1/21/2022 - Ed in Inverness Likes this wine:

Doing well! I was worried that this might be tipping over the edge to portiness or raisin but this bottle tonight was very enjoyable. Nose a bit muted but with some swirling with my hand on top revealed rich boysenberry, forest leaves on the nose. A relatively restrained syrah with good acidity, receding tannins and sufficient fruit. Good blackberry, bramble and briar, sour plum on the mouth. Lovely wine with decent complexity. Probably should be drunk sooner than later but might continue to evolve into a wine with savory/sour fruit/balsamic characteristics (which I enjoy).

11/30/2021 - tanglenet wrote:

Opened not decanted and served chilled. Better as it warms up. Lemon lime notes; an acidic bite; slightly watery. Ends with a sour finish. Good.

3/3/2019 - tanglenet wrote:

I bought either 6 or 12 of these. I’m running a 50% rate of flawed bottles that are undrinkable.

11/24/2018 - patwjr wrote:

Just bought on K&L Wines auction. Bad bottle/cork, previous leakage. Unfortunately not revealed until removing the capsule & tasting the wine. Both bottles were this way. Bad storage by previous owner.

11/28/2018 - Enfant sauvage wrote:

My first dropped bottle. But it smelled great as it oozed across the basement floor...

11/15/2018 - djchango77 wrote:

Corked. Bummer. There was still some fruit present there, under that wet dog...

8/30/2018 - Ed in Inverness Likes this wine:

Amazing consensus in tasting notes. I swear I wrote this before reading... Strawberry, pomegranate, leather and a herbal note on nose. Strawberry, cranberry, leather with some tannins on the finish (drying due to its late stage of maturation or just unresolved tannins so it could improve with a bit of time?). To be safe, drink up. Very good value at my purchase price of $25 just this year.

8/21/2018 - Keith Levenberg Likes this wine:

A true old-style Bordeaux in a strict, even austere fashion, not just on account of its brawny tannic muscle but also unafraid to show a bitter edge to the fruit - this reminds me very much of how the 1996s tasted on release. This appears to make zero concessions to accessibility at this stage in its life, but it's not hiding anything, it's all there behind the tight structure, and when you're drinking it with food those drying tannins actually relax enough to turn the wine into something you could almost describe as smooth. The fruit is in a deep pitch, all blackberry and black cherry on the acute edge of ripeness, no sign of the oak at all. At its best with a block of cheddar. I don't know if this has all the ingredients to reach the level of the great Talbots from decades ago, but I also suspect that most people tasting it now will underrate it on account of a style that's almost jarringly atypical in the current year but used to be pretty standard.

3/19/2018 - djhammond Likes this wine:

For myself the best Branaire Ducru drinking at present, and an excellent drink. Not as forward as some of its left bank contemporaries, this needs some hours in the decanter. The nose is very typical for the year; very ripe and full of blackcurrent and plum. However, on the palate the wine does not yet possess the opulence of other wines of the vintage with firm tannin being dominant. However, everything is in balance, but the tannins at this stage, do inhibit the complete experience. As with many left bank wines in this often maligned vintage, contrary to many observations, this has a structure and complexity to keep developing and mature for the next 10 to 20 years.

9/6/2017 - cmannuel wrote:

I visited Clos du Val this past week in Napa and had the opportunity to speak with Ted Henry, the Head Winemaker, regarding this 2012 Reserve Cabernet. He recommends aging it for 5-7 years. Wanted to share the recommendation as I have not yet opened mine.