David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

2010 a strong vintage & still accending. Costco Ribcap vs Allen Brothers.

Sofia & I stayed in downtown Alba in 2015. Arrived early evening & sadly after their big wine festival. Pio Cesare was around the corner and down two blocks from our hotel. Historic as hell.

I bought this at Costco for around $49.

Nebbiolo young is a huge tarry grape. The Italian’s ferment this with a lot of new wood. They actually hold Nebbiolo/Barolo in bottle and extra year or more before release. Also, longer than most other world regions based largely on the grape & even more their wood use.

This is drinking nicely after a four hour decant, but it is still ascending and another 10-15 years of good drinking ahead…properly stored.

Even with this age, its tarriness is the first descriptor. Followed by heated dark spices, slightly, dry b lackberries, dry, slight tart, dark cherries, black raspberries, black plum, some strawberries, tea leaves, black licorice to anise, sandstone, limestone, dry crushed rocks, dry top soil & brush, dry herbs, dry tobacco, light; clove, nutmeg & hints of vanillin, forest floor w/ dry leaves, some mint, dry, withering, dark, red flowers framed in violets, excellent acidity with a nicely evolved, well; structured, tensioned, balanced, smartly polished finished that goes on & on! — 5 months ago

William Paley

9.7

Grapes from hell. Off-dry, acid dab, rock-lick, gorgeous texture. This sh1t is on point! The struggle for life as depicted by a painter - makes you weep with incredulousness. Sugar-frosted bandaids and plantain-skin visions on the second day, if you can get there. Royal leanings. Sun-stroked skin. Impeccable scale. Dig it. — 4 years ago

with Jess

James Forsyth

10

I bought a 1000ml bottle of this gin and it's nearly gone. Monkey 47, when served with Fever Tree Refreshingly Light Tonic, is a stunningly fresh, lively, complex and intriguing drink - no guest has ever been satisfied with just one. It's a hell of a gin. Aromatic and arresting, the myriad herbs that comprise Monkey 47 each play their note in the orchestra that is this gin. I'm English and I like London gins, and perhaps I'm lacking loyalty by loving this Black Forest beauty, but so be it. This Monkey's Gone to Heaven. — 5 years ago

Alder Yarrow

Wine Blogger Vinography

9.7

Among everyday wine drinkers, Syrah gets a bad rap. No one is exactly sure why this is, but many (myself included) think the blowsy Shiraz craze of the early aughts has something to do with it. Serious wine lovers know, however that Syrah is one of the world’s greatest red grapes, provided it is planted on the right sites and harvested at the right time (both of which, it must be said, are not so common in California). There are an increasing number of benchmark bottling a of Syrah in California, this one perhaps chief among them. The Arnot-Roberts guys, @duncanarnot and Nathan Lee Roberts (not on IG?) have been making arguably California’s most profound cold-climate Syrah from the Que Syrah vineyard way out on the Western Sonoma Coast for many years now. When I say cold, I mean really cold. Fog drenched, windy as hell, just a stone’s throw from the ocean, this vineyard gets ripe at like 12.2% -12.8% alcohol or it doesn’t get ripe at all. And the wines it makes…. Crunchy blue fruit, bloody meat and rusty nails, dried flowers and powdery refined tannins. With age bacon fat and leather emerge. All draped in a saline umami jacket that makes the mouth water. I can only buy a couple of bottles of this a year, but each one is a battle between drink and hold. So I split the difference. I decided to open this one up and both regretted it (it will improve for another decade) and luxuriated in it. May you be so lucky to have similar problems. — 3 years ago

Ellen Clifford

9.1

Oh crud I wrote a long thing about Ravenswood being family but like a family that...nevermind I cut it and apparently not in a way to paste.
Generously dried fruity. Coca Cola. Those in between tannins and abv and you, blind tasted might think it a friendly Cali blend but hell its just friendly. — 5 years ago

Eric Egan

9.5

This 6 year old Tondonia Blanco bottled in the early 70s is absolutely stunning. Better than any of the vintages I’ve had. I know traditionally some Spanish producers put a lot of effort into their NV blends (think Vega Sicilia for example) but this was still far better than expected. Glad I’ve got 11 bottles left. It’s complex as hell and has serious acidity but it’s the length that really stands out. It. Never. Ends. — 6 years ago

Jason Soloway

8.9

Easy to enjoy, but a bit too much of everything and not all in the right places. Elbows and knees. Uneven vintage? Underripe CS? Too much oak? Needs more time? How the hell am I supposed to know? — 4 years ago

TH

9.0

@The Winery 3,900 excl tax — 4 years ago

Ian Blackburn

10

Dom - is it cliche? Hell no! This is as good as Rosé gets!! wonderful soft cherry and berry, spices, chalk - the autolytics are there but in the background so they don’t destroy the fruit or voluptuousness -ness - ness!! — 5 years ago

Jay Miner

9.0

Concord grape, green apple, artichoke, celery salt, and Garam masala. Weird as hell. I’d like some more. — 5 years ago