Jeremy Shanker

Sommelier at RN74

9.3

In the zone!! — 5 months ago

Vino Joe

9.5

Excellent excellent. Decanted for two hours before being consumed and then enjoyed over next 3+. Weighty and very heady. Dark rich fruit aged but not dusty. I feel this wine is in the zone. — a year ago

Jason Sliwa

9.3

Expressive and in the zone. — 4 years ago

with Vicki

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.3

In the zone now. First wine in eight days due to the flu. Thankful no COVID-19. Nose is spicey, ebullient and ripe. Juicy nose if possible. Mega Barbera fruit but also a Cornas like granitic tension. Wonderful deep and big berries. Palate is fresh and elegant with lovey linearity and freshness. Gotten more nimble as it ages. Very sappy and pure. Opulent but only just so. Great acids, balance and freshness. So so pure. Excellent showing. — 4 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.4

Seem to have left my notes at home and now at the coast but this was such an assault on the senses I can remember 90% of it - this was a very good New Year’s Eve Champagne. Selosse deserves to be in a unique category being the product of a Solera. Quite oxidative and best served in large Burgundy glasses. Aromas of mouldy apples and oranges with notes of almond and mint. The colour is like beer with a mild mousse. Like many good wines it is constantly presenting different aromas and flavours. From memory disgorged November 2016. The intensity of flavour is profound. Only 3000 bottles made annually for the world and difficult to source. I have had the pleasure previously at tastings but only the 2nd time I have shared a bottle with my wife. This is a wine that challenges you in every respect and takes you out of your comfort zone. It is well named as Substance. — 5 years ago

Lee Pitofsky

9.5

Ultra perfumed, expressive and alluring bouquet. 2009 and Champans proved to be a wonderful marriage. It shows layered complexity, seamless integration and a mineral backbone. Ripe red berries, exotic spices and a touch of red licorice. There is a great midpalate richness that leads to a long and harmonious finish. In a great zone right now. — 6 years ago

Mike Saviage

9.3

Light to medium gold, heavy and viscous in the glass. Sweet, saline nose. Notes of lemon and citrus fruit, sea shells, tan spice, gravel and a hint of honey. Silky in the mouth. Less acidity than I would expect but it’s there in the background. In a good drinking zone but a bit lacking in emotion. — 7 years ago

Vino Joe

9.7

Based on other reviews here I decided to open, decant and wait 2 hours. Great advice! This was electric after 2+ hours. Pungent, powerful and delicious! Rich deep dark color and strong earth and mature cherry notes. Still active and pacing in the glass. This was the best bottle of the ‘16 so far for me. Definitely in its enjoyment zone. — 9 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.5

2014 vintage. Big graphite and iron nose. Intense and muscular. Medium-bodied. Complimentary fruit cradled by ridiculous tannins. Grippy and rambunctious. JC Superstar. Till 2048 at least. Not even close to entering “the zone” but so much promise once the tumblers fall into place. 10.21.23. — 3 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.6

1997 vintage. Still dark as all get out. A quarter century has thinned out the massive body to medium body but the unified nose/flavors are full of chaparral/scrub, cassis, baking chocolate, gravelly dirt and blackberry reduction. Tasted approximately two hours after decanting. Miles to go before this one sleeps. In the zone now and likely so for another decade before any noticeable drop off in this old school Dunn experience. — 4 years ago

Lee Pitofsky

9.6

I really love Dauvissat’s 07’s. Les Clos is totally in the zone showing incredible power and striking intensity flaunting its signature crushed oyster shell minerality and sea spray salinity with yellow fruit and intriguing flavors of beeswax and lavender honey. The palate shows superb integration and excellent weight and midpalate depth, with such a regal texture and mouthfeel. Its focused finish just goes on and on. A stunning Les Clos that has a long life ahead ✨ — 5 years ago

Severn G

9.6

The weekend upon us and we're hosting another dinner party for a couple of friends. Tonight's theme was Rhone wine, so good stuff on deck, with age.

Notes pending... (Entertaining guests first 😉)

Absolutely perfect, yet only coming into it's zone, decade to go here...

Notes from +24H open:
Nose has ripe cherry, dried cherry, dried blackberry, red velvet cake, ripe plum and dry, mineral-ly earth.

Palate has silky-sweet cherry, ripe red currant, (light) cigar wrapper, dried cherry, faint eucalyptus, faint wood notes, dry earth, faint iron notes on the long finish. Mild tannins persist today. Expect to enjoy this vintage another +10Y when held in proper storage.

This bottle was singing at the top of its register last night, slightly diminished today. Absolutely perfect cork, no Durand required for extraction. Acquired a mere two years ago, from a local retailer beginning to close down his shop. He purchased a case on release, stored in his cold cellar; when I got to hunting it only a single bottle remained.

I've had the 2000 vintage before, and it was a treat in a more youthful stage, but a delicacy with our meal last night. We baked a 3lb beef tenderloin (Kinderhook Farm; Valatie, NY) coated in an herb paste then an herbed panko crumb crust with parmesan. About a 50m cook, 30m rest yeilded a perfect 130° center. Served alongside smashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts with thick cut bacon. We had fantastic company, connecting again with a wine trade friend and his wife after a few years break in our dining schedules. — 5 years ago

Byron Hewett

9.3

Delicious. In the zone. Anise, kirsch, garrigue. Full. — 6 years ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.6

Opened the bottle 10 hours prior. Starting to get into zone now. This is top drawer stuff! New World smooth mingles with Old World punch. — a year ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.5

2000 vintage. Last tasted 12.2.22. Scored a 9.6 then. This go-round, nice fill and pristine cork. Decanted and tasted over the course of 5 mins-2 hours. Throwing respectable sed. Darker than expected given the age. Huge funk on the nose which remained for approx 4-5 mins despite much decanter swirling/agitation. Wine angular and tight upon first sip after 5 mins. Large, decaying leaves presence in the nose that morphed into a beefy espresso mélange at the 15 mins decanted mark. Gradually started to unfold, revealing massive graphite and cocoa powder flavors. Some forest floor aromas/flavors cruised by around the hour mark. Really started to show anticipated balance slightly thereafter. No absence of tannins/structure. Plenty of time left on the "in the zone" plateau but feel the wine crested the top of the bell curve in the last year or so. Not improving but enough components to keep this one in the rocking Y2K conversation as best of show. 2.7.24. — 3 years ago

Mark

8.9

Another Felipe selection, another interesting, out of our comfort zone white which libes up to the hype. Mildly acidic and citrus taste to the end. — 4 years ago

Scott Petrus

9.1

So funky and so fresh. — 5 years ago

Paul T, Missing My Beautiful Wife 24/7

9.7

Tasted & immediately looked up what I had bought, $50.00 but so worth it.
K&L notes,

This is no cheap rosé, it's true. But consider, for a minute, that this is no simple quaffer of a pink wine. It hails from Palette, one of the smallest appellations in all of France. It is, in a sense, a sort of Provençal monopole, since Château Palette owns nearly all the acreage in this tiny 23-hectare zone. Their vines are old, too. In some cases, more than 100 years old. The red grapes are the usual suspects for this part of France: Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Syrah with small amounts of Cinsault, Carignane, and other local varieties. But at Simone, they translate into a rosé unlike any other. We're talking power here, and a certain something serious. The rosé is fermented in small foudres and is then racked into barriques and left on the lees until the following spring. Rich with raspberries and herbs, this mouth-filling rosé holds onto its natural acidity, as it does not undergo malolactic fermentation thanks to the very cool cellars of this historic chateau. This wine costs as much as many reds. Fortunately, it has the concentration and complexity to go along with the price. Serve it with serious food and be prepared to broaden your appreciation of what rosé can be.
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— 5 years ago

Martin Sher

9.4

Give Sequel some time and it will sing for you. This one was right in the zone - beautiful dark blue/black fruit, a little earth. Concentrated stuff. — 5 years ago

Byron Hewett

9.2

Excellent CC. In the zone. Just lovely. — 6 years ago