Michael Mallon

9.0

Strawberries, roses, and chalk on the palate. Interesting. — a month 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. 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 seared white fish. — 7 months 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 — a year ago

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. — 3 years ago

Kirsten Christiansen

9.5

Bought as a half bottle to pair with homemade crab cakes, asparagus, and pan-fried chips. Lovely pale yellow color, fresh citrus and grass aroma and taste (with a hint of my favorite: green bell pepper) with a moderate alcohol sting on the back end. — 2 months 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! 🥂
💙🤍♥️ — 9 months 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. — 3 years ago

Steve Rura

9.4

The bottle I tried a year ago must have been slightly off, because this time it’s delicious. More fruit-forward than I remembered. Soft cherry with delightful, delicate length. Nicely aged after a decade, not sour at all. Wine tasting is influenced by so many factors - almost never consistent for me. — 7 months 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%. — a year ago

with Deked1

Juan Pablo Iturbide

9.7

Golden hay color
On nose #honey #pear apple, #melon #butter brie cheese, flower petals.
Smooth on the mouth, refreshing and buttery, just as you would look in a chardonnay from napa.
I had it with pan fried salmon with lemon-butter. Risotto and salad, worked perfectly. — 2 years ago