Bob McDonald

9.6

Aromatics of struck match, lime and grapefruit - on the palate a surprising luscious texture. Overall there is fruit and mineral intensity. A fabulous new World Chardonnay - one of Australia’s best. A few years ago I conducted a blind tasting of 2015 Chardonnays which included all of Australia’s best like Giaconda and Leeuwin Art Series and a Premier Cru white burgundy just to make things interesting - the consensus winner on the day was the Bindi Quartz. — 2 months ago

Bob McDonald

9.7

At my 2015 Chardonnay Challenge of 6 wines. Very close consensus scores put this wine at 4th. 2015 was a warm year but this carried enough acid to easily last 10 years. Peaches and Nectarines. — 2 years ago

Paul K

9.4

@delectable this is DDLC estate Pinot.
Lovely evening with friends trying Pinots. This was wonderful. Tarragon was the consensus. 😄 — 3 years ago

with James

Austin Hohnke

9.1

This was firing on all cylinders tonight. Big and spicy. Earth and graphite but loads of wild, dark red fruit. I preferred this over the 2016 Fleur des Rouzes Pomerol, though that wasn’t consensus. — 4 years ago

Aaron Tan

9.0

Enjoyed this, though it does comes off a little harsh, which can perhaps be attributed to its youth. A NAS, but as I understand, the blend is at least as old as the standard 10 year old. It definitely has a pretty similar profile - pepper, brine, peat smoke, and citrus. Would be good to taste them side-by-side given the general consensus that the Storm's essentially the 10 taken up a notch. There's a really "sweet" inner core that pushes through to peaty, somewhat-medicinal finish. Medium length. Really liking this profile (particularly the saline character) so I'm definitely going to be checking out the rest of the range. — 5 years ago

James Gourley

9.5

The consensus among Biblical scholars is that Jesus turned water into pinot noir for his first miracle. This bottle confirms that, even though it doesn’t quite reach the quality served at Cana that fateful day. — 7 years ago

Tom Casagrande

9.0

From our family GSM tasting/get together. All wines tasted single blind.

Very pure fruit in the nose, good mid-palate concentration, nice length and balance. Maybe lacked complexity. (Although this was not the consensus #1 pick, it was the first bottle emptied.) — 8 years ago

with Angelo

Billy L.

8.9

CHARLES HEIDSIECK, BRUT RESERVE, REIMS NV- Champagne Tasting @ Hi-Time Wines Costa Mesa, (Consensus this was “Least favorite” 🍾 of 8; off-putting style…!?) — a year ago

Mark

9.0

Drank 3/9/23 with grilled salmon, more lush and less acidity than the typical Willamette chardonnay. No consensus on this, but leaning toward old school Napa. — 3 years ago

Kevin Løk

9.4

Delectable consensus is wayyy off. This is stupendous tremendous. — 3 years ago

with Caroline

matei ghelesel

10

wow wow wow, picked this up after a tasting @ Road 13....was worth every penny! — 5 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.6

Wine No. 7 in the lineup of 8 Cabernets tasted blind and ranked #2 by the consensus of tasters was the Les Forts. Dark brooding and masculine as Latour generally is. Some sweetness to the full bodied palate. Very persistent tannins. You could happily drink this now or in 20 years time. The Grand Vin of Latour for 2009 has been described as a 100 Year wine. A classic Pauillac Cabernet from a good year. — 6 years ago

Rick Baumgarten

9.7

First bottle in our Dominus vertical from ‘01 to ‘13 at Formento. It didn’t get any better as this was the consensus WOTN. 2001 Napa Cabs remain awesome. — 6 years ago

with Scott

Benjamin Keator

9.7

Wotn. Room consensus. More Bordeaux-ish, less Napa-ish — 8 years ago

with David, Eric and 2 others

Bob McDonald

9.7

At my 2015 Chardonnay Challenge the Giaconda was a consensus 3rd. Easily the most smoky, sulphidic, struck match of the 6 wines. I loved it. On the palate a powerful wine. Opulent. This wine is becoming difficult to source and sells out in a flash upon release. I drank my last bottle of the 2015 on 3rd May 2026 with consistent notes. Very smoky and sulphidic still at 11 years. Totally enjoyable. Giaconda Chardonnay Is almost impossible to obtain these days as is its neighbour Savaterre. — 2 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.5

Bruce Phillips and his wife were pouring their 2021. Talked w/ him at length. Very nice couple.

The 2021 showed well young with room for improving with 10-25 years in bottle and beyond. It showed some evolution, wasn’t all primary. Elegant, very well balanced with excellent structure and finish. Drink 2033-45 properly stored.

The general Napa consensus on 2022 vintage will be a story of did you pick before or after the 6 days of extreme heat during the harvest window. One producer told me his would add 5% of 2023 to some of his 2022’s, which is allowed. He mentioned that he was going to add 15%. But, I think he just misspoke? Get ready for an amazing 2023 vintage from Napa. It was a cooler, not hot-hot, which was a near perfect growing season for long slow even ripening. Some say a vintage of a lifetime and others would only say exceptional.

The Saturday-Sunday Pavilion tasting at Pebble Beach Food & Wine is an excellent four hours to taste a lot wine, taste curated dishes from chefs from all over the country and meet the people behind the bottle. These short ribs were one of the top two or three things I tasted at the Pavilion Saturday. — 2 years ago

Eric Urbani

9.5

We tasted seven white wines from Campania and Sicily, all single grape varietals, 2009-2012. Clear standout of the group, our consensus #1! — 5 years ago

Mike Saviage

9.5

Tasted blind. Dark tawny with good fruit, mocha, black cherry. Tannins fully resolved. This is clearly old and a CMF wine (Chateau Mind F***). The consensus thinking is this is really old, really good and something we’ve not had before. I guess 78 Guigal La La. Other guesses were equally all over the board. Great to try out an old/aged Spanish wine… one of our group is exploring more of these old Spanish wines, given the rise in cost of everything else around it. Thanks for sharing Steve! — 5 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.9

The commune we have all been waiting for - Vosne Romanee. The first of 6 Grand Crus tasted blind. In 2 of the 3 previous tastings the first wine in this group has been the DRC RC and when I sampled the breathtaking quality of this wine I was thinking they have done it again. A couple of experts in the group felt the 2 DRC wines were at #1 and #4 This proved to be correct. My notes - Perfume of violets, pepper and Asian Spices. A perfect palate of both feminine charm and latent power ... unbelievable. The La Tache usually shows as more voluptuous in these tastings but not in 2016. I normally don’t have this much left in my glass after the wine has been identified so this was quite a luxury. Just wonderful. As Clive Coates MW said - the yardstick with which to judge all other Burgundies. It is easy to think with the 1000 year history, and the stone cross that there is something spiritual and other worldly about this wine. The consensus from all 12 tasters was that this was the best of the Vosne Romanee tasting and therefore of the whole 34 Grand Crus tasted. Only 440 dozen produced for the world. — 6 years ago

Michael B

9.2

Have held this for a couple of years and decided it was time to open this Similkameen blend. It has a beautiful velvety colour. Smells of fresh dark wild berries and plums. Taste here is a winner. Combination of dark and red fruits and berries, but dark plums, black currant, raspberries are the dominant notes. It’s very smooth, with a very a subtle but noticeable pepper acidity that is well integrated. Very small hints of leather and musk. Overall, it’s a velvety, deeply well integrated and smooth wine. — 8 years ago