Scot Walker

9.1

Dark fruit in the nose with blueberries, blackberries and boysenberries with a hint of vanilla in the palate. Very smooth and a wonderful Grenache blend. — a month ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Medium to light ruby , wide ruby garnet rim . Spiced red cherries , with raspberry jam , menthol , grafite , liquorice touches. On the palate juicy spiced sweet red fruits with those liquorice notes and dried herbs. Good balancing acidity and velvety but grippy tannins and slightly noticeable alcohol. Good length with a liquorice, cherry tinged finish. Enjoyable now though will age well over the next 10 years or so . — 2 months ago

Jay Kline

9.5

Flight #2 of our 1997 Retrospective and these were the thoroughbreds. Presented single-blind; no formal notes. Wine #2 had great color, was developing, fresh, focused, balanced; great structure. One of those glasses of wine you didn’t want to end and, for me, a tough call for favorite of the flight along with Wine #1. I vacillated between this being Dominus or Monte Bello; ultimately calling the former. This is in a beautiful phase of life. Monte Bello is one of those wines that needs decades to show its best. Drink now through 2040. — 3 months ago

Joe Weinberger

9.1

Can’t tell if not in a great spot or maybe some slight heat damage—but leaning to the latter. Tasty, but not as good as it should have been — a month ago

Alvaro Bustillos

9.1

Chuy d y lc diaz — 2 months ago

Paul J

9.3

1hr decant but probably could have PnP’d. Nice dark red color. Some cedar and dark cherries on the nose. Easy to drink. Nothing remarkable or off putting, just a solid wine. Fades pretty quick with medium depth and finish. — 3 months ago

with Brooke

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.4

2005 vintage. Decanted and tasted immediately and through 3 hours. Great fill/appropriate aging cork. Medium sed. Noticeably dark color. Any trace of the usual Cos baby fat for the first decade+ after release long gone geek. Interesting. This was a lean, mean, street-fighting machine with "minerality" to spare. Intense. Compact. Unsure if it will continue to menace in the next decade of life or retreat into a reclusive, "turtling" period. Best guess? Street-fighter par excellence. Regardless of taking the high or low road, it's not devolving into a drink 'em if you got 'em any time soon scenario. Thanksgiving 11.23.23. — 5 months ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.5

1989 vintage. Tasted 5.5.23 (9.5), 4.4.23 (6 different btls-avg 9.4) and 12.9.22 (9.6). Above average fill for the age and impressive cork (about 70% saturated). Decanted and tasted over the course of two hours. Threw a decent amount of powdery sed. Medium nose slightly muted for the first 10 minutes or so but then came roaring to life. Yes, still the hallmark blueberries and cocoa powder along with a dash of raspberry but bigg graphite with this bottle. Drank consistently great for 1.75 hours, then seemed to lose a little steam at the very end. Not improving but still think cellar dwellers need to be popped in the next five years to enjoy the magic before it fades. 3.28.24. — a month ago

Alex Moura

9.6

A stunner. — 3 months ago

Bob McDonald

9.4

Brief Notes:- A medium weight red fruited savoury, earthy, bombshell of M+ intensity…a tarry note with liquorice adding to its Chateauneuf personality. An excellent example. More Burgundian than Rhone in weight and texture. Not sure further cellaring will add much but delicious right now. NB I have a bottle or two left and maybe a magnum? Must check. — 4 months ago