Ming L

9.1

Englishman Jonathan Maltus (of La Dome) Napa project. Nose shows blackcurrant, plum, cassis, pencil shavings, and clove with a herbaceous undertone. Juicy with medium to full body. Velvety tannins. Stylish, but lacking a bit of depth and complexity. — 3 days ago

Ming L

9.0

Red plum, blackberry, menthol, nutmeg, violet, and iron on the nose. Full of youthful energy on the palate, but feels a bit lean at times. Lingering bittersweet finish.
Young and delicious. — 4 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.2

1989 vintage. Last tasted 3.28.24, 5.5.23, 4.4.23 and 12.9.22. Solid fill and cork. Recommended decanting but was denied. Mmkay. Eventually got clearance to decant after the bottle had been open for 1.25 hrs. Tasted after being open 5 mins, 45 mins and 2 hrs. Light-medium body throughout. Wine was funky and super tight initially. Had to talk a few of the “participants” down from their “this wine ain’t nothing” perch by telling them it needed at least an hour in the glass (since it hadn’t been decanted at that point). Wine threw expected sed on the decant. Started to loosen up at the 45 mins open stage and fairly exploded at the 2 hrs open (45 mins decanted) point. Dude that didn’t want to decant it gave me a wistful, regretful look at that point (since it blew the other 4 reds at the table away and was getting better) and it took waay too much willpower on my end not to say “Congrats on minimizing a fantastic wine experience, bro.” It wasn’t the best 1989 P-L specimen tasted semi-recently but feel this coulda delved into the 9.4 range without the unnecessary power trip from someone that didn’t even bring this wine to the shindig. Hopefully, this individual learned their lesson. 7.6.24. — 6 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.2

Medium deep garnet , wider terracotta rim . Slightly more rounded , red plum , cranberry, iris, touch of menthol , anis , with sous bois and smoky, herbal touches. On the palate quite delicate , more red sous bois fruited , pretty and saline , slightly meaty notes also . Balanced quite fresh acidity , resolved tannin . Ok length , quite delicate sous bois, grafite tinged finish. This is at the end of its drinking window , though still showing well . Now and over the next 5 years . Quite charming and delicate overall , more aromatic , less austere than the other vintages. — 2 months ago

Bryan Florendo

9.0

Not Lina’s fave. — 5 months ago

Michael Ma

9.0

Wonderfully balanced, dry through and through. Medium body start to finish with persistent tannins to the end. — 10 months ago

heidi schlegel

9.1

Far more acidic than California Cab Franc. Enjoyable new way to try this grape — 3 months ago

Thijs Hendriks

9.8

Wow! Still young, with a lot of character. Seducing, intoxicating, a revelation. — 4 months ago

Matthew Cohen

9.0

Breakthru $57 $50

Nose: …

Palate: grippy. Tart. — 5 months ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

Happy New Year!🎈🎆🎊

From mag. Who said the2007 vintage was bad? They didn’t taste it 16 years from inception or 14 years in bottle. Excellent as our first prime rib wine.

2nd night tasting with leftovers. One glass left. It’s dark inky, round, mushy velvety tannins, dark currants, blackberries, blackberries, black plum, dark cherries, plum pudding, strawberry highlighter, dry stones, limestone powder, dark turned earth, soft, fresh & dry tobacco notes, soft lead pencil shavings, wet volcanic ash, moist clay, charcoal, sandalwood, understated dark spice, dark chocolate, just a touch of baking spices, dark & red withering flowers, violets, excellent round acidity and a well knitted structure, balanced fruit & earth, good tension with a long elegant finish that falls on a dry mineral finish lasting 90 seconds.

I always leave an inch to inch and half in the bottle to pour a bit to all at the end. I believe the expression for that is, “The Truth! From the expression, the truth is inside. It doesn’t lie and makes for more extremely concentrated sip(s). You might say it is a lot like monosodium glutamate…everything you tasted in the wine previously, taste more. — a year ago