My last of a three pack, and this shockingly drinks almost identical to my last bottle over four years ago.
Lovely deep red in the glass with bricking around the rim. Fig bar, sweet black cherries and tobacco aromatics. Ripe red and black fruits on the palate...not over ripe, but definitely sweet. Channeling more of a cherry liqueur and concentrated mid-palate as it ages. Close to fully integrated. Quite smooth and still a lot of fruit playing a primary role, but it’s not getting any better. More sexy than intellectual (nothing wrong with either).
I’d imagine this will hold in this window for another couple years and then decline, but I didn’t expect it to hold in this same window for almost five years. Drink up. — 4 months ago
The 2005 Palmer, picked from September 9 to October 10, remains deep in color. It has a lovely, intense bouquet with blackcurrant pastilles, raspberry, violet and juniper. It blossoms in the glass, gaining vigor. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, structured and dense, strangely Pomerol-like in style, with touches of black pepper and truffle furnishing the finish. Robust and muscular, it lacks a bit of flair and precision (like many wines of this vintage). I would afford this another couple of years in the cellar. Tasted at the Palmer vertical at the château. (Neal Martin, Vinous, August 2023)
— 6 months ago
Celebrating with a couple nice wines tonight
2 hour decant(decent chunky/fine sediment). An imposing dark magenta color. On the nose: very aromatic with dark cherry, currants, herbaceous, smokey earth, floral, pencil shavings. Taste: soft, silky, dry tannin wine with black fruit, pencil lead, cedar, tar, crushed rock, and a minerally mocha dry medium plus finish. YUM! More time to go. — 8 months ago
I opened the 2019 Venge Silencieux Cabernet Sauvignon a couple nights ago. This is a blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Merlot.
On the nose is black cherry, blackberry, plum sauce, black currant, chocolate, herbs, spice and black pepper.
On the palate is black cherry, blackberry, plum, black currant, cassis, vanilla, lavender, wood, green bell pepper and earth.
This is a full bodied wine with medium + to high acidity and medium + firm muscular tannins that leads to a long dark fruit earthy finish. I hope you all are well going into this weekend. Please stay safe and healthy and enjoy yourselves. Nostrovia! 🍷🍷🍷🍷 — 6 months ago
Celebrating with a couple of fun bottles tonight. 2 hour decant(decent chunky/fine sediment). A stunning dark garnet with bricking. On the nose: lightly fragrant notes of stewed red fruit, cassis, floral, little cigar box, herbaceous. Taste: silky, elegant, soft wine with a great mix of dark plum, currants, iron, scorched earth, tobacco, and cedar/bitter chocolate medium plus finish. YUM! Drinks well with the decant and more time to go. — 7 months ago
So after the 2018 of a couple of weeks ago which needs a couple of years to come together, this is just entering it's drinking window. Still a big, structured young-ish wine but very drinkable with a decant. This oozes dark fruit, graphite, earth and chocolate. Very pretty aromatics and matching fruit on the palate. I found 2018 much more singular/monolithic. This has much more going on. Grippy and dry but I sense a bit of sweetness from aging already. I like the sweet components more than the drying tannins so I will bury my other bottles of both vintages for a couple of years.
Edit: on day two this evolved into a compact spice bomb, very impressive 97-99 in a few years. — 4 months ago
Jan A
Over three years since I opened up the first bottle. Still young-ish but much easier to drink after a quick decant of half an hour. All the typical scents and taste of C9DP. Very balanced. Clearly from a warm climate but retaining ample freshness. Like it a lot. Hope I can keep my hands off it in the coming years to check in on the remaining bottles every couple of years — 2 months ago