Andrew Cullimore

9.4

Medium lemon yellow , fine bubbles . Quite restrained and mineral focused on the nose , then lemon confit , quince, touch of orange flowers, with some pastry notes , white flowers , honeysuckle also . Quite intense and mineral on the palate , fills out well with some lemon oil and pastry notes also , but this is reserved and elegant in style , more mineral , chalky and more intense than the 2013 had last week. Really refreshing acidity . Long and complex on the finish , I would imagine this needs more time than the 2013 too. Come back in 5 years , will show well for a further 10-15 years , perhaps longer. Very promising . — a month ago

Jenks

9.2

One of these days I’ll give this wine the proper cellaring it needs. Bigger style, good guts, imagine it would age beautifully. Nonetheless, it was delicious as always. — 9 months ago

Greg Koslosky

9.5

Lower level bottle but still alive and kicking . So elegant and refined with dried red flowers , mulberry , graphite , liquid minerals , burnt sugar blood orange . The palate is elegant yet powerful with tons of dry extract and a little tannins still. I imagine a perfect bottle would be truly incredible but this bottle was pretty darn good . — 2 years ago

JKT

8.9

Well made New world style wood infused dark red fruited balanced wine of half half Grenache and Syrah. Didn’t pair so well with Amah meat balls, kalbi but would have been good with steak. AA value 5! — 4 years ago

Vijay Parikh

9.2

The 2019 JF Mugnier Chambolle after an aerator and one hour decant was initially a bit stemmy but after a couple of hours was excellent. Needs another 5 years I imagine — a month ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.6

2002 vintage. Nice fill, good cork. Decanted with a respectable amount of powdery sed. Smelled great during decanting. Tasted 1.5 hours after opening/decanting. Expected light body with delicate tendrils. Medium body with a light palate footprint. Holy shazzbaat. This was absolutely firing. Like top of the pops, straight up to number one. Exceptional knitting and in a perfect spot now. Go all the way back to the inaugural 1982 vintage with this winery’s cabernet…thought my all-time fave was the 1991 altho the 1986 and 1987 were special. The 2020, picked early, thus avoiding the fires, is phenomenal as well. This was on another level and have had approx 150 bottles of Spottswoode Cab in the last three + decades. It was probably the best out of all of them. Difficult to imagine Napa Cab better than this. Power and finesse on display. Not improving but can hold this intensity for another 4-5 years. 12.24.24. — 2 months ago

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9.2

The 2020 d'Armailhac has all the fruit of the en primeur wine, and all the tannin too, almost like a barrel sample. I imagine the 2020 is going to need at least a few years to shed some of that tannic clout. Dark red cherry, red plum, pomegranate, blood orange, iron, white pepper and mint literally saturate the palate. The 2020 is a dense, plush d'Armailhac. It's a real head-turner. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, February 2023) — 2 years ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.0

No formal notes . Medium deep ruby . This seems a bit more advanced . This is a bit harder and more structured on the palate , more tannin , less velvety and a bit more astringent . More spicy , drier on the palate . This needed more time to open . This was quite difficult to judge , I wasn’t 100% convinced about this bottle as it just seemed a little oxidative, however it did actually seemed to come together better after an hour or so , but still quite hard and astringent in comparison to the others (especially La Mission) . Showed a touch more mineral and grafite on the finish too after a while. This needed time , and I would imagine another bottle might tell a different story . — a month ago

Shay A

9.4

This was served during my annual WWC hosting. Typical format of sparkler, three whites, four reds, one dessert, all served blind.

Poured alongside the 2003 Mondavi VHR as a comparison. 60 cab/40 merlot.

Decanted an hour. The similarities between this and the ‘03 Mondavi VHR the first hour was shocking…even as the host, I wondered if I switched the wines. Slight hint of brett but certainly not overpowering. Leather, herbs de Provence, sweet vanilla pipe tobacco, graphite up front aromatically. Dark roast mocha, red and black berry fruit, cassis, really nice vein of acidity and tannin. This remained unchanged during the lunch. Seems like it’s in a peak window (maybe close to the top?) where I imagine it will hold another 5-7yrs easily before turning more tertiary. — 2 years ago

Adriana Fabbro

9.3

Chenin ❤️‘ s botrytis

Unlike anything I’ve had nor was it what I was expecting. After the first sip (or the first pour), I had to set aside all previous experiences with Savienniéres. I mean—just look at that color.

Do not mistake the browning for oxidation (Nicolas Joly makes this distinction clear on the back label and on his website). The wine is developed, and there are oxidative notes, but the fruit flavors are still there, ripe and vibrant.

This is distilled essence of Chenin Blanc right here. Green apple, pear, apricot, beeswax, honey and almond. A dominant honey note but not sweet. White pepper and maybe a hint of ginger. That lanolin note hasn’t completely disappeared, but takes a back seat. Imagine a dry Sauternes…

Nicolas Joly recommends decanting and drinking over several nights. I skipped the first part of that recommendation and am working on the second this week.

Ordinarily, I’m not sure Joly would approve of my choice of “glassware,” but under the circumstances (birthday + oysters + a perfect afternoon watching the ocean mist rolling in over Tomales Bay) I have to imagine he’d be 100% on board.

Not bad for an 882nd consecutive vintage! — 4 years ago