Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.6

2009 vintage. Opened with a Durand and decanted. Perfect fill and cork. Some sed but slightly less than expected. Throwing out color more purple than any royalty could ever dream of. Tasted after 15 minutes and 2.5 hours. Seductive, come hither nose and accompanying medium/medium-heavy curvaceous body. Took as much restraint as I could muster not to crush this instantly. Ridiculously excellent. Second impressions after 2.5 hours…wine had dropped the seductive pretensions and was downright dirty. Earth, mushrooms, chalk, tobacco all without the initial, devilish richness. Still didn’t suck. This was phenomenal and the Dickens Tale Of Two Cities “age of light, age of darkness.” Essential. 2.6.26. — 5 months ago

Drew Summers

Sales Northampton Wines

9.1

Alongside Flounder Ceviche and Tomato Sandwiches. Worked wonderfully, as expected! — 4 years ago

Lyle Fass

Founder Fass Selections

9.8

OMG what a nose . Heaven. Floral and ripe and so pretty. Like pretty when you see a woman so gorgeous that you just can’t muster up any words. Striking. Unreal lemon and lime. Meyer lemon. But omg the florality. Beautiful discreet oak. Framed so perfectly. Like a filmmaker framing a shot. This nose is 9.9. It’s that easy and that good. Wow. That is concentrated and so deep. Candied and elegant with a superb core of sweet fruit and sweet wood. Impeccable balance. Superb intense and scintillating minerality. More mineral than 18. About as mineral as 19. As this airs the harmony of the nose becomes greater and greater. Wow this is dense and intense. For a wine that is this structured it is graceful a f. — 4 years ago

Monte

8.9

Well balanced and mellow. Light pepper, plumb, oak and dark cherry. Close to a 9 as I can muster. — 6 years ago

Steve Somermeyer

9.4

Opened first bottle of mixed case to celebrate anniversary for 3rd decade (cheated a bit as this was 29 years with wonderful bride Kim. Lots of dark fruit with just a touch of tannic finish. We visited Al on our honeymoon to pass muster before he sold a case futures. Quite a character! btw, Groth & Girard were Cans for first 2 decades. — 7 years ago

Max Nomadic

9.3

Sulfur, tart fruit, sneaky pine. Lovely stuff — 7 years ago

Eric Urbani

9.1

Not your grandma’s SB lol — 7 years ago

Erin Merchant

9.0

Highly underrated. Has nice fruit and leather on the palate. Not quite a sanjo, not quite a cab, as described. It’s got the traditional hints of both. Extremely smooth.

If you put this in front of someone who prefers Italian wines, it might confound them. It certainly won’t meet muster for a Napa Cab lover, but the notes are there nonetheless. — 6 months ago

Will Stanley

9.3

It’s been a few years since I opened one of these, a perennial ‘cellar defender’ to open on a whim when duty calls. Sadly, this is my last – but my word, I must buy more! This was absolutely sensational, a wine that punches well above its weight and provides the sort of value only a select few wines in the northern Rhône can muster up.

A doppelgänger for rock-solid Cornas, and inky purple in colour, the nose is effusive with dark cherry, blackcurrant, kirsch, smoked bacon, iron and sweet balsamic – all of it fresh, and no trace of alcohol at 13.5% from a hot vintage. The palate is sappy, vibrant, detailed and harmonious with quite good concentration and a sneaky long finish.

I would love to see this thrown into a blind tasting with wines four times its price. At six years of age, this is on fabulous form now and may improve with further time in the cellar.

93 points – but 100 for value!
— 2 years ago

Andy Hall

9.5

The VASO sauv blancs are definitely ageable. If you muster the will power, I would wait and drink between 5-10 years of aging. — 4 years ago

Mathew

9.2

Bone dry Austrian natural orange wine with a strong citrusy nose in earthenware bottle. Clearly produced by the Erde Dwarf tribe of Steireland. Best embibed with the Ring Cycle on the stereo. — 5 years ago

John R

9.3

Bright lively acidity. Green apples on the nose and front of palate. Funky yeasty almost beer like notes. Medium bodied. Age in barrels shows well. — 7 years ago

Ariana Collins

9.8

So drinkable. Bold but smooth. Big fruit. — 7 years ago

Philip Stumbo

9.5

Funky, unique and utterly complex, delicious. — 7 years ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.5

2019. @Somm David T had a better review on this effort 8.29.25 than I could ever hope to muster. There is absolutely nothing I could add to that sterling recap other than a 0.1 to his score. 10.17.25 — 8 months ago

Erik Longabardi

9.2

Haven’t had this in a while but it was wonderful! — 10 months ago

Shengli Hu

9.2

Crunchy red cherries, red currants, black pepper, smoke, cigar box, mushroom, tea leaves, oregano, red flowers, a mix of baking spices and mints. long finish. high acidity, high levels of fine/smooth tannins. Compared to 2015/2016, 2013's fruit appears more blue - blueberry? more mineraly and chalky on the palate. 3 years in new French oak, 1.5-2 years in bottle. Organic biodynamic: 501 cow horn prep, 508 prep, native yeasts, cover cops - chamomile, muster green, no fertiliser, dry farm mostly with drip irrigation as backup. wine turbines in the vineyard to prevent mildew. — 4 years ago

Eric Kememes

9.2

White Flowers deep depth rad chewy acid — 5 years ago

Severn G

9.5

Nose has ripe plum, mashed blackberries, dark chocolate powder, strawberry jam on leather, molasses, molasses cookies, wet soil, nutmeg and vanilla bean.

Palate has blackberry compote, black cherry reduction, partially dried plum, wet baking spice, wet+dry leather, dark chocolate shavings, (light) oak/vanilla influence remains. Extended finish, really starting to pick up incredibly at 3-4H in the decanter.

Paired with Allen Bros. ribcap (USDA Prime version) tonight, unfortunately our grill has a 4ft. snow drift in front presently so the best I can muster was a super hot cast iron pan from the oven, then onto stove with lots of butter and in 7m total we had beef to die for...Which I had some competition for dining this evening.

This bottle was a very generous gift from my West Coast brother @David T from earlier in the year. My work travel schedule was hectic and never found a good time to settle in on a weekend with the wine or pairing, until now. (I've lost track of the amount of COVID tests I've done in the past 5M, but all have been negative 🙏 to date.) A fabulous gift to enjoy now that I'm hopefully relaxing for the next 2w...
Happy Holidays to everyone.🎄 — 6 years ago

Raul Puga

9.2

Funkydeliciousness — 7 years ago