11/16/2021 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Melon, apricot, strawberry. Juicy on the attack, yielding to peach pit. Refreshing acidity, low alcohol. Very pleasant wine. A different impression from my previous bottles, though whether that’s due to FedEx’s taking this wine on a two week tour or my slight cold, only time will tell.

10/9/2021 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Quite the disappointing bottle following the last one—comes across as overly developed and on its way down. Flawed? Though not showing any signs of it.

5/10/2021 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Bigger, more full-bodied version of Cab Franc. Medium ruby. Approachable but still-youthful tannin that need a bit of time to resolve. Dark berries and herbs. Noticeable alcohol.

9/27/2018 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

From a very poor Chambers lot - the last bottle, and the only one with any hint of life. Not much of a hint, mind you, but the brown color has the slightest hint of red and the oxidized, sherried nose shows the slightest suggestion of cherry. Chalky palate, reasonable structure, but the poor conditions this bottle likely suffered make this a poor representative.

7/21/2018 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Dark berries, bit of herbs, smooth, light tingly tannin, nice acid.

5/6/2018 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Redman Cellar Door (Coonawarra): The only Shiraz made with indigenous yeast. Tart blueberry and raspberry with a bit of darker plum; minty, herbal. High acid, medium fine tannin. Very good.

2/15/2018 - CJM wrote:

Clear garnet with rim browning. Rubber, red cherry, vanilla. Low acids, medium tannins. Cinnamon. Short balanced finish.

8/20/2017 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Very ripe blackberries and plums on the nose, with some bramble; very rich and ripe. Full bodied. Ripe, slightly bitter blackberry and cedar. No prescriptive tannin. Med-low acid. Short finish of berry.

9/1/2017 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Sweet cedar, dark. Cherries and plums, earth. Nice structure with medium tannins that are quite nice with some air. Very pretty.

12/6/2014 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

December birthdays (Coventry): Fairly simple/plain Sauternes. Reasonable botrytis with medium acid, but very little complexity. Okay.

Retried over a couple of days: it has nice structure (honeyed sweetness, medium acidity, nice botrytis spice) and is quite pleasant, but lacks much character or complexity.

Not sure if the wine CT#1408681 ("declassified Yquem," with hard-to-believe scores as high as 93) is an accurate representation of this , but there are at least two reasons to doubt it: it (i) lacks the richness and concentration, and (ii) Garagiste.

1/2/2017 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Norwegian Cruise Line by the glass list (quick impressions) (Jade): Very simple, fruit-forward port; raspberries; very little structure, with almost no tannin and little acid.

10/4/2016 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Ackerized. Another bottle that shows faint hints of what once was - rich, waxy, with tropical notes and a bit of spice - but is sadly well beyond its prime (or another victim of Acker's less-than-careful review of its auction wine provenance).

7/1/2016 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Acker wines - a fortnight of culling crap from the cellar; 6/29/2016-7/13/2016: I have had many bottles of this wine, and 100s of bottles of Lytton, and I have just one question:

What the Hell does Acker do to wines before releasing them? Seriously, does anybody there actually taste any of the wines? The ONLY two bottles of 95 Lytton I ever had that were bad were both Acker auction purchases.

For those keeping track at home, I'm zero for my last six Acker purchases that I opened. Zero.

6/8/2016 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Very dark, opaque ruby. Fairly rich nose of darker ripe red fruit, cedar, and graphite; not a Margaux nose, but certainly Bordeaux. The palate is rich, with red and black fruit, loads of graphite, black tea, and some spicy oak and vanilla. Very tight, with loads of tannin and medium acid. Big, but not grotesquely so. Still quite young and unyielding, but with nice potential. Some mineral on the medium-length cassis/cherry finish. Very good. 90-93.

2/21/2009 - salil wrote:

Light yellow colour and completely dominated by sulfur at first. After a few hours in a decanter the sulfur recedes a little (without ever going away completely) allowing aromas of oranges, apples, white fruits and minerals to emerge. Fabulous on the palate with lots of power and precision - this is packed with ripe mango, orange and white fruit flavours with tremendous minerality and bright acidity underneath. Finishes long and clean. Really impressive now - and likely to be quite stunning several years down the line.

3/7/2015 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

I remember how happy I was the day that I ordered this mixed case of 1970s Produttori from Chambers. Oh, Happy Day. Now, with every bottle, I experience the pain of what might have been had they not all been cooked! Another crappy bottle. To be fair to Chambers, the fill and cork *looked* okay. To be less fair to Chambers - did you actually TASTE any of these wines before selling them?

12/2/2015 - Rieslingfan wrote:

First Dirler-Cade Riesling that I have had in a long time. Unfortunately the placement of this wine in the tasting was not optimal, in that it followed a Donnhoff kabinett that was notably sweeter. That being said, it was lovely on the nose - all white flowers and ripe tree fruit. It ended up showing a little bit austere on the palate during the tasting. Thinking back to when I first opened it in prep for the event there was actually very fine balance , and for an Alsace wine that is supposedly sweet it came across as barely off dry and with fine richness. I would love to try another bottle on its own.

11/11/2012 - David Paris (dbp) wrote:

Jurafest 2012, Day 3 (E&R Wine Shop, Portland OR): Really nice balanced funk on the nose. Some really meaty mushrooms, mixed with dried pine needles and only mild sweet fruits. Exhuberant fruits on the palate, with a nice scabby band-aid (mmm delicious), mixed with nice light cherry fruit. The finish has an eruption of fruit at first, trailing into acid and funk. Lots of funk, with a bacterial notion taking over that's off-putting. Interesting wine, at least.

10/9/2015 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

The drinking window on these is a bit too generous, as they are certainly on the way down. Nutty, oxidative almond, orange peel, mineral, very little fruit. Fat and rich, with almond and dried orange peel and a bit of saline on the palate. Okay acidity. Medium finish, with a slight (again, dried orange peel) bitterness at the end.

10/2/2015 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Had this right after the 2013 village Givry, and expected quite a bit, but this was disappointing. Weird, rich nose of blue and black fruit, with very little red fruit. Bunch of VA. Earth, dirt. Hard to evaluate what's underneath the volatile acidity. Flawed.

Update: As I try a sip the next day, I am quite confused by past notes on this wine. One notes "purity and crunch" and another "meaty, funky, wild" but both liking the wine. This bottle certainly shows no purity, but a good deal of funky/wild though not in a good way. There is also a good dose of unintegrated oak. It is clearly flawed unless one thinks a ton of VA is a feature, but what's under that is quite confusing.

7/10/2015 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Nose of dried berry fruit, plum, blackberry liquor. Silky, with good structure and plenty of (fuzzy, grippy) tannin to age another ten years, at least. Alcohol is kept well in check. Blind, I would have no idea where to go, country or grape. Very pretty wine, though I would not invest the tariff.

6/14/2015 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

I hope this was a flawed/heat damaged bottle. Showed very little on the nose or palate. Advanced, bitter, with no fruit.

6/14/2015 - salil wrote:

It is not fair to bottle this in 750 ml formats. Anything with this level of sheer lightness, elegance, and such brightness and vibrancy to the fruit, herbal and earthy flavours really needs to be bottled in mags at least, as two of us did a number on a bottle in very little time.

2/16/2013 - Seth Rosenberg Likes this wine:

Rieslingfeier - BYOB Main Event (Rouge Tomate, NYC): AP #25. My bottle. Medium-dark orange brown. Sick nose of soaring spices, dried apricot and peach. Lift with huge power. Screaming sweetness and acid on the palate. Sweet and sour, peach, peach pit, lime, mineral and spice. Just fucking perfect. Rich and lovely - yet burning. A perfect bottle - I am thrilled. Nose - 6/6, Palate - 6/6, Finish - 6/6, Je Ne Sais Quoi - 2/2 = 20/20.

5/25/2015 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Very simple, sweet strawberry. Even mimosas couldn't save it.

8/15/2014 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

A tasting of Rieslings, Sauvignon Blancs, and other random whites. (Northport): This is not a wine; it is an abomination. The group decided unanimously that I must be an evil sadist for including it in the lineup. They are correct, but I now have confirmation that I am not alone in my despising/hating/loathing this "wine." Because I hate myself, I tried it over several days and once--once, and for only a second--found something that wasn't vile.

5/25/2014 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

As per previous notes, a disturbing candied quality. However, after several days and a couple of aggressive decants, the Jolly Rancher fades a bit, leaving a simple tart cranberry beauj that's perhaps only a step above (due to a hint of sage complexity) the $5 Nouveau in the bright floral bottle. Does anybody want the rest of these? I'm not sure burying them in the cellar and hoping does anything more than waste cellar space.

5/8/2013 - swapdoc Likes this wine:

Great Wines of Italy Tasting (Baroli) (NYC): Mineral and supple, reminded me of a ripe burgundy or a young gymnast's body.

11/8/2013 - Seth Rosenberg Likes this wine:

Mixed nose of bright cherry and raspberry fruit, along with some stony minerality, and then a quite vegetal green pepper thing that is a little overbearing. The palate is similar, with decent mouthfeel and balance in the attack and middle - light red fruit, some stones, a salty minerality. But as the palate develops we begin to see a serious hollow character - some flavor and body are clearly missing. The finish is short, vegetal, light and bitter - it's a problem. Disappointing. Nose - 4.5/6, Palate - 4/6, Finish - 3/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 0.5/2 = 12/20.

UPDATE 10/10 3am:
So it looks like I was wrong about this - it has blossomed in the bottle (put the cork back in - not in the fridge) about 32 hours later. The nose is really gorgeous now with crystalline red strawberry and raspberry fruit, rock candy, pine, herbs and forest floor. It's pretty intoxicating - with a musty-jammy-sweetness that's hard to describe. Some stones and minerality, along with a nice red-brown spice component. It's opened up on the palate as well and has knitted itself together. The wine is light bodied, but the flavors are very strong - with a red fruit sucrosity that is hard to beat. It's given lift by the minerals, stones and spice - it's somewhat puckery with crisp red fruit acid to go along with the jammy sweetness. The acid shows up as citrus notes in the wings of the mouth, and there is a bit of the herbal component that adds to the complexity and the creaminess that comes out. The finish follows right from the palate - a little more tart, focusing on cherry, sour cherry, stones and minerals. The finish is pretty, not particularly long. Overall, this is a damn delicious bottle of wine - in a sensual way one of the most enjoyable I've had in a while. Nose - 5.5/6, Palate - 5/6, Finish - 4/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1.5/2 = 16/20.

11/6/2013 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Bright medium ruby. Ripe, tart cranberry, with strawberry and raspberry, and herbal (sage) and earthy notes. Low tannin, medium-plus acid, and a pleasant tartness. This improved with several hours of air, though remained a fairly simple, angular wine of earthy, sage-y tart berry. Good.

12/7/2012 - indiscriminate palate wrote:

Shabbat (Coventry, CT): Lot 9.097. Absolutely a treat now with very approachable tannins, though has stuffing to last and last and last. Silky medium body with red and black fruit, tar, pressed flowers, light savory qualities, chalky tannin, and excellent acidity. I cannot wait to break into the Riservas (lots 10+). But wait I must.

6/2/2011 - kietkopelli wrote:

I am scoring this wine 2 points higher than the tasting notes because of the hype around it and Todd Anderson's reputation as a winemaker but frankly there are dozens of Cali cabs in the $100 range that shows better than this wine. This review is a composite of 3 tastings from the same bottle: first is pop-and-pour, second is poured through a Vinturi, and third is decanted for 6 hours. The pop-and-pour is virtually not worth drinking, Vinturi is much better, but after 4 hours in the decanter it showed extremely well and after 6 hours it started to fade. The fruit is super bright coming out of the bottle but on the serious sniff gamy meat and cedar dominates. In the mouth tannins dominate sour cherries, raspberries and pomegranate. Lots of cedar and tobacco on the back end. Spices are virtually nonexistent on this wine. Finishes moderately long but this wine is still young.

It's nice to have few of bottles for the trophy case but for my money I think Caymus Special Selection, Arietta H Block, and Joseph Phelps Insignia beats this wine by a wide margin. I'll sit on the rest of the case for 3-4 years before tasting it again. Hopefully it will live up to the hype.

Remember you don't drink the label.

11/28/2010 - rdfech01 wrote:

A pleasant surprise. I grabbed this as a back up bottle. After all, it is just the Geyserville. This has no business still being so good. Restrained perfumed nose but blue/black berry jam fruit with pleasing mouth feel and a good finish. Not a "wow" but a good bottle of juice.