Jakub Kalinowski

9.9

A complex, stunning, beautifully elegant wine!
Really well preserved bottle with very little ulage!
Needed a bit of time to open up and lose the damp smell - showing cedar wood, cigar box, red fruit, leather, a bit of mushrooms, complex & still evolving in the glass!
On the palate this was smooth, mellow with bright acidity, layers of juicy red fruit accents and tertiary aromas. The length was just incredible. Sophisticated & elegant.
A truly spectacular & special bottle! — a month ago

Freddy R. Troya

9.4

Château Pichon Baron 2023 – Pauillac, Grand Cru Classé en 1855. BDX France 🇫🇷

Overview
A commanding and traditionally styled Pauillac delivering power, precision, and aristocratic structure, driven by a 66% Cabernet Sauvignon–dominant blend with 27% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot and 1% Semillon support. Dark fruit density, mineral authority, and refined oak integration create a wine that feels impactful today while clearly engineered for long-term evolution and layered complexity.

Aromas & Flavors
Blackcurrant, cassis, blackberry, graphite, pencil shavings, cedar, cigar box, crushed gravel, subtle dark cocoa and savory spice.

Mouthfeel
Full-bodied with firm yet polished tannins, excellent mid-palate density, vibrant structural tension, tightly knit acidity, and a long, authoritative finish that builds rather than fades.

Food Pairings
Dry-aged ribeye, lamb rack, beef Wellington, venison, mushroom-forward dishes, aged hard cheeses.

Verdict
A textbook expression of elite Pauillac: powerful, elegant, disciplined, and deeply age-worthy. The wine delivers immediate presence while clearly signaling even greater complexity and harmony with time in bottle.

🍷 Personal Pick
This is serious wine, fierce yet controlled, deeply impressive without arrogance, and loaded with finesse under the horsepower. A bottle that earns respect with every sip and promises an extraordinary future in the cellar. — 4 months ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.2

Welcome to Pebble Beach Food & Wine 2025.

2012 in Bordeaux is a great memory as Sofia & I had a great 5 year anniversary trip to Italy where we were married, ending in Bordeaux. Picking Mouton Merlot for a day, lunch with the Baroness, having steak and sipping 82 Mouton. Pinch me is what I said to Sofia.

Saint Julien is the elegant region on the Left Bank. While 2012 was an ok to good vintage it will always be packed with great memories.

Branaire-Ducru in grand vintages is still a great value. Always elegant with this kind of bottle age and more.

Hour decant starting notes.

Tonight smooth, ripe, round, juicy; brambly blackberries/black raspberries, dark cherries, cherries, black plum, some strawberries, raspberries with blueberry tones. Dry tobacco with ash, leather, spice box with some heat, lightly grilled meats, volcanics, moist clay, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, light vanillin, mid berry cola, dark chocolate bar, forest floor with leaves, sandalwood, steeped black tea, bay leaf, dry thyme, mocha powder, dry caramel, crush, dry rock/limestone, dry river stone, bright red flowers mixed with dark withering flowers, nice round acidity and a balanced, smartly tensioned, elegant finish that lasts 90 seconds & lands on herbs & earth. — a year ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.6

Slight younger looking , a little more ruby both in the core but still mostly garnet rim.
This is high toned slightly redder fruit , less dense than the preceding 3 . Cherry , red plum , cedar, seaspray . On the palate this is again quite elegant and refined , cherry , red plum some cassis , red plum , cigar box . Not overly weighty with perhaps a little less noticeable tannin than some of the others . Long vibrant , spicy grafite tinged finish . Very elegant , reserved and I suppose very Lafite , this grows during the experience but was actually voted in last place by the group , that somehow doesn’t surprise me, at the end of the day one wine did have to come last, and this was relatively discreet only showing its real breeding and class with time in the glass. Needs time , but is very promising , probably another 5-10 years (as with almost all the others ) , will last well a further 20 if not more . The elegance and style of this wine is fantastic , this really grows in the glass . Had to be Lafite for me . Bronze medal here . — a month ago

Dave

9.6

I had a bottle of this limited edition in 2021, and at the time it was one of the best bourbons I'd ever enjoyed. Got my hands on a bottle of 2025 and it now costs considerably more. Really great juice. Although 109 proof, this does not throw too much heat. It tastes very much like a wheater (which it is not), yet the rye content is also prominent from the nose through the sip. Cherry, leather, cornbread, and cigar box. Best way I can describe it is that EH Taylor and Pappy 15 had a baby. It's very good.
Listening to Cheap Trick — 4 months ago

Bob McDonald

9.4

A dense Ruby in colour. Black currant, dark plum, mocha, dark chocolate, and cigar box. The Penfolds Cabernet DNA if you like. Dense and powerful. This wine at 20 years of age is just a pup. The “Rewards of Patience “ has a window to 2045+. I’ll probably have the next one in 10 years or so. The release price of the latest vintage is now over $600 - too expensive IMO. Apparently substantial material from the old Block 42 in the blend - planted in the 1880’s. — 2 years ago

Ron Siegel

9.4

Hard to resist opening as this is in a perfect spot with its red & black fruits, sweet tobacco, licorice, spice box, menthol, leather & floral notes — 2 months ago

Tom Casagrande

9.1

Last bottle of this (of 4). It’s turned into a solid Pessac and in my view it’s close to peaking (though admittedly I tend to favor wines on the younger side than many Bordeaux enthusiasts). It’s for that vaguely-vegetal tobacco-y / cigar box note I like, as well as some nice ripe fruit and some metallic minerality on the nose. Medium-bodied on the palate (surprisingly for an ‘18), and quite dry, but with a lot of cling in the finish. Nice tannins (soft) and decent acids. — 3 months ago

Dave

9.0

Costco wine number 2 of 5 for the family suarêz. These came in the cute gift box, let's see how it does. This wine is very tannic, it has nice cherry flavors with leather and stone. After an hour of being uncorked, it tastes just fine! I truly like it more than a $60 Pomerol I tasted last week. Not bad.
Listening to Black Sabbath — 6 months ago

Daniel M

9.2

Shared by our host. Great wine in a lesser vintage. Nose of tar, black currant, cedar, cigar box. It's aged, but it's still kicking. The palate shows some acid drive, some width, some nice red and black berry notes, some really dusty tannins that are drying in the rear and a very long finish with a savoury thing in the rear. Great tasting experience. Thank you, Nicolas ! — a year ago