George

9.0

Better on second day — 6 months ago

Norman

9.4

No age statement (NAS) on this one but it still has a rich and full finish. It not one that lasts super long but is complete and great. Didn’t think I was a fan of Tamdhu but this changes that.

Official commentary - The distiller does so by bottling the Cigar Malt unchillfiltered at 53.8% ABV, which the distiller’s notes show the whisky to mimic the spice, aroma, and mouthfeel of aged tobacco leaves.

Sandy McIntyre, Tamdhu’s distillery manager, explained that Cigar Malt II has a balanced, creamy nose that gives way to crystallized ginger, golden syrup, and hints of sherry oak. It tastes of winter fruits soaked in sherry with a thick mouthfeel, followed by a malt loaf and vanilla cream.

The finish is lingering and brings a hint of sherry, with honeyed apricots and toasted nuts. — 2 years ago

Joe DAscoli

9.4

Tried to follow the instructions. Decanted and put in an ice bucket to mimic cellar temp while it aerated. Too impatient. Poured and drank. Little hot but really beautiful orchard and stone fruits. Then after more time and air this wine was really elegant. Excellent. — 4 years ago

Ed Lehrman

9.0

Very aromatic and much improved after 7 years. Tart cherry/plum and at 12.3 alc is a touch short of where it would have been singing. CA ain’t Burgundy so don’t try to mimic. Use the sun! This is the best of the 2013s I’ve had so far. — 6 years ago

Kristen Grimes

9.2

Light and fizzy on the tongue with earth and herbal notes that mimic the nose, long lingering tannins. Beautiful chilled! — 7 years ago

J Levenson

9.2

$35 Terrific. Decant 1 hour. 70 year old single vineyard. This bottle is a terroir super nova, possessing all the regal structure, three dimensional fruit and impossible to mimic soil character that makes top white burgundy the standard against which all other Chardonnay is judged.“ - Ian Cauble, SommSelect — 8 years ago

Carl Fischer

9.7

Closing out the birthday weekend on a high note thanks to my man @Martin G Rivard ! This wine is amazing. I almost feel guilty having opened it so young but I needed to try this. Decanted and checked in over three and a half hours - at which point the wine really amazed me. The nose is intoxicating with aromas of stewed dark fruit - blackberries, black cherries, strawberry jam - with some nice floral notes. The palate is amazing - silky smooth entry just bursting with fruits that mimic the nose - blackberry, strawberry, and more dark cherries - baking spices and notes of minerals. Layered and complex. Incredibly long finish. The tannins were really strong initially so this benefited from the long decant. Just a beautiful and elegant wine. Wowzah. — 8 years ago

Ron from VA

9.2

This was very well grown (Crozet) and produced (by Chris)- this was delicious and while it didn’t mimic Argentinian Malbec, it did offer varietal difference than CF or CS… I really let this run until I had the right meal to pair it with… 14.5 years is a long time, but it stood the test of time so a big high five — a year ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.6

@Delectable Wine This is Syrah. Nose is crazy. Blueberry, floral and so expressive and crazy. What a nose. Layered and complex. Cote Rotie like. Wow. 9.6 nose. Olive, floral, red berry, black berry. Sick. Palate is so supple, juicy and fresh. Really intense palate presence and wonderful grip. So long. Epic. Great freshness.

Wow on day 2. Insane Cote Rotie mimic aromas. Florals. Violets. Pastille. Granite. Clay. Play-Doh. So gorgeous. Flaming embers. Palate is just seamless and almost sweet but not. Insane elegance and dusty very fine tannins that pump out some sweetness on the finish. What a finish. Elite Syrah. — 3 years ago

Ming L

9.4

Red cherry, strawberry, plum, fresh herbs, balsamic, and hint of lavender fills an aromatic and deep nose. Soft juicy entry with flavors mimic the nose but lightly candied. Medium to full body that’s beautifully textured. Bright acidity and polished tannins.

This is in great contrast to Alto Moncayo, showing off PN-like elegance. Still packing a punch though. Need to find couple of bottles to cellar. — 5 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

With BBQ Chicken & Roasted, Rosemary Potatoes on opening night of the D&S Lounge.

John Alban’s wines remind me most of all the California producers/versions of North Rhone or Côte-Rôtie wines. Côte-Rôtie translates into for us as “Roasted Slope.” I assume that’s why his craft was dubbed as the “Original Rhône Ranger.”

Although this has the roasted characterizations of those wines, this certainly has more ripe, ruby style fruits. Also, more purple & blue fruits.

John’s higher end wines, Reva & Pondora remind me of the a French producer, Rostaing. Those two vineyard productions more closely mimic the Rostaing style.

The Patrina is a good intro into Alban wines. You can tell it is a direct descendant but, for far less money. The others are better but, this carries the best wine value in their line up.

The nose reveals; roasted & candied fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, poached strawberries, black raspberries, black plum, black cherries, creamy raspberries & blue fruits. Used, French expresso roast grounds, anise to black licorice, purple fruit cola, coarse, ground, black pepper, dark spices, fresh tobacco leaf, cigar smoke, dry stems, dry crushed rocks, limestone & volcanic minerals, bay leaf, some sage, black tea, black olives, bandaid notes, saddle-wood to cedar, graphite notes with dark, fresh & withering, red, blue & purple candied florals, violets framed in a field of candied lavender.

The body is; lush, ruby, big and like velvet. The tannins are round but, still pack, chewy, tarry, meaty tannins that are 45-50% resolved. The structure, tension, length and balance are in a good place but, will hit a peak in five to seven years. The 2010 Patrina still has room for improvement and will last another 10-15 years. It is simply wine candy. Roasted & candied fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, poached strawberries, black raspberries, black plum, black cherries, creamy raspberries & blue fruits. Used, French expresso roast grounds, anise to black licorice, purple fruit cola, coarse, ground, black pepper, dark spices with just the right amount of palate heat, grilled meats, chestnuts, fresh tobacco leaf, cigar smoke, dry stems, dry crushed rocks, moist clay, limestone & gritty volcanic minerals, dry stone, bay leaf, some sage, black tea, black olives, Steeped black tea, bandaid notes, saddle-wood to cedar, graphite notes with dark, fresh & withering, red, blue & purple candied florals, violets framed in a field of candied lavender. The acidity is phat & round. It holds the slightly elevated alcohol level nicely. The finish is excellent & consistent wire to wire. It’s long, ruby, candied fruits with just the right balance of earth that persists endlessly.

Just misses 9.4.

Photos of; the best room in our house for 6+ months of the year, our backyard. Aka, the D&S Lounge on Memorial Day Weekend 2020. — 6 years ago

Mike Spielvogel

9.3

Never heard of this before. In 2006 J Lohr did 3 different wines to mimic Pomerol, Pauillac, and St Emilion respectively. This is the Pauillac. Really good. — 9 years ago

Richard Sohn

9.5

Viscous, dark, hazy, oaky, cooked brown sugar with interminable finish. Excruciating burn neat, but incredibly smooth with any amount of water, including 2:1 dilution to mimic the now discontinued EC 12 year bottling (ABV 45%). One of best barrel proof bottles around. — 9 years ago

Sharon B

9.4

Less than $10 what a gem! An Italian fruit forward wine with tons of dark fruit on the palate. Yum!! 😋 — 2 years ago

Jenks

9.4

@delectable this is Pulling Nails Blend #15...

“I pulled the notes from Pulling Nails #8 to mimic the fruiting addition exactly - the ratio of raspberries to cherries. Then we blended up what could be the best foundation for these fruits and their refermentation by using the base for the blend #8 as a guide.

Where blend #8 used a portion of spontaneous beer back-blended with a 1-year-old saison, blend #15 uses a base of our lambic-inspired beer (quick turbid mash, funkiest of our cultures, expresses itself somewhere between Coexpressionalism and our old spontaneous beers) blended with Oude Fermier and a Brett-forward saison for some additional Brett spice and classical "funk." The blend was refermented on raspberries and cherries for less than 2 months (just like blend #8 yet unlike any other Side Project beer ever) and then allowed to bottle condition since early May.” - Cory King. — 3 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.1

Dense Crimson in colour. The nose and palate on this full bodied red are more reminiscent of a South Australian Red than the medium bodied savoury style typical of the Hunter Valley. Just the faintest hint of HV sweat and earth. This showed rich ripe black currant with smooth tannins. It’s a pity there was a time when HV wines tried to mimic the SA styles which were more popular. This is an example of that. Quite a good wine but not true to its origins. Thankfully the main HV wineries have returned to their original style - think Mount Pleasant Maurice O’Shea, Brokenwood Graveyard and Tyrells Individual Paddocks. — 6 years ago

Taylar Hart

9.2

The 2008 was very balanced, but I probably would have preferred the 2018 to more closely mimic what I like about R6 — 7 years ago

Aaron Tan

9.0

Whoa! Seriously looked like an orange wine. The only thing that could have given it away was the missing phenolics. Even the acidity was rounded, and there's a good amount of fizziness to mimic microbial activity you'd find so often in natty wines. Cool booze that so smashable - love it!

Taste and smells exactly like you'd expect from reading the write-p on Rogue Ale's website: Weird & wonderful fusion of hazy IPA and sour ale brewed with grapefruit and blood orange, then dry-hopped with Australian hops. — 7 years ago

Bryce Wiatrak

9.5

Marco Abella's top Priorat wine actually leads with Cariñena before Garnatxa, with David Marco asserting that Cariñena is the more powerful and more mineral of the two grapes. Rocky, craggy and saline, the wine's savory edges mimic the steep terraced slopes from which these wines are born. The 2012 Clos Abella finds a concentrated pillar of kalamata, prune, rosemary, smoke, and other flavors evocative of the Mediterranean coast. Stoic and lengthy, the wine has many stories yet to unfold. — 8 years ago

Henrik Poulsen

9.0

12% alc.
52% Chardonnay, 48% Pinot Noir.

Being a devoted "bubble head" and always looking for that affordable everyday sparkler (Segura Viudas Cava comes to mind) I think I have a new favorite here.

Made from the "correct" varietals and while on the very fruity side, this still has enough chalky minerality, acidity and small defined mousse to somewhat mimic Champagne.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! — 9 years ago

with Kurt-Inge