Tom Casagrande

9.1

A soft, flavorful Southern Rhône. Nose has spicy, sultry, ripe dark berry fruit and loads of cracked stone minerality. In the mouth it’s very rich and soft. The tannins are very fine-textured. Long finish. Great value at under $20. — an hour ago

Tom Casagrande

8.9

Very light colored, the nose on this wine features sandalwood, dried underbrush, and old cherry liqueur. The flavors are somewhat austere, but feature intense rocky minerality and barely-ripe cherry. Lots of soft tannin, and the finish lasts a surprisingly long time for such a lighter-styled wine. Really good with food, but a little severe without food. — 5 days ago

with Lyle

Tom Casagrande

8.9

Crunchy, zingy mineral-inflected woodland berries and pink grapefruit. In the mouth there’s high acidity and bone dry, zesty, savory flavors. Very nice summer red and a great value. — 11 days ago

Tom Casagrande

9.1

These are Night 2 notes. A little smoky underbrush note accents some nice plummy fruit. Very Right Bank-like. Everything in balance in the mouth. Some cracked-stone minerality introduces the fruit. A little pepperiness in the mouth from the alcohol shows through, but it may simply be because it’s warm tonight. A bit of tannin to add some structure, but the finish is all beautifully pure and elegant Merlot fruit. Great value. — 12 days ago

Tom Casagrande

9.1

Perfect with my Pad See Ewe. Fresh, stony, yeasty notes in the nose along with beautifully pure apple and almost ripe peach. Although it’s light it’s got loads of freshness and flavor, with stony, straw-inflected ripe appley fruit. Nice acids in the fresh finish. A fun and undemanding wine. — a day ago

with Lyle

Tom Casagrande

9.2

I’ll take this over most village Meursaults any day. Great nose of wet earth, lemon oil, honeyed pear. Intense flavors and a soft but large-framed texture. Pear fruit filtered through Burgundian stones. Nice acids. Bummer, it’s my last bottle of 14. — 6 days ago

Tom Casagrande

8.9

100% biodynamically-grown old vine Grenache. Fair amount of brett imposes on an otherwise interesting nose of deep, tangy black raspberry fruit. Some nice clean, stony minerality too. Surprisingly for a Grenache, you can also sense in the nose that the acids are very bright, and the sip confirms this. Dense, very tangy, and with some nice stoniness, but I find the brett a little much (others may not mind as much). Drying, mouthwatering finish. Can’t believe the acids on this. — 9 days ago

Tom Casagrande

8.9

Very fruity and easy-drinking. Nose has very ripe berry fruit and charcoal smoke element. Hint of iodine. Very soft and mouthfilling. No tannin to speak of. Lots of dark fruit in a vaguely savory format. — 2 days ago

Tom Casagrande

9.3

A very pretty Syrah at its peak. Really nice nose of black peppercorns, crushed wet granite, cured meats like jerky or salami. Oh yeah, and a wee bit of dark berry fruit. Soft, ripe, and mouthfilling, with beautiful purity and a long, clingy finish with dueling fruit and granite. Delicious. Wish I had more. — 3 days ago

Tom Casagrande

9.0

Deep orange-gold color: clearly some serious skin contact. (And by the way, this needed decanting from a sediment standpoint, which I respect!) On night 2 as I write this, it’s still only slowly opening up, yielding scents of wet gravel, crystallized ginger, dried apricot, and bitter honey. Tightly-wound, bone dry, and intensely mineral in the mouth. Distinctive! I think this would be dynamite with grilled shrimp. — 8 days ago

with Lyle