Bernd Hesse

9.6

Wow ! Smooth, deeeep, with a hell of a lot of dark fruits, chocolate … kind of sweet while strong - Love it — 3 months ago

Jay Kline

9.2

Popped and poured; consumed over an hour. The 2018 Nostros Blend is an interesting combination of Rhône varieties. A GSM with a touch of Roussanne. The wine pours a deep garnet color with medium+ viscosity; faint staining of tears. On the nose, a combination of ripe and stewed red, black and blue fruits, oiled leather ball glove, black pepper, olive tapenade, salmiakki, tomato leaf, dry rocky minerals and just a hint of warm spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium (+?) tannin, medium acid. Alcohol is medium + but comes across a touch hot. Finish is long and spicy. My favorite red so far from Manousakis. Should drink well through the end of the decade. I can sense Laurence Féraud’s hand on this ❤️ — a year ago

Matt

9.0

Expresses the vintage. Challenging I’m sure but felt that it’s open-knit character and ripeness make for an early drinking style. Can sense some dessiccation on the palate, there’s not the usual amount of freshness, but still certainly Cornas in the new wave style. Blackberry/loganberry compote, baked plum, slight prune note, crushed stone, truffle, earth, touch of stems. Was expecting tannins to be out of whack but surprisingly in line. — 2 years ago

Erika Turner

9.5

Woof. Dark cherry berry balanced power fruity goodness. Sense of place. — 8 months ago

with See and Rubychick

Ira Schwartz

9.6

I must have sniffed the glass 4-5x before I put the wine in my mouth. Funk , in the best sense of the word , leather , cured meat and old furniture . When I finally tasted , the complexity of flavors were head spinning. A melange of flowers , spices , game, red fruit and some dark fruit . Reminds me of some aged Burgundy and Barolo that I have consumed. What I imagine being on LSD would be like, hopefully there are flashbacks. An amazing trip ! — 2 years ago

with Richard

Paul T HB

9.7

Tasted & immediately looked up what I had bought, $50.00 but so worth it.
K&L notes,

This is no cheap rosé, it's true. But consider, for a minute, that this is no simple quaffer of a pink wine. It hails from Palette, one of the smallest appellations in all of France. It is, in a sense, a sort of Provençal monopole, since Château Palette owns nearly all the acreage in this tiny 23-hectare zone. Their vines are old, too. In some cases, more than 100 years old. The red grapes are the usual suspects for this part of France: Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Syrah with small amounts of Cinsault, Carignane, and other local varieties. But at Simone, they translate into a rosé unlike any other. We're talking power here, and a certain something serious. The rosé is fermented in small foudres and is then racked into barriques and left on the lees until the following spring. Rich with raspberries and herbs, this mouth-filling rosé holds onto its natural acidity, as it does not undergo malolactic fermentation thanks to the very cool cellars of this historic chateau. This wine costs as much as many reds. Fortunately, it has the concentration and complexity to go along with the price. Serve it with serious food and be prepared to broaden your appreciation of what rosé can be.
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— 3 years ago

romo

9.4

WotN. Depth of flavors (plural) and hyper sense of place. Oh, and drinkable! — a year ago

Michael Walker

9.8

Quite austere, maybe a few years past its prime, nose redolent of Grenache, but palate very restrained, reminiscent of faded fruit. Quite tannic actually. J says you can really sense the “vielles vignes”. Very good but would love to try something newer, maybe a 2015 — a year ago

Iwan

9.4

This is third or fourth vintage or this wine that I’ve tried and it keeps getting better. The passion project or top-Israeli winemaker Ido Lewinsohn, this is a blend of 90% Syrah and 0% Petite Syrah. I would like to say Northern Rhône (maybe St Joseph! In style, but actually this is as close as it gets to giving a sense of place for an Israeli wine. Plum, garrigue and some baking spice, maybe cardamom. Vibrant acidity. This will get better with age. Really excellent stuff. — 2 years ago

Jay Kline

9.4

The first of my small tranche of 2019 Cuvée Reservée’s and I figured it would be fun to share with the Tasting Group. Popped and poured and presented double-blind. The wine pours a translucent, deep ruby with magenta rim, near opaque core, medium+ viscosity. On the nose, the wine was clean with macerated raspberry, cranberry, and pomegranate fruits. There were purple flowers, some black pepper and rocky minerality along with a slightly gamey note which was quite charming. Both the fruit and non-fruit characteristics were confirmed on the palate. The wine finishes dry with medium+ tannin and medium+ acid. There’s a compelling sense of power and energy in this wine. Everyone was in the Rhône but most were in the North; from Saint Joseph to Cornas, citing that they believed this was Syrah. However, two in the group called Châteauneuf du Pape and one actually called producer (!!) but missed on vintage (2016). Universally, the wine was fawned over and the dude who called Pagaü thought he actually favored the 2019 over the 2016 he had a while back. While I’m not sure I would go that far, the 2019 is truly quite stunning already and seems to have the guts to see a very long and wonderful life ahead. These are currently enjoying their customary early drinking window however, that window will likely close within a year or so and then I could see this shutting down pretty hard until 2025 — 3 years ago