Even Keel

Château Léoville Barton

Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 1990

1990 vintage. Excellent fill and halfway saturated cork. Used a Durand but surmise a regular waiter's friend, wielded carefully, could have done the trick with the cork. Decanted and tasted after 30 mins, one hour and two hours. Some obvious sed but not troublesome or overtly noticeable. Original owner-château direct on original release. Super cold cellar because this was lagging noticeably behind other '90's and LB's. Bigger tannic structure (for a generally feminine-styled house) than anything save a Latour, Mouton, Ducru Left Bank property. Even more guts than Lynch-Bages or Pichon-Baron '90's currently stored above 55 or so degrees. Surprising but made sense. Light-medium body. Appropriate color. 3-4 years left in this stage unless larger format in play. Slight, fleeting burst of richness in the frontal palate and a tad brickish and then it just flowed on, without speed bumps. A little cocoa powder and cedar/tobacco. Suspect 750ml specimens not stored as cold/religiously will be showing more in the 9.0-9.1 range and farther down the backside of the bell curve. 10.26.24. — 19 days ago

Ira, Jan and 17 others liked this
Ron R

Ron R Influencer Badge Premium Badge

Good notes, mate.
Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

@Ron R Hey there! It's been a spell.

Château Mouton Rothschild

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2018

This bottle is bound to make any day that much better. It’s young but composed with ample elegance and perfect balance. A true gem, even at this age. — 2 months ago

Ericsson, Austin and 18 others liked this

Paul Jaboulet Aîné

La Chapelle Hermitage Syrah 1989

Found a box of this the other day in the cellar, the original Jaboulet box was damaged and so I’d moved it to a non-Jaboulet box 7-8 years ago. Further, this was the only bottle showing any real ullage (about 1.5”), so opened it first (I do have more, and will report when I open the next bottle).

Color is medium-dark ruby, some bacon fat and meaty aromas, lovely fruit still, structured has softened, long finish, but I’m sure a pristine bottle will show even better!!
— 3 months ago

Jim Powers
with Jim
Ira, jesus and 6 others liked this
Ira Schwartz

Ira Schwartz Influencer Badge Premium Badge

@Doug Powers A good find 😁
Tom Casagrande

Tom Casagrande Influencer Badge

I will look at my non-Jaboulet boxes to see if I’m so lucky, but since I never bought this, I’m thinking probably not. 😐
Doug Powers

Doug Powers

@Tom Casagrande, you never know, so good luck!!

Château Pontet-Canet

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2006

An enjoyable vintage, even if it’s not a top vintage, it still portrays typical P-C. Always enjoyable. Drinking very well with just a short decant. — a month ago

LM liked this

Château Latour

Premier Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2011

Fantastic and seemed even more mature than 13 years. Dark dark but smooth and developed. It’s a focused wine in great balance. No complaints but you can tell it was a bit below the heights for Latour. Double decanted and enjoyed over 4+ hours. — 2 months ago

Tom, Bob and 21 others liked this
GaryWEdwards

GaryWEdwards

Nice report. Thank you!!

Louis Roederer

Cristal Brut Champagne Chardonnay Pinot Noir Blend 2015

Light straw , very young looking . Constant very fine perlage . Quite closed at first then crushed rocks , lemon peel , ginger , white flowers , brioche . On the palate good richness and intensity , lemon , orange rind , buttered bread , touch of roast nuts . Very fine mineral tinged , intense finish . This needs time and will improve over the next 10 years or so and last well a further 5-10 . A good follow up to the 2014 , this shows more backward and will take even longer to reach its peak. Perhaps a little less detailed and precise than the very mineral 2014 but that might just be a question of needing more time in bottle. — 3 months ago

Ira, Tom and 15 others liked this

Silver Oak

Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Love it even more than Napas — a month ago

Piers DormeyerTripp Cox
with Piers and Tripp
Yianni, Ted and 4 others liked this

Château Haut-Brion

Pessac-Léognan Red Bordeaux Blend 1997

Girl. Sup? Shoot. This was utterly brilliant tonight. Classic Bordeaux yet, even at 26 years young, somewhat precocious still. A beautiful mix of deep, dark and red fruit with currants, blackberries and cherries with chocolate, purple flowers, green pepper, tobacco, earth, leather and awesomeness. Plenty of structure to keep this strutting for years to come. Fabulous balance and complexity. Drink now through 2047+. — 2 months ago

Bob, Ceccherini and 14 others liked this

Caymus Vineyards

Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Still too young, even with a 4.5 hour decant - always delicious though — 3 months ago

Pooneet, Andrew and 3 others liked this

Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe

La Crau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhone Blend 2007

The 2007 Vieux Telegraphe, enjoyed here from half bottle, encapsulates everything so wonderful about Chateauneuf-du-Pape, coming from very old vines on the fabled plateau of La Crau. Pungent aromatics; an ethereal cacophony of sweet cranberry, blackcurrant, strawberry, liquorice, blood orange, white pepper and garrigue (in spades), with airy elegance and poise. The palate follows in much the same style, graceful and welcoming, adding flecks of sweet vanilla. There is, however, a core of iron and solid structure that ties everything together. This is accomplished stuff, even in such a brilliant vintage as 2007, and this elegant, complex CNdP warrants a high score – and further ageing. — 4 months ago

Ira, Peter and 2 others liked this