Stuart Pollack

9.7

This 2012 Rioja is so rich and complex. It is drinking perfectly now, and needs no decant. La Rioja Alta is one of my favorite producers and this less expensive wine is a great purchase. Elegant fruit flavors, followed by an intense earthiness. There are so many flavors in this wine. — 3 years ago

Paul K

9.3

Delicious. A little surprised as it’s a ‘17, but maybe I should stop saying that. Those that avoided smoke and heat made some good wines. — 3 years ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.2

Mahogany Nebbiolocolour in the glass.
Cherrycoke, tar, sticky date pudding, dried flowers, tobacco, toasted oak, sweet brown spices.
Masculine and powerful, still pretty tannic upon opening. A wine for the dinner table. — 3 years ago

Wulf Losee

9.6

2018 opened Oct 2021. Red raspberries and thyme on the nose. Dried currents on the front that are almost immediately balanced by some flinty notes that tingle on the front of the tongue. On the mid palate it continues with mild red-fruit flavors that are offset by some delicate high notes—that remind me of the smell of the loess that that gets blown off the Horse Heaven Hills on dry summers days. It has a slightly tart finish that lingers—but the satiny tannins offset this zing, and they hold this wine together from beginning to end. I’d want to call the tannic structure “heavy” except that they never come to dominate the tasting experience. This wine is lush and zaftig from start to finish, but its tremendous sophistication offsets any heaviness.

BTW, the fruit (which is subtle to begin with) fades after an hour of decanting. The tannic body opens up (i.e. it gets even smoother and fuller) but some harsh high notes begin to dominate on the finish. Frankly, I like this wine best a half an hour out of the bottle. If an increase in intensity is OK for you, go for a longer decanting. I like it better with less oxygenation. The fact that it gets a bit more intense with decanting makes me wonder if this vintage won’t lose some of its subtlety with aging. I’m not going to be able to resist drinking up my limited allocation, so, l’ll never be able to perform the aging experiment. — 3 years ago

Marcus Weber

9.2

Wild, very pure and direct in complexicity of grapes used!! What a wonderful biodynamic red!!
Carbonic maceration and spontaneous alcoholic fermentation with local yeasts for 2 months in neutral oak barrels. After that another 12 month in oak barrel,

Dazu: Cote de Bouef am offenen Feuer - Morcheln - Rinderherz / Löwenzahn - Walnuss / Brokkoli / Kartoffelgratin — 3 years ago

Ely Cohn

9.1

Dark forest fairy tale. Elegantly earthy, soft cherry laden salts. Beautifully refined and terrific entry into Burgundy. — 3 years ago

Kristin the Wine Girl

9.2

Apple smoked meats with vanilla soaked cherry cordials on the nose. Intense and smooth with fruit-filled smokey complexity and a long yet silky tannic finish. — 3 years ago

Vijay Parikh

9.7

This 1996 Lafite bottle after a 4.5 hour decant not as good as the previous one. It still combines sheer massivity with elegance. Notes of leather, earth, lead pencil, plums and olives dominate. Unfortunately there is a slight rustic note that seems to come and go that detracts in this bottle. Still a superb wine and loom forward to the next bottle! — 3 years ago

Kamall

9.1

Rocky, saline beauty from Bien Nacido and Lieu Dit. So refreshing. — 3 years ago