I joined this white wine blind tasting session for a taste of the illustrious Chard duo from Catena Zapeta, despite knowing full well that white wine condition in my area has a pretty lacklustre record; and I’m pretty glad I did. The White Stones, thankfully, was [mostly] singing. Yes, there was a touch of honey and musk in the back end, but I felt it didn’t distract from the general message. Perhaps the reticent winemaking style here helped give it a little more resilience against the arduous travel. On the nose, there was nearly no fruit at the start - just sulphurous, flinty aromas. It does eventually yield to heavy swirling in the glass, revealing some pear and nutty notes. The palate was textural, sharp, and mineral. In fact the name could not be more apt. It was like licking stones, all covered in salt, lime juice and chopped sage. I really enjoyed it, but the wine that could have been still lingered on the back of my mind. One to revisit for sure. — 2 years ago
Tasteful and delicious — 4 years ago
This wine from Saxum is a great value — smooth, even fruit; great balance overall. 79% syrah, 7% petite sirah, 7% grenache, 5% mourvédre. 97 points from Robert Parker and $129 when I bought it from K&L although market looks more like $160 now. — 5 months ago
Incredible right out of the bottle! In perfect harmony - delightfully gentle tannins and perfectly matched acidity. Blueberry liqueur, blackberry, baking spices, wet granite, dark chocolate, pipe tobacco. Absolutely incredible mouthfeel, soft, silky, gentle. With a nice long finish. What an enjoyable and pretty much perfect wine! — 6 months ago
Happy New Year!🎈🎆🎊
From mag. Who said the2007 vintage was bad? They didn’t taste it 16 years from inception or 14 years in bottle. Excellent as our first prime rib wine.
2nd night tasting with leftovers. One glass left. It’s dark inky, round, mushy velvety tannins, dark currants, blackberries, blackberries, black plum, dark cherries, plum pudding, strawberry highlighter, dry stones, limestone powder, dark turned earth, soft, fresh & dry tobacco notes, soft lead pencil shavings, wet volcanic ash, moist clay, charcoal, sandalwood, understated dark spice, dark chocolate, just a touch of baking spices, dark & red withering flowers, violets, excellent round acidity and a well knitted structure, balanced fruit & earth, good tension with a long elegant finish that falls on a dry mineral finish lasting 90 seconds.
I always leave an inch to inch and half in the bottle to pour a bit to all at the end. I believe the expression for that is, “The Truth! From the expression, the truth is inside. It doesn’t lie and makes for more extremely concentrated sip(s). You might say it is a lot like monosodium glutamate…everything you tasted in the wine previously, taste more. — 2 years ago
Absolutely smoking PNP! Wow, will be fun to see this one develop over the next couple hours. But simply wonderful now. Very very dark in the glass. Blackberry preserves, camphor, wet graphite. Incredible mouthfeel, silky yet grippy tannins. Perfectly in tune now. Just a fantastically enjoyable wine! — 3 months ago
Excellent !!! Will definitely buy again — 4 months ago
Decided to open up my first bottle of the ‘16s. Definitely required at least an hour decant, then it really was enjoyable. Very ripe black and dark red fruit, tannins light and chalky, perhaps a bit off balance at this point, at least early in the bottle. Day two this really resolved nicely. Wonderfully long finish. Bottle time should be kind to this vintage. — 10 months ago
Andrew McIntyre
Crazy Chardonnay...never had anything like this before. Insane herbal notes and minerality for days! — 2 months ago