Girl. Sup? Shoot. This was utterly brilliant tonight. Classic Bordeaux yet, even at 26 years young, somewhat precocious still. A beautiful mix of deep, dark and red fruit with currants, blackberries and cherries with chocolate, purple flowers, green pepper, tobacco, earth, leather and awesomeness. Plenty of structure to keep this strutting for years to come. Fabulous balance and complexity. Drink now through 2047+. — 3 months ago
The 2015 Viña Ardanza is only the third vintage of this wine that I’ve tasted, yet it has quickly become perhaps my favourite Rioja - for quality, value, style, and sheer pleasure. This is a match for the brilliant 2010, with an outrageously pure and beautiful nose of balsamic paste, bitter orange, black cherry, fig and vanilla. The palate is supple but firm, quite dark in character, with a gorgeous medley of black and red fruits, perhaps slightly fuller bodied than the 2010, and carrying through to a long, bitter orange, tar and tobacco-laced finish.
This is just such superb stuff, and to say it sells for around £20-30 a bottle, it’s a cellar must. — a year ago
Brilliant cherry. Perfect at Thanksgiving or anytime. November 2024. — a month ago
A combination of nutty and citrus zest . Beautiful wine in her youth. I would keep this baby deep in the cellar for at least 5, maybe 10, years. Brilliant even by Cristal standards and may be among their best ever — a year ago
A bright Ruby red in colour. Red florals, touch of violet with red cherry and notes of compost heap. A dusty component to the nose Barb thought. Not as much perfume as I was expecting in a Premier Cru Chambolle. Medium bodied and latent. More mineral, dusty and earthy than a new world Pinot Noir. A perfect match with Duck a l’Orange. One of the 1001 wines. This was a major stuff up. I meant to drink the 2013 and picked the 2015 by mistake which is nowhere near ready. — 2 years ago
Raimundo Benzal Martínez
Drank on 5th Dec 2024 at Plymouth’s Le Vignoble raclette night.
Bright red, centre and rim.
Vanilla on the nose and the mouth, soft and nice.
— 16 days ago