Andrew Cullimore

9.4

golden yellow , copper tinge . Quite open exuberant nose , orange rind , honeysuckle, saffron , ginger , marmalade . Intense marmalade , orange peel on the palate , quite rich and intense but well balanced by high acidity. Long balanced , zesty intense finish . Drinking well now and over the next 5-8 years . — 16 days ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.5

The nose jumps out of the glass like it’s barefoot and the glass is on fire. Stunningly expressive. Wild black/red cherries and wild raspberries. A hint of that natural funk that adds and does not subtract. Floral and expansive. Dense. 9.7 nose. Just amazing. Mesmerizing. Palate is sweet, silky and refined. Ripe and sweet tannins and unreal texture. Sappy and so deep. Finish stamps your palate. This is so showing so well. This bottle at this stage in its life is the best Liaison I’ve ever had. So complex on the finish with deep minerals and very serious fruit that busts through all the tannins. — 2 years ago

Martinez

9.3

Before phylloxera wiped out its vineyards, Málaga was considered one of Europe’s greatest wine regions and its legendary “mountain wines” were coveted throughout the world. In his memoirs, Hugh Johnson singled out an 1830s “mountain wine” bought at a Christie’s auction under the label Molino del Rey as the best wine he’d ever drank - and he’s had plenty. Taking its inspiration from Johnson’s account, Telmo Rodríguez’s Molino Real represents a groundbreaking effort to revive Málaga’s winemaking traditions and to explore the region’s potential for top quality sweet wines.

A “vino naturalmente dulce” or naturally sweet wine (not to be confused with Málaga’s also famous “vino dulce natural” a fortified style developed later in the 18th Century), Molino Real is made with Muscat of Alexandria grapes from 9 hectares of vines on steep slate slopes in Cómpeta in the Axarquía region. The grapes were sun dried - a process known as asoleo - to increase sugar concentration, fermented in 225-liter oak barrels and then aged for 20 months.

Sumptuous, exuberant nose. Flowers, orange blossom, and peach (actually peach yogurt). Balanced, not overwhelmingly sweet. Delicious! — 4 years ago

Shay A

9.4

Forgot I opened one of these earlier in the year. Whoops. Wish I had more.

Hour decant, then consumed from decanter over the next 3hrs.

My note here is fairly similar to the 2014 note, but there is more concentration and power going on. Dark purple in the glass, with aromatics of both sweet oak as well as a kiss of whole cluster stem inclusion. Loads of dark floral notes, ripe blackberries, and smoked jerky. Large-scaled mid palate depth and richness of blue and black fruits with plenty of herbal flair and spice but it’s more iron fist in a velvet glove style. There’s black peppercorn and iron, as well as big central coast Rhône style with its rich and textural palate.

I love Syrah in all expressions. It’s natural to compare these wines to SQN (and Andremily), and rightly so. These are dialed up to 9, but pull back, whereas the others aren’t afraid of going to 11. No right/wrong answer, just style preference. I happen to love both. — a year ago

Jay Kline

9.0

Served double-blind. Deep, glass staining ruby red with an utterly opaque core. On the nose, decadent, sightly confected, red fruits...almost red rope licorice like...mixed with spiced dark fruits (plums and currants) and cocoa. The palate is more dark fruited with semi-sweet chocolate chips…the ones made with the natural vanilla, and some coffee but there is good acid and the tannins, which are quite fine, are also quite sneaky. Long, satisfying finish. This comes across as a fairly extracted wine and I wondered if there as some residual sugar, possibly some appassimento?? I was totally stumped. Revealed to be this blend of Nerello Cappuccio and Gaglioppo; the latter I had zero experience with but, apparently, related to Sangiovese. This is a wine of intense concentration and proved to be most enjoyable on Day 3 once everything became a bit more integrated. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with Calabrian wines so I’m unsure if this is truly representative or an outlier. I’m intrigued and I think that the quality is certainly there. Paired very well on Day 1 with Osso Bucco and saffron risotto. — 4 years ago

Romain Fitoussi

9.1

beautiful syrah. biodynamic, unfiltered, without added sulphites. All the qualities that we like to find in the wines of the north of the Rhone valley: fresh black fruit, minty touch, sweet spices, olive. natural modern wine. I love it — 5 years ago

Daniel M

8.9

I hadn't had this wine in a couple of vintages and I always have had a sweet spot for it. It's a bit more austere and serious than previous vintages I tasted, and a bit more complex too.
Licorice, blackberry, leather, a touch of mint, some Cola notes and some heat... Wow it's a serious nose, a lot let's playful and fruitful than in my memories. The palate shows a great acid drive, some serious grip, some width, some matter on the edges, a nice blackberry note through and through, along with, again, these Cola notes that I usually associate with natural gamays from the Beaujolais region, some grippy tannins kick off in the rear, powering a long, fruity, grippy finish that lasts for a very long time. These tannins tend to make the wine a bit more austere and complex but the Cola notes remind you it's an organic, natural wine style too. I like it very much. And this is the entry level cuvée of this Domaine! — a year ago

Jeremy Samuels

9.9

Cobi’s. Delicious natural wine, sweet but not too much so. Great dryness balances it out, tangy finish — 3 years ago

Dasha

9.2

Sadly Jacques’s last vintage. Mondeuse, Gamay, Pinot. Beautifully natural, vibrant, supple. Brambly, black cherry, raspberry pepper, forest fruits, alpine strawberries, bright, concentrated, glugable, but nice tertiary notes of sweet tobacco, sassafras, sous bois. Very pretty and feminine. Could cozy up to this every day. 12.3% — 4 years ago

Simone Pizzi

9.3

Beautiful dôle. Natural, earthy, elegant and complex. Pinot aromatics and Gamay sweet spices, good acidiy, well it's pure pleasure. Marie-Thérèse grows her fabulous vines up on the hills of Fully in Valais, she is one of the most iconic swiss "vigneronnes". In spite of the difficulty of working such a land, she follows the biodynamic philosophy and does an impressive work to produce world-class wines in a respectul way. This Dôle is very young and could be considered an "entry-level" red and yet it shows already all of its personality ! Paired well with a roast-beef from "race d'Hérens" beef, roast potatoes and coleslaw. — 5 years ago