Steven Lee

9.3

Crushed rocks and mineral rocks. tannin is resolved and pencil lead and cassis. no vegetal but floral. i just not sure how far is from the latest vintage with those high scores — a month ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.2

From the Far Niente winery. Deep Ruby with aromas of dark berry fruits with floral spice and oaky notes. On the palate flavors of raspberry, blackberry and red plum with licorice, vanilla, leather and espresso. Tannins are fine, a bit tight, long finish ending with fruit, toasty cedar and earthy spice. Enjoyable now but a few years will reward. Pair this with a fillet mignon with a Cabernet sauce. — 8 months ago

Jay Kline

9.4

Popped and poured; no formal notes. Bright golden color; persistent mousse; lemon citrus, meringue, brioche for dayzzz. Fantastic acid. Long finish. Gastronomic bubbles but so good it can be enjoyed on its own. This is far and away the greatest sparkling wine I’ve yet had from Italy. A wow wine. Too bad it’s priced like tête de cuvée Champagne. Regardless, whenever someone is pouring it, you should shift your attention to this. “I know I would. Heck, I’d go back for seconds!” Drink now or over the next 10+ years. — 10 months ago

Fredrik Finn

9.2

Intense and dense but vivid aromas of strawberries, raspberry toffee, bramble, roses, Pronounced savoury and earthy spice character of cinnamon, nutmeg and a sweet vanilla note that brings a balanced complexity.
Palate is dry, medium acidity and Medium fruity tannins, soft and approachable but still it provides a solid framework that guards the palate, well integrated alcohol in a full body with a sweet and ripe, toffee like red fruit, profile that remain its nerve and tension and is far from feeling heavy. A dimensional complexity of vanilla and spice brings nuance a cross the mid palate through a solid finish that falls a tad short from the major league. — 2 years ago

Jay Kline

9.4

A buddy brought out this bottle of 2010 Clos de la Coulée de Serrant to help toast a great achievement this past weekend. One can probably imagine my excitement as I’m a massive fan of these wines by Nicolas Joly. However, I feel compelled to admit that these wines are not for everyone. They vary wildly from one vintage to the next and there can often be quite a bit of bottle variation to boot. None of this has swayed me from my position; that these are amongst the most exciting, singular expressions of a place that I have ever experienced.

Popped and poured. The 2010 pours a deep golden color with medium+ viscosity and no signs of particles or gas. On the nose, the wine is redolent of white tree flowers, desiccated apples and apricots with orange marmalade, honey, lanolin, marzipan and light clove. On the palate, the wine is dry with borderline high acid that is somewhat masked by the equally high alcohol (15%). Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and remarkably rich with wooly, unctuous texture. The high alcohol only becomes apparent as the finish lingers but there is so many other more fascinating things for me than to get distracted by it. Is it oxidative or not? That’s an argument that other people can have. I’m content to simply appreciate these wines for what they are. You can drink these now but knowing how these react favorably to air, it’s probably best to open it well in advance and probably even better to decant. Otherwise, I would expect sound, well-stored examples to live through 2040. — 2 months ago

Severn Goodwin

9.2

2019 | Pinot Noir
Enderle & Moll; Liaison
Rhine Valley; Baden, Germany
(92-93; drink 2024-29, 2H decant)

Paired to duck confit & green lentils, a favorite meal for cats and humans in our humble abode.

After a mere ~13 month wait after receiving into the cellar, we're finally pulling a cork today. This really wants another year to unfurl for my palate. All the hallmarks of this wine are here; ripe black cherry, tree moss, dehydrated strawberry, damp cedar, past season rose, orange zest, slight VA but unobtrusive, medium finish, dried cranberry.

A very special/unique vintage for Liaison based on this commentary from the winemakers:
"Unfortunately, we had quite heavy frost in some of our best red sandstone vineyards last year and additional problems with hail and high fungus pressure, which is the reason why we ultimately decided to only bottle our "Basis", the "Liaison" and our "Muschelkalk" (shell limestone) this year. The barrels from the other top vineyards ended up in our "Liaison", which is ultimately reflected in the quality of this years "Liaison"..."

With the best of luck, this situation will not be repeated; so 2019 drink happily knowing it's a blend of the best grapes. — a year ago

Dan Michael

9.5

A gem from our cellar for my 60th, a great example of well made Oakville Cab aged well and really at a high point in its age, the texture was gorgeous, the pallet was complex, a beautiful wine. It tasted fantastic with our roast rack of veal. Thanks to my beautiful wife Lesley for this one. — 4 months ago

with Ed

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Quite deep ruby slightly narrower rim . This is more closed than any of the previous wines . Quite austere and more mineral , grafite notes . Quite serious on the palate with mineral and dusty cassis , cedar . Good refreshing acidity , slightly dry gritty tannins noticeable . This probably shows the best balance of the 4 so far , all the parts seem better integrated. Dark cassis , cedar and grafite , though not the marine/seashell influence of the 1995. Better length than all the previous wines . This will go further and is probably in the middle of its drinking window, from now and onwards for another 10 years perhaps ? — 9 months ago

Anthony Pro

8.9

Overrated. I’ll go as far as to say all Napa wine is overpriced these days.

Like… it’s good. But really, I can buy a better Italian wine for half the price.

These days, the best American wine is coming from Oregon, not California. Don’t @ me. — 2 years ago

Aravind A

9.1

Pop and pour, 1hr slow ox. Third btl from a half case. No brett or reduction on this btl, go figure (see previous notes for context). Lovely Cameron mushroomy funk, sandalwood, dark wild strawberry..fantastic purity. My favorite btl so far aromatically. On the palate: very good acidity, nice and savory with some earthy bark notes, maybe thinner than I would like, but very finely grained tannin on the finish. This btl is drinking very well now. — 3 years ago