Okay. Again the same dilemma. If a wine does not meet expectation is it basically bad (for me)? 🤔 because in life everything is relative, right? Any thoughts on puzzling matter??The wine was well balanced, dark red fruit flavors, polished, smooth tannins, good intensity and concentration, but limited length and lacking any meaningful complexity… Eight year old left bank Bordeaux. A fourth or fifth growth winery, maybe not, can’t remember for sure. Do remember what I paid though, $120. Definitely too much for what we experienced this evening…. as to our expectations. — 2 months ago
Very drinkable — 9 months ago
It's time for my #FridayCabernetfix. Here is a beautiful one from Bordeaux.
Dark ruby in color with a short reddish rim.
Fruity nose with black currants, plums, cooked cherries, cedar, vanilla, spices, espresso, earth, tobacco leaf, herbs and black pepper.
Dry on the palate with black currants, plums, cooked cherries, oak, light vanilla, earth, wet leaves, herbs, peppercorn, pencil lead, dark coffee, dark chocolates and tobacco leaf.
Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy raspberries.
This 7 year old, from the great 2015 vintage, is drinking very nice right now.
This Fifth growth Bordeaux is showing nice complexity, with a soft and elegant mouthfeel.
Good right out of the bottle, and better after 3 hours in the decanter.
Young, but already delicious, and will continue to age nicely in the next 20 years.
Robert Parker 97 points.
Good by itself as a sipping wine, and good with food too. Will pair nicely with a nice piece of steak.
A Delicious wine that drank better than the 1996 I had 4 years ago.
A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and a touch of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Aged in French oak barrels (50% new) for 16 months.
13.5% alcohol by volume.
93 points.
$130. — 3 years ago
After missing a ‘70s and ‘80s Heitz vertical many years ago, I vowed to seek out a bottle as all the comments from the tasting were astoundingly positive. My last bottle of Heitz Martha’s was the ‘01 (which was great) a few years ago, but at 46yrs, this was quite the experience.
The ‘78 has a bit of a legendary status, so expectations were high. Upon opening, the cork was in good shape (sigh of relief) and the color was unbelievably dark ruby with some bricking (another sigh of relief). The singular signature menthol/eucalyptus began to fill the glass, alongside aromatics of red berry fruits, espresso, some sort of sweet brown sugar/caramel note, and a savory-graphite type note too. Beautifully elegant on the palate with more red fruit, herbs (bay leaf?), and even some pipe tobacco (subdued, not in your face), but it sports the classical old Napa cab profile that is pure. Spectacular wine, and I could simply smell the wine all day…the aromatics were so powerful the entire time.
Open in bottle for three hours and powered through the entire time. Wish I had another so I could have the same experience! — 2 days ago
Light gold in color. Corn and lemon oil with a marine note. Less complex than the Valmur but delicious, defined and has great balance. — 6 months ago
Medium deep ruby core , medium wide ruby garnet rim . Quite slow and fat tears. Quite exotic nose , slightly high toned, lots of ripe spicy blackcurrant , dark cherry , blackberry and underneath a grafite and earthy note , marine scents also . On the palate round, ripe and sweet dark fruits, blackcurrant , blackberry and dark cherry , touches of grafite and cigar box. Surprisingly good , even refreshing acidity , ripe ample tannins; there is great intensity here. Balanced alcohol even though it is quite decadent and rich, lots of glycerin . Very long and succulent but balanced finish with touches of mineral and tobacco. The plumpness and exoticism does come across as pretty atypical for Latour , though it is a real success for the vintage and an undeniably enjoyable wine. Drinking ok now , with a decant of an hour or two but really did improve over the 5 hours we had it open. Will obviously last and improve over the next 20 years and I’m sure go further still . — 2 years ago
It has been a little over a year since my last note on the 2018 vintage. Popped and poured, enjoyed over the course of an hour. The 2018 pours a pale garnet with transparent core; medium+ viscosity and no staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with delicate notes of funky cherry, rose water, tar and dry earth. On the palate, the wine is dry with high tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long. A touch thinner than some of the “bigger” vintages but no less charming. I’m sort of a sucker for the 2018 vintage in how enjoyable these are to drink in their youth. Drink now through 2038 — 4 months ago
Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.
Fun to open birth year wines around your birthday, especially when you can do a Bordeaux and Napa side by side. While not a great vintage, this held up well after a few hours and presented as expected. Clean and zero Brett. Great color! Deep ruby with hardly any bricking. Leather, cassis, vanilla pipe tobacco on the nose. Sporting a good bit of dusty red and black fruits (mostly tart raspberries and blackberries), there was a little savory truffle note mixed with an herbal and mocha finish. Still quite grippy. Pretty. — 7 months ago
Andrew Cullimore
Medium lemon colour . Lovely lemon, buttered pastry nose , still so fresh and lively . Mineral with a honeysuckle note , touch of blanched almond . On the palate quite rich and complex , with high acidity and mineral , honied , brioche notes , still quite fresh though with lots of creamy lemon hints. Long mineral tinged finish . Lovely now and over the next 5-10 years . — 9 days ago