Steve Story

9.5

Iconic wine with MAPP at Mermaid — a month ago

Stefan Dolhain

9.6

2006 vintage. The first vintage for Caroline Frey to be in charge. This shows beautifully now for a wine that was totally underrated by Robert Parker on release.While it may not have the depth and power of the greatest vintages of this iconic wine, this 2006 is a terrific wine in it's own right. Complex nose with spices, black fruit, tobacco and cedar. In the mouth it is beautifully balanced with bright acidity embracing layers of black fruit and spices and velvety tannin. Impressive length too. Abv. 14%. — a year ago

Luis Arguero (@winefromAtoZ)

9.2

Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2017: Full-bodied. Balanced tannins & acidity. Bold lush flavors. Black fruits. Plum. Tobacco. Dark chocolate. Oak. Earth. Spice. Long velvety finish. All in all, this is an exceptional Cab; everything you would want & expect in a fine wine. No better way to close out the day but at this iconic place! Have a great day! Cheers🍷 — 2 years ago

Mark Quezada

9.4

Firing on all cylinders! 🔥 Red and black fruited with a velvety texture. Cola and kirsch. Honestly still could’ve aged for another 3-5 years. Iconic Willamette Valley vineyard from one of the great producers in Oregon. — 3 years ago

"Odedi"

9.2

Ruby in color with a wide brick/ reddish rim.

Dry on the palate with medium acidity.

Showing cherries, currants, plums, oak, tobacco, licorice, earth, light vanilla, dark chocolates, spices, coffee, peppercorn and eucalyptus.

Tangy finish with fine grained tannins and tangy raspberries.

This recently released, iconic wine from Rioja, is already drinking very nicely, although still young.

Showing an elegant mouthfeel with nice complexity. Nicely balanced and tasty. A good quality wine.

Will continue to age nicely in the next 20 years.

Wine Advocate 95 points.

A great sipping wine, and good with food too.

A blend of 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano. Aged in American oak barrels for 4 years.

14.5% alcohol by volume.

92 points.

$75.. — 5 months ago

Matthew Cohen

9.4

Wow ! Fucktastic out of the gate.

Nose is so evocative of the mosel. Blue slate. Green apple skin.

Palate is crystalline sugar. Bright mineral. Perfect green apple. Wow.

Luscious. Some apricot. Rich but balanced. Fantastic density.

Iconic mosel spatlese.

Bought from fass selections. — a year ago

Will Stanley

9.4

My first time trying one of the wines from Cantina del Pino, an estate with greater ties to Barbaresco’s roots than most. The Vacca family were long a part of the Produttori but in 1997 branched out (yes, a pun: it was they who in the 1920s planted the now iconic pine tree on the highest point of the Ovello lieu-dit), and now produce two single vineyard Barbaresco bottlings (this, and an Albesani), as well as a generic Barbaresco and Langhe, Barbera and Dolcetto wines.

Tragically, winemaker Renato Vacca died in March last year after a yearlong battle with cancer. The 2016 vintage, just bottled, is supposed to be superb.

For now, though, the Ovello from the less lauded 2012 vintage. This is a knockout wine, still young, and with great promise. The nose is very exotic, quite heady & oaky even after a two hour decant, but opened up as the evening progressed, to give gorgeous aromas of macerated cherry, blackberry preserve, cinnamon, cedar and old leather. It screams Nebbiolo, and it’s the first Nebb I’ve had in a year or so.

The palate is very concentrated, with ripe and intense flavours of cranberry, dried cherry, cured meat and tobacco leaf. There is great tension and energy through the mouth, which only this village - or its neighbour - can achieve. The finish is long and impressive. A seductive, ageworthy wine.

94+ — 2 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.6

Sunday lunch, where we always drink the best wine of the week. A perfect match with roast lamb. Lighter in colour than expected - almost transparent. Quite barnyard with the aromatics surprisingly with a little tobacco and dark chocolate. The opulent black fruits of its youth have transformed into a much more savoury wine after 25 years. This brings into question the age old query as to when to pop the cork on old wines. This was a terrific old wine but it left me thinking I would like a bit more fruit on the palate before those silky soft tannins. Still, it remains one of the world’s great wines in one of the most iconic vineyards with 140 year + old vines. The 2018 has just been released amid several 100 point scores and touted as one of the great H of G’s but at $950 I will pass. — 7 months ago

LM Segal

9.7

Rookie mistake to drink this beauty right after the SQN…but the error of a hedonist, to be sure. This was devoured before it could warm up from cellar but just wow. Iconic. Luscious. — 2 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.2

At the Toowoomba Wine Show Judges Dinner last Saturday night. No notes but this was a good Carignan from Priorat where the prices for some of the iconic Garnachas from the likes of Palacios are thru the roof. This is more affordable. — 3 years ago