Andrew Cullimore

9.2

Medium ruby garnet , medium garnet rim . Quite exuberant on the nose from the off , with grafite , spicy cassis , touch of dusty tobacco and spicy blackberry . On the palate this is elegant with refreshing acidity , cassis, cool
Blackberry dome mineral , oyster shell notes . Fine tannins and fresh acidity . Good red currant tinged tinged finish . Really elegant and refined , a good example of this vintage . Drinking perfectly now and over the next 8-10 years I would imagine . — 2 days ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.6

Wow….
Served blind, of course. So alive and complex and smooth. Just great. — 9 days ago

Andy Stabile

9.6

Damn good bottle of wine..

Edit… came back as I couldn’t stop thinking about this bottle all night.

California wines were my ‘gateway drug’. I moved away from these wines as I learned about and tried the many many varietals around the world. Ultimately, I fell in love with the quality and, frankly, accessibility of Italian wines. Over the last 5 or 10 years i’ve tried many Italians, travelled to and gotten to know the regions reasonably well. Italy vino is my thing.

But French wine… it eludes me. I know there are great wines — maybe the best. But the country is so large, the regions and varieties so diverse, the price, sometimes too discouraging, that I simply haven’t learned enough about the wines to know my way around the offerings or how to find the wines I love.

But… I know they are there. I’ve had my share. And just how “every now and then a squirrel finds a nut”, so to do I, from time to time find my way to a great French bottle to remind me I’ve leveled up.

This bottle, for me, was one of those reminders. I actually opened it by accident. While bummed it had no age, I was so happy to drink it. I’ll probably buy a few more to cellar… and, yeah, will probably now spend a little more time and money brushing up on my French…

— 16 days ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.2

Quite deep ruby , narrow ruby rim. Deep and more concentrated on the nose , with dark cassis , ripe summer fruits , dark cherry , grafite , oyster shell notes. On the palate this is quite rich and decadent , cassis , ripe blackberry , blueberry a, dark cherry . Sweet but ample tannin , balanced acidity , quite rich but well balanced , good blackcurrant, grafite tinged , length . This is showing well but will continue to do so over the next 10-15 years , perhaps longer . — 2 days ago

Nathan Renfro

9.6

Lovely wine! Beautifully balanced. Soft well integrated tannins. Ripe red and black fruit. Drinking very well with just a short decant. — 9 days ago

Ron Siegel

9.4

This was drinking beautifully with its dark fruits, cassis, plum, cedar, menthol, spice & tobacco — 16 days ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Medium deep ruby , narrow, ruby rim . Quite juicy , blackberry , blackcurrant notes , touch of grafite, oyster shell and violet . On the palate this is quite juicy with ripe dark fruit , cassis , grafite tinged blackberry , good fresh saline tinged acidity and rounded fine tannins . Decent length too . This is drinking well but is still quite fruit focused , not much in the way of development, will continue to show well over the next 10 years — a month ago

M. Christopher Roebuck

9.3

Very deep nearly opaque red. Intense color and saturation. Some bell pepper, white pepper, and dried rosemary on the nose. Delicious blue fruits on the palate, mainly blackberry. Quite hot with the ALC-- Medium+. Medium acidity. Medium+ bodied. Definitely a wine for beef. Tannins are medium but there is a bitterness on the finish--which continues to deliver massive fruit. It's very good wine, that will be great in several years

93 points — 9 days ago

Doug Powers

9.5

Dark red-purple color with faint orange on the rim, rich, deep currants and cassis, great acidity highlights the crispness and freshness in the nearly 40-year-old wine, for a 1986, this shows little tannic structure, long, lingering finish, outstanding!! — 8 days ago

with Jim

Paul K

9.4

The Shrader was better, but I still liked drinking this more. Is that odd? — 23 days ago

with James