Happy Hour

Star Lane Vineyard

Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

2009. Similar notes to the 2005. Less eucalyptus notes, more dried fruit. Inky color, iron minerality, cassis driven, pretty fruit, tannins still grippy. Tobacco and mint on the finish. Cork disintegrated while opening, but juice intact! 😁 — 24 days ago

Douglas liked this

Château Calon-Ségur

Saint-Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 1988

Birthday year wine for me. So far, I’ve aged better than this bottle but it’s close! The ‘88 is slightly past its prime but still worth tasting. In the garden of earthly delights - dried figs, plums, dates, and mushrooms. Some peat and chocolate. Plenty of spice. Very fun. Happy birthday to me! — 3 months ago

Jillian Varner
with Jillian

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2001

With a three hour decant still very tannic and stemmy. Probably needs another five plus years — 23 days ago

Margerum

Sybarite Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara Sauvignon Blanc

N: elegant gooseberry lovely florality.

P: crisp. Green Apple fruit Mineral. Not super fruity.

S/s

12.1%
— 25 days ago

Opus One

Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2012

+1 hour decant(decent chunky/fine sediment). A splendid dark ruby red color. On the nose: Intoxicating/intense nose of black fruit, dark currants, worn leather, forest floor, coffee grounds, minty dark chocolate. Taste: smooth, satiny, structured, balanced wine with chocolate covered brambly blackberry, tobacco, earth, cedar, black pepper, and a herbal licorice long finish. A medium body old world style wine that shows well right now and should continue to provide more years of enjoyable sipping. — 9 days ago

Brenda Terzich-Garland
with Brenda
Brenda, Tom and 19 others liked this

La Rioja Alta

Gran Reserva 904 Rioja Tempranillo Graciano 2005

Happy Birthday Brian — a month ago

Brian Broxson
with Brian
Bobbi Jo and Heather liked this
Heather Rostker

Heather Rostker

Happy birthday Brian you are close to the “50” club

Château Margaux

Premier Grand Cru Classé Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 2011

Tried 3 years ago, and it was a tannic bottle of disappointment, it's changed for the better.

2 hour decant(some chunky/fine sediment). A splendid dark purplish magenta color. On the nose: dark fruit, cocoa, pencil shavings, floral, cigar box, menthol. Taste: soft, elegant wine with some black/red fruit, currants, crushed stone, and an earthy black tea lean medium finish. Not the depth and power of a great year, drinks well now...not sure how much more this will improve.
— 2 days ago

Brenda, Shay and 16 others liked this

Spottswoode

Family Estate Grown St. Helena Cabernet Sauvignon 2001

#AgedWineTuesday

Dark ruby in color with a short reddish rim. Not showing much age.

Gorgeous nose, and dry and fruity on the palate with medium acidity.

Showing blackberries, black currants, black cherries, cedar, cola, licorice, light vanilla, light coffee, chocolates, earth, black pepper and tobacco leaf.

Long finish with fine grained tannins.

What a wonderful surprise. This 23 year old Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley is drinking fantastically.
Elegant and fruit forward. Rich and extracted. Soft and smooth.

Good right out of the bottle, and so much better after an hour in the decanter.

Wine Enthusiasts 94 points. Robert Parker 97 points. Wine Spectator 98 points.

Showing great complexity at this point, and will continue to age nicely in the next 10 years.

A great sipping wine. Just gorgeous.

A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc.

14.1% alcohol by volume.

97 points.

$230.
— 13 days ago

"Odedi", Bob and 16 others liked this
Jay Kline

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Woof 🐶
"Odedi"

"Odedi" Influencer Badge

@ESF glad you got to enjoy it

Château Léoville Barton

Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 1990

1990 vintage. Excellent fill and halfway saturated cork. Used a Durand but surmise a regular waiter's friend, wielded carefully, could have done the trick with the cork. Decanted and tasted after 30 mins, one hour and two hours. Some obvious sed but not troublesome or overtly noticeable. Original owner-château direct on original release. Super cold cellar because this was lagging noticeably behind other '90's and LB's. Bigger tannic structure (for a generally feminine-styled house) than anything save a Latour, Mouton, Ducru Left Bank property. Even more guts than Lynch-Bages or Pichon-Baron '90's currently stored above 55 or so degrees. Surprising but made sense. Light-medium body. Appropriate color. 3-4 years left in this stage unless larger format in play. Slight, fleeting burst of richness in the frontal palate and a tad brickish and then it just flowed on, without speed bumps. A little cocoa powder and cedar/tobacco. Suspect 750ml specimens not stored as cold/religiously will be showing more in the 9.0-9.1 range and farther down the backside of the bell curve. 10.26.24. — a month ago

Ira, Jan and 17 others liked this
Ron R

Ron R Influencer Badge Premium Badge

Good notes, mate.
Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

@Ron R Hey there! It's been a spell.