David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.2

There are good steak wines and then there are steak WINES! Not that this is the best wine or steak wines I’ve had. It was simply birthed for steak. Allen Brothers Strip Steak. Seasoned with coarse Garlic Salt/ Pepper and Napa Valley Rub from wholespice.com. If you haven’t had your steak this way, my highest recommendation. The fat & gristle are perfect w/ the 08 Belle-Vue. If you olive oil, heavy coarse salt & pepper your bake potato at 475 for an hour & a half, you’ll discover how great, crispy/crunchy/complex a potato shell can be. Older Bordeaux can be good on its own but with beef or lamb, it’s just a marriage made in heaven. Here’s the rub for my friends & I, we can’t find a steak better than we make. That’s what the Covid years firmed up for us. The 08 vintage was saved with late good weather. It sits somewhere between the good and very good vintages. Drinks better earlier than great to grand vintages. Slightly over achieving its young critical reviews.

The palate shows; drier dark currents-blackberries, black raspberries, black plum dark, not quite ripe cherries, raspberries edges. Dark chocolate baking bar (that’s what French oak does), lead pencil shavings, dark rich earth with dry leaves, limestone powder, dry river stone, dry tobacco, chewy leather, dark, intense spices, nutmeg, some cinnamon, vanillin, caramel hues, saline, fresh & withering, dark, purple flowers with lavender hues, nice acidity with a well structured & balanced, rounded meaty tannin, floral finish that lasts minutes. Medoc is always the place to look for nice wines with value…even better in excellent vintages. Even better in 5 years.

It has another 10 years plus of good drinking ahead properly stored. — 14 days ago

Matt Perlman

9.2

Love the demi-sec style—paired beautifully with a fresh produce-forward dinner. Lots of peach and apricot, honey, pronounced lime pith, fresh flowers and grass, and plentiful acid, stone and a sort of savory bitterness that balances the RS — 11 days ago

Nicole Tyler

9.0

So silky smooth and yummy. Highly reccommend. — a month ago

John Bratincevic

9.2

NOSE: fur-bearing critter … earth, iron … cacao … a bit of cassis. Savoury. Pine and forest.

TASTE: iron, blackberry, cassis, MEATY, orange chocolate, leaves…good old fashioned dirt. Great deal. Could certainly age a while. 92.

NOTE: I tasted this a year ago (I forgot!) and notes were different. Unsure if it’s me, the bottle, or the extra year of age. Anyway, I liked it both times! — 22 days ago

Peter van den Besselaar

9.5

Vintage 2010 | Explosion of red summerfruits, blackberries and cherries. Slight spicyness. Laurel. Plums. Eucalyptus. Rich vanilla taste from aging on new barrels. Much power and still very well balanced. Presents itself with conviction. — 11 days ago

Ron Siegel

9.3

Classic & perfect with the dry aged ribeye from Lobels showing lots of dark berry fruit with spice & tobacco notes. — 9 days ago

Pooneet K

9.2

Very nice wine from La Mission. Decanted 3 hours which I’d suggest - at cork pop it was a bit woody. Bit less acid than I was hoping, and actually ever so slightly disjointed. But still delicious and just a beautiful pairing with some nice ribeye. Aromatically very nice but the palate could be more together and present. — 21 days ago

Andrea Wilson @farmforthesoul

8.9

Very good 🍷 and approachable, but could lay down for a few more years. Not as complex as I like them to be.
Contessa was an amazing restaurant with wonderful views. If in Boston, it’s a must! ❤️ — 14 days ago

with Jeremy

David Kline

9.8

Incredible depth of color rim to rim without variation. Inky. Showing slight brick under strong light. Nose of rye toast, tobacco, turned earth, black cherry, oak bark, crumbly roses, dried lavender, and sage. Descriptors do not do justice to the seamless whole of the smells, which are sewn together with espresso and bay leaf, allspice and forest notes. Smooth and silky tannins slip over medium mouthfeel of dried mushroom and graphite, re-emerge as round textural tapestries, filled with candle smoke, dark, rich cherry and ripe black currants. A stunner that needed days of exposure to fully emerge. Enticing and exquisite.




#chateauhautbrion #hautbrion #premiergrandcruclassé #2009 #pessacléognan #graves #bordeaux #leftbankbordeaux #leftbank #grandcruclasséde1855 — 10 days ago

with Courtney

Austin Hohnke

8.9

Good balance. Not overpowering but not overly thrilling. Was also late in the night. — 19 days ago