3/31/2024 - tropa56 Does not like this wine:

I am often disappointed with Pontet Canet and this time was no different. Read some nice reviews so I bought a couple bottles. Decanted around an hour and drank slow. Nose was very nice. Typical Paulliac with cassis, graphite and some black fruits. Palate was almost dead. Nothing in the middle and kind of aggressive acid on the finish. Maybe needs more time? Feel like this wine is over hyped, commanding almost second growth money, but I am usually not impressed. I actually like 06 Bordeaux but not this one.

2/23/2024 - TWSA Does not like this wine:

Nose: black fruits, nuts, blackberry jam, hoisin sauce, hints of tar
Notes: certainly very young and completely not ready for consumption. It is a bit difficult to rate this fairly as this is so painstakingly young. You can feel the heat of the vintage towards the end which is quite different to the feeling I got in the beginning. By staying true to myself, and again I must say this is probably due to drinking it too young.
Drink: 2035+
Rating: 88?

2/11/2024 - Ozen Likes this wine:

Mama Mia, what a wine, what an insanely 'I am in love again in summer' kind of wine. This is soooo good. This Unico lifts you up from mother earth and let you float like an eagle in high skies on a late hot summer afternoon.

Truly one of a kind! For sure one of the most appealing wines I have ever tasted. This unique wine embodies the essence of 'Blood Orange to perfection'. Its incredibly enticing flavor offers a rare concentration and perfection that no blood orange or any other fruit could. While this wine is orange as orange should be if we would want every human being to experience perfection in orange, if not everything fruit. It captures the essence of the book 'Fruit' by the chef of Chez Panisse. Nature provides a mere glimpse of what the perfect 'beyond the orange' elixer would taste like. The aftertaste is deep, intense and so long.

I highly recommend that anyone with a passion for wine (or even those who simply deeply appreciate the best of what fruit can produce), indulge in Vega Sicilia Unico at least once in your lifetime, preferably from a vintage like 1994. Absolutely stunning, if not downright magical. However steep this is worth the money.

10/29/2023 - eschaefer wrote:

The most unique thing about these Rousseau’s I have been drinking lately, mostly clos st Jacque 2006, 2009, 2013, 2016, is that they have a metamorphosis in the glass over a couple of hours. 2009 tonight. First smell and taste it was a little tight, weak, and the color had a light rust tinged hue at the edge. Literally after hour the wine is pure silk; and a deeper shade of garnet with less rust edge. The chrysalis! Aromas of savory spice box coupled with succulent cherry and black raspberry fruit. Rose petals and more fruit on the palate. Medium bodied, easy tannin, , and medium acid. Lingering finish like a lover you don’t want to leave. Highly recommended.

8/30/2023 - Ozen Likes this wine:

We drank this next to Haut Brion 2008. The Grange being is at its very peak: Rich with lots of dark ripe midsummer fruit, well balanced, at the same time quite sweet, very shiraz at its very best, smooth full bodied, quite jammy but never heavy. And as said earlier very ripe fruit. It can not really compete with the HB next to it though, being just less complex, less sophisticated but still very enjoyable in its truly shiraz greatness. It does have years of life ahead.

8/30/2023 - Ozen wrote:

Remarkably great wine for this not star vintage! Equally remarkable the Haut Brion kept improving and only showed its true quality to the fullest the 3rd (!) day, displaying a wonderfully complex, full bodied (althoug next to the Grange 98, feminine) grand vin. The 3 day evolution (with cork in the bottle of course) probably speaks more to its youth but the final glass clearly hints we are talking about a truly wonderful wine in the making here. A must buy and relatively affordable given its quality.

5/5/2023 - Ozen Does not like this wine:

This clearly is over the hill. Oxidative and that is not the first one, same for the 3004 several times, if anything it is an overdosis of raisiny flavours, very unpleasant. Makes me wonder how the 2013-2016 will hold themselves.

5/7/2023 - Ozen Likes this wine:

Such an incredibly satisfying wine. But you need to take time to taste this, preferably just the wine, just with a very few friends, maybe even just one, and let the wine get into its own. To its magical peak, so intensely beautifully complete and mature. Sumptuous as the definition of ripened beauty. A nose of ripe subtle fully intergrated fruit, slight raisin, vanille, complex. With its magical combination of fruit coulis and minerality if not a kind of acidity that gives this wine its tantalizing aftertaste. This wine makes you live a late warm soothing summer afternoon, on the brink of an early warm autumn with yellow and orange leaves, and all the magic of the season. It tells you how good life is at times. Vega Sicilia Unico 1994 is the definition of such a day in the year. Everything is whole. This grand vin is a phenomena, it's that good! And it makes you long for one more sip.......after the last.

3/26/2023 - Ozen Likes this wine:

I am addicted to this L'Evangile in this vintage. Specifically even more so the 2nd day. It's a incredibly compelling Pomerol, unique, vin d'emotion. One of my alltime favourites.

11/9/2021 - csimm wrote:

Halloween in the Vice Versa Cave: The best young wine I’ve had from across the Atlantic and the absolute show-stopper of the night. The concentration, sophistication, and complexity, even at such an infant stage, are so compelling and palate-grabbing that the dark fruit literally arrests every other sense and forces one to be completely enveloped in the Lafleur’s mesmerizing dose of black and blue berries, graphite, charcoal, black ink, fresh soil, bitter chocolate, peony, and molten lava Kīlauea-meets-Netherlands black licorice obsidian notes. At 54% Cabernet Franc and 46% Merlot, it is a tower of power that is effortlessly balanced and focused. The chiseled frame does everything with exacting resolve to fashion the total physique of this wine so that its fruit core and tannic edging become one. It’s juicy and all at once a tight drum that strikes perfectly with every beat of the stick, finishing defined and sustained.

What happens with air you ask? Well, heck my friend, it makes ya even happier than peeling a whole Cuties clementine in one bust of the skin. It’s just so persistent and thrilling, with more gloss than a pro bowler and his favorite oiled-up ball. The mediaeval gravel component is dark and wet, but also uber-polished. The Lafleur is the 1% of the goth crowd who actually turned out cool and managed to jet off to Paris Fashion Week, hit the runway, and then hang out in Morocco for a week just to work on the perfect tan, being mindful not to dull the foot-long tattoo of Jack Skellington on her shoulder.

Between the 2018 Lafleur and the 2018 Bryant (one of the best Napa wines I’ve ever had), the “Quasi-War” between the Frenchie Armée de Camembert and the Yankee Cheddarhead Cowboys was a straight draw. “And YOU get a hundred; and YOU get a hundred….” The Lafleur was slightly chewier than the 2018 Ausone served next to it, with the Ausone finishing considerably drier than its Pomerol competitor. In fact, when a wine crushes the company of Ausone, Abreu, Pomontory, Lokoya, Pavie, etc, etc all in one sitting, it’s time to call K&L and sell your cellar just so you can afford a couple bottles of this magical juice.

To the yacht and island owners, venture capitalists, sultans and princes, financiers, popes, and all the things I will never be, I say to you fine people: Buy the Lafleur. Buy a lot of it. Cram your bathtub full of it and swim in the spoils of the best grape juice on the planet. To a peasant like me, this is a wine that is an experience, not just something to pour down your jughole. If I had another bottle, I’d treat it like the princess it is, nuzzling up to it next to a warm fireplace, reading it poetry all night, playing with its locks of hair into the wee hours as we giggle and reminisce about times begone. (What…? Oh, sorry. It just got weird didn’t it… Anyway…)

100,000 points for now, with potential to reach infinity to the second power after a decade of cellaring, though realistically, I don’t know that you need to wait until your kids get married and then get divorced before tearing into these. Epic wine.

1/14/2023 - soyhead wrote:

nose- grassy, green pepper, minty
mouth - dark fruits, smooth and delicious, showing some tertiary flavors but still very much a wine of fruit. smooth and delicious and for many the WOTN; showing better than the '01 but the birthday boy nevertheless prefers the '03

12/18/2022 - Ozen wrote:

should have been posted under Aubert chardonnay so moved it there

7/30/2022 - WildeMeeuw Likes this wine:

Briljante wijn! Beter dan dit gaat het niet worden. Maar deze fles is al net minder dan de fles die ik eind 2021 proefde! Zie mijn vorige proefnotitie over deze wijn. Nu drinken! Nu genieten.
Soms leidt geduld tot frustratie ;)

Brilliant wine! It doesn't get any better than this. But this bottle is just less than the bottle I tasted at the end of 2021! See my previous tasting note on this wine.Drink now! Enjoy now!
Sometimes patience leads to frustration ;)

7/16/2022 - Ozen Likes this wine:

There is once again a lesson here in drinking this bottle: Even at this age there are not just great vintages, but only great bottles. This bottle of one of my all time favorite greatest domains is just lacking the so much admired great complexity and "awesomeness". The wine definitely had no cork but was simply rather unassuming and unimpressive. What a contrast with previous bottles.

At the same time I have similar experiences with the LLC 1998, some superb bottles and some quite unimpressive , if not mute, ones (even in a vintage like 1998, which was remarkably good the past couple of years).

It does make me wonder whether this is a LLC thing to count with as I notice bottle variation here seems a bit higher than other domains.

5/21/2022 - Ozen Likes this wine:

one of my all time favorites. This Palmer is so utterly beguiling and seductive, if not addictive. Deep, rich, impeccable balance, singing, highly complex and stunning in the fruit. Long after taste of wonderfully integrated warm broad smorgasbord. This has gotten to full maturity and is an amazing treat. Wonderful Margaux and Bordeaux at its very very best. 1989 is a top vintage for Palmer, better than 1983 and 1999, two proclaimed great vintages for this famous domain. Its the 1989 that has cemented Palmer as one of my all time favorite wines.

7/10/2022 - pavel_p wrote:

Opened and drank 2005 Boyd Cantenac, 2007 Pontet Canet and 2005 Smith Haut Lafitte one after the other. Surprisingly the 07 Pontet Canet was showing best right now in my eyes. Had drank the 07 for the first and last time at the estate and was not impressed (rated 89 or so), but this is now a Pauillac in perfect balance, middle weight, still good structure. The 05 Boyd Cantenac was a bit lean and thin for 2005, not a bad wine for sure but I liked it 3 years ago better and drinks more like a good 04/06 now. The 05 SHL was probably the most disappointing. Again not a bad Bdx but showing plenty of unintegrated oak upon opening. Came together a bit better with more air but nothing impressive and for sure nowhere near the 98 points Parker saw. Hold and hope for this to turn around (or sell).

1/14/2022 - MAXIMUM SATISFACTION wrote:

Decanted 4 plus hours as partially instructed by the note provide in the case. On brand with other TTT offerings even with the Petite Sirah dominance. Denser and darker than prior iterations but still retains the balance of power to freshness you’d expect at this point. Ultra ripe dark fruit, raspberry, smoke, leather, herbs, mint and salty mineral. Tooth staining density with heat on the front that will take time to settle. Manfred is a master as outside of this I can’t imagine thinking a Petite Sirah is worth this premium.

1/3/2022 - Ozen Likes this wine:

OMG, what an incredible sexy, seductive wine this is. I have had this quite a few times but this now is at its ultimate compelling peak. And yes, please give it enough air to make sure you dont drink the pop and poored closed down version of this.

This is hard to describe, for sure a super sexy wine, an enthralling experience, so incredibly exotic, so so seductive in its gum teasing minerality layered on top of while so whole into the great red smorgasbord of rich fruit, wondeful richness of this wine. You have to experience this at least once in your lifetime.

2/19/2022 - Ozen Likes this wine:

I have had this wine literally 30 times over the past 10 years and I am a huge fan of it. Today in a line up with Barton 2008 (really nice for a 2008, yng and somewhat linear), Poyferre 2000, Leoville Las Cases 1990 (deep, sophisticated, aristocratic and grand) and the Beaucaillou 1996 which is still in its best drinking window. The Beaucaillou is substantially richer than the Poyferre and the more linear Barton, and has this wonderful rich fruit palette of typical Saint Julien raspberry, strawberry essence that makes this wine to die for. I have always loved the 1996 of beaucaillou and nothing has changed over the years. Pure indulgence.

2/16/2022 - Ozen Likes this wine:

Equally surprising as I am not a big fan of 2003 in general, Poyferre shows up the 1st day as somewhat reserved but nice, and the 2nd day as a wonderfully feminine wine.

6/20/2021 - Ozen Likes this wine:

What a big wine this is: such intense fruit, a beast indeed, nothing of the Lafite femininity of certain vintages and I don't mean that in a pejorative way. This Lafite vintage is just really big, powerful, masculine, great broad smorgasbord of beautiful fruit, and a long after taste. You do understand why Lafite is... well, Lafite.

But I have a question for the reader who tasted this mammoth wine: With the 1998 clearly fully mature and having tasted the 1996 twice I do believe this Lafite is not even at its peak yet and actually would benefit from a few more years. It is very compact, kind of closed down still even. I wonder what others think about this is too early really. I will store the rest of the case for a few more years. But what a wine in the making this is!

10/20/2021 - dajapino Likes this wine:

The score is based on this producer's Chaupin...as good as it gets for Chaupin with a peacock's tail of smoothly delivered CdP aromas and flavor profiles. Bravo!

9/19/2021 - Gooddummy Likes this wine:

Highlight of my 75th BD celebration. Super garnet color and fruity aroma. Nothing sweet about this wine’s taste. Many flavors hit the palate; ripe dark stone fruits, truffles and graphite. Smooth tannins that cleanse the palate.

9/6/2021 - Andrea1975 wrote:

Very good. Pronounced aromas of chamomile tea, honey, white mushroom and bruised apple. Great freshness and extremely delicate and creamy mousse. Flavors ranging from lemon rind, crushed rocks to saline and ginger. Extremely persistent. First time I tried Salon and, while clearly a very good champagne, I was a bit disappointed (especially given hype and price). Not integrated and lacking the fruit concentration that I found in other 2002. But very good quality.

8/25/2021 - Ozen Likes this wine:

Leoville Las Cases is my favourite Saint Julien and candidate for premier cru.
Drinking this next to the Leoville Barton 2003 which surprised with a wonderful rich palette.

But, the Las Cases is its superior with an impressive, wonderfully aristocratic kingly depth and complexity that is a true aristocrat. The only downside is a very slightly drying finish.
The trick with LLC is plenty of airing before tasting, and this one even better the next day (with cork in the bottle). LLC is a royal wine. The 1996 slightly more masculine than usual, but truly grand vin! Perfectly balanced with a long harmonious finish.

This is ready to start drinking but at the same time has years of development ahead for even more depth.

To compare: the 1990 is more spectacular, while the 1998 is lovely and more fully mature now.

1/14/2021 - JDR2424 Likes this wine:

Citrus, grapefruit, passion fruit, med plus acidity. Very crisp. Pleasant flavor.

7/6/2021 - pmik wrote:

Vinnørd Holte. Disappointing nose. Tannin 4/5, acidity 3+/5. Great balance, well-integrated tannins. Long.

2/27/2021 - Ozen Likes this wine:

L'Eglise Clinet for sure is one of those incredible wines that for some reason are not known by the larger community. The 2000 is such a lovely wine, so rich and so Pomerol, full, thick red and black fruit, harmonious, with more voluptuous fruit but just smothering you with love and a looong aftertaste. What an awesome wine this is. At maturity!

6/17/2021 - Ozen Likes this wine:

As follow up on my previous note on this wine: Interestingly the wine was more balanced and integrated the second day, very smooth and very feminine.

5/16/2021 - Ozen Likes this wine:

Leoville Las Cases at its very best, but equally; Bordeaux as good as it gets. One of the best wines, bottles I have ever tasted.

We let it breath for a couple of hours and it became sensational: Perfectly in the drinking window now. Incredibly rich, ripe fruit palette, strawberries coulis, with an undercurrent of dark berries, slightly sweet (after the Gloria 2009) but absolutely perfectly in balance. A truly memorable experience, if not a real food orgasm of a wine.

Some of my friends have a bit of a love hate relationship with Leoville Las Cases as it can display some austerity and not giving much in its earlier years. In my experience that largely is a matter of having the patience to hitting the drinking window which takes time with LLC and is for sure worth the wait, and to a lesser extent letting it breath a few hours before tasting. But when you have the patience to wait this is an absolute master piece of a wine. The 1990 is at its incredible peak right now. You have to try this at least once!

5/11/2021 - Bob H wrote:

This isn't bad by any means, but given the context of vintage and producer, I find this a little disappointing. Then again, it's not pre-moxed, so I guess I should be thankful for small favors.

Decent acidity and persistence, but no wow factor to speak of.

5/5/2021 - pedros2 Likes this wine:

ok so I’m a first time user and had told the system to keep all my stuff private for me
It clearly didn’t
I score things for me alone and have a different system than most of you as for me a system which has a score of 0-100 and in effect only uses the 30 points from 70-100 for wines “above cooking standard” needs review. It’s stupid to have to have all nice wines clusters between 90-100.
In my personal scores 70 is fine
90+ is for the 10% of the very nest wines I have ever tasted in my life - and most wines I drink are already 80+ on the traditional scale
So not a troll for those who suspected me
Just someone who doesn’t comply with the standards of an industry and didn’t want anyone else to know

1/3/2021 - The Vines That Bind wrote:

Oily, unctuous, waxy, and overal heavily oxidative. Super sherried. Lanolin? I imagine perpetuated by the scorched vintage. Very interesting but not my thing... yet.

10/14/2020 - Ozen Does not like this wine:

3rd and 4th bottle of a case with good ullage. The wine is way passed its prime with awkward components in the taste that are highly unpleasant: like raw cubes of bouillon. Without a doubt the least pleasant Baron I have ever tasted from 1982-2000 so far. I was hoping the 3rd bottle was off but then the 4th was no better. Nothing recognizable as corked or anything like that but it had some strong senses of different herbs or seasonings that you would find the grocery as cheap seasonings of a dish. Highly unpleasant.

10/15/2020 - Ozen Likes this wine:

This bottle was stellar. Even at age 60+ a truly wonderful wine. Great vitality and highly compelling, complex and so well integrated into a beauty of a wine. Smooth and refined red fruit. Hold itself next to the Lafite 1959, both bottles in near perfect condition.

7/4/2020 - Derek Darth Taster wrote:

Merlot showdown at Maison Dakota. Tasted semi-blind. Drank in Grassl 1855.
Appearance is clear, deep intensity, ruby colour. Legs.
Nose is clean, medium intensity, with aromas of earth, new leather, dark red cherries, black cherries, hint of soy. Developed.
On the palate, dry, medium+ acidity, high alcohol (14.5%), velvety soft medium+ tannins, full body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of black cherries, dark red and black plums, dark red cherries, blackberries, licorice, new leather. Long finish.
Very good quality. Soft velvet mouth-feel is the highlight of this wine. Slight lack of acidity shows. Some may think this to be borderline soupy. A better impression already since the last time I drank this. Oak has integrated. I would say drink up sooner rather than later. Not worth the money for me.
Guessed correctly as the 2007 Redigaffi.

8/7/2020 - Ozen Does not like this wine:

After having Chateau Margaux at least some 20 times I just continue to be utterly surprised this is a premier cru. I am in the ridiculously luxurious position to have enjoyed premiers crus from 1959 Lafite to Mouton 1982 etc and will testify those as legendary but never had a single Aha moment with this Margaux. I had Palmer 1983 next to this. Both bottles were opened well in advance: Margaux was a shadow of Palmer. A correct wine for sure but never close to the 600 euro bottle value. Palmer on most occasions is a personality, Margaux is your next door neighbor, and uninspiring. I wonder how many tasters would recognize a Margaux blind when in a line up with Palmer, Pichons or Montrose of top vintages.

3/27/2020 - Ozen Does not like this wine:

Although way ahead in bouquet compared to the Lynch Moussas 2005 (and nowhere near to the perfect Leoville Poyferre 1990 the same evening), after having had 8 bottles so far of this wine and another 44 in the cellar I am getting a little bit concerned: This is extremely dry, lacks fruit, and has virtually no aftertaste. I am not convinced this is going anywhere. I may be spoiled but see no joy in drinking this wine. Gloria has been 'glorified' by several critics. I hate to say I am on the sideline. Lets see whether this is still too young and closed down. I hope so!

12/21/2019 - sdr Likes this wine:

When younger, the ‘90 Angelus was bright and marked by its exuberant fruit. But now the torrid vintage conditions have left their mark and it has become slightly stewed and roasted. Sometimes that combination will work in the Graves but not in St. Émilion. There’s depth but the deficiency of freshness is hard to overcome.

2/16/2020 - flah00 Likes this wine:

Tobacco, cassis, graphite... Big tannins on the outset...
Split between decanter and bottle airation. Over 6 hours the decanted half lost its fruit and tannins, came off flat

2/21/2020 - ricknat1 wrote:

I got nothing from this as it was in a dumb stage of evolution so it could have been any young rich wine

2/22/2020 - Anchun Likes this wine:

Drank within 24 hours. Initially decanted the wine for two hours and paired it with onglet steak and Bordeaux butter - great match. First evening, the wine was big with lots of (very) ripe dark plum, creme de cassis, forest floor, licorice and a hint of truffles, low acidity, and extravagant richness. It was almost a bit new world. First evening 92.
Second evening, more refined and balanced and moved to 93 - the new world touch was gone. It probably means that the wine still gains from cellaring. I will only revisit when it turned +20 years old.

2/20/2020 - rocknroller wrote:

"Cult Wines" & a Few Others (Jason P's, St. Paul, MN): Medium dark golden color. Drank a glass over 45 minutes. I think galewskj nailed it when he referenced expectations. There's certainly a lot of hype around this wine and I was excited to try one. This does hit the early part of the mid drinking window for me for Sauternes. The wine was too cold when it was served and that dulled things early on. Gentle warming in hand made a big difference as this slowly blossomed in glass. This has such intensity on the palate, it really does. Peach, marmalade, cream, white blossoms, honey, lovely spice on the nose. The palate really stands out, so creamy, elegance galore, peach, orange panna cotta, orange marmalde, wonderful spice, honey, creme brulee, long and wonderfully silky and creamy with excellent lift and acidity. Always the mark of d'Yquem, this is so impeccably balanced. Is it better than the other great '01's I've had, certainly not head and shoulders, but probably just a hair ahead of the other big guns at this point. A great wine and it will be fun to see where this goes. 96+ to 97pts.

2/27/2020 - hprphf wrote:

Good depth and spice, somewhat bitter, notable oak. 91

3/1/2020 - bsreid Likes this wine:

Bottle had been standing for a couple of months. Opened at 57 degrees and let air for approximately 90 minutes in decanter before drinking. This wine is simply gorgeous. Showing no signs of decline; tannins still present on the finish, but now behind a wonderful floral, fruit, and smoke combination that I woke up still tasting the next day.

1/13/2017 - Collector1855 wrote:

During a Commanderie de Bordeaux tasting dinner. Clearly past peak. As in so many 86, after 30 years the tannins have finally softened but the little fruit they had is also gone... Here we have at least some nice aromas left of mint, dark fruit, forest floor. Still, the mouth feel is a bit lean. Decent but not great. I was never a fan of neither the '86 or '88 Bordeaux.

2/28/2019 - watcheslover wrote:

Like Petrus 2015, for me better during the primeur tasting (may 2016).
I prefer 2016, 2017 and meaby 2012 (3 times cheaper)

4/2/2019 - Collector1855 wrote:

Another confirmation why I never really liked Gaja. The combination of a new oak nose with tannic/acidic, slightly maderized drying Nebbiolo finish just does not work for me...

8/10/2012 - Tim Heaton wrote:

PnP served non-blind, consumed over two nights. Dark brick red core, very slight bricking at rim. Cork in perfect, spongy condition and barely stained after 4 1/2 years of horizontal sleep. First night: cherry, earth, light spice, faint cedar notes. Compact red berries, cherry, elegant leather, neatly composed medium-body. Second day: Tannins have swelled, fruit has filled out a little more; brett competes with the secondary and tertiary aromas but at an acceptable level. Ever so slightly reductive, cool acids, medium finish. Not sure it was worth the $39 paid all those years ago, but overall, good not great. 14,0% abv. Very dry and tart on the finish toward the end of night #1 and especially so on #2. Drink thru 2017

1/14/2018 - Plabella Does not like this wine:

I don't know if it was not ready or both WS & RP got this one extremely wrong. I decanted this for 2 hours before drinking and found it lacking in both fruit & nose.