making me realize that I need to be buying these to stash away for some time. Outstanding!!

2/3/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

PnP into Conterno Sensory glasses and consumed over 60-90 minutes with a small re-tasting the next morning. This was easy to love, but still has some room to improve with time sideways. Next bottle after 2030+ Outstanding!

2/3/2023 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was opened at a large gathering of wine geeks. I was able to taste this about 30 minutes after it's been opened, and again about 2 hours later. There was a green-ness to this that showed a prominent dill note, along with earth, and dried red fruits. There was a depth to this, but it was lacking the complexity and depth I expected. Nice to try, but not worth the tariff in my mind. Outstanding...but just barely.

12/26/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This might be one of the most complete, balanced, and breath-taking Chavaroche that I've had, going back to the 2005 vintage. Rich, intense, and brooding as you might expect, but also giving, open, and highly enjoyable. Extraordinary!

12/14/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

A brilliant wine, with a complexity on the nose that speaks to a level of harmony, elegance, and sophistication. Wait a little longer and you’re likely to be rewarded more. Outstanding!!

12/14/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

In a very nice place, for my tastes this probably still needs another 2-3 years to more fully open. Lean, focused, intense, and a wine that was a steal at the $40ish that I paid for this. Outstanding!

10/19/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

I opened this about a week after these were transported to the house. This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, & Petit Verdot (70/26/4) that is rich, bold, and yet retains a level of elegance that holds well throughout multiple days. Opened 24 hours ago w/ one glass poured last night. Flavors of black plum, blackberries, & cassis with a lingering note of dark chocolate on the long finish. While it's well balanced, the weight of the alcohol is there in every sip. I'm not sure how well this will age...but I am sure I'll enjoy my 3 remaining bottles in the next 5-10 years.

8/30/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This is lovely and surprisingly open for business. Splash decanted for 30 minutes, while it will pick up some complexity as it ages, it's delicious right now. Scents of forest floor, spice, and red fruits. The palate is lean & full of a melange of tart red fruits & potpourri. Check in again in 2-3 years if I can hold off from my remaining 5 bottles.

8/20/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This wine was poured single blind in a tasting of 18 Pinot Noirs from Europe (excluding Burgundy). Of the tasting this was probably in the top 3 of the whole tasting. It's the sort of thing that certainly made everyone in the tasting pay attention. As you'd expect with a 12 year old Pinot, the tannins are starting to integrate, there was a seamlessness to this wine that everyone commented on. A really lovely bottle of wine. I deeply regret not buying more of these wines when others did not know about this producer.

8/21/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was served blind in a night where we tasted 18 Pinot Noirs from Europe (anywhere but Burgundy). The first thing that we all noticed was this intense almost singular note of fresh peaches. It was captivating, and complex, but also difficult to put to a place or grape varietal. Initially I was thinking Viognier, but the acidity was too high. Final guess, was that it was a wine I had never tasted before and so I landed on Vatan or Chave Hermitage blanc. It was a lucky guess, but I have to say that I will certainly be seeking out this wine should I ever find it someplace with a reasonable price.

8/20/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was really lovely and the comparisons to Burgundy speak to the elegance and poise that this wine has in spades. Velvety and seamless on the palate with spice, red fruits, and tobacco. This is a wine that easily can go another 20+ years sideways, and if I'm good I'll hold off from checking in on this wine for at least another 10 years.

8/9/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Forget this in the cellar for another 5+ years...this requires patience. This is super tight, even with 2+ hours in a decanter. Patience is required for the remaining bottles.

7/31/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Paired with sushi, and I couldn't be happier. A complex nose of lime zest, crushed chalk, with a hint of sea air. The palate is clean and precise with notes of lemon, cherimoya, with a lingering note of green apple along a medium length finish. Excellent!!!

7/15/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

The last of 3 bottles purchased and the best looking and tasting of them all. While the other bottles were "drinkable" they were not the "wow" experience I was hoping to get from a 40+ year old bottle of Corton-Bressandes. This was worth all the wait. It's been sitting at a 45 degree angle for the better part of the last two years. All the sediment was settled into one small section of the punt, and it was served in Conterno Sensory glasses. My friend's wife said, "Is this Musar?" and on the nose, it's so easy to see why she thought that. I could even see myself getting confused by this if blinded. There were notes of concrete, dried red fruits, potpourri, and forest floor on the nose. The palate was seamless, with no perceptible tannin at this stage in life. The wine just glided across the palate in a way that only old wines can. I spent probably 90-120 minutes with this and it was not only alive, but quite sturdy with minimal fatigue on the palate as the night wore on. A real treat to get to share something like this with friends that are equally passionate. Outstanding!

7/15/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

I have to say that I have been torn about when to open this wine, and was unsure of what to expect from this on opening it. There was a small part of me that was worried it was going to be a natural mess like the 2012 La Grande Colline Cornas which was so dirty I couldn't get past the nose about a year or two ago when I tried that. This on the other hand...lived up to all the hype. It might very well have been one of the most complete bottles of Cornas that I've ever tried. On the nose there is a wildness that calls to mind the image of a vineyard that was over-grown, something almost feral with oil-brined black olives, black pepper, and drying blackberries on the nose. The palate was wide-open, smooth, with red fruits, mushrooms, spice, and tannins that were present, but rounded and supportive in a way that seemed to drag out the length of the finish just a bit longer each time I took a sip. Extraordinary, epic, and well worth the hype. This was a very generous Veteran's Day gift from someone in the wine Berserker's forums. What an awesome community.

7/15/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was a lot richer, lacking the acidic-cut/tension of the 2008, tasted side by side...it was still exceptional. This is the wine that I could see my mother-in-law preferring. On the nose, I could see the scents of vanilla, yellow apple, & pear throwing off someone into thinking it's a Chardonnay. All in all, I feel very lucky to have a friend that did a much better job of aging these wines than I did. What a treat to taste these fully-mature whites side-by-side.

7/15/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

There was a depth, elegance, & focus to this that brings a thought of harmony to mind. Medium bodied, med+ acidity, with scents of dried nectarine, ruby grapefruit, and faint notes of white pepper. There's a bit of a waxy-feel on the palate with lingering notes of bee pollen. Harmony, elegancy, and for those that love fuller-bodied wine this walks a nice line between the tension framed by the acidity and the weight & expansion in the mid-palate. I haven't tasted this wine since 2015.

7/15/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This is my first time with this Tête de cuvée. It's been far too long, and I'm realizing that I have seriously missed out in not buying this wine for the last decade+ of my wine life. There's a depth & complexity on the nose that reminds me of my first time with the 1996 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill back in 2011. Notes of brioche, green apple, with hints of lemon zest lingering in the background. The finish on this is long and seems to come in waves...beckoning for another sip. Sadly, with four of us...this didn't last more than 45 minutes. Outstanding!!!

7/16/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This took about 30 minutes to open up, but it was thoroughly enjoyed with some truffle snacks.

7/2/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

A light ruby leading to a rosé colored rim. Scents of earth, cherry, alcohol, & orange rind. On the palate this light bodied red leads with wild strawberry, cranberry, & tobacco. There is little midpalate, and a short finish, but the wine is framed by good acidity & is quite lovely with food. Very Good.

7/2/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Almost opaque with a deep ruby core. This is a wine that should be aged for all the complexities to come out of it. Right now the nose is quite fruity with plum, blueberry, with a hint of mulling spices & tar. On the palate, this is full bodied, not for those (at this stage) that are seeking balance & poise. This is a jacked-up MMA fighter that’s ready to go from the first sip. The best descriptor really would be a dry port for the flavor profile. It paired beautifully with our rib-eyes. Certainly worth time & attention. If I saw this again, I’d buy 3 to age a lot longer than I did this one. Outstanding!!

6/16/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Others that are having positive experiences with this wine are spot on. There is a balance, cut, and poise that this wine has that rests on the razor's edge. This is light and has intense flavors of tart red fruits, with scents forest floor & potpourri. This is a wine to buy in bulk...

5/28/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Black as night, scents of black & blue fruit with an undercurrent of pasture manure. On the palate the tannin is dominant with fruit that isn’t ready to give up the structure yet. HOLD 5+ years

5/28/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Amber in color, scents is dried apricot, bee pollen, & hay. On the palate flavors of honey, poached peaches, kumquat, and spice that linger on the finish for over a minute. An iconic wine that deserves the praise it gets. Extraordinary.

5/21/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was much richer & fuller in body than the Chettilons, there's a hint of oxidation in style (it could also be that this was exposed to heat while in transportation between distributor & retailer). I wish I had more detailed notes, but to be honest, I was kind of let down by this wine...but that should not distract from the quality of this wine which is among the best. Pair this with food for future enjoyment.

5/20/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Wow…just wow! Light golden yellow in the glass. Scents of juicy fruit bubble gum, yellow apple, & tropical fruits. On the palate ripe tropical fruits, nutmeg, and clove…just a long, long finish. Wow…Extraordinary!!!

4/29/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was opened to celebrate my in-laws 50th anniversary because this bottle seemed fitting to pair with ribeye. This bottle also worked as there is a picture of a woman holding two children on her hips and my wife & her brother are the only children they had. The wine was big, and bold, and seems to come across as having a lot of polish. Well-made doesn't even begin to fully cover my thoughts on these wines. While I will admit that this is not a style of wine that I enjoy any longer...I can certainly see how so many people really love these wines. They are intensely perfumed and about fullest body that I've ever encountered on a wine. This very much feels like whole cream does in the mouth with a sense of coating the tongue, teeth, and mouth in a way that no other wine I've had does. Outstanding+

5/18/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

In many ways this reminded me of high quality Chablis, there was notes of crushed sea shells, green apple, and bee pollen, the palate had high acidity with notes of lemon, green apple, & crushed stone. The acidity seemed dialed up to 11, but there was a lovely texture & balance to this wine.

5/18/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This was quite lite & elegant with high-toned red fruits on the nose & palate. A very nice bottle of wine.

5/8/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

A pale salmon in the glass, with scents of melon, floral notes, a nose that's easy to love. The palate is clean, crisp, and refreshing with notes of wild strawberries, kiwi, and kumquat that linger nicely and are all pulled together with mouth-watering acidity. Bravo!!

5/1/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

Consumed over three days, it was the most elegant on day one, the most intense on the nose day two, and there was a solid core of acidity throughout the time we drank & enjoyed this wine. A lovely shift that is different from Sancerre & New Zealand...as it should be. A favorite of ours from Oregon.

4/29/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

This wine was served to celebrate the legacy of my in-laws 50th anniversary while in St. John's. I think time, place, people, and meaning can deeply impact how wine is remembered or appreciated. This was the best bottle of 2008 Dom that I've had to-date. There was a deep and complex nose that shifted each time the glass was lifted for a sip or a sniff. The wine was bright and focused, with a mid-palate that seemed to shift like the tides. While we served this with food, this wine, tonight was spectacular with the food and without. I don't think the bottle lasted us more than 2 hours, but it was a pleasure to drink this from start to finish.

5/6/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

PnP then tasted from a Grassl Liberte. A bright ruby red in the glass, scents of eucalyptus, red fruits, and floral notes...in many ways reminding me of old fashon cough drops, but slightly fruitier. On the palate the wine is silky smooth, leading with a melange of tart red fruits followed by the cut of acidity and a medium length finish. Overall, this is a special wine, and possibly one of the best I've had...but this also seems to be pleading for more time sideways to add a little more depth & complexity that can only come with time sideways. Check back again in 2027. Outstanding!

4/26/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

What a wonderful find, this is a new grower for me. A wine that was loved by all (including those that "don't like Champagne") and lasted well over two days or about 38 hours. There is a cut & tension on this wine that feels both authentic and typical for a quality BdB. I'll be interested to see how the vintage Champagnes are...if they're a step-up in quality I'll be buying lots more. Outstanding!!

4/28/2022 - Kirk Grant wrote:

In the glass this has a vivid ruby core with a hint of bricking at the rim. The nose at the initial pour was all funk, manure, & healthy fresh earth. With time in the glass scents of dried red fruits, leather, & tobacco emerge. The palate Leads with tart cherry, strawberry, orange rind, & clove along a medium length finish. From a difficult yet not disastrous vintage, for a wine of this quality & pedigree to be this delicious and still holding structure that could allow this to improve a little within the next 4-8 years is why I love these wines. Outstanding!!