Pinotman /// Andreas

9.9

One can’t really make Pinot better than this. The Buntsandstein aka - colored Sand Stone. Is really a benchmark wine. One can debate the the style but not really the quality. 2015 was a stand out vintage. This comes from old vines. The wine is alive and talks. Yes talks to you:… Kirsch, almonds, crushed marble, black forest thyme, hint orange zest, touch oregano, … this goes on and on as more flavors evolve with air. The wine will probably age another 5-10 years.
An experience really! But not for the middle of the road „ let’s have a Pinot drinker“ - they will be disappointed ☹️.

I think this will outlast the 15’ Muschelkalk from E&M which is more delicate. One of the main issues the wine is hard to come by. Sometimes only 3 barrels are made. Next day eucalyptus and dried figs. — 16 days ago

Ellen Clifford

9.2

I blinded some of my fellow WSET Diplomates on this and one astutely observed “it tastes like Opus One” whilst others thought it was too Old World in style to be such a thing. In short, we all liked it better than we have Opus One, if you can believe it. Believe it. — 10 months ago

Delectable Wine

Follow to learn about our favorite wines & people.

9.3

The bottle of 2014 Pontet-Canet showed better than the previous one at the 10-Year-On tasting in London. This offers much more restraint on the nose. It's quite precise, with greater mineralité seeping through the black cherry and cassis fruit. The palate has a sorbet-fresh entry, fine tannins and a silky sheen. The oak is fully subsumed after a decade, plus there is a little more depth on the finish compared to previous showings. This is a fine example of the vintage, and bottles should drink well over the next 12 to 15 years. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the Pontet-Canet dinner in Washington DC. (Neal Martin, Vinous, June 2024)
— a year ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.4

2022 vintage. Sampled via Coravin. A bit more fruit than the 2021 vintage sampled just prior. Still...über-pleasant and giving now. Cellar it. PNP it tonight. Somewhere in between...doesn't really matter as you'll be more than satisfied regardless of your decision. 03.19.25. — 3 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.3

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. — 8 months ago

Randy Fuller

9.4

It is a dark wine, one which lets very little light pass through. The nose displays more fruit than oak, which is a good sign if you plan to chill it and serve it outside. Blackberry, raspberry, cassis, anise all shine brightly, with light notes of clove and cinnamon. The palate is clean and fresh, with the dark fruit taking a bow. The tannins are maybe a little firm for an outdoor meal under the sun, but the acidity is brisk and refreshing. — 2 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.4

1989 vintage. Opened but not decanted. Just got a (generous) side sample of this as I was entrenched with the weekly wine rep tastings. Tasted after 30 mins and one hour after opening. Definitely bretty (as expected) for the first tastes but that mostly dissipated by the end of the glass. Light-medium body with mostly bowed tannins initially. Longer it remained in the glass, the more the tannins came out to frolic. Still plenty of structure, fruit and front-palate intrigue (usually hidden/buried by tannins). Not improving at this point but-depending on storage and/or bottle size-still more than viable and deserving of massive respect. 01.29.25. — 4 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.3

1995 vintage. High fill and great cork. Used a Durand. Opened but not decanted. Throwing slightly less sediment than expected. Tasted one hour after opening. Medium body. Cassis, graphite, dark plum and spring mud in the nose. All this plus an appearance of cedar and relatively fresh tobacco notes in the tasting profile. Tapered and muscular with zero fat. No flighty components evident so nothing to wax/wane over the next decade. Fairly unified now and for the foreseeable future. 8.16.24. — 10 months ago

Michael Greene

9.4

This bottle much more open than the one a few months back. Super elegant. Red fruit. Tea. — a year ago

Jay Kline

9.2

Served blind alongside what would later be revealed as the 2005 Mouton. This wine looked, smelled and tasted like mature wine; in all the best of ways. But was it Bordeaux or Napa? The wine alongside it wasn’t really giving us any clues either. There was friendly debate at the table as we vacillated between the two regions. Ultimately however, we seemed collectively set on this being from Bordeaux with some suspecting Mouton. I lack experience with First Growths in general so I couldn’t really offer much to the discussion other than I liked what was in both glasses and one seemed a lot younger than the other while both being lovely. Lo and behold, this was revealed to be the ‘71 Mouton. At this stage, the fruit is mostly desiccated with dried tobacco, graphite and earth. A charming, old Pauillac. I would drink now but this could hang on for longer because Bordeaux. — 2 years ago