Shay A

9.4

My contribution to a large Rhône dinner. Standouts were ‘07 Chapoutier Le Meal Blanc, ‘89 and ‘90 Jaboulet La Chappelle, ‘11 Guigal La Mouline.

An over-generalization, but what I love about Cornas is the rusticity and sometimes feral nature of the wines (which I don’t find in Hermitage or CR) and this ‘05 is in that vein. I followed this from pop (after all, we are at the almost 20yr mark) and over the course of three hours.

Interplay of red and black berry fruits, black pepper, slightly herbal (maybe closer to potpurri floral) aromatically. Bright and nimble on the palate, nothing about this is ripe or soft. Energetic acidity all the way through surrounded by notes of iron (sanguine-like) and rocky minerality. Crunchy red and black fruits (whole-cluster?), hint of gaminess but not in the meaty-style I semi-expected. Clean and pure style of Syrah. Big structure at the finish…hard to imagine drinking this 10+yrs ago. Acidity and tannin will carry this a long time, but I think this is peak window for getting depth of fruit and complexity. — 13 days ago

Ron Siegel

9.3

Red & black fruits, sweet on the palate, youthful with lots of spice, olive, mineral & violet. — 2 days ago

Eric Vishria

9.6

Only my second time with this wine, so so good. Decanted in glass for a 2-3 hours, opened up perfect. Had with masala burgers which worked great. — 2 days ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.4

2013 vintage. Sweet fill and cork. Trashy label. Slightly less sed than expected. Big nose on the decant. Tasted after 1 hour open and 5 hours open. Medium heavy body. Roasted nuts, earth, plummy fruit and grilled beef nose and flavors. Finishing palate added a finely ground black pepper note. Consistent throughout and absolutely delicious. 05.23.25. — 5 days ago

Shay A

9.3

One of the bottles from my annual WWC hosting. I opened this as a side by side to a 2019 Saxum White as the makeup is fairly similar.

80% roussanne/ remaining a mix of Grenache Blanc, Clairette, piquepoul blanc, picardan and bourboulenc.

Nicely expressive at pop, it then faded and hid in a shell for a few hours before coming back at last glass. At 80% roussanne, I expected a more consistent expressive profile (honeyed tropical fruits, some orange) and for the acid to show a touch, but it was a roller coaster. More melon and light fruits vs bigger/more tropical. Medium bodied but not as rich as expected. It’s clean and shows some floral and mineral/stony nuances, but I’d spend the extra and take the Roussanne VV to get more complexity and flavor. — 16 days ago

Conrad Green

9.5

Lovely stuff. Dark leather notes and intense tangy black cherry. Touches off tarry underbrush and meaty intensity. Savory, with a light hit of salinity. Long. — 12 days ago

with David

Neil Valenzuela

9.0

Deep pink color. Aromas cherry jolly rancher, red candied apple and flint. So good, crisp and cold on a nice day at Carmel-by-the-Sea. — 10 days ago

Tree Kilpatrick

9.1

Cute little building on the label. Lovely red, red wine color. Smells like I imagine the warm, dry hills of the Rhône must smell. Hint of red berries. Some chaparral stuff (or garrigue as they call it over the pond). Flavors are classic and very clean. Berry jam, fresh cut herbs, beets, little smoke, black licorice. This is a lovely little bottle of red. Crowd pleasing yet complex. The Paul Simon of wines. — 3 days ago

Conrad Green

9.2

Very lush and punchy. Dark plum and cherry with a hefty dose of alcohol. Rounded and bright. Black cherry and violets. Good — 10 days ago

JKT

9.0

Outstanding still after 13 years. Terrific Rhone profile with complexity and freshness still. — 7 days ago