Jake Hajer

9.5

My goodness this is a pretty wine. Smells like suiker-brod which is a brioche style bread loaf baked with pockets of sugar that melt and partially caramelize from holland. With freshness of lime zest. Clean slate. A little smoke and honey. — 4 months ago

K. Syrah

9.1

2016. Merlot-based Bordeaux. Rich purity of fruit makes it very approachable for a young wine. Firm tannins up front melt into sappy purple fruit. Some minerals and stone but a fairly one-dimensional fruit bomb at this point. $43 at Bottle King. — 5 years ago

Mereze Visagie

10

Doesn’t have a strong aftertaste like most other chards. Not too sweet. Very light and nice! — 6 years ago

Dave Schneider

9.3

The only fun thing happening now is “RIPPING” through my wine cellar. I’m always worried that I leave things too long before I drink it but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with my patience of late. This wine took a few minutes to melt the angular hard edges away revealing a beautiful Pinot noir with complexity and a zesty kick and a long 30 second finish. I bought this wine from Garagiste during the last crisis of 08/09. Timing couldn’t be better. Stay well and healthy! — 6 years ago

Rich Chen

9.0

Very light and crisp. Has a very bright citrusy flavor with very fine melt in your mouth bubbles. The finish is very clean and dry. Great value for sharing. — 7 years ago

Deanna Urciuoli

9.4

Incredible white. The honey and orange aroma makes you melt. Crisp tart flavor that is highly drinkable. A sure favorite! — 7 years ago

Chris Zitzman

9.3

Deep currant & boysenberry jump right up. As it relaxes I’m getting hints of cedar, oodles of crushed cherry. On the palate it brings a youthful but surprisingly composed, expressive and robust character. Perhaps a symptom of the ‘14 vintage, the tannins are extremely smooth and melt delightfully into h mid-palate of the wine, leading to an elegant, if not a bit demure finish.
@DuMOL Winery @rrv — 8 years ago

with Beth

Sean Lowry

9.1

2011v. Deep violet with a little transparency. On the nose, there's some semiripe black fruit (plums, black cherry), a little black pepper, some baking spice, and mint. On the palette, the decently ripe fruit is balanced by a nice hot of black pepper and a hint of green bell pepper pyrazines. A silky body with tannins that coat your mouth and melt slowly. The finish is mostly wood, like popscicle sticks. A very easy drinking and elegant wine that has really melded together with age. 57% merlot, 40% cab sav, 3% cab franc. — 8 years ago

Brad Jensen

9.3

Very rustic and musty, from what I hear this amount of time must have really softened its rough edges because this has some refinement to it. Amber red color, with slight coppery hints, the nose is musty like an old felt book binding, or some velvet church pews, with prominent fruit as it’s allowed to open up, and even some hints of dusty bubble gum and deep floral notes towards the edges. Looong legs on a medium body, the tannins are well integrated and grippy, with a strong foundation, but melt after a little while. There’s serious graphite and minerality here, but that opens into some savory notes, black currant and olive, as well as some balsamic, but after the tannin let go you get some serious cacao or dark chocolate notes, even some tobacco smoke, with fig and blood orange at the finish. I don’t know why people dog on this wine, it just needs time to mature, more than folks realize. Paired with spek, sheep’s milk cheese, and the film “A Prophet”. — a year ago

with Tiva

Matthew Cohen

9.4

Absolutely Needs a 30 minute decant. Discombobulated on open. Do NOT drink on open.

Nose is medium cherry and cherry flower. As it opens nose is a basket of flowers. Violets. Lilacs. Lavender. Daaaaaamn negri. Really crazy assed addictive. Like a drug. An alternative reality that sucks you in.

Palate is silky cherries. Some spice. Grippy tanins that melt after 30. A hint of chocolate. A hint of cherry licorice. Juicy. Such sweet hedonistic fruit. Jamalamadingdong.

Nice juicy licorice finish.

Bought from fass selections.
— 6 years ago

Adriana Fabbro

9.1

Felt like a justifiable extravagance during quarantine. Surprisingly aggressive mousse: bubbles were audible and hit the back of my tongue like pop rocks. Austere but pretty, like an early spring day, when it’s sunny but still too cool to ditch the winter coat and when some trees are blossoming but most are still bare. Aromatics: brioche, orchard fruit & blossoms (underripe apple, pear), early spring wild flowers, a touch of something tropical (passion fruit?). Flavors: baked apple, buttery notes quickly give way to alpine snow melt and reverberating, enamel-stripping acidity. A peculiar, but perfect date for Easter brunch. — 6 years ago

David Kline

9.2

Solid black base with cappuccino frost. Fine bubbled spring snow-melt-on-medium-range-mountain lacing. Just shy of sweet, chocolate nose with coffee dusting. Cocoa shell, sprouted barley grain toast, dark rye, medium grilled beef loin. On the palate, cocoa nibs, dark chocolate shavings, mocha grind, with a zippy chocolate effervescence throughout. Top-notch porter, with a balanced body and great depth in a fine porter. — 7 years ago

Bill Bender

9.2

Father’s Day dinner wine from mag and paired with Ribeye, bourbon brats, Korean ribs and rosemary chicken. One of my go to Riojas at a palpable price. Resolved smooth tannins, fully mature, earth driven and enough bright red fruit to provide balance. My all time favorite pic of my mini, Riley, when she had that melt your heart chubby face. Now she’s 15 and 5’10” and no chub in sight ☺️ — 8 years ago

Jason Brater

9.3

Absolutely beautiful BdB! Ethereal bubblrs that melt away. One of the few examples where the wine is as beautiful or better than the amazing bottle. Would put this up against most any BdB at 1.5/2.0x the price! — 3 years ago

Russelton Handleberry

8.9

Paired perfectly with my patty melt — 5 years ago

Chris Zitzman

9.3

Right off the pop of the cork, Tuck Beckstoffer’s entry-level “1975” California Cabernet acts as a simple-yet profound introduction to a whole series of extremely highly-regarded wines from one of the most legendary names in all of California. The nose provides a lush and surprisingly broad array of flavors from stewed cherry to a Smokey- bit of charred oak- and its caliber is defined by how those aromas find their way to melt together- even as young as it be. As it breathes and evolves the structure softens and the tannins begin to more gently explain as well as reveal the flavors that are, sip-by-sip, emerging on the palate. Medium-bodied but with plenty of structure to spare, the (just unbelievably) inexpensive 2018 Beckstoffer “1975” Cabernet is one to try. Then buy, by the case. — 6 years ago

with Beth

Adam Kincaid

9.1

Small white flowers and wet stone from snow melt. Soft and mellow, slightly nutty. It’s spring up in the high mountains. — 6 years ago

Paul B.

8.9

Deep dark garnet color. Nice dark cherry round fruit and depth here. Enough complexity with wood and earth. What a nice finish with firm long tannins that melt into a clean finish. Best merlot dominant wine I’ve had in a while. Had it with a NY strip at Capital Grille. — 7 years ago

Vasanth Balakrishnan

9.3

Oh, what a treat to enjoy a 1999 #Margaux with some close friends. This was full of earthy forest floor, mushrooms, violets, soft spice and tannins that just melt away with such nicely balanced acidity. Here you see the amazing age potential of a #bordeaux. This is an outstanding wine. — 8 years ago

Stephen

9.8

Still holds the crown as my favorite Napa Cabernet. There were few questionable reviews on the 2006's out there, so I was a little nervous. Uncorked for 4-6 hours and then decanted for another ~1.5-2. She sipped nicely at first pop and once we poured at dinner she was ready to go. Velvety tannins. Long finish. Fruit definitely still there but more mellowed out. Melt in your mouth good. Looking forward to my last bottle in a few years. — 8 years ago