Brenda Lambert

9.2

Light with green pepper. Library release. — 3 months ago

Austin Hohnke

9.0

This was a gratuitous pairing favoring a more impressive wine over the right wine. Paired with grilled chicken and lemon polenta over a sliced onion pan sauce. Bordering garnet. Lots of pruney, stewed fruit pointing to a hot vintage (15.5% abv.)
Ripe and spicy tobacco, leather, and fig jam. From magnum and ready to drink. 750’s likely on the decline. Sustainable. — 2 years ago

Vanessa

9.1

This wine has a medium lemon hue with refreshing and zesty notes of lemon peel, grapefruit pith, and kumquat, alongside juicy peach, nectarine, yellow apple, chamomile, white blossom, chervil, saline, and wet stone characteristics. 

It carries a relative richness lending balance to the fresh primary and mineral notes with a fuller mouthfeel.

This wine is made exclusively from the Godello variety hailing from northwest Spain’s Bierzo appellation in the Castilla Y Leon region.
 
It was produced by Raul Perez, an acclaimed, small-batch winemaker whose practices have built a beautiful platform upon which the fruit and terroir may express themselves to the fullest and purest extent.
 
A delightful pairing with pan-seared halibut with roasted broccolini. Cheers!

Bodegas Raul Perez Ultreia La Claudina Godello 2019. ABV 13.5%. — 3 years ago

with Deked1

Lynn Derbyshire

9.2

Smooth, full, crisp and buttery. Vanilla on the nose, stone fruit on the palette. Absolutely delicious with Doug’s pan-fried garlic sea bass. At the Wilsons on 1/30/21. — 5 years ago

Severn G

9.5

Nose has ripe plum, mashed blackberries, dark chocolate powder, strawberry jam on leather, molasses, molasses cookies, wet soil, nutmeg and vanilla bean.

Palate has blackberry compote, black cherry reduction, partially dried plum, wet baking spice, wet+dry leather, dark chocolate shavings, (light) oak/vanilla influence remains. Extended finish, really starting to pick up incredibly at 3-4H in the decanter.

Paired with Allen Bros. ribcap (USDA Prime version) tonight, unfortunately our grill has a 4ft. snow drift in front presently so the best I can muster was a super hot cast iron pan from the oven, then onto stove with lots of butter and in 7m total we had beef to die for...Which I had some competition for dining this evening.

This bottle was a very generous gift from my West Coast brother @David T from earlier in the year. My work travel schedule was hectic and never found a good time to settle in on a weekend with the wine or pairing, until now. (I've lost track of the amount of COVID tests I've done in the past 5M, but all have been negative 🙏 to date.) A fabulous gift to enjoy now that I'm hopefully relaxing for the next 2w...
Happy Holidays to everyone.🎄 — 6 years ago

Livio Pastorino

9.0

Suave este vino, equilibrado, ciruelas, especias, en boca ligero, fresco, generoso, redondo, se aprecian las frutas, se percibe la madera muy sutil, lo acompañamos con una tabla de quesos, pan baguette, charcutería, pomarola (salsa de tomate), untada en las tostadas con aceite de oliva virgen extra, calidad precio muy buena, temperatura de servicio 16° a 18° C #winelover #pisco #Perú #Lima #vino#wine #vinotinto
#winelovers #piscolovers



— 7 years ago

David Kline

9.0

Sweet Madura tobacco and mocha with a touch of tar, dark roast coffee, prime rib, iron pan, luxardo cherry, cedar bark, toasted marshmallow in this autumnally aromatic feast of perfumes. Spicy and lean into dense graphite and dark chocolate, blueberry, cassis, smoky raisin, baked plum, blackberry and pomegranate reduction. Violets for miles with a rich sloe-berry and burnt sugar cookie finish. #williamfèvre #carmenère #espino #chilewineday #chile #wine #redwine #svs #singlevineyard #grancuvée #mountainwine #mountainfruit — 8 years ago

with Courtney

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

Happy New Year! 🍷

Perfect pairing w/ my Dutch oven braised short-ribs & horseradish mashed potatoes.

Dark currants, brambly blackberries, dark cherries, brilliant cherries, strawberries, iron pan, dry shale, dry herbs-sage lead, dry crushed rocks, limestone, volcanics, roasted chestnuts (a signature of this producer), some black coffee, tarriness, dry top soil, dark spices, some red to mid berry cola, red, dark flowers, violets, excellent, round acidity, balance for days, nice structure/tension with elegance that lands squarely on dry earthiness. — 6 months ago

Sipping Fine Wine

8.9

Taking its name from the sea and sun – the two forces of nature that shape its character. Pale lemon, aromas of Stone and tropical fruits, with floral and sweet spice notes, from a cooler climate, more hang time on the vine. On the palate flavors of apple, peach & apricot with lemon zest and toasty vanilla notes. Smooth long finish, well balanced, nice acidity, ending with fruit, vanilla oak and mineral character. Sip’s well now. Pair this with some pan sautéed white fish with a Beurre Blanc sauce. — 3 years ago

Alex Lallos

Owner No Limit Fine Wines, Private Wine Consultant

9.4

Such a massively endowed wine. Côte rotie meets barossa. Power, dark blue fruits, scorched earth, pan grille and bacon. Would love to revisit in a decade or more — 4 years ago

Severn G

9.2

Nose has juiced ripe cherries, wet cedar, roses, dry garden soil and faint strawberry jam.

Palate has bright cherry fruit, elderberry jelly, ripe cranberry, wet leather and faint tobacco notes. Great acidity and long finish.

Decanted 5H, this is in the zone now for sure.

Paired with a local whole chicken, 24H brine, Asian style spice rub, cooked on my grill rotisserie with apple wood chips smoking away for about 75m. Potatoes, onions and root vegetables in the roasting pan beneath to catch all the drippings. Crispy skin on the bird and good smoke flavor/penetration in the meat. A great reward for laboring away in the yard and garden all weekend. — 5 years ago

Fredrik Finn

9.1

Sneak peaking on Wittmanns 2019 for the Morstein launching on thursday. There is no doubt that the German Rieslings remains one of the under priced gems of the wine world.
The Westhofener presents a pronounced intense nose, youthful but complex and nuanced aromas, well defined characters that is playing in several clusters. Lemon zest, white pears and plum juice followed by ginger and a prominent wet stone minerality over a savoury and salty canvas. A cut through acidity drives the palate through an intense fruit profile and a solid finish.

Paired with pan fried Salomon filet, creamed cabbage and a soy and brown butter vinaigrette with plenty of lemon juice. — 6 years ago

Vasanth Balakrishnan

9.0

Interesting 100% #sauvignongris #bordeauxblanc. Mix of grassy notes and tropical fruit on the nose; slightly oily texture on the tongue with an effervescent-like zing at the same time. A teensy bit of green apple and loads of white/yellow citrus up-front and grapefruit pith bitterness linger on a long finish. This one paired nicely with pan-seared barramundi with a lemon and dill pollen marinade. ***Update: After a week in the fridge it’s actually even better as the zing has gone away and the bitterness has mellowed out. Simply lovely wine. #wsjwineclub — 7 years ago

Doggfather

9.1

Excellent with pan fried chicken thighs. — 8 years ago

Lyn Farmer

9.6

Sensational Champagne with pale gold color and deep autolytic flavors. Crisp ripe apple and lemon, chalky minerality, subtle raspberry, biscuit, brioche, Acacia, hawthorn, and hazelnut with an achingly long finish showing chalk, flint, honey and biscuit. A dazzling match with pan-seared scallops. — 10 months ago

Turd Ferguson

9.1

Last one. Very nice wine. Pair with pan fried pork chop, lentils, frisée, mustard. — 2 years ago

Vanessa

9.1

Burgundy 🇫🇷 is renowned for its Chardonnay, but did you know that Aligoté is the second most planted white grape in the region? 👀

Some of the finest Aligoté comes from ‘Bouzeron,’ an appellation in the Côte Chalonnaise region (north of Mâconnais, south of Côte d’Or).

In a land of Pinot Noir & Chardonnay, Bouzeron AOC is 100% dedicated to producing Aligoté 🙌🏻. In fact, it first became a legally-recognized AOC in 1998 thanks in part to the efforts of Aubert de Villaine, the winemaker behind this beautiful bottle. 👏🏻

Interestingly, Aubert is also a co-owner & co-Director of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) (and, as an aside, was on the tasting panel for the 1976 Judgement of Paris 😆)…

Yet, instead of devoting himself exclusively to DRC — one of the world’s most famous and prestigious estates — he and his wife, Pamela (a California native), were enchanted by the possibilities of Aligoté, and terroir of Bouzeron, where they put down roots through “Domaine de Villaine”.

This wine is Domaine de Villaine Bouzeron AOC (2019). It has a shimmering lemon robe and bouquet of white blossom, just-ripe white peach, yellow apple, pear, citrus, fennel, and wet slate notes. It’s remarkably fresh on the palate with mouth-watering acidity balancing the warm (14% ABV) and fruit-driven profile. It’s positively delicious!

We’re pairing it w/ pan-seared sea scallops, roasted asparagus, & lemon-herbed farro…

Cheers to nurturing the diversity of Burgundy in all of its splendor! 🥂
💙🤍♥️ — 3 years ago

with Deked1

Ian Hamel

9.1

2020/12/22 with pan-roasted venison loin and tenderloin with sauce poivrade (after Richard Olney). This is a tricky one. I love Clape, and this wine was quite nice, in a brambly blackberry and funk vein. It did not, however, have any of the notes you’d expect from a mature Clape. It certainly didn’t feel old or faded - quite the opposite, it was still fleshy and fresh, if not terribly deep. Sometimes this happens, but sometimes I feel it happens a bit frequently with wines from my cellar. Perhaps it’s just too cold - I have heard some views that in cool, stable “benchmark” cellar conditions, wine can age much more slowly than is generally expected. One thing I can say is that my 2004 Clape and Allemand, stored with no cooling with family in the Bay Area, has already started to shown those delicious, gamy aromas. Should I raise my cellar temp a few degrees? As is, who knows how much longer this one could or should have gone, but as it’s my last bottle I guess I’ll never know. — 6 years ago

LM Segal

10

The nose immediately established this CDP as royalty, and the palate followed accordingly. Silky smooth, big and round. Black fruit, Asian spice, black truffles. Pure as heck, layered with so much going on while your nostrils are sending your brain unseen before signals of red flowers, bacon frying and fairy dust. Should not have been better than the ‘01 but it was unanimous winner blind. — 7 years ago

Jeff Miller

9.1

This wine was very elegant and quite impressive for under $20. Fresh ripe raspberries and bing cherries on the nose with floral scents of dried rose petal, fresh pine and clove. The palate is incredibly smooth. The wine glides across the tongue with the rich red fruit and but provides a nice dose of mouth-watering acidity that keeps you coming back for more. Dangerously easy to drink. Thought this was a big enough Pinot to pair with a pan seared skirt. steak. — 7 years ago