Moody June
Clos Mogador
Priorat Red Blend 2004
We had this last night with pan fried duck with ginger and garlic - thanks Georgie - a perfect match with this wine. Blue and black fruits with earth and minerality. A medium to full bodied palate. I normally have a Burgundy with Duck but I wanted to have this aged Carignan/Grenache. One of my favourite wine styles. The five of us who drank this wine all visited Clos Mogador in early June this year where we had a tasting and tour and I bought this aged bottle from their cellar. Still had at least 5 more years in front of it. — 4 years ago
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin
La Grande Dame Brut Champagne Blend 2006
We are loving the toast, marzipan, almond paste, brioche, dried apricot, dried apple, crushed white rose petals, and pastry notes coming from this beauty - nearly confectionery!
It turns out we love vintage bubbles 🥂 🍾
2006 vintage, disgorged June, 2014. — 5 years ago
Karl Erbes
Ürziger Würzgarten Spatlese Riesling 2016
2020 June / July. Great in those instances where you want a Riesling for what it does with things like Thai or Vietnamese food - it has the right balance of acidity, sweetness, and minerality — 6 years ago
Domaine de Terrebrune
Bandol Mourvedre Blend Rosé 2009
[Tasted on June 20, 2020 at Home]
Dried berries and rose petal, with strong notes of mineral and smoke. — 6 years ago
Bérêche & Fils
Brut Réserve Champagne Blend
Along with Egly-Ouriet, simply the best entry-level grower champ on the market (IMO). This is 70% base vintage, and 30% reserve wines. Blend is 33/33/33% Pinot/Chard/Meunière. 30+ months on lees… damn delicious. Disgorgement: June 2023 / Dosage: 6 gr/l — 2 years ago
Donnafugata
Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria Zibibbo 2022
Burnt blood orange, autumnal spices, candied ginger, dried nectarines and a lifting hint of mint create a kaleidoscopic bouquet as the 2022 Ben Ryé blossoms in the glass. Weighty and velvety in feel yet remarkably fresh, it floods the palate with masses of tropical citrus, mango and papaya, all supported by a core of zesty acidity. The 2022 finishes with dramatic length and concentration. A peach nectar resonance and savory spices linger on and on. The 2022 is sure to join the ranks of the best vintages of Ben Ryé. It finished at 200 grams per liter of residual sugar. (Eric Guido, Vinous, June 2024)
— 2 years ago
Grifalco di Lucania
Gricos Aglianico del Vulture 2021
The 2021 Gricos is bursting with violet, lavender, blackberry and stone notes. Supremely silky yet deep, this blends ripe black fruits with tantalizing acidity and a zesty, citrusy core. It’s impressively long and lightly structured. Beautiful today yet also fit for the cellar. $20.00 (Eric Guido, Vinous, June 2023) — 3 years ago
Benanti
Pietra Marina Etna Bianco Superiore Carricante 2017
The 2017 Etna Bianco Superiore Pietra Marina makes itself known with a beguiling bouquet that blends crushed oyster shells with rosemary, young apricot and hints of smoke. It’s deeply textural and elegant in feel, with ripe pit fruits that cascade across a core of zesty acids, as nuances of green citrus pinch at the cheeks. This leaves the palate buzzing with residual energy; fresh melon tones linger and are framed by a coating of salty minerality. While the 2017 shows a bit of extra ripeness from the warm vintage, it does so in such a seductive and balanced way. This is top-shelf Etna Bianco by every scope of the imagination. The Pietra Marina is an old-vines selection of Carricante from the Rinazzo Contrada on Etna’s eastern slope. It refines for 24 months on the lees in stainless steel vats prior to bottling. (Eric Guido, Vinous, June 2022)
— 4 years ago
Château de Pibarnon (Comte de Saint Victor)
Bandol Rosé Blend 2020
Shimmering salmon skin. Powerful cherry, raspberry, pit fruit and lavender aromas, along with blood orange and succulent herb flourishes. Stains the palate with mineral-accented red berry, bitter cherry, white peach, orange pith and floral pastille flavors that show sharp delineation and spicy lift. In a powerful style, but it comes off lithe and precise. Shows powerful thrust on an impressively long, mineral-tinged finish that echoes the peach and blood orange notes. (Josh Raynolds, Vinous, June 2021)
— 5 years ago
Joh. Jos. Prüm
Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett Riesling 2018
2020 June / July. Very similar to the Bernkasteler Badstube in that it’s just so young. There might be a bit more stuffing here, and this a bit further to grow — 6 years ago
Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé
Cuvée Vieilles Vignes Musigny Grand Cru Pinot Noir 2006
The 2006 Musigny Vieilles Vignes Grand Cru has a rambunctious nose with raspberry ripple and crushed strawberry scents, though it doesn't fully have the complexity of other vintages. The palate is chewy, slightly muscular and impressively dense. It's surly on the finish with markedly dry tannins that don't urge you back for more. It's the kind of Musigny that I feel would not be made under the present regime. (Neal Martin, Vinous, June 2024)
— 2 years ago
Maurice Vesselle
Brut Millésimé Grand Cru Champagne Blend 2013
Maurice Vesselle is a récoltant whose small estate of maybe 15 acres, is in Bouzy and Tours sur Marnes. Most of their vineyards, all Grand Cru, are dedicated to Pinot Noir with the balance, Chardonnay. They are a strict no-malo, all INOX producer. One other note, the corks on these bottles are so stubborn. I had one hell of a time getting it extracted in an elegant fashion. We had people over and I was multitasking, making the risotto which, of course, needed my undivided attention. Ultimately, I ended up grabbing the Wüsthof and sabering that mf’er.
So, sabered and poured. The wine is a straw color with medium- viscosity and a persistent mousse. On the nose, the wine is developing with notes of strawberry, light brioche, lemons, marzipan and limestone minerals. On the palate, the wine is dry with high acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long, mineral driven and zippy! This needs a ton of air at this stage but if you allow it, what a treat! Better after 2025 through 2043. The Millésimé is typically 80/20, Pinot Noir/Chardonnay. Dosage 4g/l (and seems it). Disgorged June 2023. — 2 years ago
Clos Erasmus
Priorat Grenache Blend 1998
You will appreciate this wine more once you’ve seen the YouTube movie “Dreaming of Wine” about the rejuvenation of the wine industry In Priorat after 900 years. A fascinating story and well worth the time to view the movie. Clos Erasmus was founded and still run by Daphne Glorian, the blonde woman in the movie. The wine itself is one of the 1001 Wines to Drink Before you Die and described as “one of the few cult wines in Spain”. The wine itself in colour was not as dense and dark as I was expecting after a decant though, a substantial deposit was left. Lovely red and black fruited aromatics with dried herbs, violets and ripe berries, although with porty and raisiny notes - cocoa and a touch of tar with granular tannins. Arguably a bit long in the tooth - depends what you are looking for. Bought at a wine shop in Gratallops, the little village in Priorat in June last year, 2022 after a tasting at Clos Mogador, also in the movie. Tasted a while ago Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate gave this wine 99 points “flirting with perfection “. A blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. — 3 years ago
Olga Raffault
Chinon Cabernet Franc Rosé 2020
Limpid orange. Highly perfumed, mineral-accented strawberry, cherry, tangerine and floral aromas are complemented by a subtle herbal nuance. Vibrant red berry and zesty orange pith flavors show fine clarity and a dusty mineral flourish on the back half. Finishes very long and focused, displaying firm tension and repeating florality. (Josh Raynolds, Vinous, June 2021)
— 5 years ago
Ameztoi
Rubentis Getariako Txakolina Hondarrabi Beltza Hondarrabi Zuri Rosé Blend 2020
Shimmering orange-pink. Pungent cherry and red berry scents take on floral and spice nuances with air. Shows silky texture and good depth to the zesty red currant and bitter cherry flavors, which turn sweeter through the midpalate. Smoothly blends heft and energy and finishes long and nervy, with a hint of bitter orange pith adding final bite. (Josh Raynolds, Vinous, June 2021)
— 5 years ago
Philip Togni Vineyard
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2001
Full, bright ruby-red! Pure and complex if subdued on the nose, offering scents of plum, briary dark berries, spice cake and dark chocolate. Densely packed, fine-grained and concentrated, conveying a lovely restrained sweetness and excellent depth of texture. No rough edges here in spite of the wine's seriously firm structure. Intense, sharply delineated mountain berry flavors convey a medicinal reserve, a distinctly savory quality and lovely juicy energy. This Cabernet is still a bit ungiving but its acid backbone and firm but harmonious tannins promise more positive evolution ahead. An excellent showing for this palate-staining wine, which will be long-lived and may yet gain in breadth. (Stephen Tanzer, Vinous, June 2020)
— 6 years ago
Will Stanley
A fine example of Pauillac from an overlooked vintage, the 2012 d’Armailhac (from half bottle) offers a potent punch of graphite, fresh black fruits, leather and cedar. The palate has ample concentration and good harmony, with flecks of sweet fruit leading to a long and gratifying finish. This is pure, precise Pauillac and in a beautiful spot at 13 years of age.
June 2025
94 — a year ago