Richard Adams

9.4

Special name, special occasion. Love ‘12 CA Cabs and this one especially. Surreal power for age 14. Still dense fruit, good balance but still more tilt and less finesse. Maybe better in 3-5 years but shows the heft of a well made Napa Cab. — 8 months ago

Paul Woolls

9.4

2001 en magnum. Wow. This is surreal. So fresh and lively. Hardly yet begun to fight. — 7 years ago

Paul Woolls

9.4

As it developed, just continued to improve. This wine remains surreal. — 8 years ago

with George, Mike and 2 others

Ely Cohn

9.5

The Trebbiano in Paolo Bea’s Arboreus see extended skin contact and are joined in the vat by semi-dried grapes of the same variety. The finished wine is spectacular. Complex, deep, polished. Beautiful copper orange color with mile deep aromas of apricots, peach, orange, and vanilla bourbon. The texture is surreal and nonlinear. At first it’s dense and rich but then quickly slips into a medium tannic acidic body. Flavors of sweet honeyed orange, subtle notes of vanilla spice, and creme brûlée stick around for a long welcomed while.

Start this at cellar temp and drink slowly as it warms. Where so many orange wines are a novelty, this is an expertly assembled wine of purpose. — 8 years ago

Andrew S

9.1

Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the people affected by the fires in California. After a whole week, it still appears surreal and heartbreaking out there. — 9 years ago

Paul Woolls

9.5

Exquisite. Surreal. — 9 years ago

Richard Adams

9.1

Flac attack. Maybe the most underrated Super T. This one needs time. Nose is surreal with Italian shrooms, soil, and smoke. Tannis need to come around, but this has the bones to be great in 5 yrs. try the '99-01s. — 9 years ago

with Ksenia

Paul Woolls

9.5

This is the eis vein. Surreal. 1991 — 10 years ago

Daron Watson

9.7

complex potpourri perfume with a surreal sultry Sangiovese palate 🦄🍷🤘 — 3 years ago

Patrick Derdeyn

10

Made from grapes that we got to foot tread when the came into the winery in Napa. The were freezing cold when they arrived and the whole clusters are sharp, feels like walking on legos but then the cold makes your feet go numb, and then you start sweating from the 45 minute stomp session. It’s quite a surreal feeling and such an incredible experience. This is the first bottle we’ve opened and we popped it for our 10th anniversary. The wine itself is incredible. Dark fruited and plush, fresh yet with hints of garrigue and smoked meats that will further develop with time. Perfectly balanced acid and the 100% WC has already integrated very nicely. Like all of @Mike Smith wines its beautiful now and will be great down the road. This is one we will cherish for years to come. — 6 years ago

Aaron Tan

9.9

Harmony, depth, and energy - what more can one ask for from a wine. I must note, the texture is surreal and ranks amongst the most pleasing mouthfeel I've experienced in a wine. It carreses, teases, and was greatly nuanced. All I can say is that Gerard Potel's a genius. True master of his artform. How I wished I could have learnt from him. — 8 years ago

Paul Woolls

9.8

This is surreal. Elegant, balanced bright fruit aromatically. Exquisite. — 9 years ago

with Mike and Jonathan

Eric Egan

9.4

I noticed that there were a few droplets forming at the end of the capsule so pulled this out of the cabinet to serve a few days later. Sow-oxed for four hours and decanted just before serving. I poured 2/5 (pure, with absolutely no sediment) into one decanter and 2/5 into another (when traces of fine sediment had reached the neck). I poured he final 1/5 (dregs and all) into a glass and covered it over with a plate (to revisit a week later once the sediment settled again).

A very special wine. Strange to think that the grapes were harvested in the middle of WWII! It was incredibly pale - so much so that it would have been difficult to tell whether or not it was and old white or red by the colour alone. The nose was intoxicating; a surreal but heavenly mix of fresh toffee, prunes, dates, and figs, with a touch of sous bois and fresh field mushrooms, with a (not unpleasant) hint of VA; the acidity was prominent but elegantly cutting through the velvety tapestry of a palate, layered with expanding patterns of intricately carved flavours. Very long and satisfying, though perhaps ever so slightly unfocused - a Mid Shoulder level so perhaps not a perfect bottle.

A week later the sediment in the spare glass had settled completely so I poured into another glass. Despite a week's ox exposure it showed no signs I flagging. In fact it might even have been better than it was when opened. A true testament to the immortality of old-fashioned barolo! — 9 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.4

Surreal nose. Mint. Green vegetable Sylvaner goodness. Super mineral. Wafting and so clean. Palate is precise, clean and opulent and ramps up the complexity on the finish as the acids gain ground and the finish is sneakily persistent. So juicy, clean and long. Wonderful wine. — 9 years ago

Shawn R

9.5

@David L we simply couldn't get enough. Thank you so much for gifting this bottle to Jennifer and I. The nose puts the wine in the surreal spot showing decadent dried rose, raw meat and wild berry. Loads of ripe roasted fruits, chocolate and currant. Full integrated tannins and a secondary hints of spice. The finish is on! Burst of black fruits, that lingers for over 45 sec. — 10 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.9

Just stunning! No formal notes. This will be perfect with age.

Some day 2 notes. Surreal nose of slate, green apple, some tropical fruits and stunning minerality. So slatey. So airy, so intense, so expansive. 9.9 nose today. Palate is just so refined and elegant. So sappy and so pure. Amazing length, texture and my god what finesse. 9.8 to 9.9 overnight. — 5 years ago

Matthieu Michon

9.7

Exceptional wine. Opened at Cheval Blanc in August 2019. Incredible nose - beautiful violets and floral perfume. It goes on and on and keeps bringing me back to it. The wine is fresh, full, complex, ethereal. Surreal experience and highlight of the trip for me. — 7 years ago

Mike R

9.7

Omg good - prefect construction with some intriguing blackberry seed and purple plum notes that desperately wanted to jump out of the glass. Believe it or not only decanted for 45 mins - created an utter explosion of flavor and power - the wine absolutely amazed me with the intensity and deep flavor

It’s a big wine and it’s not “ready” by scientific standards, but boy oh boy was this thing singing in prefect pitch already with its electric blueberry, blackberry, purple plum and river rock spices - this surreal bombastic wine is reflecting both youth and a seeming modern stylistic character I have not experienced from a previous Manfred wine I have tried

Whatever your preference, it’s hard to deny the expert construction of this particular wine. Captivating, driven, complex, and pure. The only thing missing from this at the moment is some finesse, which I have confidence it will gain over the next few years. Ideally, wait until after 2022++. 98-100 points.

A huge contrast with the 2013 Next of Kyn No.7, which was all balled-up with nowhere to go all night; hyper-vigilantly tannic and on-guard. The 2014 was just as big, but had the presence of amazing flavor to back up its intensity and fortitude. — 8 years ago

with David

Paul Woolls

9.3

Surreal structure and flavor. Slight bitterness in finish. Still lovely. — 9 years ago

Martin G Rivard

10

We started the evening off with a gorgeous Chardonnay and then took our palates for a stroll through Bordeaux with this Napa beast. It was literally perfect. 30 minutes to open and once it did there was a pure concentration of fruit, graphite, oak and a surreal opulent Nose. This is drinking as good as if not better then a lot of 1st growth Bordeaux's that I've enjoyed through the years. Simply amazing!!!! Too bad I only had 1 in my cellar!!!!
Amazingness in a glass!!! — 9 years ago

with Christine