5/20/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Needs a few minutes to blow off some spritz and this stuff is on! Scents of ripe black cherries, zesty saison, wet gravel, and sweet fresh-crushed slightly savory herbs. Bright and light and snappy on the attack,

5/20/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Sensational bouquet, quite cedary with black truffles and sweeter notes like cherry reduction and flowers. The color is still remarkably dark, it looks almost black in dimmer lighting. Unfortunately, the palate can't keep pace with the terrific aromatics, as this seem coarse and even blocky, with harder tannins still giving it an almost gritty mouthfeel. There's good flesh and body, so could this just need more time? I don't think so, in fact these were indubitably better ~10 years ago, so drink soon and hope you get a good bottle. Nevertheless, this was overall much more than just serviceable and it gets points for flair and authenticity.

5/20/2024 - blanquito wrote:

This was a great wine in a throw-back, rustic, brawler style. Complex, muscular, earthy with an amazingly dark hue. True to the vintage stylings, this is still tannic but there is amply body and fruit and acid to meet it half way, and the combination gives this real vigor. There are also more exotic baking spices to go with the tar and creosote. My kinda wine, thrilling stuff.

5/20/2024 - blanquito wrote:

This was sensational. Olfactory heaven for anyone who likes a complex, highly aromatic bouquet of wood smoke, forest floor, minerals and ineffable old wine scents. Smooth and utterly integrated on the palate, but vigorous still with plenty of body and dried fruit flavors. Terrific equilibrium with good brightness and even some tea-like tannins left.

5/19/2024 - blanquito wrote:

This was ‘on’ from the first pour. Still young, but wide open with great zip and a real steely freshness and intensity. Quite bright but somehow isn’t shrill or austere at all. Drink now or for another 20 years. As always, so good and so wheelhouse. 94+ pts.

5/19/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Served blind along side a non-blind 06 Taittinger Comtes…this was clearly older than the Comtes, with low effervescence and a rounded charming quality and a touch of caramel on the fruit (but a good, light color still). Wonderfully unforced, nuanced and full of charm, mature but with enough freshness. I’d drink these sooner than later while the vigor is still good. 92-93 pts.

5/15/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Had another bottle of this the other night and it basically ran circles around some leftovers of the 05 Duhart and the 05 Brane Cantenac. So expressive on the bouquet, zesty-smoky-piney, filled with capsicum, fresh herbs and braised greens. Really the only quibble was a touch of dilution on the midpalate but otherwise it was en fuego and probably at its putative peak. 93-94 pts

5/5/2024 - blanquito wrote:

First bottle, first impressions: surprisingly friendly even without a decant, glorious nose of dark soil, basalt, fresh thyme and mint, and some sweet notes of cherry reduction. Cool climate profile with something leafy like chard, yet not austere with plenty of body and good fruit, maybe since the tannins are friendlier than the other vin garde vintages of Magdelaine I know best. Its dark, almost smoky profile is a surprise in a "light" vintage. The balance is exceptional. Tightens up a bit after some air time, so I expect this will improve for another decade or more, but delicious already. Completely true to the house style, a quintessential Magdelaine.

4/15/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Excitement grows as an 01 Prum is pulled from the cellar and placed in the fridge to chill. It does not disappoint, so full of energy and joy as it is, it’s like a honey drizzled bowl of limes with ginger zest and petrol highlights. Still shows youthful, stacked with body and brightness to balance the fruit and sweetness. Only its seamlessness reveals its 20+ years of maturation. Hard to find any fault here, true to the vintage but truer to the house style. Terrific.

Day 3: This is now really singing! The bouquet has come to life with richness and spice, redolent of honey, ginger, chamomile tea, and pomelo zest. The palate is more overtly sweet as well but with the requisite acidity to balance sugar. Delicious, long finish with a hint of bitterness like an apple skin.

Clearly, not ‘ready’ for peak drinking on the pop and pour. Will probably liquid joy for decades to come.

4/13/2024 - blanquito wrote:

It’s been a while since my last bottle and this has matured and mellowed a lot in the ensuing years. Quite mature with a beautifully resolved and silky palate, medium bodied but integrated and long. It probably qualifies a mid-modern stylistically, as it has some notes of dark chocolate that declare this a merlot, but these more exotic notes are balanced by a real freshness and structure. Hard to resist. Ready to drink, but no hurry, it will probably hold like this for a decade or more.

4/9/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Stunning Sancerre here, at its zenith, fill with all the intensities and brightness one could want from this domaine, but with a sousant of richness (despite the vintage) that really took this to another level. Gooseberries, lime, wet stones, very long. Everyone loved it.

4/9/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Enjoyed double blind... This was evident to the table as a great grenache-dominated wine with some darker tones and with plenty of maturity (FWIW, I initially guessed the 2001 Pegau, but this wasn't funky enough to try check that box). Beautifully textured and layered, a CdP in a style I (still) love. Certainly at its apogee, but showing now signs of fading.

3/28/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Takes some time in the decanter to get going, but once it does it thoroughly beguiles with a fresh, minty, herbal intensity. Crisp, sappy, classy, lifted and intense on the palate with hints of lavender and eucalyptus. Lithe in structure but filled with an herbal-infused savoriness that gives it a real presence. Very long. This fills up the sense while sustaining an admirable weightlessness. 93-94 pts.

3/21/2024 - blanquito wrote:

From a good looking bottle, with a base neck fill. This was good and highly drinkable, but it lacked complexity and an extra gear. There is some nice fruit still and some silkiness from all the years. Simple, pleasant, ready. 89-90 pts.

3/17/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Nice, but quiet, steely nose with lemon, some raw ginger, and wet rocks. Great palate impact, uber dry but layered and dense with mineral and lemon intensities, and if anything, the bright intensity goes higher on the finish. Austere and lacking much nuance, but thrilling for all its rocky, dry, citric energy. Holding well, but ready.

3/15/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Pure, crystalline, simple, racy. Smells like a fresh bowl of ripe yellow grapes. Terrific with food.

3/15/2024 - blanquito wrote:

This is terrific. Light copper color which highlights of pink salmon. Fresh, airy nose. The action is in the palate, which is on the bright, citric end of things, all blood orange and pink grapefruit, but plenty of body and richness to avoid being tart or shrill. Ginger and lemon zest on the finish, with an ever so slight hint of sourness. I’m a big fan.

3/9/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Enjoying a terrific bottle of the 2010 Mount Eden Estate Chardonnay tonight. For my money, this is a great chard and right up there at the very top of the New World white pantheon. It may have shed some richness over the years, but this is still fresh as a daisy and filled with lemony energy. A touch of pear on the nose is the only overt ripeness here but this still has a layered depth of lemon oil and body that gives it heft. Terrific and probably at point.

3/7/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Good showing, quite spicy and even a bit brawny next to some older IGT Tuscans. This really needed some air to come out to play, it reminded me of the flashy, rustic style that Vino Nobile di Montepulciano often has, sacrificing some elegance for pizzaz. Based on this showing, no hurry at all to drink these and maybe they even gain a little svelteness with more time in the cellar. Very good. 90-91 pts.

3/7/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Lovely, complex, highly mature bouquet, showing its earthy side. The palate is fine, but a touch hard and dry to really elevate. Still, very tasty and we happily finished the bottle. Really only disappointing in comparison to how sensational Percarlo can be, especially the 85 and 89.

3/7/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Very good, a classic from the old school Cali cab playbook. Shows overly dry on the midpalate at first before food, but smells terrific and could fool you into thinking it is a Bordeaux bouquet. The palate is linear and very minty with cassis and plum, its tannins are in a good place. It has some of that overt roundness that old New World cabs can get which leaves them a little limp, but the Dunn acids and structure are sufficient here to eschew the worst of those sins. Very good, does yeoman work with a ribeye.

3/7/2024 - blanquito wrote:

A longtime favorite, a wine for cab franc lovers, redolent with the best kinds of pyrazines… smoked poblano, green peppercorns, even some braised collard greens overlaid over soil and old wood notes on the nose. The effusive, rustic bouquet belies the charms awaiting you on the palate, where it is pure silk with candied red and black cherries and a weightlessness they don’t do anymore. Perfectly mature and utterly resolved, it now charms with its nuance and gentle seductiveness. So good.

3/4/2024 - blanquito wrote:

A strong showing, with excellent vigor despite is almost 30 years of age. Spicy, attractive bouquet with some earthy notes, showing more like an IGT with is purer expression of Sangiovese. It’s not a Pinot-like expression, it’s too dark and filled with tar for that, but it retains enough purity and elegance to highlight some of the more lithe aspects of the varietal. Holding well but in a great place, and all it seems to lack is the wild complexity I recall from former bottles. 92+ pts.

3/2/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Primary but showing its wares. Terrific nose of fresh cracked black pepper, black cherries and a soupçon of garrigue, a bouquet that harkens to both the earthiness of the Old World and the richness of the New. The palate is less ready, showing a little spritz on the pop and pour, but it pulls together quickly with some air. Aside from some tongue tightening tannin and grip, this is drinking well, with layers of sappy lavender, iodine, cloves and some heady fruit. Flashy yet balanced, rich enough to enjoy on its own but I bet this pairs well with fowl or stew. Drink now if you’ve got a stash or hold one for another 5 years to try when it’s relaxed a little. Excellent and a great QPR at release pricing.

2/25/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Much better than I expected. Dark, brooding color, some modern touches on the attack but all that Sangiovese rides in to hold it all together with brightness and savory grip. Very easy to drink, even excellent in its way, but somehow forgettable in the final analysis.

2/25/2024 - blanquito wrote:

This is starting to sing. Terrific core of substance, with Levet you can’t really call it fruit. Terrific texture, with all that feral, gamey, dry minerality you expect from this address. Maybe missing an extra gear or complexity to really go to the highest level, but still so good.

2/21/2024 - blanquito wrote:

An enchanting, complex, beguiling bouquet of Christmas spices, wild strawberries, piney-earthy notes, zesty pomegranate, faintly smoky-meaty whiffs, rhubarb and fresh fennel, some stemmy and green peppercorns nuances, and lifted scents like wintergreen and cloves. The nose morphs and shape-shifts with each sniff, whispering its allures sotto voce. The palate is driven by its brightness, which has an almost apple cider flavor with unsweetened cranberries mixed in, but for all its citric tartness, it’s not shrill at all. Somehow, this is regal and seamless, with sneaky layering and length like black tea. Grows and deepens with air. For me, this is ineffably a quintessence of Burgundy, mysterious, subtle, challenging, mesmerizing, elusive, oxymoronic in its shrinking intensities, a will-o-the-wisp of a wine. Wonderful and impossible to reduce to a ‘score’.

2/18/2024 - blanquito wrote:

This was a mystery going in, but it acquitted itself admirably. It took some time to unfurl, but once open it was filled with leather and ferric character, with some funky-horsey notes that were a compliment. Excellent energy, just enough fruit, red zinger, delicious. It went toe to toe with an excellent bottle of the 70 Conseillante it was paired with, and only suffered from a relative lack of nuance.

2/18/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Very good, very ready. Much better on the dry bouquet -- with classic notes of wet rock, lime, maybe some incipient petrol -- while the palate is much softer and round, while staying dry. Still very good, but lacks the electric energy and intensity of the 99-01 vintages I drank a bunch of.

2/17/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Crisp, cranberries, apple, excellent mousse.

2/16/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Wow, this is good. Electric bouquet that reminds me of an 01 with all its intensity and minerality. This is just packed and stacked with fresh ginger, lemon zest, waves of citric brightness, and a mouthfeel that bristles with tongue-tingling energy. The sweetness and layered unctuousness this displays barely register behind all the brightness and dry extract. The finish is wonderful, lingering on and on like a ginger and honey tonic.

2/14/2024 - blanquito wrote:

This was splendid. Left in an open decanter for an hour and then enjoyed over dinner for several hours. I found this surprisingly approachable as we sniffed the fruit on the primary, but pretty nose. As it unfurled, a classic Nebbiolo profile emerged, with a lifted bouquet of tar, florals, big mint, and spicy cinnamon. The palate gained depth, intensity and texture with air, really improving as the evening progressed, but the tannins also firrmed up as well. It had that mentholated intensity on the attack and finish, giving it terrific impact despite its inherent lightness. I was most impressed by the wine’s nigh effortless equilibrium. Friendly enough to enjoy on its own, but it really shined best when paired with the beef Bourgogne. Early days here with plenty of upside, but compelling already. 94+.

2/8/2024 - blanquito wrote:

This was terrific and easily my favorite in a large group of 2010 Barolo. Very approachable right now with an effusive, gorgeous bouquet of rose and florals, lifted and expressive. Light colored and bodied, but super intense and long, mentholated with hints of cocoa, some flashiness, quite delicious. Strikes an impressive balance between traditional and modern, with great class and equilibrium. 93-94 pts.

2/3/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Having a glass of the 09 Bosconia tonight, really good. I had had maybe a 1/5 of the bottle a while back and froze it the rest for a few months. I wasn't too crazy about about the first glass, but these thawed 4/5s tonight so much better. While there's still a touch of that sour-acetic Rioja thing (which I’m not wild about), the beautiful red cherry fruit has really come to the fore now. Well-nigh perfect texture, with beautiful acids too, almost Italian levels of brightness. Still some tannin lingering on the finish.

Seeing as how freezing and thawing a wine is like a very extended decant, I think this isn’t quite ready as is, but it’s close. Either wait 5 years or give it plenty of time in an open decanter.

2/3/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Maybe I got a very good bottle but this really exceeded my expectations, it was beautiful, very tertiary to be sure but fully intact, with a still brilliant garnet color, not dried out or musty in any way, with a soft-spoken vividness to it all I found captivating (especially the bouquet). 93-94 pts.

2/1/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Acquired recently from auction, so provenance unknown (but the fill was good)… Sports a dark color, like burnished copper. The bouquet is very rich and honeyed, with brighter notes of lime zest and darker notes of bruised apples. There’s maybe a whiff of petrol. The palate is unctuous but not heavy, very apple cidery with great acids, good density and mouthfeel and a pretty good finish. More flashy than nuanced, a little clumsy but energetic, satisfying. This is ready to drink and was probably better 5-10 years ago, but I would expect this to hold at its current level for a long while.

1/28/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Picked up a few recently at auction and I’m very happy with the acquisition. If you like a smoky, earth-infused bouquet with tobacco and green peppercorns (as I do), this provides olfactory nirvana. The palate is lithe, spicy, energetic, clearly on the leaner, brighter end of the spectrum. With food, this style shines. A Burgundian claret if ever there was one. Just terrific.

1/26/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Superb stuff. Starts a little on the riper side on the subdued bouquet, though more pear than tropical, with an unctuous oily note. Hints of flint and lime zest help keep it real. The palate is where the action is — mouth-filling, layered, deep, unctuous but steely and zesty like pomelo or even white grapefruit with a very long, tangy, mineral-infused finish. Almost leaves the impression of a dry Riesling. There are just the slightest hints of its age creeping in — a little caraway, some gingery notes - but these serve to add nuance and complexity. At point, so good. 93-94 pts (95+ pt palate).

1/18/2024 - blanquito wrote:

From 375 ml… Wild bouquet, minty-menthol, whiffs of vintage port like figs and incense, lifted with a touch of spirit. Spicy, mentholated palate, quite light and bright with some kitschy-rubbery layers, not much fruit or structure left. Interesting, intense and long, but probably was better before the fruit evaporated.

1/14/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Crunchy bouquet with plenty of lift and a whiff of greenery, like white and green peppercorns. Bright cranberry fruit with a touch of smoke and mint. Somehow this has plenty of density, layering, and texture on the midpalate while showing bright and light on the finish. Overall, terrific intensity and engaging sappy energy. In a great place. I seriously grok this. 92-93 pts.

1/7/2024 - blanquito wrote:

Fill into the neck, though stained the top of the cork… This is a beautifully intact 50 year old, showing a wonderful color and vibrant aromatics. Minty, citric, a touch of smoke and spice and a touch of cedar like a bordeaux, some cherry cordial. Amazingly youthful, with a great core of fresh fruit and zesty acids, it’s really only the structure that reveals its age as this is silky and soft, but with plenty of grip. Except for a comparative lack of complexity to mature French cabernet, this is well nigh perfect.

12/31/2023 - blanquito wrote:

Brilliant.

12/30/2023 - blanquito wrote:

A half case just arrived, so I had to try one… Shockingly approachable. Tons of iodine and menthol. Some softer notes, but nothing cloying nor candied, lighter bodied but plenty of grip and intensity. Flavors of black tea and charcoal on the finish. This is such an interesting and unusual style of wine, so dry, mineral, and iodine-infused, it’s as much like a smoked black tea as a red wine. I can’t recall a merlot like this, though certainly Loire cab franc. Very good, maybe even better than that and nothing like the borderline over the top 2015 I tried at the chateau. 92-93 pts.

12/7/2023 - blanquito wrote:

A beauty, silky and fresh, dry yet deep, volcanic and rocky, filled with mint and an exotic hint of licorice. Lighter and brighter overall but with enough body and layering to cover all the bases. Still, this does the job mostly through intensity rather than extract, giving it an ethereal transparency, an octane. There’s a divine savory, mineral note in the finish. Terrific. 93+ pts.

11/29/2023 - blanquito wrote:

Subdued, classy bouquet, all Pauillac with lead pencil, leather, some spices, mint, distant sweet scents of currants. The palate is cool-fruited, refined and rounded, a touch lactic with a sneaky depth and length. Good brightness, fresh overall, with air the mintiness becomes more pronounced. Not much complexity for a 34 year old wine, but really very good, holding strong. 92+ pts.

11/22/2023 - blanquito wrote:

This was a sensational bottle. Beautiful bouquet, highly expressive with strong florals and undertones of earth and beef jus. A big, layered, rich palate with classic ‘90 roasted notes, giving this an almost a tapenade quality (from the sur maturite). The finish was a touch bitter and rustic, and so a step behind the nose and palate, but overall a real treat. Probably at peak. 94-95 pts.

11/16/2023 - blanquito wrote:

This is truly wonderful. Lifted, exotic, ethereal, and spicy on the heady bouquet, with a layered, garrigue sweetness on the palate. The texture is silky and whatever structure it had in its youth is fully resolved, but it is otherwise just ascending to the peak of its powers. This is a clean, stable, flaw-free Musar, but with enough VA and complexity to still taste like the real McCoy. Easily the best Musar I’ve had, which covers the 97-05 vintages.

11/14/2023 - blanquito wrote:

Mature yet vigorous, this seems close to peak for my mileage with a silky texture but still bumptious fruit and body. Some floral, fresher scents on the bouquet belie the signature here, which is quintessentially '90 in style, quite roasted and a touch porty-pruney. What saves it from going over the top is a rustic, old vine energy (I don't know if the vines are old at P-D and I doubt they were in 1990, but it has a vinous VV profile... though in this case it could be from the drought conditions during the growing season concentrating and darkening the fruit, rather than old vines). Sappy, dark, rugged, this is lots of fun to drink, making up for what it lacks in elegance with volume and character.

11/13/2023 - blanquito wrote:

Another excellent bottle, this one showing better, fresher than the first two bottles. Pure Chablis, citric, transparent, some wet rocks.

11/13/2023 - blanquito wrote:

Soft, rounded red berries, but with a little Italian brightness giving it some lift. Tastes like Merlot meets Sangiovese. Good pasta or pizza wine. 85-86 pts.