Anthony De Blasi

9.3

Very elegant Priorat where the best is yet to come. Nice nose but still a bit restricted. On the palate the same as the nose. Great potential but not yet revealing itself at 100%. Hold in my personal opinion — 3 months ago

Anthony De Blasi

9.4

Restricted on the nose but made it up big time in taste. Very elegant with deeper layers for which all my senses were needed. Good Nerello wine! — a year ago

Gilbert Van Hassel

9.2

Typical Russian River Pinot, quite restricted on the alcohol, fwd red fruit with delicate tannins. Toasty — 3 years ago

Steve Rura

9.4

Outstanding wine. On the young side, but I really savored it and geeked out 🤓

On opening:

Very restricted and obviously young. Tight, bitter, stoney aroma in the glass. Not the best time to drink it, but not bad and clearly well made. Not much alcohol showing, even at 15% abv

2+ hours:

Starts to open up with underripe raspberry fruit and herbal aromatics

3rd day:

Fully open with amazing red fruit complexity. Raspberry is still leading with dry notes of current and cranberry. Savory and white pepper, refined acidity and balance. — 5 years ago

Brenda Terzich-Garland

9.4

The color is deep purple magenta with signs of some bricking on the edges. Nose - a bit restricted with notes of brambly red berries, herbs, wet soil and graphite followed by floral scents. Taste - juicy, silky and soft. Well structured and layered. Red -plum and dark chocolate dominate with secondary notes of cedar, dry herbs, spice and espresso giving this wine a long soft finish. Luv it! — 10 months ago

with Leslie, Karin and 1 other

Will Stanley

9.5

I have scant experience with Loire Chenin Blanc, but having heard such incredible things about Jacky Blot, who sadly passed away in May this year, I have been eager to try his wines. I love South African Chenin, so I suppose that was my benchmark while trying this.

What a tremendous wine this is. From a single vineyard in Vouvray (but raised in Montlouis), it opens up almost immediately but benefits from decanting, with exuberant aromas of lime, melon, orange marmalade, burnt butter (odd, with no malo fermentation), truly a wine you can happily sniff for ages! But there’s something sweet in there, and it entices you for a sip. It’s that marmalade again, forthright on the palate, a fleck of sweet ripeness amidst an acid-driven palate that’s utterly engrossing and really quite elegant in spite of the obvious power. It finishes very long. This is brilliant stuff. Minerality is important to Jacky Blot, but he notes how minerality on its own “makes the wine hard to drink. The slowness of fermentation gives fatness and roundness to the wine, and the long fermentation is like a permanent battonage”. And on malolactic fermentation, which he avoids, Blot notes how malic acid “is the spinal column of the wine, giving structure, adding relief and vibrancy to the wine, whereas weight and body, roundness and flesh are coming from old vines, restricted yields, ripe grapes and the long fermentation.” Minerality and acidity provide a colossal backbone for this powerful wine.

Enjoyed with scallop & samphire pasta; soundtracked by Lonnie Liston Smith’s ‘A Garden of Peace’. — a year ago

Dario Scimeca

9.6

Nectar. One of the single vineyard Merlot components of Cardinale. — 5 years ago

with Heather

Paul T HB

9.4

This was even better on day 2 Notes from K&L, 88-acre estate, Château de Montfaucon sits just across the Rhône River from the esteemed vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It is owned and operated by Rodolphe de Pins, a UC Davis graduate and former member of the winemaking staff at Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe. Over the years, Château de Montfaucon has developed a HUGE following among both our staff and customers.The vines for the Mme la Comtesse vineyard were planted in the 1870s (that's not a typo). These old gnarly vines with their highly restricted yields produce some of the richest most concentrated Clairette in the entire Rhône Valley. Planted on a mix of sand, clay and pudding stones, this wine is the essence of sleek minerality. A touch of barrel fermentation adds volume and structure. The flavors resonate with ripe stone fruit flavors and white flowers, a touch of fennel pollen rounds out the finish. This reminds us of Château de Beaucastel's Châteauneuf Vieilles Vignes Blanc which sells for well over $100 a bottle. This is just as limited and just as cool for under $50. — a year ago

J. Kim

9.1

The aroma suffers from a restricted range and intensity but the texture has a suppleness that is reminiscent of much more mature wine. Also shows a density of structure unexpected of a Barolo normale. — 3 years ago

Stephen Dodson

9.2

Normally I’m restricted to 2015+, but here a rare old treat - need a cellar... — 4 years ago